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The Long Way Home

The Long Way Home

(The Long Way Home), Michael Apted / GB, 1989
English, Russian / Czech subtitles, 82 min

Portrait of Boris Grebenshikov, the charismatic leader of underground band Aquarium. The "Russian Dylan" achieved legendary status through a combination of surreal lyrics, eccentric Russian rock & roll and personal magnetism, his Leningrad apartment a graffiti-covered shrine.

In 1989, he was suddenly given the opportunity to make a high profile rock album in New York with Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. Award-winning filmmaker Michael Apted followed this process for months, capturing Grebenshikov's failing struggle to maintain his creative vision in the face of enormous pressures.

A masterful depiction of the unsettling moment when glasnost first allowed the unofficial culture of the Soviet era to emerge, with unforeseen results.

The partner of the screening is the international music film festival Music on Film-Film on Music.