“No venture, no champagne” tells the stories of young women who leave Ukraine to look for fortune in the West. Some hope to find a husband, some others think they have a contract for a decent job, others are willing to do pretty much anything, because, as an old Russian proverb says, “no venture, no champagne”. None of them, however, was expecting to find hell.
“No venture, no champagne” follows some women’s journey and tells the stories of some others who have tried to leave. They look absent-minded, burdened by harsh experiences. Anja ended up in a Polish brothel. Natasha became a “human smuggler by chance” who lures young girls into working as models for her flimsy agency. Irina spent all her savings for a 15-day permit to Italy. All that mattered was leaving, and now that they have all “seen the West”, just like in the story of the moth and the flame. Their lives become very important, as they help to say something about the West, a society that was born on the value of human lives as peculiar and unique, and has now become a place of worship of merchandise where those people who are poor enough can be bought, moved, and even replaced.