Yuri Kara’s adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s THE MASTER AND MARGARITA is part of Russian festival examining literature, film, and more
Multiple locations throughout Manhattan
Through June 6
Admission: free
causaartium.org
The inaugural Festival of Russian Arts is under way, comprising special events around the city through June 6. Officially subtitled “New York’s Entry into the Rich and Dynamic World of Russian Art and Culture,” the festival includes film screenings, literary readings, panel discussions, and receptions. On Saturday, May 26, at 4:00, playwright Yaroslava Pulinovich, translator John Freedman, and director Tamilla Woodard will participate in “I Won! A Staged Reading and Open Discussion” at the Little Times Square Theatre, featuring a pair of one-act, one-woman shows, I Won! and Natasha’s Dream. On May 29 at 5:30, Pulinovich will join Irina Bogatyreva, Polina Klyukina, and moderator Jenny Lyn Bader for the talk “Shattered Icons: The Demise of Heroes in America and Russia” at the New York Public Library’s Berger Forum. On May 31, Cathy Nepomnyashchy will lead the discussion “Writers at the Flashpoint: New Russian Writing & the Riddle of the Caucasus” at the Connor Room at the Mid-Manhattan Library with Arslan Khasavov, Alisa Ganieva, and Sergei Shargunov. From June 1 to June 6, “Diverging Perspectives: Filming Russian Literature in Russia and in the West” will screen various versions of such literary classics as Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov (by Richard Brooks, Petr Zelenka, and Ivan Pyryev), Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat (by Alberto Lattuada, Grigori Kozintsev & Leonid Trauberg, Aleksey Batalov, and Michael McCarthy), and Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita (by Yuri Kara, Paul Bryers, and Andrzej Wajda) at the Tribeca Grand Cinema and the NYU Cantor Film Center, with talks before and after most presentations. On June 2, Martin Amis and Olga Slavnikova will discuss “Side by Side: A Conversation with Writers from Different Worlds” in the NYPL’s South Court Auditorium, moderated by Leonard Lopate. All events are free and open to the public.