Elena Beloff wanted to make films ever since she was a little girl in her hometown of Kazan in Tatarstan, Russia. In the big industrial city four hundred miles northeast of Moscow winters were long and harsh, and the summers rolled over you faster than you managed to pull your short-sleeved wardrobe out of the closet. Watching movies was a solace, an escape and a favorite pastime.
When Elena was in high school, she came to the U.S. as an exchange student and fell in love with America. She was determined to come back to pursue her filmmaking dreams in New York. And she did. She returned to study filmmaking at the New School and graduated a few years later, while supporting herself though the program. Elena’s recent documentary, Zaritsas: Russian Women in New York, will be screened at the Astoria/Long Island City Film Festival on October 24. She had originally started the movie as her senior project at the New School, and later developed it into a full-length feature film.
“Filmmaking is my passion,” Elena says. “I chose it because I can communicate my vision, beliefs and love for art through film.”
The idea for the documentary came to Elena as she learned about the infamous stereotype of Russian women as materialistic gold-diggers and mail-order brides. “When I first came to the US, I began hearing stories about Russian mail-order brides and how easy it was to get a Russian wife if you wanted one,” Elena recalls. She says she often heard about Michael Gross’s article “From Russia with Sex,” which depicted Russian women as cold hearted gold-diggers. She also came to know about the Russian strippers’ phenomenon.
“So many girls were doing it that it seemed like a norm,” Elena says. “I became curious about the stereotypes and how and why they developed. Over the years I met Russian women who married or went out with older rich men to better their lives without being really in love. My heart was aching when I saw women in such situations.”
After meeting with Michael Gross and discussing his article, Elena decided to make a film to explore and hopefully refute the alleged stereotypes. She named her work Zaritsas – The Queens, based on a Russian song about women locked in a cage of societal judgment much like the medieval Queens were trapped in their castles. To create her documentary, Elena followed five Russian expatriates: a model Tatiana Lissovskaia from Kiev, a showgirl Sasha Ignatenko from Vladivostok, and three ex-Moscovites: a Sheepshead Bay church rapper Elena Ouri, a La Perla boutique salesperson Katya Chirkina, and a Scores Strip Club dancer Irina Isaeva.
In her film Elena reflects on the old depiction of Soviet females of 1940-1950s as drab, man-like creatures, rebuilding their country after the war. She also explains that when the Soviet Union fell apart in the early nineties, its citizens went through tough economic times while images of Western luxury flooded the country, creating a new cliché: beautiful feminine Natashas who were after the rich and powerful and would do anything for money.
However, as Elena’s film unwraps, it not only dismantles the stereotype, but communicates the five women’s life stories and their aspirations. Sasha came here as an exchange student for a few months and fell in love with New York, deciding to stay for good. Katya’s dream is to quit her prestigious job at La Perla and become a photographer. The rapper Elena Ouri speaks about her creative work, her songs and music, and how they reflect her religious beliefs and her vision of God. Tatiana shares her life experiences: her husband was killed, she was once raped in a night club, and then rebuilt herself through praying. But the most impressive story is Irina’s, who completely reinvents herself by the end of the documentary. She takes refuge at a spiritual retreat to rebuild herself from her exotic dancer’s experience and finally makes a giant leap into a new life. At the end, she finds a job in the New York Diamond District – with the emotional support of the other women in the film. The little cast of five Zaritsas Elena assembled for her documentary, formed a support group of their own, which perhaps will stay together for good.
Elena recalls that while composing her student version of Zaritsas, she worked as an extra on the set of Law & Order: Criminal Intent where she met the actor Vincent D’Onofrio who also starred in Men in Black and produced The Whole Wide World. He became interested in her work. “He saw a trailer and believed in my film,” Elena says. “His production company helped me sponsor it. It took me two years to make it.”
Elena is excited about Zaritsas being part of The First Astoria/LIC International Film Festival. Her aspirations are to make more films, documentary and feature. She is also a trained hypnotist who works at Advanced Hypnosis Center on Park Avenue. Right now she is working on a new documentary film about hypnosis.
Tickets are available through www.astorialicff.com/tickets
