Ya-Ha

Director: Rachid Nougmanov
Screenwriters: Rachid Nugmanov

Institute History

  • 1990 Sundance Film Festival

Description

Opening with a rip-roaring club performance of "My Generation" by the Alice Group, Ya-Ha is a kaleidoscopic living diary of the underground rock scene in Leningrad just before perestroika, when rock music officially "did not exist." Many stars of the music scene are in the film, which features several of their hit songs. We follow the rock fans through the streets of Leningrad to communal apartments, cafes and clandestine performances. Often confused for a documentary, this gritty, improvisational fiction film presents a rare, unromanticized glimpse of Soviet underground youth culture.

Ya-Ha has never been distributed in the U.S.S.R., yet it has become something of an underground legend: a movie that many have heard about, yet few have actually seen. Ironically Ya-Ha is the first-and last-film about the underground rock scene; by the end of 1986, these groups had become "legitimate" and gone "above ground."

Saturday, January 20, 10:00 a.m.
Prospector Square Theatre

Wednesday, January 24, 7:15 p.m.
Holiday Village Cinema II

$5.00

— Forrest Ciesol

Screening Details

Credits

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