In 1960, aboard his motor home Rocinante, writer John Steinbeck and his poodle Charley roamed through the United States of America for eleven weeks —thirty four states, almost 10,000 miles—, trying to understand the mind and soul of its inhabitants. “Travels with Charley in Search of America” (1962) is the book that recounts this epic journey and exposes Steinbeck's experiences, impressions and opinions.

John Steinbeck's USA

It was one of the great crimes of the Second World War: from 1941 to 1944, a total of 872 days, the siege and starvation of Leningrad by the German Wehrmacht on Hitler's orders lasted. Over a million people fell victim to the blockade, most of them dying of hunger. Countless of these starving people wrote diaries with the last of their strength, and cameramen filmed in the paralyzed city. Evidence from the hell of the siege, many of the film recordings, but above all the written memories on which this documentary on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the liberation is based, remained under lock and key after the war. The voices of those who had suffered through this terrible time should not be heard by anyone, because they did not fit the pathos of the Leningrad heroic song that was officially sung. Most of the recordings come from women. The writers feared neither the enemy nor the Communist Party or Stalin, who often proved incompetent in providing for the population.