Film Screening: Andrey Smirnov's "The Frenchman" (2019)

Dear friends, we invite you on July 17 (Friday) at 7:30 PM to the screening of Andrey Smirnov's film "The Frenchman" (2019).

Director Andrey Smirnov, known for the Soviet classic "Belorussky Station," this time presents a subtle cinematic journey into the 1960s USSR.

After the film, we explore the partial liberalization of Soviet society following Stalin's cult figure appearance at the 20th Congress of the CPSU. Contacts with foreigners were allowed, and an international meeting of populist writers and poets such as Andrey Voznesensky, Bella Akhmadulina, and others took place.

Against this backdrop, Pierre, the son of Russian emigrants, arrives from France to the USSR, where he meets Kira Galkina, a Bolshoi Theatre ballerina. Pierre quickly becomes involved in the dissident movement, gets acquainted with Moscow's Western cultural life, and tries to help his friends publishing the poetry almanac "Syntax" (centered around dissident Alexander Ginzburg). At the same time, Pierre searches for his father, who remained in the USSR and whom Pierre never met consciously...

After the screening, as always, we will discuss the film.

Guests gather at 7:15 PM, screening starts at 7:30 PM.

The film is in Russian with English subtitles.

Admission: donation — any Armenian banknote.