Yuriy Gruzinov is a Russian native who left Russia to live in Ukraine as a young adult. Yuriy is a cinematographer by trade and became one of the founding members of the Babylon’13 crew that began making short documentary films from the outset of the Maidan movement.

On January 22, 2014 Yuriy was wounded with 3 bullets while recording the Grushevskogo Street clashes. Upon recovery, he continued shooting documentaries about the Ukrainian protest movement and subsequent developments (including Russia’s invasion of Crimea). On March 16, 2014 Yuriy and his crew were captured while filming a documentary about the Crimean ‘referendum’; they were held by the separatists in Simferopol, Crimea for 7 days. When held captive, they were beaten and tortured for refusing (in truth, not simply being able) to provide details on offices and leaders of the “Right Sector.” Shortly after he was released, Yuriy came to the United States.

Born and raised in Lviv, Iryna Vushko is a Professor of History at Hunter College. Her teaching interests cover modern Eastern Europe, modern Russia, the Soviet Union, comparative history of empires (Russian and Austrian), and interwar Europe. Her research extends to the Austrian Empire and successor states, imperial borderlands, modern administration, nationalism, and conflict and coexistence in interwar Europe. Her first monograph, The Politics of Cultural Retreat: Austrian Bureaucracy in Galicia, 1772-1867, will be published by Yale University Press. Professor Vushko received her Ph.D. in History from Yale University in 2008.

For more information: http://events.post-gazette.com/pittsburgh_pa/events/show/371793791-cinem...