“Russian America”: a new DVD film by Yevgeny Borzov “Russian America” is a new DVD video film, produced by Yevgeny Borzov, JFDP Fellow 2001. It is a 102 minute documentary (in three parts) about the New World, which welcomed over 1,5 million Russian immigrants. Why do people keep on striving for this new destination, abandoning their homes and places where they were born? What made this country so attractive for our former fellow citizens and how does it feel for them to live in a new environment? How do they estimate the realities of the American way of living and what are their attitudes towards Russia seen from overseas? The producer formulates the basic conceptions of the film, taking advantage of his own experience in the U.S. and the interviews with representatives of different generations of Russian immigrants. These provoking talks are aimed to highlight such issues as national identity, spiritual heritage, cross cultural communication, nostalgic memories of the past and reflective obsessions. Part One “Quays of New York” deals with the history of Russian emigration, with current realities of Brighton Beach, Russian offices at the U.N. and the grave of S.Rachmaninov at Kensico cemetery. Par Two “Californian Christmas”. This part brings you to San Francisco , Sacramento and interesting places around, where you meet Russian people and hear exciting and dramatic stories of their lives. Part Three “Thanksgiving Day in Boston” is devoted to the history of first Pilgrims and the related traditions, observed by modern immigrants from the former Soviet Union. The political rivalry of two superpowers in the last decades of the previous century is interpreted in the background to the Caribbean missile crisis and the presidency of JFK. The presentation on this DVD project took place at the American Center (www.amc.ru) in Moscow on June 10th, 2004. Scholars, journalists, alumni, representatives of American Councils for international education attended this event and participated in the discussion which followed the show. The questions disputed dealt with cultural diversity, tolerance, basic human values, Russia’s integration into the democratic global community and the peculiarities of the national mentality, influencing this process. This film has been invited for yet another public show in Moscow in the framework of a Kennan Institute (www.kennan.ru) conference on Russian-American relations, scheduled for July 2, 2004.