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BLACK RUSSIANS
THE RED EXPERIENCE
feature-length documentary, currently in post-production
Black Russians: The Red Experience is a feature-length documentary revealing the little-known story of how a small group of African-Americans left the United States to seek a better life in the most unlikely of places — Stalin's Soviet Union. Told through the narratives of their living descendants in Russia and the United States, Yelena Khanga (Moscow), MaryLouise Patterson (New York) and others, the film also includes interviews with notable historians and activists such as Harry Belafonte, Jelani Cobb and Maxim Matusevich.
CUNY TV Interview with the Director, Yelena Demikovsky
Find the film on social media:
In the Press
African-Americans' search for equality led to the Soviet Union (Russia Beyond)
Eastern Europe: The Black Man's Safe Haven? (The Voice, UK)
What would compel a black American to move to Stalinist Russia? (Washington Post)
Production Team
PRODUCER
DIRECTOR
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Piero Basso (New York)
Mko Malkhasyan (New York)
Yulia Galochkina (Moscow)
EDITORS
Melody London
Xiaoxiao Chen
Francesca Mor
MARKETING
PROJECT ASSISTANT
Melissa Espinosa
PROJECT CONSULTANT
Pr. Maxim Matusevich (Seton Hall University)
ARCHIVISTS
Jane Gorjevsky (US)
Denis Fedorin (Russia)
TRANSLATION/SUBTITLES
Jane Gorjevsky
Anna Braico