Khruschev's son to visit Cohasset
to recall end of the Cold War

By Robert Knox, Globe correspondent

When documentary filmmaker John Michalczyk focused his lens on the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, an important source was a Brown University senior fellow who shares a prominent family name in Soviet history — Sergei Khrushchev.

The son of former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev will speak this Sunday about his memory of events that took place when Soviet leaders decided to stand down from a generation of conflict with the West.

The event, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Scituate, will raise money for Michalczyk’s series of films on major international conflict-resolution issues, along with celebrating the Berlin Wall’s dismantling.

The schedule includes screen clips from Michalczyk’s film (‘‘Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall’’), which premiered last fall; music from the film’s score by Ralf Yusuf Gawlick of Boston College; an appearance by Boston College conflict-resolution scholar the Reverend Raymond Helmick; plus Khrushchev’s recollection of his father’s perspective on why the wall went up.

Codirector of the film studies program at Boston College, Michalczyk has made eight films in his series. The money raised this weekend will help develop a curriculum so that colleges and think tanks can use the films and an accompanying textbook to study examples in peace-making, high-stakes negotiations, and lasting settlements between seemingly irreconcilable parties.

‘‘The films are on human rights, social and political issues,’’ Michalczyk said. His series also includes films about the Mafia, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, South Africa, and Kosovo.
Dr. Michael Johnson of the Rotary Club of Scituate said his service organization’s interest in Michalczyk’s films is founded in Rotary International’s programs that support world peace.

Since becoming club president, Johnson, a physician and teacher at Harvard Medical School, has promoted Michalczyk’s work by sponsoring festivals showing five of his films in Scituate and Plymouth in recent years.

‘‘Professor Michalczyk’s mission of producing excellent conflict resolution films to be used in conflict studies as well as for on-the-ground peace-building has become a nice fit with Rotary International,’’ Johnson said by e-mail.

The Berlin Wall film developed from an invitation by the German government to Boston College to develop a program to observe the 20th anniversary of the fall of the wall.

BC hosted a commemoration program, and Michalczyk rounded up funding for a documentary, some from Germany, some from his college.

Members of the college community contributed their talents, narrating the film, doing research, and writing the music. A crew flew to Germany to conduct interviews with eye witnesses, including Baron Hermann von Richthofen, the German ambassador to England at the time of the fall of Soviet Communism.

‘‘Getting the funding is the hardest part,’’ Michalczyk said. His Berlin Wall film cost $190,000 to make. He compares the scope of the enterprise to Public Broadcasting’s Frontline documentaries, which are budgeted at $350,000. The contributions of skills by members of the Boston College community help keep costs down.

"Breaking Through: Remembering the Berlin Wall and the End of the Cold War" takes place at 6:30 this Sunday at the Red Lion Inn, 71 South Main St., Cohasset. The cost is $75 for cocktails and hors d’oeuvres; $150 dinner. 781-826-6831