Russian films on DVD (Announcement)

[Slava Paperno]

The four Russian documentaries by Slava Paperno, Slawomir Grunberg, and
Viktoria Tsimberov are now available on DVD from
http://lexiconbridge.com/films/

Playable in consumer DVD players and also on computers with DVD drives,
this new version offers all the advantages of digital media: one-button
access to any part of the film and excellent image and sound resolution.
The films were remastered from the broadcast-quality originals.

Designed for use in Russian language and culture courses, these films
received the "best of the year 2000" award from AATSEEL. They are true
stories and unrehearsed interviews with real people in unusual situations.
All were filmed in Russia in the mid-nineties.

The films are used in many schools around the world. They provoke intense
discussion in class. The events and the issues rarely leave the viewer
indifferent. Even though filmed and edited with an eye for the students'
interests, they are not artificial in any sense. The language is completely
uncensored (one interview even includes a "maternoye vyrazhenie", followed
by an "Excuse me!") and truly reflects the speakers' mood and attitude. The
filmmakers are also careful not to promote any one interpretation of the
events. The audience is thus encouraged to form and defend their own views.

The films are also high-impact stories in their own right.

Children from Russia (60 min, DVD, tape or CD-ROM) is the stories of
several Russian children who were adopted by Americans, filmed as the
adoption process goes through its ups and downs.

Michael and Svetlana (90 min, DVD, tape, or CD-ROM) is the story of an
American from a small town in New York and a Russian from a tiny village
300 miles from Moscow. They meet through a marriage broker, and the film
follows every step of their story.

In Interviews from Russia (90 min, DVD, tape), the Russians of the nineties
speak of their success, disappointment, and coping in a time of change.
Some are successful businessmen (and women), others feel that they're the
victims of the new Russia.

Life on the Atomic River (60 min, DVD, tape, CD-ROM) is about the worst
nuclear contamination disaster on this planet. In over 200 encounters, the
people involved in it tell their side of the story.

Adopting Olya (30 min, DVD or tape) is an English-language version of one
of the adoption stories in Children from Russia. It starts in an orphanage
in Chelyabinsk and ends in a comfortable home in California, with the child
entirely transformed by the change.

Complete transcripts of the dialog are available as PDF files from each
film's Web page at

http://lexiconbridge.com/films/

The transcripts can be freely downloaded. No fonts are required for reading
or printing them, but you'll need to have Acrobat Reader installed on your
computer.

Any questions may be sent to Slava Paperno at sp27 at cornell.edu.

SP

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