My Grandmother Fanny Kaplan

Biography, Drama, History, 110 min
In Ukrainian with English subtitles.

Q&A with the film director Olena Demyanenko to follow.

Synopsis: 1917, Crimea. A blind woman Fanny Kaplan (Kateryna
Molchanova) is pardoned after serving ten years for terrorism at a hard labour camp and goes to a rest home in Yevpatoria. There, Fanny meets a doctor Dmitriy Ilyich Ulyanov (Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi). He is incidentally the brother of Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin). Fanny’s relationship with Dmitriy Ilyich develops into a love affair – soon he abandons his wife and starts living with Fanny. To his discontent, Fanny has to leave him for several weeks and go to Kharkiv, where she undergoes a successful surgery to restore her eyesight. On her way back to Crimea, she meets her first love, a former bandit and anarchist Viktor Garskiy (Ivan Brovin), the man, whose blame she took for a failed terrorist plot a decade earlier. After spending the night together, Garskiy informs Fanny that he is a Bolshevik revolutionary with no time to spare for personal life and then promptly leaves. After a prolonged desperate search in Moscow, Fanny finally finds Garskiy. It turns out that he is now a member of the secret police, is married and has a son. However, Fanny agrees to become his mistress. On 30th August 1918, Fanny comes to the Mikhelson factory for a date with Garskiy. And at that time and place the assassination attempt on Vladimir Lenin takes place. Was Fanny the one who shot Lenin?

General Admission $15
Students $10
UIA Members free

Reception to follow

From the Ukrainian Institute of America.