Black Russians: The Red Experience is a feature-length documentary revealing a surprising twist in the history of the racism that infected the USA in the early 20th century. Never previously told in film format, it is the little-known story of how a number of black professionals, held back purely by color prejudice, turned their backs on segregation and violence and sought a better life in the most unlikely of places – Stalins USSR. They left their homeland to pursue their dreams. Discovering a different world where blacks with skills and education were welcomed and valued as important participants in helping to build the fledgling communist society, some of them stayed while others returned to the USA, carrying their vision with them. Their experiences fed into the civil rights movement and provided Martin Luther King with the substance for his famous speech I have a dream… The story is explored through the lives and experiences of a number of those individual and their families. Their descendants live in both Russia and America today and the film also explores how they were affected by the Cold War and the rise of post-communist nationalism. The film brings the history right up to date as the living descendants reveal how these events have shaped the way they live their life today and how it compares to the dreams of their parents and grandparents. In particular, the film focuses on two living descendants. Yelena Khanga is a well-known Russian TV journalist who has published two books in the USA about her journey to discover her roots in black slavery. Her grandfather, originally from Mississippi, helped the Soviet Union to modernize its cotton industry. Wayland Rudd is a Moscow-based jazz singer whose seven children by different women has frequently attracted the attention of the Russian tabloid newspapers. His father moved from the USA to the USSR and became a 1930s movie star. Leading academics in the field in both the USA and Russia together with a number of well-known black personalities set the story in context and explain what was happening. The film is about dreams and dreamers – those who believed they and their families deserved a life better than lynching and segregation. Those who stayed in the USSR never looked back and believed in these ideals for the rest of their lives. Some of their descendants tell a different story. Black Russians: The Red Experience, a story waiting to be told, shows how people making difficult choices and facing the unknown, driven by their dreams, can live inspirational lives and change the world.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 06:06:11 +0000
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