''Tovarisch, I Am Not Dead'' is a documentary film by

Stuart Urban Stuart Urban (born 1958) is a British film and television director. Early life and education Urban was educated at Rokeby Preparatory School, Kingston upon Thames and King's College School, Wimbledon. At the age of 13, he became the youngest ...

about his father Garri Urban (1916–2004), and also the title of an autobiographical book by Garri Urban describing his survival in, and escape from,

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. The film was released in 2007. The book was originally published in 1980 by

Weidenfeld & Nicolson Weidenfeld & Nicolson Ltd (established 1949), often shortened to W&N or Weidenfeld, is a British publisher of fiction and reference books. It has been a division of the French-owned Orion Publishing Group since 1991. History George Weidenfeld a ...

and in paperback by Cyclops Vision in 2006. It was published in several foreign language editions. In 1992 Stuart Urban filmed Garri's journey to the former Soviet Union as soon as the Soviet Union disintegrated. The video diaries and interviews that were made by Stuart Urban over 14 years form the core of the film which documents the quest into Garri's

KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...

records and the fate of his family in

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Contributors to the film include

Pulitzer prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...

-winning historian,

Anne Applebaum Anne Elizabeth Applebaum (born July 25, 1964) is an American journalist and historian. She has written extensively about the history of Communism and the development of civil society in Central and Eastern Europe. She has worked at ''The Econo ...

. The film can be categorized as an example of the growing genre of "first person" documentary. The film was awarded the top prize, the Lancia Award, at the Biografilm Festival in June 2007. It also was nominated for the Raindance Award at the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports and promotes British independent cinema and filmmaking talent in United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early November, ...

, and won the World Silver Medal at the New York Festivals. It was furthermore shortlisted for the

Grierson Awards The Grierson Awards are awards set up by The Grierson Trust to recognise innovative and exciting documentary films, created to commemorate the life and work of the pioneering Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson. The inaugural Awards w ...

2008.

References

External links

* British documentary films 2007 films 2000s Russian-language films Documentary films about the Soviet Union in the Stalin era Documentary films about the Holocaust Documentary films about the Gulag 2007 documentary films Weidenfeld & Nicolson books 1980 non-fiction books Films directed by Stuart Urban Films based on biographies 2000s English-language films 2000s British films {{bio-documentary-film-stub