New England Film Artists Present
Confronting Amnesia: Frozen Memories of the Russian Gulag
Sunday, January 18, 2009, 6 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Remis Auditorium
Avenue of the Arts
465 Huntington Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02115-5523
617-267-9300
Confronting Amnesia: Frozen Memories of the Russian Gulag by John J. Michalczyk (2008, 50 min). This powerful and insightful documentary explores the establishment and operations of the Gulag, which led to the arbitrary decisions of life or death for its prisoners. Weaving interview with survivors, scholars, and historians, Michalczyk tells the story of the Russian people under Stalin's era of "The Great Terror," in which the remote labor camps of the Gulag were used as a deterrent to real or perceived threats against the regime. The film exposes the unrelenting suffering experienced by Gulag victims and their families. But the film also recognizes the profound changes of the past 15 years in the former Soviet Union which have seen the establishment of various human rights advocacy groups to ensure that this abuse never happens again. Director present. Co-produced by Ronald A.March and Sy Rotter.