After over four decades studying, writing about, and traveling to the former Soviet Union, Cullen Distinguished Professor of Economics Paul R. Gregory jumped at the chance to adapt his work into a documentary film. “Women of the Gulag” was produced entirely in Russia and features original interviews with female survivors of Stalin’s slave-labor camps. The film was among ten in its category to be shortlisted for an Oscar nomination.

Gregory and his team made “Women of the Gulag” with a sense of urgency, believing it was their last chance to preserve firsthand accounts from those who witnessed Stalin’s human-rights abuses. 

“At the start of the project, we were warned that elderly women would not make interesting subjects,” Gregory said. “It turned out they were fascinating subjects on camera. Of the six ‘last witnesses’ we interviewed, three have since passed away.”

Leading Hollywood pundits predicted an Oscar nomination for “Women of the Gulag,” but the film was not among the five nominees chosen in the Best Documentary Short category. Nevertheless, it performed exceptionally well against a field of 106 films competing for nominations, and it has continued to garner attention around the world. Although “Women of the Gulag” has been largely ignored by Russia’s state-run media, the country’s free press has offered widespread coverage and acclaim.

“Russia’s liberal press has been writing about the film nonstop,” Gregory said. “We will show the film at the Moscow Film Festival and the Gulag Museum of Moscow. There is also a London premiere at Barbican Centre and the Pushkin House in late April. We are organizing dates for Harvard and Yale.”

To learn more about “Women of the Gulag,” visit the film’s website.