My Perestroika
When the USSR broke apart in 1991, a generation of young people faced a new realm of possibilities.
Hessman’s feature documentary debut tells the story of five Moscow schoolmates who went from sheltered Soviet childhoods through the hopes of Gorbachev’s Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) to the chaos of the USSR’s dissolution.
Today, Borya and Lyuba are married history teachers; Olga is a single mother who works for a billiard table rental company; Ruslan, once a famous punk musician, now busks in the Moscow metro; and Andrei owns a thriving chain of menswear stores.
With candor and humor, each paints a picture of the challenges, dreams and disillusionment they’ve faced in Russia’s post-communist era.
Directed by Robin Hassman