My Dad Baryshnikov 2011

In Moscow during the turbulent era of Perestroika, the film follows a young boy named Borja Fishkin who grows up on the city’s outskirts, in the Solntsevo district, where change is in the air and uncertainty lingers around every corner. He wrestles with a stubborn sense of inferiority while his days unfold under the watchful eyes of a rapidly shifting world.

Borja lives with his mother, a lively and capable presence who works as a tour guide at Intourist, imbuing their small home with energy and a front-row seat to the city’s evolving rhythms. He attends the prestigious Moscow Choreographic School, a part of the famed Bolshoi Theater, where young dancers train, dream, and push toward a future that holds both promise and pressure.

Conversations at home and at school swirl around a question Borja has never fully resolved: who is his father? His mother insists there is no father, hinting that he is away on a secret mission. Yet Borja can’t shake the possibility that his father might be the renowned dancer and ballet master Mikhail Baryshnikov, who left for Canada in 1974 and now works in the United States. The idea takes root after he watches a video of Baryshnikov’s performance, and Borja sees a striking resemblance between himself and the star, a resemblance that starkly contrasts with the man his mother claims is his father. When the rumor reaches the school, word spreads quickly, and Borja becomes a local phenomenon, as many people recognize the likeness and the attention that comes with it.

Against this backdrop, the film introduces a wrenching turn: the real father of the boy, another man named Mikhail, is returning from prison just as Borja is expelled from school for foolish behavior. The coincidence of these two life-altering events—the father’s arrival and the boy’s expulsion—frames a turning point for Borja as he contends with loyalty, identity, and a country in flux.

Throughout, the narrative remains focused on the hopeful thread that persists even as circumstances shift dramatically. Despite the hardships and the sweeping changes of the era, the evolving social landscape offers Borja a chance not to disappear within the margins of history but to seize a moment to carve out a name for himself. The film tracks his path from a boy who feels small and overlooked to someone who discovers a possible future amid the pressures of family secrets, artistic ambition, and a society undergoing rapid transformation.