With Bakhyt Kenjeev, Andrey Grtitsman, Boris Khersonsky, Tatiana Voltskaya, Nina Kossman, Eli Bar-Yahalom, Emilia Rozenshteyn, Semyon Reznik, Alex Volodarskiy, Alexander Rudkevich, Victor Fet, film editing by Ellina Savitsky; Ilia Zmejev, consultant

1) The debate between Slavophiles and Westerners began about two hundred years ago. Do you think this topic is related to the current catastrophe (the war in Ukraine)?
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2) Are there any Russian poems that you fell out of love with after the war began? If there are, which ones?

3) What would you like to say to those who live in the Russian Federation and, risking their freedom, openly oppose the war?
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4) After the film had been created and edited, the news of the mobilization in the RF arrived, and the topics under discussion took on a new meaning.

Participants (in alphabetical order by the first name): Alexander Veytsman (New York); Alexandra Berlina (Germany); Andrey Gritsman (New York); Boris Khersonsky (Odessa); Cynthia Haven (California); Dmitry Manin (California); Gennady Katsov ( New York) ; Linda Morales Caballero (New York); Ian Probstein ( New York); Igor Satanovsky (New York) ; Liliya Gazizova (Turkey); Marina Eskin (Boston); Nina Kossman (New York); Rita Kogan (Israel); Sergey Shabalin (New York); Tatiana Retivov (Kiev); Vlad Pryakhin (Russia).

The Café Review Poetry Reading in Russian and in English The Russian Issue of the Cafe Review (Winter 2021). Ivan Akhmetiev Polina Barskova Alexander Cigale Tatiana Daniliyants Marina Eskina Sibelan Forrester Liliya Gazizova Anna Golubkova Andrei Gritsman Anna Halberstadt James Kates Bakhyt Kenjeev Nina Kossman Elena Mikhailik Yuri Milorava Tatiana Neshumova Igor Satanovsky Tatiana Scherbina Ekaterina Simonova Gali-Dana Singer Ian Singleton Val Alexander Skidan Val Vinokur Anton Yakovlev Katherine Young

This short, five-minute video introduces viewers to the world of Nina Kossman’s paintings.

Participants (in alphabetical order by last name): Aleksey Alexandrov, Vladimir Bogomyakov, Ilya Bronshteyn, Leo Epstein, А. Гальпер, Anna Halberstadt, Геннадий Казакевич, German Lukomnikov, Katia Kapovich, Vitaly Komar, Nina Kossman, Anna Kreslavsky, Philip Nikolayev, Mikhail Rabinovich, Игорь Сатановский, Julia Trubikhina & Elizabeth Hulick, Алексей Цветков, and Татьяна Щербина.

Participants (in alphabetical order): Elena Berezetsky (San Diego),Kristina Andersson Bicher, Tatiana Bonch (Sydney, Australia), Ольга Брагина (Kiev), Ilya Bronshteyn (New York), Linda Morales Caballero (New York), Юля Фридман (Moscow), Marina Eskin (Boston), Anna Halberstadt (New York), Elizabeth Hulick (New York), Alta Ifland (San Francisco), Nina Kossman (New York), Дмитрий Манин (California), Julia Nemirovskaya (Oregon), Ian Probstein (New York), Vlad Pryakhin (Russia), Susan Reynolds (Oxford, UK),Gali-Dana Singer (Jerusalem), E.V. Svetova (New York), Julia Trubikhina Kunina (New York), Tatiana Retivov (Kiev), Katherine Young (Virginia).

Participants (in alphabetical order): Vladimir Bogomyakov (Siberia, Russia), Nancy Naomi Carlson (Maryland) & Marie-Léontine Tsibinda Bilombo (Congo), Marina Eskin (Boston), Anne Fisher (Indiana),
Anna Halberstadt (New York), Elizabeth Hulick (New York), Nina Kossman (New York), Jenya Krein (Boston), Julia Kunina-Julia Trubikhina (New York), Дмитрий Манин (California), Ian Probstein (New York), Gali-Dana Singer (Jerusalem), Andrew Singer ( New York), Margarita Slivniak (Toronto), Alexander Veytsman (New York), Anton Yakovlev (New York), Mary Jane White (Iowa), Josie von Zitzewitz (London, UK / Tromso, Norway), Igor Satanovsky (New York).

Saturday, June 27, 2020. Poet readers include (in alphabetical order): Vladimir Bogomyakov, Marina Eskin, Anna Halberstadt, Stella Hayes, Betsy Hulick (translations / English), Galina Itskovich, Nina Kossman, Anna Kreslavsky, Gari Lait, Revekka Levitant, Olga Livshin (translations / English / own poems about Akhmatova), Герман Лукомников, Дмитрий Манин (translations / English), Peter O’Neill (translations / French), Ian Probstein, Vlad Pryakhin, Татьяна Щербина, Julia Trubikhina (translations / English), Alexander Veytsman, Anton Yakovlev, Josie von Zitzewitz.

Participants (in alphabetical order by last name): Lera Auerbach (USA), Tatiana Bonch (Australia), Marina Eskin (USA), Gena Gruz (USA), Anna Halberstadt (USA), Galina Itzkovich (USA), Gennadi Kazakevitch (Australia), Nina Kossman (USA), Pavel Lembersky (USA), Dmitry Manin (USA), Ian Probstein (USA), Susan Reynolds (UK), Michael Romm (USA), Olga Shvarova (UK), Gari Lait (USA), Alexander Veytsman (USA), Ian Ross Singleton (USA), Andrew Singer (USA), Mary Jane White (USA), Anton Yakovlev (USA). Mark Wingrave (Australia), Olga Zilberbourg (California), and Matthew Salomon (Maryland) participated through listening.

On 29-30 September 1941, the Nazis executed 33,771 people at a ravine on the outskirts of Kiev known as Babi Yar. Babi Yar is one of thousands of mass murder sites of Soviet Jews during World War II. Nina Kossman reads her poem, in Russian and in English, as part of commemorating the Holocaust in the Nazi-occupied Soviet territory during WWII.

Translator Nina Kossman reads her translations of Marina Tsvetaeva, one of the greatest Russian poets of the last century.