Free Russia Square

Filming for this project began in June 2011, on the verge of the 20th anniversary of the collapse of the Soviet Union. We set out to explore what did freedom, dignity, and civil society mean to Russians at that time and now. And what do they mean to today's activists - form members of pro-Kremlin youth movements, motorbike racers and rappers to popular theatre directors, radicsl bloggers and anti-corruption campaigners? Are young Russians ready and willing to go to barricades to stand up for the values of 1991?

Almost no one questioned in the documentary could correctly tell the exact location of Moscow's Free Russia Square, named so by President Yeltsin right after the defeat of the putsch. Yet the path to it hasn't been forgotten completely. Unexpectedly, we were witnessing and chronicling an unseen rise in local political activism on the eve of State Duma elections. This film offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity to witness the birth of the protest movement in Russia.

Directed by Andrei Egorov

Producers: Nadezhda Ivanenko, Violetta Nichkova

Script: Anna Trefilova, Gleb Cherkasov, Violetta Nichkova

1x95, HD, 2012