Our film “Trojan Jazz” has won the Best Documentary Feature award at the LA Indie Film Festival! 
Music plays a key role in the festival’s program, and we are incredibly excited that our story resonated with both the participants and the jury! 
Summer 1962. The height of the Cold War. The first American jazz orchestra is touring the USSR. According to one of the film’s characters, if Lenin had emerged from the Mausoleum, it would have been less of a shock than the appearance of Benny Goodman on Red Square. Jazz became a symbol of freedom in a totalitarian country. The film reflects on the tour’s impact 60 years later, featuring modern Russia, where KGB-like authorities confiscate parks from elderly artists, and Ukraine, which is fighting for its freedom. Unique footage of the pre-war city of Irpin, destroyed by Russian troops in the spring of 2022, serves as a poignant reminder of the ongoing struggle for independence.
