ex-USSR nationalities in film (revised list)

[Curt F. Woolhiser]

Dear SEELANGers,

Many thanks to all of you who responded to my query a couple of months ago
concerning films portraying the non-Russian nationalities of the former USSR.
Since a number of you had requested that I share the results of my search, I'm
forwarding the following expanded list, which includes a number of
documentaries and videorecordings of stage productions as well:

====================================
Nationalities of the Former USSR: Film List (Revised)

Baltic States:

Baltic Love (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania)
City Unplugged (Estonia)
The Highway Crossing (Estonia)
Dangerous Summer (Latvia)
Frozen Flowers (Latvia)
Is it Easy to be Young? (Latvia)
Nobody Wanted to Die (Lithuania)
Rye Bread (Lithuania)

Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova:

Earth (Ukraine)
Arsenal (Ukraine)
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (Ukraine)
Forest Song (Ukraine)
A Friend of the Deceased (Ukraine)
Mazepa (Ukraine)
By Fire and Sword (Ukraine/Poland)
Anastasiya of Slutsk (Belarus)
King Stakh's Wild Hunt (Belarus)
Come and See (Belarus)
Locals (Belarus)
Mother of the Hurricane (Belarus)
Lautari (Moldova)

North Caucasus:

Prisoner of the Mountains (filmed in Dagestan)
War (Chechnya)
Checkpoint (Chechnya)
Immortal Fortress (Chechnya)

Transcaucasia:

Salt for Svanetia (Georgia)
Legend of Surami Fortress (Georgia)
The Wishing Tree (Georgia)
Repentance (Georgia)
Leaves of Autumn (Georgia)
There Lived a Thrush (Georgia)
Supplication (Georgia)
The Chef in Love (Georgia)
Mimino (Georgian and Armenian characters)
Sayat Nova: The Color of Pomegranates (Armenia)
Ararat (Armenia)
Nasimi (Azerbaijan)
Fatali Khan (Azerbaijan)
Ashik Kerib (Georgia and Azerbaijan?)

Siberia and Peoples of the North:

Dersu Uzala (Nanay, Russian Far East)
Siberiada (filmed in Western Siberia -- Khanty-Mansi region?)
Ghenghis Blues (Tyva)
The Cuckoo (Saami)

Central Asia:

Three Songs about Lenin (Central Asian republics)
The Orator (Uzbekistan)
Without Fear (Uzbekistan)
Man Follows Birds (Uzbekistan)
Takhir and Zukhra (Uzbekistan)
Tenderness (Uzbekistan)
The First Teacher (Kazakhstan)
The Fall of Otrar (Kazakhstan)
Kairat (Kazakhstan)
The Flight of the Bee (Tajikistan)
The Daughter-in-Law (Turkmenistan)
White Sun of the Desert (Turkmenistan? Karakalpakstan?)
The Adopted Son (Kyrgyzstan)
The Fierce One (Kyrgyzstan/Kazakhstan)

Volga-Ural Region (?)

(I still haven't been able to find any films dealing with the ethnic groups of
the Volga-Ural region)

Other minority groups of ex-USSR:

Ladies' Tailor (Jewish)
Ivan and Avram (Jewish)
The Commissar (Jewish)
Passport (Jewish)
Tabor ukhodit v nebo (Roma)


In addition to the films listed above, a number of people recommended the
following series of documentaries, entitled "Gender Montage":

Live Containers (Tajikistan)
(Orzu Sharipov/2002/26 min./video)
Women attempting to feed their families use their bodies as containers for
trafficking heroin.

Hack Workers (Uzbekistan)
(Furkat Yavkalkhodzhaev/2002/20 min./video)
Banished by their families and society, these women are doomed to the slave
market and to widespread violence.

Red Butterflies Where Two Springs Merge (Kyrgyzstan)
(Gaukhar Sydykova and Dilia Ruzieva/2002/14 min./video)
An elderly traditional rug maker from a remote village becomes a community
leader and internationally-recognized celebrity for her artistic vision.

Wishing for Seven Sons and One Daughter (Azerbaijan) (Ali-Isa Djabbarov/2002/26
min./video)Patriarchal families favor boys, not girls. The use of ultrasound
technology to design the "ideal" family is shown in this film.

Beauty of the Fatherland (Estonia)
(Jaak Kilmi and Andres Maimik/2001/
51 min./video) Two Estonian women - a beauty pageant organizer and a Girl Scout
troupe leader - seemingly opposed, yet both promote the same stereotypes of
patriarchy and nationalism.

Invisible (Georgia)
(Liana Jakeli/2003/26 min./video)
In an isolated Georgian minority community, most Azeri girls leave school by
age 14 - some already married, some facing worse fates.

Tomorrow Will Be Better? (Lithuania)
(Monika Juozapaviciute/2003/39 min./video)Four Lithuanian women - a political
scientist, a small business owner, an actress and a farmer - at
varying levels of success.

Power: Feminine Gender (Ukraine)
(Nina Rudik and Vlad Gello/2003/22 min./video)
Traditionally active in family life and business, women's political
participation in independent Ukraine becomes purely decorative, with the
introduction of European-style democracy.


===============================
Curt Woolhiser
Department of Slavic Languages
and Literatures
12 Quincy St., Barker Center
Harvard University
Cambridge, MA 02138-3879 USA

Tel. (617) 495-3528
Fax (617) 496-4466
email: cwoolhis at fas.harvard.edu
===============================

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