Stephen Fry hunts for Putin-era Russia's next literary giant. Spoiler: they're already legendary.
Who is the new Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, or Gogol waiting to be discovered by the English-speaking world? Hosted by actor, author, and activist Stephen Fry, focuses on six authors whose vibrant, idiosyncratic work continues to gain traction with a global audience: Dmitry Bykov, Mariam Petrosyan, Zakhar Prilepin, Anna Starobinets, Vladimir Sorokin, and Lyudmila Ultiskaya. With contributions from their literary critics, publishers, and peers, the film features extensive interviews with each author.
Writing
Sorokin's gleeful defiance of Putin's cultural norms.
Direction
Intimate access to reclusive literary giants.
Director
Sarah Wallis
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released months before Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, the film's optimism about literary freedom now reads as heartbreaking time capsule.
Mariam Petrosyan's novel 'The House'—featured here—became a cult phenomenon with zero marketing, passed hand-to-hand like Soviet samizdat.
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