Russian Film Screening: Stilyagi ("Hipsters") by Valeriy Todorovskiy

Featuring an all-starcast, dynamic script and slick cinematography, Stilyagi takes the viewer on an epic joy ride through 1955 Moscow, two years after Stalin’s death. At the height of the Cold War in the Soviet Union, the titular stilyagi were a bunch of Western-oriented hipsters who loved jazz, exhibited questionable morals and enjoyed dressing with style. Mels (Anton Shagin), a seemingly brainwashed member of the Communist youth group Komsomol, falls in love with Polza (Oksana Akinshina) while raiding an illegal underground nightclub . Polza invites Mels to join her and her friends on “Broadway” and Mels is dumbfounded when he shows up to the party dressed plainly and looking apologetic. Striving to win Polza’s attention, Mels utimately abandons Komsomol and joins the stilyagl, chasing after Polza comically throughout the rest of the film as he learns to play the saxophone, dance jazz,and dress like a movie star. Introduced by Anna Winestein, Visiting Researcher, Center for the Study of Europe