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a public event

Soviet History through Soviet Film Series (XII): Burnt by the Sun

CEES film screening and discussion. Discussant: Margarita Nafpaktitis, UCLA, Charles E. Young Research Library.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012
6:30 PM
11360 Young Research Library

Burnt by the Sun (1994)
Dir. Nikita Mikhalkov
Russian with English subtitles
135 minutes
 
The year is 1936, and the setting is Russia just prior to the infamous Great Purge ordered by Joseph Stalin. Russian Civil War hero Sergei Kotov, a decorated army officer, is visiting his country home outside Moscow and enjoying time off with his wife Maroussia, their young daughter, and most of Maroussia's eccentric relatives.
Kotov is a proud Bolshevik whose charisma endears him to everyone. The neighbors think he is wonderful, and every young soldier looks upon him as a legend. However, the serenity of Kotov's getaway is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of Mitya, a charming, quick-witted aristocrat, whose affable exterior conceals sinister motives.
 
Margarita Nafpaktitis is Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies at the Charles E. Young Research Library. Before coming to UCLA, she was a member of the faculty of the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. Her scholarly interests include Russian Modernism, contemporary Polish prose, Russian/Soviet representations of America(ns) in literature and popular culture, translation and translation studies, and digital humanities. Her teaching experience includes interdisciplinary courses on Russian/Soviet/East Central European film and culture, graduate seminars on 20th and 21st-century Russian prose, and Russian and Polish language.

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Eurasian Studies, UCLA Charles E. Young Research Library, Slavic Languages and Literatures