'What Are We Living For?', a 1967 Irish television documentary, explored the lives of young scientists and artists in the Soviet Union. Many interviews and footage were shot in Novosibirsk's Akademgorodok district, with Anatoly Burshtein being one of the main characters. The film was optimistic but not propagandist, and showed young people who were cosmopolitan, idealistic, independent thinkers and fluent in English. When Dad died, I wanted to publish "What are we living for" here. To do so, I needed the director's permission. That's how I found Lelia Doolan. She responded quickly and very warmly; I really wanted to get to know her better. I was motivated not only by her films, but also by her biography. I thought I could see parallels between the way she and my father lived their lives on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. Doolan is still active and celebrated her 90th birthday by skydiving from 4,000 metres to raise funds for Médecins Sans Frontières, working in war zones ang raised €28,000. My sister Maya and I met Lelia Doolan in May 2025, which was a wonderful experience. Our conversation with her in English can be found here:

And the movie itself you'll find in  MEMENTOS: https://www.mykeeper.com/BurshteinAnatoly/mementos?mementos=197e6e34-2a8e-11ef-96a5-02857839a3a9

The photos are images from the movie.