New York, NY – The Second Annual Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York will be held at Tribeca Cinemas on September 18-20, 2009. This year the festival will include a varied program of new documentaries by filmmakers in Russia and the Russian diaspora in the US.

The festival’s opening film – “Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn and others – Michael Chekhov’s Star System” tells of the life of Russian immigrant actor and pedagogue, Michael Chekhov, who created his own acting technique. Such prominent actors as Anthony Quinn, Marilyn Monroe, Gregory Peck, Yul Brynner and others were all students of Chekhov. His acting technique is still used by actors in Hollywood and on Broadway. The film will be introduced by his student, actress and casting director Joanna Merlin, president of the Michael Chekhov Association (MICHA).

The second day of the festival is dedicated to famous cultural figures. We will be screening films about director Leonid Varpakhovsky and his theater in Montreal (“No Intermission”), the pioneer of color photography Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky (“The Color of Time”), the barely studied Boston period of the life and works of the writer Vladimir Nabokov (“Nabokov. The Happiest Years”), the recently deceased favorite of the intelligentsia, Vassily Aksenov (“Vassily Aksenov. It’s a Pity You Were Not With Us.”), as well as other interesting Russian figures. There will be a special out-of-competition screening of feature intellectual detective film “The Shadows of Faberge”, which will be introduced by the film’s producer Vladimir Sinelnikov. The second day of the festival will close with a screening of the film “The Word”, dedicated to the memory of Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The film will be introduced by director Sergey Miroshnichenko and the writer’s son, Ignat Solzhenitsyn.

The third, and final day of the festival will include a special program of young Russian directors, including recent graduates of VGIK. One of these films, “Nine Forgotten Songs” has recently won the main prize at the Festival of Student and Debut Films “Saint Anna” (Moscow, 2009). The film “The World at Fingertips” tells about the home for blind-deaf-mute children in Sergiev Posad, Moscow. “No Job for a Woman” is a story of female pilots during World War Two. The closing film of the festival will be the American premiere of the documentary drama “Kiselev’s List” – the incredible story of Russian partisan Nikolai Kiselev, who rescued over 200 inhabitants of a Jewish village during the Nazi occupation of Belarus. Kiselev is often referred to as “Russian Schindler”, and has the title of Righteous Gentile in Israel.

Most of the festival films are part of the competition. The winner will be chosen by a jury comprised of Michael Yampolsky, film theorist and professor at NYU, Edward Miller, writer, film critic and professor at CUNY, and Vitaly Komar, artist. The awards were made by the distinguished New York jeweler Alex Soldier.

All films will be shown in Russian, with English subtitles. Round-tables with Russian directors from Moscow and members of the Russian immigrant community will also be held. Producers and directors will introduce many of the festival’s films and will be available for Q & A sessions.

The Russian Documentary Film Festival in New York was founded by The New Review magazine (USA). The festival is being held with the help of a generous grant from the Russkiy Mir Foundation (Moscow), as well as financial and logistical support from the Alexander Solzhenitsyn Foundation (Moscow), The A. Solzhenitsyn House for Russia Abroad (Moscow), Zverev Modern Art Center (Moscow), RA Consulting Travel (USA), COJECO (USA), and the Russian Nobility Association (USA). Information partners of the festival are NTV-America and RTVi television channels and Russian Bazaar newspaper.

For information please visit www.rusdocfilmfest.org