Women of the Gulag is a 2018 US short documentary film[2] directed by Marianna Yarovskaya.[3] and based on the book Women of the Gulag: Stories of Five Remarkable Lives by Paul Roderick Gregory (2013).[4] Executive Produced by Mitchell Block and Mark Jonathan Harris, it was a Best Documentary Short shortlist nominee at the 2018 Academy Awards.[5]

Women of the Gulag
Film poster
Directed byMarianna Yarovskaya
Written byMarianna Yarovskaya
Produced byMarianna Yarovskaya
Paul Roderick Gregory
Edited byLeonard Feinstein, Irina Volkova
Music byMark Adler
Production
company
Mayfilms[1]
Release date
  • October 1, 2018 (2018-10-01)
CountryUnited States
LanguageRussian

Synopsis

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A collection of unique and candid interviews with women who survived the Stalin's repression of the 1930s. The film was shot for five years, the team found its six heroines in the most diverse and remote corners of the former Soviet Union – in Ural, Far East, Sukhumi, and Moscow Oblast. Today, these women are well over eighty, but they continue to live and for each of them it was very important to tell their own story.[6][7][8]

Critical reception

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The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award in the best documentary short category. The film premiered at the 41st Moscow International Film Festival in 2018.[9] It won festivals in Iceland,[10] US/California, South Korea, Hong Kong, France, Canada, Croatia, and Russia. The film was screened privately for Secretary of State George Shultz. The film won two awards at the «Window to Europe» festival, Vyborg, an EBS Award in Seoul, Korea, a Critics Choice Award in Hong Kong, among others. The film’s Russian TV premiere took place in May 2021, but the film was censored.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Women of the Gulag at the mayfilms.com
  2. ^ Oscars: Film Academy Narrows the List of Contenders in Nine Categories // Variety
  3. ^ A Look in the Mirror: A Conversation with Marianna Yarovskaya About Women of the Gulag Los Angeles Review of Books
  4. ^ Women of the Gulag at the International Documentary Association
  5. ^ Oscars: Film Academy Narrows the List of Contenders in Nine Categories Variety
  6. ^ Russian-American film 'Women of the GULAG' hit the short list of Oscar nominations // Echo of Moscow
  7. ^ Pallot, Judith, Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford, "Stories of Six Women as Last Survivors of the Gulag", "Kinokultura".
  8. ^ Prestridge, James (11 January 2019). "Marianna Yarovskaya's Short Film ‘Women Of The Gulag’ Shines A Light On Russia's Forgotten Horrors", "Close-Up Culture".
  9. ^ "На ММКФ покажут фильм «Женщины ГУЛАГа». Лента Марианны Яровской вошла в шорт-лист «Оскара» в номинации «Лучший документальный фильм»" (агенство) (ТАСС ed.).
  10. ^ Hoover Institution (9 August 2019) «[1]»
  11. ^ Sulkin, Oleg (11 January 2019). «Фильм об узницах ГУЛАГа на российском ТВ лишили финала, Voice of America.
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