Scene from the film ‘900 days’ painter Lenina Dmitrievna

The siege of Leningrad is one of history’s finest examples of the triumph of the human spirit. During those 900 days of the Nazi siege most people’s rations were too meagre to sustain life – and yet half the city managed to survive. Dutch filmmaker Jessica Gorter’s sensitive film 900 Days helps to explain how. Told through interviews cut with archive footage, she allows the survivors to speak for themselves. We invite you to come and hear their moving testimonies and take part in an open discussion which will follow the screening.

Caroline Walton is the author of several books on Russia and the USSR, including The Besieged – a story of survival (Biteback Publishing, 2011), based on interviews with survivors of the siege of Leningrad, focusing on those involved in the arts. Her book is the tale of how creativity enabled people to survive the unsurvivable. Caroline also works as a Russian to English literary translator. She is married to a grandson of a siege survivor.