Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York

4th Annual Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York.

The Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York will take place at Tribeca Cinemas from September 30th until October 2nd, 2011 (54 Varick Street New York, NY 10013). This year the festival is proud to present a varied program of new documentaries - winners of both Russian and international film festivals in 2010/2011, that were made by directors in Russia, and Russian directors living in the USA.

Opening night film on September 30th will be "The Weather Outside is Beautiful". Directed by: Marina Razbezhkina, one of the leading documentary film-makers in Russia, winner of over 20 international film festivals. World premiere.

This story is a confession of one of the most wonderful writers in modern Russia - Lyudmila Petrushevskaya: her revelations about the world, the creative process, and herself. The film follows Petrushevskaya both at home and on tour, reading her poetry and singing. The film is sponsored as part of the "Special Programs" section of the festival by: Panorama Travel (USA)

Also on September 30th, there will be a special presentation of Marina Razbezhkina's Master Course, which will feature parts of films from the graduates of her program in Moscow. Among her graduates are such directors as Olga Maurina - winner of the Third Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York, Valeria Gai Germanika - winner of Kinotavr film festival (2006), Mention spéciale of Golden Camera Awards in Cannes (2009), Nika Award winner (2009) and others. Razbezhkina's master program offers degrees in documentary directing, documentary producing, and documentary theater. Event hosted by Marina Razbezhkina. English translation will be available.

The second day of the festival will include screenings of films about prominent figures in modern Russian culture - Victor Astafyev, Victor Nekrasov, Mikhail Kazakov, Anna Netrebko.

"Victor Astafyev. The Merry Soldier" - the film is about famous writer Victor Astafyev. Winner of the highest award in Russia in 2010 - the Golden Eagle award (for best documentary film), "Laurel Branch" (for best feature documentary film), Audience award at Flaertiana film festival. Directed by Andrey Zaitsev.

"Victor Nekrasov. Life in the Trenches" - the film is about dissident writer Victor Nerkasov. Film introduced by director Yelena Yakovich. Directed by Alexey Shishov and Yelena Yakovich, TEFI-2008 winners.

"An unfinished conversation" - about the actor Mikhail Kazakov, the last interviews of the great artist who passed away in 2011. Directed by Petr Shepotinnik, winner of "Golden Taurus" award, "Belye Stolby" film festival winner, winner of the main prize of the International film festival in Montenegro (at Bar) for best auteur film. Film introduced by director Petr Shepotinnik.

Also presented at the festival is another film by Petr Shepotinnik - - "Lyric" - a film about poet Andrey Voznesensky, the last footage of the poet reading his works before his death. In the interviews, Voznesensky, who has already mostly lost his voice, tells about his feelings on the beginning of the 21st century, and how he sees the future of Russia. The film was made in 2008, but in accordance with the poet's wishes was only shown after his death. It premiered in Moscow in February of 2011. This is its American premiere.

"Diary of a Diva" - a film about one of the stars of Metropolitan Opera Anna Netrebko. Directed by Anna Mitrokhina.

We will also be showing a selection of films about the Russian provinces.

"Running the country path" -a film about the river Don and people who live on its riverbanks . Directed by Oleg Afanasyev Winner of "Salt of the Earth" festival (Samara, Russia). For the first time at our festival, we are proud to present a film by filmmakers from Southern Russia.

"The Swamp". A film satire. The film was awarded the top prize at "TeleProfi - 2010". The director Irina Vasilyeva is the winner of the Stanislav and Andrey Rostotsky prize, winner of the "Window to Europe" film festival (2009)

Works of young documentary filmmakers:

"Points of Tenderness". Winner of festivals "Message to Man", "ARTKino" (Main Prize), "Rossia" (Special Jury Prize). This film is an elegy of a young director about a young woman, who attempts to find herself and her place in the world. Directed by Ivan Tverdovsky, VGIK.

On the third and final day of the festival: we will be showing a special program dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and GULAGs.

"The Arithmetic of Freedom" Directed by: Alexander Marutian The film tells the story of the only successful rebellion of prisoners in a concentration camp (Sobibor, Poland) during World War II. Over 250 thousand Jews from Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Czechoslovakia and USSR were murdered in Sobibor. The film uses some of the footage from 1980 in which Alexander Pechersky, who organized the rebellion, tells his story, as well as interviews with other camp prisoners: Thomas Blatt, Haim Engel, Semion Rozenfeld, Alexei Vaitsen, Esther Raab, Regina Zelinsky, Ulius Shelvis. US Premiere.

"Pray to God for us. The Butovo firing range" Directed by: Alexey Ilukhin. Winner of "Zolotoy Vityaz" film festival. At the outskirts of the Butovo part of the south of Moscow is the former firing range of the NKVD, where from the 1930s and until the beginning of the 1950s tens of thousands of people were shot and buried. This area became the Russian Golgotha, a place of mourning for those, whose relatives did not survive the repression years. A few hundreds of them have recently been granted sainthood as martyrs. In the mid-1990s this area was given to the Russian Orthodox Church. A new church was built there in honor of St. New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia.

The film is shown out of competition.

The screening is sponsored by NTS (USA). Film will be presented by its sponsors.

As always, we will also be screening films made by directors of Russian-American diaspora in the US:

"The Artists of Odessa" Directed by: Dmitry Khavin (USA) A nostalgic look from New York director Dmitry Khavin at the homeland of his ancestors. The viewer sees Odessa as it was seen by Babel, Zhabotinsky, Eisenstein, Kandinksy, and others. Modern artists, actors and poets - both those who have left their childhood home and those who stayed - tell stories of their favorite city with typical Odessa humor.

"Kamchatka. Land of Salmon"
Directed by: Daniel Levin (USA)
A work by an American documentary filmmaker on the subject of ecological and economical problems of Russian Kamchatka. Journalists, ecologists, forest rangers - those who bravely oppose poaching and corruption in these Pacific parts of modern Russia - tell the stories of their struggles and hopes. The film presents the beautiful but crumbling world of Kamchatka nature.

The closing film at Tribeca Cinemas will be the American premiere of the film about immigrant writer Sergey Dovlatov.

"The Enthusiast’s Demarche"
Directed by: Sergey Kokovkin (USA)
The film includes interviews with: Elena Dovlatova, Dovlatov's widow, Ksana Mechik, Dovlatov's sister, Lev Losev, writer, Andrey Ariev, writer/critic, Vagrich Bachkhanyan, artist/writer, Vitaly Komar, artist, Lyudmila Stern, writer, Alexander Genis, writer, and many others. Dovlatov’s fate was full of mysteries and changes. He played with his life the same way he played with his characters - openly and recklessly. He passed away at the age of 48, just missing his fantastic popularity back at home in Russia. Candid, occasionally almost confessional stories told in the film help develop a multi-faceted, uniquely lively personality of a wonderful man and a great writer. The goal of the film is to create the effect that Sergey Dovlatov is still here with us. The screening is sponsored by The New Review Corporation (USA)

Additional festival screenings of films about Russian immigration will be held at the following venues, with the gracious support from our sponsors:

At the Russian Cultural Center "Otrada", New York.

"Lemnos Island. Russian Golgotha"
Directed by: Galina Ogurnaya
Project coordinator: Elena Chavchavadze
The film is dedicated to the 90th anniversary the Russian exodus. Today very little is known about the Cossack corps led by General Wrangel by the average Russian. But Lemnos is a short, yet unique chapter in the history of the White movement that can only be compared to the sitting at Gallipoli. This Greek island in the Aegean sea became home to tens of thousands of refugees from Russia and parts of the Russian army, let by commanding general Petr Wrangel. The Cossacks labelled Lemnos "The Isle of Death", where every day was spent not only fighting for physical survival, but for honor and dignity. The film includes interviews with descendants of those who survived this horror, and through it all remained Russian. Featuring Nikita Mikhalkov as narrator.

"Hitch the wagon to the stars..."
Directed by: Alexander Gurianov
A cinematic story about Churaevka - a Russian town in Connecticut. In the 1930s-40s Churaevka was a lively place, visited by S. Rakhmaninov, M. Chekhov, N. Roerich, I. Sikorsky, M. Fokin, N. Plevitskaya (thanks to whom the place was named Churaevka). It was here that the books of Siberian immigrant writer and Churaevka’s founder G.D. Grebenshikov were first published and sold. In 1930s Grebenshikov decided to build a chapel in honor of Sergey of Radonezh in Churaevka. The architectural plans of the chapel were made by N.K. Roerich, the construction was funded by donations, with the biggest given by I.I. Sikorsky. Currently both the Churaevka village and Sergey of Radonezh chapel are in the Historical monuments registry of the United States.

At the Shorefront Jewish Cultural Center:

"Sergey Yursky: The Game of Life"
Directed by: Mikhail Minkin
The film is about one of the brightest actors and directors of Russian theater and film - Sergey Yursky. The phenomenоn оf Yursky’s personality is in his universality. He is equally talented as a stage actor, sole reader, writer. The art of Yursky is an event in the cultural life of the entire country. This film was made with the participation of Daria Yurskaya, Natalia Tenyakova, Alexander Kalyagin, Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Avdotia Smirnova, Alexander Filippenko, Dmitry Bykov, Lev Anninsky, Alexei Simonov, Vladimir Menshov, Pavel Khomsky.

Most of the films at the festival will be shown in-competition. The winner of the Festival will be announced by a jury made up of American film and art professionals: producers, critics, artists.

All films screened at Tribeca Cinemas will be shown with English subtitles. Roundtables will be held as part of the Festival, with members of the Russian delegation and members of the Russian-American Diaspora. Select films in the program will be introduced by their directors and producers, who will be available for Q&A.

The Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival is being held by one of it's founding members The New Review, Inc. (USA). It is made possible with financial support from Russky Mir Foundation (Russia) and and The New Review Inc.

In 2011, the Festival is being sponsored by:

Russian Nobility Association in America, Inc.; the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York; PANORAMA TRAVEL; Global Advertising Strategies, Inc.; VK Studio; Princess Diana Bagrationi; Mr. & Mrs. Alex Soldier; Countess Tatiana Bobrinskoy; Mr. & Mrs. Petr Oudolsky; American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc., ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach; The Knights of the Orthodox Order of St. John Russian Grand Priory; International Society for Salvation of Russian Monuments and Landscapes; ZARYA, Association of Russian Youth Abroad.

Media Sponsors: RTVi, NTV-America, "CTC-International" TV channel (Russia); Radio Pozitiv; Telenedelya; MoRa; Media Holding "Nash Dom", RUNYweb.com.

Partners of the Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York: Documentary Program "Free Thought" at the Moscow International Film Festival (Russia); VK Studio; Princess Diana Bagrationi; American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc.; ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach; Russian Cultural Center (Washington DC).

Further information can be found at: www.rusdocfilmfest.org

Contacts: rusdocfilmfest@gmail.com

Tribeca Cinemas: 54 Varick Street, New York, NY (Varick at Laight Street, one block below Canal Street) Subway 1, A, C, E, trains to Canal Street)

For tickets: www.tribecacinemas.com Under events go to Russian Documentary Film Festival Or go directly to: http://www.tribecacinemas.com/calendar/#55056192

Or at theater box office: 1-212-941-2001

American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc.
385 S. Passack Rd. Spring Valley, NY
Attn.: Tamara Podznyakova, Cultural & Educational Affairs officer
otrada385@gmail.com

ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach
3300 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Attn.: Irina Volkovich, Director of Arts & Culture
at 718-646-1444 ext. 326, volkovi@shorefronty.org



Archive >>> 4th Annual Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York. The Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York will take place at Tribeca Cinemas from September 30th until October 2nd, 2011 (54 Varick Street New York, NY 10013). This year the festival is proud to present a varied program of new documentaries - winners of both Russian and international film festivals in 2010/2011, that were made by directors in Russia, and Russian directors living in the USA. Opening night film on September 30th will be "The Weather Outside is Beautiful". Directed by: Marina Razbezhkina, one of the leading documentary film-makers in Russia, winner of over 20 international film festivals. World premiere. This story is a confession of one of the most wonderful writers in modern Russia - Lyudmila Petrushevskaya: her revelations about the world, the creative process, and herself. The film follows Petrushevskaya both at home and on tour, reading her poetry and singing. The film is sponsored as part of the "Special Programs" section of the festival by: Panorama Travel (USA) Also on September 30th, there will be a special presentation of Marina Razbezhkina's Master Course, which will feature parts of films from the graduates of her program in Moscow. Among her graduates are such directors as Olga Maurina - winner of the Third Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York, Valeria Gai Germanika - winner of Kinotavr film festival (2006), Mention spéciale of Golden Camera Awards in Cannes (2009), Nika Award winner (2009) and others. Razbezhkina's master program offers degrees in documentary directing, documentary producing, and documentary theater. Event hosted by Marina Razbezhkina. English translation will be available. The second day of the festival will include screenings of films about prominent figures in modern Russian culture - Victor Astafyev, Victor Nekrasov, Mikhail Kazakov, Anna Netrebko. "Victor Astafyev. The Merry Soldier" - the film is about famous writer Victor Astafyev. Winner of the highest award in Russia in 2010 - the Golden Eagle award (for best documentary film), "Laurel Branch" (for best feature documentary film), Audience award at Flaertiana film festival. Directed by Andrey Zaitsev. "Victor Nekrasov. Life in the Trenches" - the film is about dissident writer Victor Nerkasov. Film introduced by director Yelena Yakovich. Directed by Alexey Shishov and Yelena Yakovich, TEFI-2008 winners. "An unfinished conversation" - about the actor Mikhail Kazakov, the last interviews of the great artist who passed away in 2011. Directed by Petr Shepotinnik, winner of "Golden Taurus" award, "Belye Stolby" film festival winner, winner of the main prize of the International film festival in Montenegro (at Bar) for best auteur film. Film introduced by director Petr Shepotinnik. Also presented at the festival is another film by Petr Shepotinnik - - "Lyric" - a film about poet Andrey Voznesensky, the last footage of the poet reading his works before his death. In the interviews, Voznesensky, who has already mostly lost his voice, tells about his feelings on the beginning of the 21st century, and how he sees the future of Russia. The film was made in 2008, but in accordance with the poet's wishes was only shown after his death. It premiered in Moscow in February of 2011. This is its American premiere. "Diary of a Diva" - a film about one of the stars of Metropolitan Opera Anna Netrebko. Directed by Anna Mitrokhina. We will also be showing a selection of films about the Russian provinces. "Running the country path" -a film about the river Don and people who live on its riverbanks . Directed by Oleg Afanasyev Winner of "Salt of the Earth" festival (Samara, Russia). For the first time at our festival, we are proud to present a film by filmmakers from Southern Russia. "The Swamp". A film satire. The film was awarded the top prize at "TeleProfi - 2010". The director Irina Vasilyeva is the winner of the Stanislav and Andrey Rostotsky prize, winner of the "Window to Europe" film festival (2009) Works of young documentary filmmakers: "Points of Tenderness". Winner of festivals "Message to Man", "ARTKino" (Main Prize), "Rossia" (Special Jury Prize). This film is an elegy of a young director about a young woman, who attempts to find herself and her place in the world. Directed by Ivan Tverdovsky, VGIK. On the third and final day of the festival: we will be showing a special program dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and GULAGs. "The Arithmetic of Freedom" Directed by: Alexander Marutian The film tells the story of the only successful rebellion of prisoners in a concentration camp (Sobibor, Poland) during World War II. Over 250 thousand Jews from Lithuania, Poland, the Netherlands, France, Czechoslovakia and USSR were murdered in Sobibor. The film uses some of the footage from 1980 in which Alexander Pechersky, who organized the rebellion, tells his story, as well as interviews with other camp prisoners: Thomas Blatt, Haim Engel, Semion Rozenfeld, Alexei Vaitsen, Esther Raab, Regina Zelinsky, Ulius Shelvis. US Premiere. "Pray to God for us. The Butovo firing range" Directed by: Alexey Ilukhin. Winner of "Zolotoy Vityaz" film festival. At the outskirts of the Butovo part of the south of Moscow is the former firing range of the NKVD, where from the 1930s and until the beginning of the 1950s tens of thousands of people were shot and buried. This area became the Russian Golgotha, a place of mourning for those, whose relatives did not survive the repression years. A few hundreds of them have recently been granted sainthood as martyrs. In the mid-1990s this area was given to the Russian Orthodox Church. A new church was built there in honor of St. New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia. The film is shown out of competition. The screening is sponsored by NTS (USA). Film will be presented by its sponsors. As always, we will also be screening films made by directors of Russian-American diaspora in the US: "The Artists of Odessa" Directed by: Dmitry Khavin (USA) A nostalgic look from New York director Dmitry Khavin at the homeland of his ancestors. The viewer sees Odessa as it was seen by Babel, Zhabotinsky, Eisenstein, Kandinksy, and others. Modern artists, actors and poets - both those who have left their childhood home and those who stayed - tell stories of their favorite city with typical Odessa humor. "Kamchatka. Land of Salmon" Directed by: Daniel Levin (USA) A work by an American documentary filmmaker on the subject of ecological and economical problems of Russian Kamchatka. Journalists, ecologists, forest rangers - those who bravely oppose poaching and corruption in these Pacific parts of modern Russia - tell the stories of their struggles and hopes. The film presents the beautiful but crumbling world of Kamchatka nature. The closing film at Tribeca Cinemas will be the American premiere of the film about immigrant writer Sergey Dovlatov. "The Enthusiast’s Demarche" Directed by: Sergey Kokovkin (USA) The film includes interviews with: Elena Dovlatova, Dovlatov's widow, Ksana Mechik, Dovlatov's sister, Lev Losev, writer, Andrey Ariev, writer/critic, Vagrich Bachkhanyan, artist/writer, Vitaly Komar, artist, Lyudmila Stern, writer, Alexander Genis, writer, and many others. Dovlatov’s fate was full of mysteries and changes. He played with his life the same way he played with his characters - openly and recklessly. He passed away at the age of 48, just missing his fantastic popularity back at home in Russia. Candid, occasionally almost confessional stories told in the film help develop a multi-faceted, uniquely lively personality of a wonderful man and a great writer. The goal of the film is to create the effect that Sergey Dovlatov is still here with us. The screening is sponsored by The New Review Corporation (USA) Additional festival screenings of films about Russian immigration will be held at the following venues, with the gracious support from our sponsors: At the Russian Cultural Center "Otrada", New York. "Lemnos Island. Russian Golgotha" Directed by: Galina Ogurnaya Project coordinator: Elena Chavchavadze The film is dedicated to the 90th anniversary the Russian exodus. Today very little is known about the Cossack corps led by General Wrangel by the average Russian. But Lemnos is a short, yet unique chapter in the history of the White movement that can only be compared to the sitting at Gallipoli. This Greek island in the Aegean sea became home to tens of thousands of refugees from Russia and parts of the Russian army, let by commanding general Petr Wrangel. The Cossacks labelled Lemnos "The Isle of Death", where every day was spent not only fighting for physical survival, but for honor and dignity. The film includes interviews with descendants of those who survived this horror, and through it all remained Russian. Featuring Nikita Mikhalkov as narrator. "Hitch the wagon to the stars..." Directed by: Alexander Gurianov A cinematic story about Churaevka - a Russian town in Connecticut. In the 1930s-40s Churaevka was a lively place, visited by S. Rakhmaninov, M. Chekhov, N. Roerich, I. Sikorsky, M. Fokin, N. Plevitskaya (thanks to whom the place was named Churaevka). It was here that the books of Siberian immigrant writer and Churaevka’s founder G.D. Grebenshikov were first published and sold. In 1930s Grebenshikov decided to build a chapel in honor of Sergey of Radonezh in Churaevka. The architectural plans of the chapel were made by N.K. Roerich, the construction was funded by donations, with the biggest given by I.I. Sikorsky. Currently both the Churaevka village and Sergey of Radonezh chapel are in the Historical monuments registry of the United States. At the Shorefront Jewish Cultural Center: "Sergey Yursky: The Game of Life" Directed by: Mikhail Minkin The film is about one of the brightest actors and directors of Russian theater and film - Sergey Yursky. The phenomenоn оf Yursky’s personality is in his universality. He is equally talented as a stage actor, sole reader, writer. The art of Yursky is an event in the cultural life of the entire country. This film was made with the participation of Daria Yurskaya, Natalia Tenyakova, Alexander Kalyagin, Andrey Khrzhanovsky, Avdotia Smirnova, Alexander Filippenko, Dmitry Bykov, Lev Anninsky, Alexei Simonov, Vladimir Menshov, Pavel Khomsky. "Victor Nekrasov. Life in the Trenches" - the film is about dissident writer Victor Nerkasov. Film introduced by director Yelena Yakovich. Directed by Alexey Shishov and Yelena Yakovich, TEFI-2008 winners. Most of the films at the festival will be shown in-competition. The winner of the Festival will be announced by a jury made up of American film and art professionals: producers, critics, artists. All films screened at Tribeca Cinemas will be shown with English subtitles. Roundtables will be held as part of the Festival, with members of the Russian delegation and members of the Russian-American Diaspora. Select films in the program will be introduced by their directors and producers, who will be available for Q&A. The Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival is being held by one of it's founding members The New Review, Inc. (USA). It is made possible with financial support from Russky Mir Foundation (Russia) and and The New Review Inc. In 2011, the Festival is being sponsored by: Russian Nobility Association in America, Inc.; the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York; PANORAMA TRAVEL; Global Advertising Strategies, Inc.; VK Studio; Princess Diana Bagrationi; Mr. & Mrs. Alex Soldier; Countess Tatiana Bobrinskoy; Mr. & Mrs. Petr Oudolsky; American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc., ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach; The Knights of the Orthodox Order of St. John Russian Grand Priory; International Society for Salvation of Russian Monuments and Landscapes; ZARYA, Association of Russian Youth Abroad. Media Sponsors: RTVi, NTV-America, "CTC-International" TV channel (Russia); Radio Pozitiv; Telenedelya; MoRa; Media Holding "Nash Dom", RUNYweb.com. Partners of the Fourth Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York: Documentary Program "Free Thought" at the Moscow International Film Festival (Russia); VK Studio; Princess Diana Bagrationi; American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc.; ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach; Russian Cultural Center (Washington DC). Further information can be found at: www.rusdocfilmfest.org Contacts: rusdocfilmfest@gmail.com Tribeca Cinemas: 54 Varick Street, New York, NY (Varick at Laight Street, one block below Canal Street) Subway 1, A, C, E, trains to Canal Street) For tickets: www.tribecacinemas.com Under events go to Russian Documentary Film Festival Or go directly to: http://www.tribecacinemas.com/calendar/#55056192 Or at theater box office: 1-212-941-2001 American Russian Aid Associations "Otrada", Inc. 385 S. Passack Rd. Spring Valley, NY Attn.: Tamara Podznyakova, Cultural & Educational Affairs officer otrada385@gmail.com ShoreFront Y of Brighton/Manhattan Beach 3300 Coney Island Avenue, Brooklyn, NY Attn.: Irina Volkovich, Director of Arts & Culture at 718-646-1444 ext. 326, volkovi@shorefronty.org