still from Miss Gulag trailer

A fascinatingly surreal story: female inmates in a Siberian prison engage in an annual beauty contest in order to demonstrate eligibility for parole. The stakes involved make Girlicious and Next Top Model look even sillier. Modelling contract? Whatever- how about release from a Siberian work camp?

Miss Gulag, a documentary film on this event, premiered at last year's Berlin Film Festival, and aired on BBC yesterday.