Adoption in Post-Soviet Media and Fiction: The Results

Mon Aug 1 23:55:39 UTC 2011

Dear SEELANGERS,

I was happy to receive a number of useful suggestions in answer to my query about adoption in Post-Soviet media and fiction.  Most of them began with the phrase "You probably already know about  "Итальянец", the film that certainly receives the "most suggested award." Anyway, as promised, I've cobbled together a list of all the suggestions I've received, along with some useful descriptions and URLs.  I'd also like to thank everybody who wrote in:

Stephanie Briggs

Boris Briker

Elena Clark

Nila Friedberg

Beach Gray

Alina Israeli

Viktoriya Kononova

Victoria Lyasota

Avram Lyon

Jerry McCausland

Harlow Robinson

Marc Robinson

Larissa Rudova

Emily Schuckman

Dawn Seckler

Ben Sutcliffe

Janne van de Stadt

Justin Wilmes

Anyway, on with the list!--Eliot Borenstein

Films

1) "Итальянец" (2005): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450450/

http://www.russiandvd.com/store/product.asp?sku=41277

 http://www.rusfilm.pitt.edu/2007/pn/italian.htm

http://www.film.ru/afisha/movie.asp?code=ITALIANC  

Elena Monastireva-Ansdell wrote a review of it for KinoKultura.

Six-year-old Vanya (Kolya Spiridonov) is about to be handed every Russian orphan's dream: A loving Italian family wants to adopt him and take him away from the rundown orphanage he calls home. But Vanya can't let go of his yearning for his birth mother. Determined to find her, he runs away and sets off on an adventure that leads him into a mysterious and sometimes perilous world. This moving drama received several international awards.

2)  Adopted Son (Beshkempir)

Kyrgyz director Abdykalykov's 2002 film Adopted Son (Beshkempir) about a childless couple who's given an infant.  The film focuses on that adopted son's adolescent years.

3) Sirota kazanskaia, 1997),

 Vladimir Mashkov's comedy The Orphan of Kazan (Sirota kazanskaia, 1997), which, by the way, is also the title of a song by Lube.

4) 12 (Mikhalkov)

            Chechen boy adopted at the end.

5) Kolya (1996)

not really adoption, but related themes.

6) Children of Leningradsky (2005)

Not directly about adoption, but a documentary about street children. I've only seen clips, but it looks quite compelling.

http://www.childrenofleningradsky.com/

7)  "Family Portrait in Black and White"

 "Family Portrait in Black and White" (http://www.familyportraitthefilm.com/) about a Ukrainian woman who adopts biracial children.

8) "Svad'ba."

The adoption there is only partial, though: a young man adopts the son (by another man) of a former love interest with whom he reunites later in life.

9) "Age 7 in the USSR"

there is a segment in the "Age 7 in the USSR" series of documentaries (Age 14, Age 21) that treats a boy adopted to America.

10) Свои дети

Свои дети: http://www.kino-teatr.ru/kino/movie/ros/hud/13453/annot/

11) Двое и одна

Almost post-Soviet Двое и одна (based on Щербакова's повесть)

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D0%B2%D0%BE%D0%B5_%D0%B8_%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D0%B0_%28%D1%84%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%29

12) "A Driver For Vera"

Pavel Chukhrai's 2004 film "A Driver For Vera" ends with an adoption of

sorts, albeit more metaphorical than formal. I'm not sure what your

specific interest is, but the whole issue of

12) ER, Season 1

Season 1 of "ER" has a story arc in which a Russian girl is abandoned at the

County General Hospital by her American adoptive mother (disturbingly

wealthy and self-centered, apparently barely knows Russian herself) days

after having adopted her in Saint Petersburg. Tatiana is 6 years old, speaks

no English, and is dying of AIDS. Nurse Carol Hathaway bonds with Tatiana

and seeks to adopt her, but is rejected because of a suicide attempt that

occurred in the season premiere.

13)"Six Degrees of Celebration"

Timur Bekmambetov's

recent film _Six Degrees of Celebration_ (2010) features child protagonists

who live in an orphanage in Kaliningrad/Koenigsberg.  The adoption at the end is more metaphorical than formal.

http://www.kinokultura.com/2011/33r-elki.shtml

14) "Amerikanskaia doch'" (1995)

_Amerikanskaia doch'_ (1995) deals with step-parent adoption.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112348/

http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BC%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%B4%D0%BE%D1%87%D1%8C

And it's apparently in the trove that Mosfilm has posted to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=RU&hl=ru&v=oMD-hoYibM4

Prose

1) Kazus Kukotskogo

Post-Soviet view on Soviet-era adoption: Ulitskaia's _Kazus Kukotskogo_

2) "Sonechka"

. _Sonechka_  by Ulitskaia

Tthe terms of thе adoption are... peculiar.

3) "Двое и одна" (Щербакова)

4) Gde net zimy.

Dina Sabitova. Gde net zimy. Moscow: Samokat, 2011. It’s written specifically for “starshii shkol’nyi vozrast” but features interesting adult characters.  

5) Boish’sia li ty temnoty?

Svetlana i Nikolai Ponomarevy. Boish’sia li ty temnoty? M.: Tsentr “Narniia”, 2010. This book was written in 2002.

6) "Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi"

Vera Storozheva's "Puteshestvie s domashnimi zhivotnymi"

http://www.amazon.com/Travelling-Pets-Puteshestvie-Domashnimi-Zhivotnymi/dp/B001AAEFP0

7)"Podkidysh" (Ulitskaia)

Ulitskaia's story _Podkydish_ has a false narrative of adoption (used by one twin sister to torment her sibling).

Eliot Borenstein
Collegiate Professor	
Professor, Russian & Slavic Studies
Provostial Fellow
New York University		
19 University Place, Room 212
New York, NY 10003
(212) 998-8676 (office)
(212) 995-4055 (fax)

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