about the talk
In the United States, the majority of Jews consider themselves Jewish by religion and their family's country of origin (American / Israeli / Russian, etc.) their nationality. This is not the case for the Jews of the former Soviet Union -- Jews who fought for their equality for over 100 years, helping to create one and to bring down two empires in the process, but losing most of their culture and religion along the way. For these two million Jews such as myself, what was considered a stigma for hundreds of years may now be key to our survival as a Jewish people in a post-Soviet world.
about the speaker
Boris Kievsky (Борис Эльявич Киевский) was born in Cherkassy, in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. His family came to the U.S. as asylees when he was 6 years old. Boris earned BFA and Post-Graduate degrees in theatre before returning to New York, where he worked primarily as an actor, while also directing several theatre productions. Moving to Los Angeles, Boris made the switch to film and television. As an actor, he has appeared in numerous TV shows and all levels of film from shorts to studio releases. His first short film as writer/director, “Unbreaking Up,” screened at festivals, winning an award for drama; his second, "Purgatory, Inc." is now playing in festivals. Boris has been working on his first feature-length documentary, "Cycles and Revolutions," for over two years -- studying, traveling and interviewing people connected to the history of Soviet Jewry.
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