Sean's Russia Blog

In 2020, Russian-American filmmaker Michael Lockshin and his co-writer, Roman Kantor, were offered an impossible task: to adapt Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita for the big screen. It was a daunting task to rewrite such a beloved novel, with its complicated and overlapping narratives. Lockshin and Kantor hoped to succeed where others failed. After a period of touch-and-go, the film was released in Russia in January 2024 to critical and viewer acclaim. It also received fierce scorn, particularly from Russian state propagandists. To date, the film remains unreleased internationally due to complex rights issues following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How has Lockshin dealt with all this personally and professionally? What does he make of the controversy surrounding the movie essentially cosplaying its plot. Lockshin recently visited Pittsburgh to screen the film. The Eurasian Knot jumped at the opportunity to interview him about it and its fallout.Guest:Michael Lockshin grew up in Russia and the United States. He began working in film while studying for a Masters in psychology at Moscow State University. He moved to London after graduating and directed several award-winning commercials and his first Russian language feature film, Silver Skates in 2020. Most recently, he co-wrote and directed an adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's Master and Margarita.Send us your sounds! https://euraknot.org/contact/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/euraknot Knotty News: https://eurasianknot.substack.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Guest: Bryan Gigantino, co-host of the podcast Reimagining Soviet Georgia, on the context and causes for the current political crisis in Georgia. The post Georgia in Crisis appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Benjamin Nathans on To the Success of Our Hopeless Cause: The Many Lives of the Soviet Dissident Movement published by Princeton University Press. The post The World of Soviet Dissidents appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Ian Lanzillotti guides through the history of Kabardino-Balkaria in his book Land, Community, and the State in the Caucasus published by Bloomsbury. The post A Deep Dive into Kabardino-Balkaria appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Erin Hutchinson on her award-winning article, “Gathering the Nation in the Village: Intellectuals and the Cultural Politics of Nationality in the Late Soviet Period” in the January 2023 issue of the Russian Review. The post Soviet DIY Folk Museums appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Maurice Casey on the “lost world” of international communism in his book, Hotel Lux: An Intimate History of Communism's Forgotten Radicals published by Footnote Press. The post Intimate Lives of International Communism appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Tyler Kirk on After the Gulag: A History of Memory in Russia's Far North published by Indiana University Press. The post Gulag Memory in Russia's Far North appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Pavel Khazanov on The Russia That We Have Lost: Pre-Soviet Past as Anti-Soviet Discourse published by the University of Wisconsin Press. The post The Russia That Was Lost appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Ambassador Eric Rubin on the efforts to free Marc Fogel, an American serving 14 years in the Russian prison for possessing 17 g of medical marijuana. The post Free Marc Fogel! appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Marina Mogilner and Ilya Gerasimov on their new textbook, A New Imperial History of Northern Eurasia, 600–1700: From Russian to Global History published by Bloomsbury. The post A New History of Northern Eurasia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Andrea Bohlman on the curious history of the sound postcard in People's Republic of Poland. The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 3 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Valeria Umanets on women in municipal governance in the Soviet Union and under Putin. The post Women in Russian Politics appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Daniel Mikecz on Civil Movements in an Illiberal Regime: Political Activism in Hungary published by Central European University Press. The post Illiberalism and Civil Society in Hungary appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Matthew Kendall on his article “Room for Noise in Soviet Sound Recording” in the Winter 2023 issue of the Slavic Review. The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 2 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Gabrielle Cornish on the sound of Lenin's voice and other sounds of socialism. The post The Sound of Socialism, Part 1 appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Masha Kirasirova on The Eastern International: Arabs, Central Asians, and Jews in the Soviet Union's Anticolonial Empire published by Oxford University Press. The post The Eastern International appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Sergey Radchenko on To Run the World: The Kremlin's Cold War Bid for Global Power published by Cambridge University Press. The post The Soviet Bid to Run the World appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Anna Arutunyan and Mark Galeotti on their new book Downfall: Prigozhin, Putin, and the New Fight for the Future of Russia published by Penguin. The post The Rise and Fall of Yevgeny Prigozhin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Kevin Platt on Border Conditions: Russian-Speaking Latvians Between World Orders published by Cornell University Press. The post Russians in Latvia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Lisa Kirschenbaum on Soviet Adventures in the Land of the Capitalists: Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip published by Cambridge University Press. The post Ilf and Petrov's American Road Trip appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Vassily Klimentov on A Slow Reckoning: The USSR, the Afghan Communists, and Islam published by Cornell University Press. The post Soviet Afghan War and Islam appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Alexandar Mikhailovic on the unlikely convergence of the American and Russian far-right. The post Populist Elitism in Russia and the US appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Elena Kochetkova on wood, forests and industrial ecology in the Soviet Union. The post Soviet Industrial Ecology appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Greta Uehling on the ethics of care in Everyday War: The Conflict over Donbas, Ukraine published by Cornell University Press. The post Everyday War in Donbas appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Artan Hoxha on his new book, Sugarland: The Transformation of the Countryside in Communist Albania published by Central European University Press. The post Sugarland appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Russian poet Dmitrii Bykov on the War in Ukraine, the role of art in politics, satire, his poisoning in 2019, protest, love and family. The post Citizen Poet appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Sara Brinegar on her book The Power and Politics of Oil in the Soviet South Caucasus: Periphery Unbound, 1920-29 published by Bloomsbury. The post Baku Oil and the Soviet State appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Xenia Cherkaev on her book Gleaning for Communism: The Soviet Socialist Household in Theory and Practice published by Cornell University Press. The post Gleaning for Communism appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Andy Bruno on his new book Tunguska: A Siberian Mystery and its Environmental Legacy published by Cambridge University Press. The post The Tunguska Mystery appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Natasha Lance Rogoff on making Sesame Street in Russia in the turbulent 1990s. The post Sesame Street in Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Paula Chan on the Extraordinary State Commission and its investigations in the Nazi atrocities in the Soviet Union. The post Soviet Investigation of Nazi War Crimes appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Karl Schlogel on the lost world of Soviet civilization. The post The Soviet Century appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Mariia Koskina on Siberian industrialization, the environment and the black skies over Krasnoyarsk. The post Black Skies Over Krasnoyarsk appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Tigran Grigoryan (The Regional Center for Democracy and Security) and Kelsey Rice (Berry College) revisiting the ongoing conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. The post Revisiting Nagorno-Karabakh appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Natalia Krylova on life, love, language, and the Soviet Avant Garde. The post The Soviet Avant Garde appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Nicholas Bujalski on his prize-winning Russian Review article, “Tuk, tuk, tuk!” A History of Russia's Prison Knocking Language.” The post Russia's Prison Knocking Language appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Brian Milakovsky with a grim update on Ukraine, the war, and the shrinking prospects of even a lousy peace. The post Ukraine's Gloomy Winter appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Christopher Read on Vladimir Lenin's legacy 100 years since his death. The post A Century Without Lenin appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Maria Lotsmanova on her genealogical journey to find information about her repressed great-grandfather, Jacob Jansen. The post Genealogy in Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Gabriella Safran on Recording Russia: Trying to Listen in the Nineteenth Century published by Cornell University Press. The post Recording Russia appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Sasha Senderovich on How the Soviet Jew Was Made published by Harvard University Press. The post Making the Soviet Jew appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Erik Scott on defection, the Cold War, and the regulation of borders and movement in a globalizing world. The post Defection and the Cold War appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Ilya Vinitsky on the persistence of fakes, forgeries, and frauds in Russian literary culture. The post Fakes, Forgeries, and Frauds appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Rafael Khachaturian and Richard Antaramian on Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the ethnic cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh. The post The Cleansing of Nagorno-Karabakh appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Elmira Muratova and Michael Kemper on Islam in the Soviet and Post-Soviet contexts. The post Islam, Repression, and Memory appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer on the evolution of indigeneity and religion across the Soviet and post-Soviet divide. The post Useable Pasts? Shamans, Spirituality and Resistance appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Katya Tolstaya on theology, belief, and the remaning spiritual scars after Gulag. The post Theology after Gulag appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Fenggang Yang and Kung Lap Yan on Christianity, worship, and religious persecution in China. The post Christianity in China appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guest: Anna Kovalova, Pitt's new Visiting Assistant Professor in Slavic Languages and Literatures, on her work on early Russian cinema. The post REEES Faculty Spotlight: Anna Kovalova appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Geneviève Zubrzycki and Jose Casanova on the place of the Catholic Church in Polish politics and national identity. The post Catholicism in Poland appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.

Guests: Anca Sincan and Tatiana Vagramenko discuss the how secret police files document religious belief and worship in communist Romania and Ukraine. The post Secret Police Archives as Depositories of Faith appeared first on The Eurasian Knot.