Event

My Perestroika

Seattle Premiere!

(Robin Hessman, 2010, USA/UK/Russia, DigiBeta, 88 min) What happens when the ideals you've been taught to uphold come crumbling down, and the usual propaganda no longer inspires? Like a Russian version of Michael Apted's 42 Up, My Perestroika makes the political personal and follows five classmates (Borya, Lyuba, Andrei, Olga and Ruslan) who came of age during the collapse of the Soviet Union. Raised on communist ideals as children, the classmates must adjust to a post-Soviet reality as adults. Masterfully blending contemporary interviews, rare home movie footage from the '70s and '80s and official Soviet propaganda films that proliferated at the time, the film paints a poignant and complex portrait of the challenges, dreams and disillusionments of this crossover generation.

"Playful, insightful, hypnotic, and, ultimately, superb." Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine