BREAD AND SALT

In July, 1985, Irina Muravyova gave up her Soviet citizenship, and emigrated to the USA. In the same year, Michael Gorbachev came to power. During the following six years, enormous changes took place in both Irina's life and in her former homeland. In the summer of 1991, Irina returns to Moscow, her hometown, to witness those changes, to visit her mother's grave, and to determine if one can, indeed, go home again. Accompanying her is her good friend Richard Lourie, an American Sovietologist. Separately and together, they rediscover Russia, circa 1991. They meet with friends and acquaintances covering a fascinating cross section of modern Moscow from Ravecca, the communist to Hermann, the young millionaire. They encounter faith healers, circus performers, politicians, and Russian yuppies. The journey is personal, but set in the backdrop of a nation on the brink of turmoil, transcendence or both, Together they travel, to see, to record, and to fulfill the Russian proverb, “Eat bread and sait, and always tell the truth.”