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My Perestroika follows five ordinary Russians living in extraordinary times - from their sheltered Soviet childhood, to the collapse of the Soviet Union during their teenage years, to the constantly shifting political landscape of post-Soviet Russia. Together, these childhood classmates paint a complex picture of the dreams and disillusionment of those raised behind the Iron Curtain.
“Enthralling….My Perestroika gives you a privileged sense of learning the history of a place not from a book but from the people who lived it…Astoundingly timely.”
Named FILM OF THE WEEK and #1 in Critics' Picks in Time Out NY ” ***** Filled with lovely, unlikely ideas. My Perestroika wastes no time confounding expectations. Don't Miss This!”
“Tender, engrossing and utterly brilliant. Thanks to Hessman’s archival research, you see the change in astonishing period images, including a lifetime of Borya’s home movies. The experience of change makes My Perestroika a film that shouldn’t be missed. The lifetime part makes it indispensable.”
“Robin Hessman’s intimate and lovely documentary … follows five classmates who came of age right before the Iron Curtain fell – the children of a vanished world. Charting the ways that time, memory, and a rapidly changing society have affected their lives, it’s playful, insightful, hypnotic, and, ultimately, superb.”
“Powerful. My Perestroika reminds us that no matter how repressive a government, no matter how entrenched attitudes may seem, underneath the surface there are countless individuals very much like us. Compelling. Impressive.”
“A terrifically engaging picture of life beyond the headlines, My Perestroika lifts the veil of Cold War mystery. My Perestroika is as attuned to the absurdities of politics and the sustaining value of culture as it is to a pure nostalgia for childhood.”
World Premiere- Sundance Film Festival, January 2010. US Documentary Competition
AFI Discovery Silverdocs Film Festival, Silver Spring, MD -Winner, Special Jury Award
History Makers- 2011 Award Nominee, Best Use Of Archive In A History Production
FOCAL International- Nominee for Best Use of Footage in a Cinema Release
Medocino Film Festival, Menocino, CA - Winner, Global Issues Award
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, Thessaloniki, Greece
International Film Festival Rotterdam, Netherlands
Pravo Ljudski Human Rights Film Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina – Winner, Special Jury Award
“Cinema Verite” Iran International Documentary Film Festival, Tehran, Iran
Doha Tribeca Film Festival, Doha Qatar
Milwaukee Film Festival – Winner, Jury Award, Best Documentary
Hot Docs Film Festival, Toronto, Official Selection
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, Durham, NC - Winner, Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award
New Directors/New Films, MoMA and Lincoln Center, NYC
GRIERSON Award - British Documentary Award - nominated for Best History Film
Robin Hessman
Director / Producer / Cinematographer
Red Square Productions
Robin Hessman graduated from Brown University with a dual degree in Russian and Film. She received her graduate degree in film directing from the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow (with a “red diploma” of honors). She received an Academy Award® in 1994 – with co-director James Longley – for their student film, Portrait of Boy with Dog. During her eight years living in Russia, Robin worked for the Children’s Television Workshop as the on-site producer of Ulitsa Sezam, the original Russian-language Sesame Street.
In the US, Robin co-produced the documentary Tupperware!, which received the Peabody Award in 2005. Robin also co-produced the PBS biography of Julia Child, Julia! America’s Favorite Chef. In 2004, she founded Red Square Productions and was granted the position of Filmmaker in Residence at Boston’s PBS affiliate, WGBH, to develop My Perestroika. The project received the Garrett Scott Documentary Development Grant at the Full Frame Festival for a work-in-progress. In 2008 Robin was a MacDowell Colony Fellow.
Her feature-length documentary directing debut, My Perestroika, premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival as part of the US Documentary competition and was screened in New York as part of the prestigious film series, New Directors/New Films, curated by MoMA and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Awards include the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award at the Full Frame Festival in April 2010, Special Jury Award at Silverdocs in June 2010, special Jury Award at Pravo Ljudski in Sarajevo, Global Issues Award at the Mendocino Film Festival, and shortlist for the Grierson British Documentary Award in the category of Best History Film. My Perestroika was released theatrically in the US in 2011 and played in over 50 cities. It has been rated one of the top films of the year by leading critics. My Perestroika was broadcast on PBS on the independent series POV in their 2011 season and will be broadcast in several other countries across the globe in 2011 and 2012.
Robin is also an Associate of Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian Studies and is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
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