Reprise

On a cold morning in February 1953, the Soviet government’s luxury cars brought famous writers, filmmakers, musicians, war heroes, and scientists to the office of Pravda. In addition to being at the top of their métiers, these men had one thing in common: they were Jewish. "Asked" by Stalin’s henchmen to sign a petition for the deportation of Soviet Jews to the East, many signed and then struggled for the rest of their lives with the knowledge that they had betrayed their principles and their coreligionists. Using archival footage, dramatic recreations and interviews, publicist and writer Arcadi Vaksberg introduces us to a who’s who of Russian Jewish intellectuals, from actor Solomon Mikhoels, to writers Vassily Grossman, Ilya Ehrenburg, and Veniamin Aleksandrovich Kaverin. The February 1953 roundup of Jewish intellectuals followed on the heels of the "Doctor’s Plot," an alleged conspiracy by Jewish doctors and pharmacists to eliminate the leadership of the Soviet Union. Stalin used the "Doctor’s Plot" to arrest and deport prominent Jewish doctors, and then announced his accusations in January 1953 with the Pravda headline "Vicious Spies and Killers under the Mask of Academic Physicians." In this documentary, director Ilugdin and narrator Vaksberg take us on an illuminating journey -- from the "accidental" death of beloved actor Solomon Mikhoels to the execution of Jewish writers in 1952 -- through one of the most painful and little known chapters in the history of Russian Jewry.

Grigory Ilugdin was born in 1949 in Riga (Latvia), in 1980 has graduated the directing faculty of VGIK, and is the author of feature films and TV plays, such as "Experts on the case", "Oh, this jazz", "The dangerous space of deceit" and others. As director and producer, laureate of 15 international festivals, academician of the Eurasian television academy, member of the Union of cinematographers of RF produced more than 40 documentaries. From 2000 Grigory Ilugdin has been directing "Miriam Media" company (Moscow) which is a production group of creative TV and cinema professionals aiming to create highly artistic TV and cinema projects. Since it's founding "Miriam Media", together with various TV-channels (ORT, TVC, 3rd channel (Moscovia)), has created a number of telefilms which won international awards. The most significant films created by Grigory Ilugdin for the last four years are: - 2000 TV series "Ekaterina the Great", 13 episodes (TVC channel) - 2000 "The First", a 9-episode TV series about Russia's prominent sportsmen (TVC channel), awarded with a diploma of the V Eurasian Teleforum, Moscow - 2001 "Euphrosinia's Album", a 5-episode telefilm (ORT channel), awarded the Grand Prix at the Monte-Negro festival (Chernogoria) and the Grand Prix of the international "Stalker" festival, Moscow - 2003 "Reprise", a publicist feature film, awarded the Grand Prix of "The Velvet Season" festival, Kiev, and a prize of the VI Eurasian Teleforum, Moscow.