Establishing a video exchange

Being producer of a daily television show for the University of Vermont Extension and Agricultural Experiment Station, I wanted to learn more about television production in Russia with the ultimate goal of establishing a video exchange. I am happy to report that there are similar interests there and the process is now underway. Let me explain.

I was able to spend a day with one of Russia’s most talented television producers, Sergey Ipp, and his camera operator Igor Yashin, both from the Press Video Center of the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. They were filming a documentary about a modern and efficient plant that presses sunflower seeds into vegetable oil.

While there, I made a generic opening and closing that I can edit around their documentary. That will be translated to English and mailed to me when it is completed. This will make an interesting show for viewers here in Vermont.

While in Tula, I met Victor Semenov, who produces a show similar to mine and we spent an evening together reviewing each other’s videos. Immediately we saw the potential for exchange, and the agreement was made. Four shows are currently being translated from Russian to English by two young women -- Nellie and Svetlana -- who were our translators at the Summit. They also will record English narration on the tapes that are sent to me. This process will be reversed for the shows that I send to Victor. All of this takes a lot of time and hard work, and I am indebted to Nellie and Svetlana for their part in making the video exchange possible.

You might be interested in the shows that I will receive. One will tell the story of Vladimir Rybkin, who grows tulips. He is among the first to own a private farming operation in Tula. Another will deal with the New Life Collective Farm, which employs 200 workers who milk 800 cows that produce 13 tons of milk daily. The third will feature country school teachers, and the last will highlight winter festivals at Yasnaya Polyana, the home of the Russian writer, Leo Tolstoy.

That all this happened in such a short time indicates the strong desire for such exchanges to take place, and it’s just a small step in helping people in our two great nations and in getting to know each other a little better.

Lyn Jarvis
University of Vermont

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