Nikita Kochnev

17-year-old Renal gets brought to a sex worker by his uncle to prove his masculinity to his patriarchal father. "The Cure" shows how the absolute power of adults with a conservative and rigid mentality leads to a traumatic experience for a teenager. An educational act driven by good intentions turns into a covert psychological and physical rape.

In this collection of stories about men learning to stand up to prejudice and doubt, an anxious brother delays telling his sister the truth about his upcoming wedding, while a stern uncle takes drastic measures to "make a man" out of his closeted nephew.

A lonely and conflicted older man hires a young male sex worker named Johnny to be his first sexual experience with another man, and the intimate night they share forces both men to confront difficult truths they've been trying to outrun.