Leonid Parfenov: Premiere of ''Nabokov, a Good Russian''
Fr 04.12.2026 • 19:00 - 22:00Mere Kultuurikeskus, Tallinn
On 4 December at Mere Kultuurikeskus in Tallinn, Leonid Parfenov will host the premiere screening of his new documentary “Nabokov, a Good Russian” and present the newly released volume “Namedni. 2021–2025”. The screening will be followed by an audience Q&A and a book signing. The event will last approximately three hours.
Nabokov, a Good Russian
Vladimir Nabokov, the last great figure of Russian literature to become a classic of international modernism, left his native Petrograd as early as 1917, and his entire career unfolded in exile. Yet he remained a committed Russian patriot and saw himself as an heir to the traditions of Pushkin and Tolstoy. He regarded Soviet rule — and the “socialist realist” literature it produced — as a historical aberration that would, sooner or later, come to an end.
This is perhaps the most important lesson that today’s Russian émigrés — now considered the fifth wave of emigration — can draw from Nabokov’s life and from the experience of the first wave: the confidence to stand by one’s convictions despite the regime ruling one’s homeland and despite the compatriots who support it.
The film was shot in Berlin, London, Paris, at Cornell University in the United States, and in Montreux, Switzerland. In the dramatized sequences, Vladimir and Véra Nabokov are played by Maksim Sukhanov and Chulpan Khamatova. The film also features Noize MC and Monetochka, performing songs they wrote to Nabokov’s poetry.
Namedni. 2021–2025
The television project “Namedni” began in 1997 as a documentary series about the events, people and phenomena that defined the Soviet era. A book edition followed in 2009, and twelve volumes have been published since. “Namedni. 2021–2025” is the first book in the series to be published outside Russia.
The new volume covers the first half of the 2020s — a period that, looking back today, can seem almost entirely dominated by a single subject: the war. The so-called “special military operation,” which has now lasted longer than the Great Patriotic War, the Prigozhin mutiny, the capture of Bakhmut, Operation Spiderweb and the attacks on the Belgorod region all feature in the book. Yet the project’s signature “events, people, phenomena” approach also makes room for Labubu and Ozempic, “The Boy’s Word: Blood on the Asphalt” and quadrobers, artificial intelligence and Vanya Dmitrienko.
With 242 defining phenomena and more than 570 illustrations, the volume brings together everything without which it is impossible to picture these years — and even harder to understand them.
The author will sign every copy of “Namedni. 2021–2025” purchased during the evening.
About the author
Leonid Parfenov is a journalist, television presenter and creator of documentary projects including “Namedni”, “Russian Empire”, “Living Pushkin”, “Ptitsa-Gogol”, “Russia in Bloom”, “The Eye of God”, “Russian Jews”, “Russian Georgians” and others.
Nabokov, a Good Russian
Vladimir Nabokov, the last great figure of Russian literature to become a classic of international modernism, left his native Petrograd as early as 1917, and his entire career unfolded in exile. Yet he remained a committed Russian patriot and saw himself as an heir to the traditions of Pushkin and Tolstoy. He regarded Soviet rule — and the “socialist realist” literature it produced — as a historical aberration that would, sooner or later, come to an end.
This is perhaps the most important lesson that today’s Russian émigrés — now considered the fifth wave of emigration — can draw from Nabokov’s life and from the experience of the first wave: the confidence to stand by one’s convictions despite the regime ruling one’s homeland and despite the compatriots who support it.
The film was shot in Berlin, London, Paris, at Cornell University in the United States, and in Montreux, Switzerland. In the dramatized sequences, Vladimir and Véra Nabokov are played by Maksim Sukhanov and Chulpan Khamatova. The film also features Noize MC and Monetochka, performing songs they wrote to Nabokov’s poetry.
Namedni. 2021–2025
The television project “Namedni” began in 1997 as a documentary series about the events, people and phenomena that defined the Soviet era. A book edition followed in 2009, and twelve volumes have been published since. “Namedni. 2021–2025” is the first book in the series to be published outside Russia.
The new volume covers the first half of the 2020s — a period that, looking back today, can seem almost entirely dominated by a single subject: the war. The so-called “special military operation,” which has now lasted longer than the Great Patriotic War, the Prigozhin mutiny, the capture of Bakhmut, Operation Spiderweb and the attacks on the Belgorod region all feature in the book. Yet the project’s signature “events, people, phenomena” approach also makes room for Labubu and Ozempic, “The Boy’s Word: Blood on the Asphalt” and quadrobers, artificial intelligence and Vanya Dmitrienko.
With 242 defining phenomena and more than 570 illustrations, the volume brings together everything without which it is impossible to picture these years — and even harder to understand them.
The author will sign every copy of “Namedni. 2021–2025” purchased during the evening.
About the author
Leonid Parfenov is a journalist, television presenter and creator of documentary projects including “Namedni”, “Russian Empire”, “Living Pushkin”, “Ptitsa-Gogol”, “Russia in Bloom”, “The Eye of God”, “Russian Jews”, “Russian Georgians” and others.
Price information
An additional service fee per ticket may be added to the ticket prices listed in the pricing information. The final ticket price shown at checkout always includes this fee.
Prices vary between 25 € to 110 €, depending on the seat.
Duriation approximately 3 hours.