Victor Fainberg. Madly in Dissent, is a portrait of one of the participants in the demonstration against the occupation of Czechoslovakia on Red Square on August 25, 1968. Fainberg, at his home in France, tells his story starting with his childhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, in the 1930s, through his public criticism of the Soviet regime, and his efforts on behalf of political prisoners and against the misuse of psychiatry. The film incorporates unique archival footage from Soviet, British, and Czech archives. It also includes the illustrations by artist Nyusia Krasovitskaya, granddaughter of Natalia Gorbanevskaya and Pavel Litvinov.

The filmmakers, Ksenia Sakharnova and Kirill Sakharnov, who currently live in Poland, wrote about the film: “Our task is to preserve, through the means of a documentary film, the invaluable testimony of Soviet dissidents, human rights activists and witnesses to the unpunished crimes of the Soviet regime for future generations, so that these crimes are not repeated. Today's Russia and its repressive and authoritarian course, asks us to return to the roots, spirit and ethics of the Soviet dissident movement. Victor Fainberg’s dissidence is an inspiration for today. With the ongoing war in Ukraine, the film has taken on a new dimension: it raises pressing moral and political questions about our own responsibility. The parallels between 1968 and today are striking.”

A Q&A with Michaela Stoilova, a Czech scholar of Russian dissent and a friend of Victor Fainberg, a collaborator on the documentary, will follow after the film.

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