Inspired by the 1980s American soap opera, Santa Barbara, Svetlana became a mail-order bride from post-Soviet Russia to America. She took her two children with her to California to meet a stranger, a man who would soon become her husband and father to her children. The film brings together the audition process, behind- the-scenes footage, archival home movies, scripted scenes, and an interview with the director's mother, Svetlana. This project is an immersive form of visual storytelling that employs memory and performance in equal measure to show the journey of immigrating to America.
Brendan is an earnest, introverted schoolteacher who, aside from his participation in the local choir, has only one passion in his life -- the movies. That is until he meets Trudy, a woman who is gregarious and adventurous beyond his imagination. His entire persona changes as he becomes enveloped in her carefree and sometimes dangerous world.
Santa Barbara is an American television soap opera, first broadcast in the United States on NBC on July 30, 1984, and last aired on January 15, 1993. The show revolves around the eventful lives of the wealthy Capwell family of Santa Barbara, California. Other prominent families featured on the soap were the rival Lockridge family, and the more modest Andrade and Perkins families.
Santa Barbara aired in over 40 countries around the world and is best remembered for its witty dialogue and sometimes tongue-in-cheek situations that often seemed like an affectionate parody of the genre. The show won 24 Daytime Emmy Awards and 18 Soap Opera Digest Awards among various other awards.
