Thread: My Perestroika - free documentary

POV - Watch Video | My Perestroika: Full Length | PBS

Scott

I watched it last night at work and then again at home on PBS World.
It's interesting to compare people of my age (39 and holding) in Russia with "the kids" (19-20) that come to work here in the summer. Red scarves vs. blue jeans etc.

with "the kids" (19-20) that come to work here in the summer.

What kids? Kids from Russia?

To those that were living in the Soviet Union at the time of Perestroika - did it change anything in your life, and if so, how?

Thank you,

Scott

Originally Posted by Marcus

What kids? Kids from Russia?

Russia, and other places. J-1 visa kids come over for 4 months. Theoretically a "Cultural Exchange" they come to work for the summer. Summer Work Travel | Programs | J-1 Visa
Summer resort area, they usually work for hotels and restaurants.

When they work on my shift, they become "my kids". I usually have 1 maid and 1 houseboy at night. I take care of them pretty well; I take them fishing and get to take them around to see the area. Of course we work at night and on weekends and holidays so we miss a lot. When it's slow we can sit and talk and they tutor me.

And watch baseball.

The film is not available outside of the USA, due to restrictions. I am in Latvia at the moment and I can't watch it

I have the impression from reading this forum, that most people in Russia have a rather negative view of Gorbachev, perestroika and what it lead to. And as for "the last generation of Soviets...."
Well, I am of the same vintage, and the events were confusing, disillusioning for me, so it must have been 1000 times more so for people who lived in Russia or the other USSR countries. Plus there were huge economical problems at the time, on an individual level, for families and in society in general.

Originally Posted by Hanna

The film is not available outside of the USA, due to restrictions. I am in Latvia at the moment and I can't watch it

I have the impression from reading this forum, that most people in Russia have a rather negative view of Gorbachev, perestroika and what it lead to. And as for "the last generation of Soviets...."
Well, I am of the same vintage, and the events were confusing, disillusioning for me, so it must have been 1000 times more so for people who lived in Russia or the other USSR countries. Plus there were huge economical problems at the time, on an individual level, for families and in society in general.

What do you mean by "not available"? Can't you find it on the Internet?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

What do you mean by "not available"? Can't you find it on the Internet?

"Not available" as in can't be watched outside the USA. Like BBC can't be watched outside of Brittan. I'm surprised PBS does that.
I sent the link to 2 friends in Russia and they had to use a proxy.

Edit:
http://myperestroika.com/russian/

Originally Posted by capecoddah

"Not available" as in can't be watched outside the USA. Like BBC can't be watched outside of Brittan. I'm surprised PBS does that.
I sent the link to 2 friends in Russia and they had to use a proxy.

Edit:
russian

Your link doesn't seem to contain the whole movie, just a trailer. So, are you saying the movie really can't be found anywhere on the Internet? One more thing, I removed "russian" from the link, that means I was opening the American version, right? And I'm not currently in the US, and I didn't have to use a proxy, it just worked fine for me!

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Your link doesn't seem to contain the whole movie, just a trailer. So, are you saying the movie really can't be found anywhere on the Internet? One more thing, I removed "russian" from the link, that means I was opening the American version, right? And I'm not currently in the US, and I didn't have to use a proxy, it just worked fine for me!

The link I posted is the "Official" movie link. It only has the trailer and some other information. Worldwide distribution. It's in "limited release".
The link fortheether posted was for the full movie on PBS. Not available in Russia.
Maybe available in all of North America? I don't know, WGBH, the "Flagship Station" of PBS is in Boston; broadcast close to me.

Perhaps this will work. Go to this site, then try to watch the movie.

POV - My Perestroika | PBS

If not, you can read some more information about the movie.

http://www.kommersant.ru/Doc/1577228

Originally Posted by capecoddah

The link I posted is the "Official" movie link. It only has the trailer and some other information. Worldwide distribution. It's in "limited release".
The link fortheether posted was for the full movie on PBS. Not available in Russia.
Maybe available in all of North America? I don't know, WGBH, the "Flagship Station" of PBS is in Boston; broadcast close to me.

Perhaps this will work. Go to this site, then try to watch the movie.

POV - My Perestroika | PBS

If not, you can read some more information about the movie.

Both links have worked fine for me (yours and the one by the OP). What did your friends tell you, in what way had it been "not available"? What title does it show when you "aren't allowed to watch the movie"?

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Both links have worked fine for me (yours and the one by the OP). What did your friends tell you, in what way had it been "not available"? What title does it show when you "aren't allowed to watch the movie"?

I don't know. I'll ask them to try again. It didn't work for Hanna in Latvia.
I was reading the comments on the PBS site and a couple said it wasn't available in Russia.

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Both links have worked fine for me (yours and the one by the OP). What did your friends tell you, in what way had it been "not available"? What title does it show when you "aren't allowed to watch the movie"?

<br><br>I don't know. I'll ask them to try again. It didn't work for Hanna in Latvia.

Originally Posted by capecoddah

I don't know. I'll ask them to try again. It didn't work for Hanna in Latvia.
I was reading the comments on the PBS site and a couple said it wasn't available in Russia.

Hmm, then we have at least two countries where the movie's "banned from being shown" - Russia and Latvia. But why would one do things like that? I just don't get it...

Originally Posted by Eric C.

Hmm, then we have at least two countries where the movie's "banned from being shown" - Russia and Latvia. But why would one do things like that? I just don't get it...

The whole copyright debate, pirating and digital rights have just passed you by?

It's down to the money, there are no ad or commercial profits coming from Latvia and Russia, therefore they can't watch this American content.
Try watching TV on Zattoo or listening to Pandora or Last.fm streaming and you'll see whether your "mystery" location is deemed worthy or not.

With your political opinions I would have imagined that you'd be staunchly anti-sharing and in favour of the Pirate Bay guys being extradited to the US.

Settle down Hanna. The film maker is a nice young lady (POV - My Perestroika . Bio | PBS) and is trying to recoup some $.
If YOU had filmed your trip and made a documentary, would you want to earn back the money invested or would you go for a loss?

I PAID to watch the film from a combination of cable fees to WGBH-TV AND my personal yearly donation to the Public Broadcasting System.

If you want to be a thief, it's on Pirate Bay. I'll steal some Yngve Malmsteen and ABBA or some other art from Sweden. Is that fair? What if I sold your description with photos of your trip? How would you feel? Violated? Violation of Copyright Laws?

Or you could support independent artists BY PAYING to see what they have done. Do you sneak into concerts and clubs?

If you STOLE a pen and ink drawing, jewelry or a sculpture (even a sundial) OR THE CREATIVE INTENT I had made as an artist, I'd be quite upset.

You get paid for your job, there is no reason other people shouldn't get paid for theirs.

/soapbox.

I have nothing against the artists themselves being paid.
It's the greedy middlemen that I don't care for. Record companies, publishers and distributors.

They are the ones making a stink about piracy, not the artists themselves who in most cases don't care.
Either because they want people to hear their music, or because most of their incomes are actually from touring.

The nationality of the content has nothing to do with it, but it happens to be the US that is starting to want to lock down the entire internet to prevent sharing of content online.