This year's Syracuse International Film Festival will focus attention on how people
with disabilities are depicted in film through a special program called "Russian
Heroes of Disability." The daylong program includes the screening of two Russian
films, "Standing on the Edge" by Edward Topol and "No One But Us" by Sergei
Govorukhin. The films focus on main characters who become disabled in Russia's
war in Afghanistan; both physical and psychological disabilities are explored.
The screenings are scheduled for Tuesday, April 28, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m in the
Medical Alumni Auditorium, Weiskotten Hall, 766 Irving Ave., on the SUNY
Upstate Medical University campus. A panel discussion scheduled from 4:30-6 p.m.
will include Russian filmmakers Govorukhin and Topol; Sharon Greytak, a
filmmaker in the Department of Transmedia in Syracuse University's College of
Visual and Performing Arts (VPA); Liat Ben-Moshe from SU's Center for Human
Policy, Law, and Disability Studies; and Claudine Tinio Ward from the physical
medicine and rehabilitation department at SUNY Upstate. Rebecca Garden from the
bioethics and humanities department at SUNY Upstate will moderate the discussion.
The program is free and open to the public; paid parking is available in the Irving
Avenue Garage.
The Films
The film "Standing on the Edge" (2008), written and directed by Topol, will be
screened at 2 p.m. The film is based on the true story of a frontier guard who has a
talent for finding drugs about to be smuggled out of Afghanistan. Narco traffickers
mutilate and try to kill him, but through the power of his will he survives, recovers
and arranges for a spectacular revenge. The film's violent beginning yields to a
sensitive, uplifting portrayal of a courageous and moral man.
"No One But Us" (2008), by Govorukhin, will be screened at 7:30 p.m. This
beautifully made and psychologically powerful drama is based on real events in the
six-year ethnic war in Tajikistan (on the border of Afghanistan). Eugeny, a military
cameraman, has become used to putting his life at risk as he works with Russian
border guards in special peacemaking missions. Shortly before leaving on a new
military raid, he meets Natasha. Their love affair has a profound psychological effect
on his life and job.
The Filmmakers
Topol is one of the most popular writers in Russia and the ex-Soviet republics. Among
his novels are the international bestseller "Red Square" (Berkley Publishing Group,
1983), from which an eight-hour mini-series was made for Russian television. He is
also known for "Deadly Games" (Quartet Books, 1984), "Red Snow" (Signet Books,
1988) and other works published in the United States, England, France, Germany,
Holland, Japan, Norway and Russia. As a film writer, producer and director, Topol
has produced "Cabin Boy of the Northern Fleet," "The Underage," "Mistakes of
Youth," and "Love at First Sight." In 2008, he wrote, produced and directed the film
"Standing on the Edge." Other films made from his writings include "Montana"
(2007-08) and "Vanechka" (2007).
Govorukhin graduated from Moscow's Film Academy (script faculty). He has
published several novels. In 1994-2005, Govorukhin was a war correspondent in
conflict areas in Afghanistan, Tadzhikistan, Yugoslavia and Chechnya, where he was
badly wounded in 1995. Govorukhin created the Rokada Charity Foundation for
disabled war veterans, and he is a member of the Commission for Human Rights of
the Russian Federation. As director general of his own Moscow-based production
company, Return: 20th Century, Govorukhin has directed and produced the award-
winning documentaries "Cursed and Forgotten" (1998), "Composition for the
Vanishing Topic" (2001) and the feature "No One But Us" (2008).
About the Program
The idea for "Russian Heroes of Disability" grew from a longstanding connection
between Russian producer/publisher Eugene Zykov and Owen Shapiro, the Maurice
E. Shaffer and Dorothea I. Shaffer Professor in VPA and the artistic director of
SYRFILMFEST '09. "Russian films have come to the festival every year since 2003 at
the suggestion of Eugene," says Christine Fawcett-Shapiro, SYRFILMFEST '09
producer. "This year, he recommended films for competition and then spoke to
Owen about these very special films and the filmmakers. Owen and I spoke to Dr.
Leslie Kohman about involving the Syracuse medical community and the SU
disabilities program, and Dr. Kohman recommended involving the consortium."
Two Russian filmmakers/producers, Ramil Khairulin and Tatyana Bogaeva of the
nonprofit Organization for the Development of Autonomy in Innovative
Technologies, agreed to sponsor screenings of the films in Syracuse. The program is
co-sponsored by The Consortium for Culture and Medicine; SUNY Upstate Medical
University; SU's Center on Human Policy, Law and Disability Studies; the Syracuse
Veterans Administration Medical Center, The Golisano Children's Hospital, and Dr.
and Mrs. Robert Neulander.
For more information about the "Russian Heroes of Disability" program or the
Syracuse International Film Festival, contact Fawcett-Shapiro at (315) 443-8826 or
christine@syrfilm.com, or visit http://www.syrfilmfest.com/.
