Kharkov

A film still of physicist Alexander Vilenkin from the set of "Dau". He was flown to Kharkov for a week to play the role of a scientist in the movie.

This movie about a Soviet scientist may be the grandest experiment in film history, if it ever gets finished

Dau was filmed in a full-size replica of a Soviet scientific institute featuring real-life physicists, Communist party bosses and former KGB agents. But you might never get the chance to see the results of the huge production.

This movie about a Soviet scientist may be the grandest experiment in film history, if it ever gets finished

Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine may be the next flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine standoff

Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine may be the next flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine standoff
Alina Simone's father, Alexander Vilenkin, at the Kharkov Zoo in 2011.  Vilenkin worked there as a night watchman after he was blacklisted by the KGB in Soviet Ukraine.

This Soviet-born émigré remembers working at the Kharkov zoo

This Soviet-born émigré remembers working at the Kharkov zoo
Crimea

Are you Ukrainian or Russian? It's complicated...

Are you Ukrainian or Russian? It's complicated...