Roman Charity (2026): Cast, Story and Release Details

Prepared by Movies Dock Editorial

Roman Charity is a 19-minute Finnish film by Alena Tereshko that reframes Rubens’ classical subject through a woman’s viewpoint. Using a painting as a central prop, the film connects academic drawing, personal biography, memory, female subjectivity and the limits of what may be represented.

Roman Charity is a short Finnish film directed by Alena Tereshko. Running 19 minutes, it takes its starting point from Peter Paul Rubens’ Roman Charity and considers the familiar subject from the perspective of its female figure.

The film combines painting and video, with a newly created work appearing as a prop inside the film. Through that device, Tereshko links an artistic reinterpretation to questions of biography, memory, the gaze and the boundaries of the permissible.

Roman Charity movie details

Story without spoilers

Drawing on her background in academic drawing, Alena Tereshko creates a painting that reinterprets Rubens’ Roman Charity from the viewpoint of the woman depicted in the classical subject. The painting then becomes part of the video itself, where it serves as a way to bring the filmmaker’s own biography into the work. The film uses this relationship between image and video to examine female subjectivity, memory, the act of looking and the limits of representation.

What to expect

Roman Charity is a concise, art-focused work built around the relationship between a painting and a video. Its subject is rooted in the reinterpretation of a classical image, while its stated concerns include the gaze, women’s subjectivity, personal memory and what can or cannot be shown. The 19-minute runtime suggests a compact presentation of these ideas rather than an extended narrative.

Cast and creative team

Roman Charity is directed by Alena Tereshko. No writer or cast members are listed in the supplied film details.

Release and production context

Roman Charity is a Finnish production with spoken languages listed as English and Russian. It has a 19-minute runtime and a release date of October 17, 2026. The film is listed as released, and no production company is specified.

Movies Dock view

With its focus on a painting made from a female viewpoint and its use of that painting within the video, Roman Charity places artistic process at the center of its subject. It may appeal to viewers interested in contemporary moving-image work, classical art reinterpretation and questions surrounding representation, memory and the gaze.

Film data:
TMDB