The Big Video Pirate

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Joan decided she needed to find out who was behind this. She asked a russian friend to buy all the animation devites she saw. The friend agreed, and then told joan that one shopkeeper had invited her to return in a few weeks because they were expecting a lot of new inventory. So Joan put together a team, a team of russians. Some were actors. She wrote back stories for each of them. Asked one actress to play named natalia. Natalia's back story was that she and her husband were opening a russian video store in paloalto. They en't going to do anything for us. It was just a small business,. which

When Joan Borsten married actor Oleg Vidov, also known as “the Soviet Robert Redford,” he introduced her to beautiful Soviet animations created in Moscow’s Soyuzmultfilm studio, like Hedgehog in the Fog, by Yuri Norstein. Joan and Oleg eventually acquired the rights to distribute the films outside of the former Soviet Union. One day, Joan realized someone was undercutting their business, and she devised a very Hollywood solution. We talk with Joan Borsten, Andre Violentyev, and former FBI Special Agent and current private investigator, Jake Schmidt.

You can learn more about Joan Borsten’s late husband, “the Soviet Robert Redford” in her new documentary, based on his autobiography. It’s called “The Oleg Vidov Story.”

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