Country: Russia
Duration: 86 min
Genre: Documentary
Director: Leonid Parfyonov, Dmitry Kurchatov
Producers: Leonid Parfyonov, Dmitry Kurchatov
Operators: Sergey Nurmamed, Vadim Deev
Cast: Leonid Parfyonov
Nomination: Documentary Feature
Age limitations: 18+
The first documentary film of a trilogy takes its viewers on a journey from 11th century Kiev, «the mother of Russian cities», where there already existed a Jewish quarter, to Petrograd in 1917. It covers the times of Catherine II when Russia became a country with the largest Jewish population, and the 19 century, when the Jews, «alien to all and considering everyone else aliens», were overcoming their isolation. It tells about traditional Jewish ways of life and how they were being renounced by those who were to become famous financiers and manufacturers, scholars, artists, and revolutionaries. About how Russian word «pogrom» entered other languages, about the Beilis affair, and the first wave of immigration. About SRs and Bolsheviks who have shattered Tsarism, and about closest associates of Lenin who were deciding the history of the country in 1917. Further destiny and identity of «Russian Jews» living both in Russia and abroad will be explored in the next two films of the trilogy.
