Home > Events > Letter to Anna: The Story of Journalist Anna Politkovskaya's Death

Letter to Anna: The Story of Journalist Anna Politkovskaya's Death

A documentary film screening and discussion

Saturday, February 13, 2010
7:30 PM
Billy Wilder Theater
Hammer Museum
Los Angeles, CA United States

Letter to Anna - 84 min., Switzerland, 2008; Directed by Eric Bergkraut; Narrated by Susan Sarandon.

"Letter to Anna" is a portrait of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was shot dead in her apartment building in 2006. The film chronicles her life and work: bravely criticizing Vladimir Putin's policies and administration, and Russia's actions in Chechnya. Over a dozen liberal Russian journalists have been murdered in the past decade alone, meaning the threat to Anna's life was one she faced daily. Extracts of interviews with Anna two years prior to her death are particularly significant, with the writer making 'matter-of-fact' references to the possibility of her execution. Interviews with her son, daughter, and ex-husband help build a very human profile of a an exceptional life.

Discussants: Marina Goldovskaya (UCLA, Film, Television, and Digital Media), Elena Milashina (Special Projects Editor, Novaya Gazeta, Winner of Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism), and Anne Nivat (Award-Winning Freelance War Reporter and Author)

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Center for European and Eurasian Studies, UCLA International Institute, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Film and Television Archive, UCLA School of Law International Human Rights Program, Human Rights Watch