Past Events

The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies is proud to announce a new partnership with The Calvert Journal Film Festival (October 18th through October 31, 2021). The Calvert Journal Film Festival provides a journey across Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia through the lens of the region’s independent filmmakers. The festival will screen 35 films across seven categories: documentary feature, animation film, fiction feature, student film, experimental film, short film, and special screenings. In six of the categories, entries will compete for the prize of best film, awarded by a jury of renowned industry figures. The special screenings category, meanwhile, is an out-of-competition group featuring five more boundary-pushing films. Festival screenings will be open to viewers worldwide, and a special audience prize will also be given to one film from across all categories. Films will be available for 56 hours on the festival platform, with tickets for individual films available alongside wider category and festival passes. A special series of articles, interviews, and online events will also run alongside the screenings, to spark new conversations on the region’s challenges, opportunities, and contemporary identity. By showcasing fiction and documentary films that are both authentic and original, the Calvert Journal Film Festival hopes to be a window on a diverse region that is still underrepresented in mainstream film festival programs — celebrating the rich culture and creative output of its 28 countries. As part of our partnership with this film festival, the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies offers a limited number of free category passes on a first-come, first-serve basis, primarily but not exclusively to University of Pittsburgh faculty, students, and staff. HOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE CATEGORY PASSES: Please fill out this survey by OCTOBER 1 indicating which films you are interested in seeing. Sent to your email address by OCTOBER 15, your category passes will provide you with access to all films in the categories in which you expressed interest. Due to the limited availability, please request passes only for the categories you are committed to viewing. For more information on the films, supporting events, and other questions, please visit the official festival website: https://www.calvertjournal.com/filmfestival. Films include:
Otto the Barbarian (2020): Teenage punk Otto deals with the guilt he feels for his girlfriend's death, while inhabiting the void she left behind.
Isaac (2019): In Soviet Lithuania, a film director's retelling of the Kaunas pogrom forces the protagonist to face his past.
Dawn (2015): An idealistic young man living on a commune in Soviet Latvia betrays his father, sparking a series of unexpected events.
I work at the Cemetery (2020): As 35-year-old cemetery worker Sasha gets involved in his customers' tragedies, he is forced to confront his own past traumas.
Nova Lituania (2019): 1938. As war looms, a geographer proposed creating a "backup Lituania" overseas to keep the country's inhabitants safe.

The University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies is proud to announce a new partnership with The Calvert Journal Film Festival (October 18th through October 31, 2021). The Calvert Journal Film Festival provides a journey across Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia through the lens of the region’s independent filmmakers. The festival will screen 35 films across seven categories: documentary feature, animation film, fiction feature, student film, experimental film, short film, and special screenings. In six of the categories, entries will compete for the prize of best film, awarded by a jury of renowned industry figures. The special screenings category, meanwhile, is an out-of-competition group featuring five more boundary-pushing films. Festival screenings will be open to viewers worldwide, and a special audience prize will also be given to one film from across all categories. Films will be available for 56 hours on the festival platform, with tickets for individual films available alongside wider category and festival passes. A special series of articles, interviews, and online events will also run alongside the screenings, to spark new conversations on the region’s challenges, opportunities, and contemporary identity. By showcasing fiction and documentary films that are both authentic and original, the Calvert Journal Film Festival hopes to be a window on a diverse region that is still underrepresented in mainstream film festival programs — celebrating the rich culture and creative output of its 28 countries. As part of our partnership with this film festival, the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies offers a limited number of free category passes on a first-come, first-serve basis, primarily but not exclusively to University of Pittsburgh faculty, students, and staff. HOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE CATEGORY PASSES: Please fill out this survey by OCTOBER 1 indicating which films you are interested in seeing. Sent to your email address by OCTOBER 15, your category passes will provide you with access to all films in the categories in which you expressed interest. Due to the limited availability, please request passes only for the categories you are committed to viewing. For more information on the films, supporting events, and other questions, please visit the official festival website: https://www.calvertjournal.com/filmfestival. Films include: Spring (2020): Trapped by the Covid-19 pandemic, 14 people seek joy in self-isolation.
Box of Matches (2020): Twenty years ago, one group of DJs brought soul, funk, and hip-hop to Moscow. Now, a documentary is telling their story.
Routes (2021): A journey across the Balkan Route through the eyes of the refugees who risk their lives on their way to the EU border.
Dead Souls' Vacation (2020): A famous bass player in Tbilisi finds himself jobless, joyless, and crammed into a one-room apartment with his elderly mother.
Warsaw: A City Divided (2019): Based on a 1941 film and survivors' accounts, A City Divided remembers the wartime tragedies of the Warsaw Ghetto.

Research and International Reconstruction in Afghanistan
October 12th, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format Nikolai A. Condee-Padunov
Research Associate, Lessons Learned Program, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) Nikolai Condee-Padunov is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh with a B.Phil and Global Studies Certificate in 2010. As Research Associate, Nikolai will share some of his experiences and insight into how his former studies, language, and research skills prepared him for his role in international reconstruction. He will also discuss his career selection, trajectory, and advice for future professionals. To Register:
https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcvfuuuqzojHdHD_9N62QTpwS6Wzob-YICB Sponsored by: Asian Studies Center, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies, European Studies Center, and Global Studies Center

Presenting Bulgaria’s cultural engagements with multiple actors in the Third World, this talk by Dr. Theodora Dragostinova (Ohio State University) highlights the global reach of state socialism, demonstrates the existence of vibrant partnerships along an East-South axis during the 1970s, and challenges notions of late socialism as the prelude to communist collapse in eastern Europe. Zoom registration: https://osu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tXaeNufPSGKoJM2a3-WIXQ This event is part of the Area Studies Lecture Series presented by the 2018-2021 U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies grant recipients for Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia.

In the summer of 2019, Hong Kong-- former British colony, current special administrative region of the People's Republic of China-- was swept up by a large, sustained protest movement. The spark that lit this "revolution of our time" as protestors have deemed it was an extradition treaty with China, but quickly evolved into a broader movement for a more democratically representative government and autonomy from the People's Republic of China. In a stunning backlash against the movement, the PRC government announced they would unilaterally enact a sweeping national security law, quickly marking much of the previous year's protest movement illegal. In the past year, activists, lawyers, elected officials have been arrested and NGOs and media outlets shuttered at a dizzying pace, fundamentally altering the civic, legal, and cultural landscape of the city. Drawing upon Hong Kong's long history of grassroots activism-- and backlash against it-- from the early twentieth century through the present, this talk will offer a historical view of how protest became a cherished human right and a locus of popular power in Hong Kong, using this history to discuss the implications of the national security law on human rights in the city today.

Navigating Online Global Efforts During Covid Time
September 23rd, 6pm-7pm, Virtual Format Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik
Senior Director -Learning & Evaluation, Alliance for Peacebuilding Jessica Baumgardner-Zuzik will discuss execution of global efforts in a post-covid workplace and moving to the PA countryside from Washington, DC, while adjusting to online work. Jessica works in the field of peacebuilding in conflict-affected settings, specifically economic development and humanitarian efforts with the World Bank and UN. Some of her research endeavors include economic empowerment, MenEngage, family planning, gender and macroeconomic planning, maternal and infant health, and cross-sector gender involvement in the industry. Jessica is fluent in French and holds a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and Foreign Languages from Juniata College and an MA in Economics from the University of San Francisco. To Register: https://pitt.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0qduyvqD4uH9LdtI6bVecYsWVAPdKaIDhL Sponsored by: Asian Studies Center, Center for African Studies, Center for Latin American Studies, Center for Russian, East European, & Eurasian Studies, European Studies Center, and Global Studies Center