yes, I know that this already happened and we all missed it however I thought you might like to see what went on.

Opening Event, Event Schedule, Sept. 30
Library of Congress

6:00 p.m.
Cocktails and Buffet
Great Hall

7:00 p.m.
We Are Jazzmen
and discussion with Mr. Karen Shakhnazarov
Coolidge Auditorium

9:30 p.m.
Russian coffee and desserts
Mezzanine

10:00 p.m.
Live performance by Igor Bril
Members Room

WE ARE JAZZMEN
Directed by Mr. Karen Shakhnazarov, We Are Jazzmen (1983) chronicles the emergence of jazz during the 1920s in Soviet Russia. Expelled from school because he loves jazz—a "bourgeois" form of music—a student hires two street musicians to form a band and goes from one city to another trying to prove that jazz music is a revolutionary art form because it grew out of the struggle of black people in America.


ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Mr. Karen Shakhnazarov is one of the foremost names in the world of Russian cinema. He is an award-winning film director, producer and screenwriter—earning more than 50 international and Russian festival prizes, including nominations from the Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Awards. Born in Krasnodar in southern Russia, he majored in film direction and graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in 1975. He has been a director at Mosfilm Studios since 1976, production director since 1984, and Director General of Mosfilm since 1998.


ABOUT IGOR BRIL
Pianist Igor Bril is one of the most widely known Russian jazz musicians today. He was at the forefront of making jazz accepted and popular in the Soviet Union during the 1960s and is currently a professor and Head of the Jazz Music Department at the Gnesin Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. His tours widely both in Russia and abroad and has received critical and popular acclaim.For more information, see: Initiative for Russian Culture | History Department, American University, Washington, DC.