First hour: Discussing the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, and previewing the documentary, "War in Ukraine: A View from Inside"
Second hour: 2024 Oscars preview
The death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has sparked protests, concern, and discussion around the world. One of our guests knew Navalny personally and has been similarly targeted for expressing dissent in his native Russia. We talk about what we’ve learned in the last week. We also discuss a forthcoming documentary about war in Ukraine – “War in Ukraine: A View from Inside” – produced by our WXXI colleague, Mikhail Gershteyn. Our guests:
- Dmitry Bykov, inaugural Scholar in Exile in the Humanities Center at the University of Rochester
- Mikhail Gershteyn, native of Ukraine, documentary filmmaker, and senior operations technician and external client services manager at WXXI
- Matthew Lenoe, Ph.D., associate professor of history at the University of Rochester
- Randy Stone, Ph.D., director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester
Then in our second hour, it’s our annual Oscars preview. While some of the initial headlines about this year’s awards were dominated by why critics think “Barbie” actor Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig were “snubbed,” the buzz now is about how 2023 was a strong year for films. What will we see on the Oscar winner list? What deserves to win? And what are your Oscar picks? We discuss it all with our guests:
- Scott Pukos, director of communications for the Little Theatre
- Adam Lubitow, programming director for the Anomaly Film Festival
- Amy Adrion, award-winning film director and writer whose work has screened at the Sundance, SXSW, and Tribeca Film Festivals and on national television; and assistant professor in the School of Film and Animation at RIT
