Thursday, March 10th
4 PM
CARNEGIE INSTITUTION FOR SCIENCE
$9 IN ADVANCE HERE OR AT THE DOOR
A STRUGGLE FOR HOME: THE CRIMEAN TATARS
Directed by Christina Paschyn
Ukraine, Qatar / 2015 / 45mins / DC Premiere
For hundreds of years, Crimea was home to the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim-Turkic people. They were the masters of the land, the indigenous population. Then the Russian Empire conquered the peninsula in 1783. Since then, the Tatars have struggled to reclaim their home from Russian domination. They’ve suffered ethnic and religious persecution, including a Soviet genocide that saw their entire population brutally deported from Crimea to Central Asia in 1944. When the Soviet Union collapsed, they thought they would finally be free and safe in their homeland. But in 2014 those dreams were dashed: Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded and re-annexed the peninsula.
This film features interviews with Crimean residents, activists, historians and the leader of the Crimean Tatar people, Mustafa Dzhemilev, as well as the Russian Prime Minister of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov. It tells the rich and tragic history of the Crimean Tatar people, from ancient times to today. It is a story of betrayal, courage and, above all, hope. For despite all that they have faced, the Crimean Tatars are still not willing to give up their fight for freedom.
Screens with the accompanying short:
BEYOND RECOGNITION
Directed by Michelle Grace Steinberg
(USA/2015/24:20mins) DC Premiere
After decades struggling to protect her ancestors’ burial places, now engulfed by San Francisco’s sprawl, a Native woman from a non-federally recognized tribe and her allies occupy a sacred site to prevent its desecration.
Post-screening panel discussion:
Moderator: Ruslan Garipov, Adjunct Professorial Lecturer, American University
Inci Bowman, President, International Committee for Crimea, Inc.
Robyn Bykofsky, Co-Producer of Beyond Recognition
Karina Korostelina, Associate Professor, George Mason University
Christina Paschyn, Director/Producer of A Struggle for Home
Michelle Grace Steinberg, Director/Producer of Beyond Recognition
F. Michael Willis, Partner, Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker, LLP
