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After the end of World War II, Venezuela received about one million refugees from Europe, mostly Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians. Along with them, several thousand citizens of the defunct Russian Empire (White Russian émigrés), for whom Venezuela became a third home, as well as those who had left Soviet Russia, came to Venezuela in search of a new life.
A Russian colony was formed in Caracas (in the Altavista district), a wooden and later a stone Orthodox church was built, which later became the center of attraction for Russian emigrants. Centers of Russian emigration were also formed in other cities of Venezuela – Valencia and Barquisimeto.
After almost eight decades, we will meet the descendants of the Russian colony in Venezuela to recreate its history through a kaleidoscope of stories and memories. The film will show key places of Russian emigration life in Venezuela in the second half of the twentieth century: the Altavista neighborhood, Pokrovskaya and Uspenskaya churches, the Russian section of the South Cemetery in Caracas, etc.; archival video and photographic materials.
The film presents a different side of Venezuela. The country, now facing a mass exodus of its own citizens, was once a warmly welcoming nation that became a new home for millions of Europeans. However, it is hardly possible to escape from communism...
After the end of World War II, Venezuela received about one million refugees from Europe, mostly Spaniards, Portuguese and Italians. Along with them, several thousand citizens of the defunct Russian Empire (White Russian émigrés), for whom Venezuela became a third home, as well as those who had left Soviet Russia, came to Venezuela in search of a new life.
A Russian colony was formed in Caracas (in the Altavista district), a wooden and later a stone Orthodox church was built, which later became the center of attraction for Russian emigrants. Centers of Russian emigration were also formed in other cities of Venezuela – Valencia and Barquisimeto.
After almost eight decades, we will meet the descendants of the Russian colony in Venezuela to recreate its history through a kaleidoscope of stories and memories. The film will show key places of Russian emigration life in Venezuela in the second half of the twentieth century: the Altavista neighborhood, Pokrovskaya and Uspenskaya churches, the Russian section of the South Cemetery in Caracas, etc.; archival video and photographic materials.
The film presents a different side of Venezuela. The country, now facing a mass exodus of its own citizens, was once a warmly welcoming nation that became a new home for millions of Europeans. However, it is hardly possible to escape from communism...