Interesting Times: Reflections on Russia in Recent Years

press release:

DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER ROBIN HESSMAN COMING TO MADISON APRIL 29-30

The Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA) is excited to announce it will bring documentary filmmaker and producer Robin Hessman to campus next week—April 29 and 30, 2015. While on the UW-Madison campus, Hessman will make classroom presentations, meet with students in the Russian Flagship program, speak at a special screening of her film “My Perestroika,” and give a public lecture.

"My Perestroika" is Hessman’s first feature-length documentary.  She received an Academy Award® in 1994 for co-directing the student film “Portrait of Boy with Dog.” Hessman also worked as a producer of the Russian language “Sesame Street” television show (called “Ulitsa sezam”) and co-produced a PBS biography of Julia Child in “Julia! America’s Favorite Chef,” part of the American Masters series.

“My Perestroika” follows five Russians as they grow up in Soviet Russia, experience the collapse of the Soviet Union as teenagers, and then live in a new political landscape.

“What was important to me all along was to maintain the intimacy of the personal stories in the foreground of the film,” Hessman writes. “My hope has been to bring the audience into the homes, the kitchens, and the memories of these five childhood friends—to share the complexities of their experiences, their triumphs, their dreams, and their disillusionment.”

The film has won several awards including Best U.S. Documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and Best Documentary Film at the 2010 Milwaukee Film Festival. Hessman shot the majority of the film herself, but also used home movies of her subjects and others their age.

A screening of the film will take place Wednesday, April 29 at 7 p.m. in the Marquee Theater of Union South. The running time of the film is 87 minutes. Hessman will be available for questions immediately following the screening. Hessman will also give a public lecture about her experiences titled "Interesting Times: Reflections on Russia in Recent Years" on Thursday, April 30 at 4 p.m. in 206 Ingraham Hall.

Sponsors for the events include the Alice D. Mortenson/Petrovich Chair in Russian History, the College of Letters & Science Anonymous Fund, CREECA, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature, the Russian Flagship Program, and the WUD Film Committee.

About the film screening:

http://www.creeca.wisc.edu/events/15april.html#perestroika

About the lecture:

http://www.creeca.wisc.edu/events/index.htm#reflections

Hessman is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and an Associate at Harvard University's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. More on her experience can be viewed at the link:

http://myperestroika.com/about/production-team/