Russian punk band Pussy Riot were famously jailed for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" following an anti-Vladimir Putin protest in 2012, and the three band members spent over a year in prison. Since her release, Maria Alyokhina has continued to make music as well as founding an independent media outlet in Russia, and now returns to Australia with Riot Days. A 'punk opera'/documentary/performance art piece about her arrest and imprisonment, it is a ferocious call to arms for the resistance.
"Freedom doesn't exist unless you fight for it every day," Alyokhina says. "The choice is very simple – to act or to stay silent. What we are showing is just one small example."