Gulag Eros of the Russian Mind: Sex in the Soviet Union

Sundance Grand Jury Prize Winner Chad Gracia presents "Sex in the Soviet Union: Gulag Eros of the Russian Mind," a new film that explores the ways authoritarianism warps human sexuality. The tale is told through the life story of Dr. Mikhail Stern, the first sexologist in the USSR. He worked at a small clinic and dedicated his life to fighting against the ignorance and sexual terror of Soviet society.

Dr. Stern was born with the Russian Revolution, was slated for execution by Stalin in the infamous "Jewish Doctors’ Plot" in 1953, was sent to the Gulag in 1974 after a famous show trial, and was eventually allowed to emigrate to Amsterdam after an international campaign led by Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone De Beauvoir.

While serving in the gulag, Dr. Stern began collecting his notes on the history of sexuality in the Soviet Union, as well as focusing on individuals whose lives encapsulate the horrors of Soviet sexuality. These include Alexandra Kollontai, the first female ambassador of the modern era and an iron-willed general in the battle to create sexual utopia in the new communist state; a pair of gay men living openly as husbands during the 1920s; a young girl who fought back against KGB head Lavrentiy Beria’s attempted rape; a grandmother who attempted to save her granddaughter’s life after a botched illegal abortion; and the only sex spy ever to successfully turn the tables on her KGB handler and escape to the West.

We bring these stories to the screen through re-enactments that follow closely the primary sources and Dr. Stern’s notes, and which humanize stories that illuminate not only the totalitarianism of the USSR, but challenges confronting the world today.

After his release, Dr. Stern settled in Amsterdam to write the book which inspired this film. He was killed during a brutal sexual assault, a mystery our team will unravel in a subsequent film.

The arc of Dr. Stern’s life raises compelling questions about the persistence of tyranny in the minds of those who fight it as well as the complexities of the human soul.

  • Chad Gracia
    Director
    The Russian Woodpecker
  • Victoria Trofimenko
    Writer
    Brothers: The Final Confession
  • Artem Ryzhykov
    Cinematography
    The Russian Woodpecker
  • Marina Orekhova
    Producer
    Babushkas of Chernobyl
  • Darya Plakhtiy
    Key Cast
    "Ninel Tregubova"
    Falling (Стрiмголов)
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature, Short, Television
  • Genres:
    Historical Fiction, Human Rights, Hybrid, biopic
  • Runtime:
    60 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 31, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Chad Gracia

Chad Gracia worked in New York theater for 20 years as a producer and dramaturg before directing his debut film, The Russian Woodpecker. This documentary about Ukraine’s 2014 Revolution of Dignity won multiple awards worldwide, including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (2015), and was sold to Amazon. His Kyiv-based production company, GraciaFilms, focuses on tales of totalitarianism in the USSR and Russia. He has several projects in post-production, including Putin's Mammoth, King Trump and Sex in the Soviet Union. Since February 2022 he has been raising funds for actors and other creative professionals fighting on the front lines to save Ukraine.

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Director Statement

While the issues the film explores -- gay life during the 1920s (when homosexuality was decriminalized in the USSR), illegal abortions during the reign of Stalin, sexual assault and immunity by those in power, and sexpionage -- are drawn from true stories of a dead regime, each has important lessons and relevance to current trends as Soviet nostalgia grows in Russia and authoritarianism re-appears across the Western world.