FAR AWAY FROM ST. PETERSBURG International Authors and Films

In Latvian director Alexander Hahn’s man-with-no-country comedy, writer lwan Rabczynski, born in St. Petersburg, Florida, writes cheap novels with the Russian touch under the pen-name “J.F Romanoff.” His recent. unpublished novel, a supposedly autobiographical tragedy, is liberally sprinkled with words like “Leningrad” and “samovar.” Seeking inspiration, the author travels to Norway, where he meets a Russian swimsuit model who invites him to a hunger-strike in Moscow Seeking the Russian soul, he packs his cliches and sets off towards self-discovery A love affair develops between lwan and the model. Dascha, and their relationship transforms into the stuff of genuine melodrama.