Isaac Babel comes to us through his stories and his 1920 Diary. Excerpts of his writing, voiced by Liev Schreiber, lyrically guide us along his grandson's journey through Ukraine, Russia, and France.

Antonina Pirozhkova was Isaac Babel’s wife and Andrei Malaev-Babel’s grandmother. We recorded an interview with her a few years before her passing, capturing rare insights and resonant emotion about her life with Babel and after, unseen and unheard until now. 

Andrei-Malaev Babel, Isaac Babel's grandson, is our guide and companion on the search to find out more about his grandfather's life and legacy. He travels from his home in Sarasota, FL to visit Ukraine, Paris, and Russia, locations deeply associated with Isaac Babel.

Marina Vlady is a renowned Russian-French actor of stage and screen. Andrei invites her to read a letter from the titular character in Babel’s play, “Maria,” who never appears onstage. 

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, the Nobel-nominated Russian poet, is a family friend of Andrei’s and lives in the artistic community Peredelkino, where Babel was arrested. 

Georgy Frangulyan is an award-winning sculptor in Moscow chosen to build a monument to Isaac Babel in Babel's hometown of Odessa, Ukraine.

The Russian-American film critic Sima Berezanskaya invites Andrei to appear on her Russian-language radio show in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn’s Little Russia By The Sea. 

Vitaly Shentalinsky is the author of ARRESTED VOICES: Resurrecting the Disappeared Writers of the Soviet Regime. As the first journalist to gain access to the classified KGB archives, he offers guidance as we prepare to be the first American film crew to do so. 

Gregory Freidin is a professor at Standard University and edited the Norton Critical Edition of Issac Babel’s Selected Writings. He and Andrei spend a day traveling through Babel’s Paris.

Alyona Andronati, a student of Jewish history in Western Ukraine, guides Andrei as he travels to Babel places in the area.

Professor Val Vinokur is an associate professor of literature at the New School in NYC. He is currently at work on new translations of Isaac Babel’s stories, which are invaluable in presenting Babel’s stories in English for Finding Babel.

Professor Carol J. Avins of Rutgers University edited an edition of Babel’s 1920 Diary, which he kept during the Polish-Soviet war of 1919-1920. This text was the basis for Red Cavalry, perhaps Babel’s best known work. 

Oleg Loban lives in and invites Andrei to visit Babel’s former childhood home. He has opened a social club in Odessa in Babel’s honor and is a strong champion of the author’s legacy in his hometown. 

Aaron Lansky is the founder of the National Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts, and an expert on Jewish literature written before World War II. 

Leonid Zorin is a respected Russian playwright who met Babel as a young boy. 

Brother Victor runs a museum at St. Catharine’s Monastery, the former Sukhanovo Prison where Babel was most likely tortured following his arrest.