Zaritsas, Russian Women In New York – A Life-Changing Documentary
by Lina Zeldovich on September 29, 2010
Zaritsas: Russian Women in New York – a life-changing documentary by Elena Beloff will be screened on Oct 24 at the Astoria/LIC Film Festival.
Elena Beloff, a graduate of the New School University where she had studied film production, wanted to make movies since she was a little girl in her hometown in Tatarstan, Russia. When she was in high school she came to the USA as an exchange student and returned later to pursue her dreams. While living in New York Elena came across the infamous phenomena of the Russian women stereotype as materialistic gold-diggers and mail-order brides so she decided to make a film to explore the alleged stereotypes. As she was composing her student version of Zaritsas, she worked as an extra on the set of Law & Order where she met Vincent D’Onofrio who also starred in Men in Black and produced The Whole Wide World, and who became interested in her work and sponsored her film.
Elena’s documentary tells the stories of five Russian women in New York. Sasha, an exchange student loved the city and decided to stay. Katya’s dream is to quit her prestigious job at La Perla and become a photographer. The rapper Elena Ouri lives and breathes her songs and music – many about her vision of God. Tatiana rebuilt herself from rape and loss of her husband. Irina, an exotic dancer, takes refuge at a spiritual retreat to rebuild herself, and finds a job in the New York Jewelry district – with the emotional support of all the other women in the film.
