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 Marina Galperina | Canadian Model to Host a Chechen TV Show |
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| Andy Young June 6, 4:11 AM | Russia Today has an article featuring what I assume is a picture of Chrystal: http://www.russiatoday.com/Interview/2008-06-16/Interview_with_Chrystal_Callahan.html |
| Alice S June 6, 8:59 AM | You'd think a model would have more than one picture online or at least one without her face half-engulfed by sunglasses. Maybe everyone is messing up the Russian-to-English spelling of the name from the original Russian source of the story? |
| Ilya Merenzon June 6, 11:35 AM | @Alice: Agree. But the spelling seems to be correct. |
| Nina Jobe June 6, 5:55 PM | She is on IMDB, and they spell her name Chrystal Callahan. There is no picture of her, however. No bio either. Apparently she directed and produced a documentary called "Greco-Roman Grozny" last year about three Chechen boys who want to be Greco-Roman wrestlers at the Olympics... http://us.imdb.com/name/nm3207951/ |
| David Burghardt June 7, 11:24 PM | I'm actually the one who wrote the article in English. I know Chrystal personally, we have traveled to Chechnya several times and I was the co-director of her movie on the wrestlers. I also have hundreds of pictures with her. I didn't feel that a picture of her in an evening dress or something outrageous on the catwalk would be appropriate for my article; therefore, I chose a picture of her in front of the largest mosque in Europe, which happens to be in Grozny. |
| Ilya Merenzon June 8, 6:44 AM | @David: Can you send us a few photos at info@readrussia.com? |
| David Burghardt June 8, 9:13 AM | @Pya: Most of my pictures are from our trips to Chechnya over the last two years. If you want to see Chrystal as "the model," then you need to search further on sites in Japan, where she modeled constantly for several years. As most models for catwalks, special parties, etc. aren't usually named, you have to search hard for her and just know what she looks like. If you're looking for the Chrystal now, then go to www.chechnyatoday.com and you can see her 15-minute debut (click on the English version of the site and her report is in the right hand corner). The program needs to be fine-tuned, but it's a great start for only having 10 days to dive into such a huge project. I ask that everyone not be too critical of her because she is new at this, but I see huge potential once she gets her feet on the ground. Her ideal is to rid all of the bad stereotypes of Chechens and Chechnya. Trust me, I've traveled all over Russia and Chechnya is one of those places people don't go because of all the horror stories affiliated with it. Beautiful place, beautiful people! I will have to talk to Chrystal to get her permission to send you personal photographs. Best, David |
| Marina Galperina June 8, 1:21 PM | Thank you very much, David! We will follow up! |
| James Kimer June 8, 1:47 PM | Does anyone else think it's sort of strange that the only person who knows this model is the Russia Today correspondent, who also co-directed her Chechnya documentary? Burghardt, whom I don't know and don't mean to pretend as though I do, appears here and there on the internet talking about his meetings with Ramzan Kadyrov. There's nothing wrong with ex-pats earning a few bucks from the state and doing some light propaganda journalism, but it is interesting to see how these informal networks work. |
| David Burghardt June 8, 10:08 PM | @James: Actually, I work for the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti and not Russia Today. And I met Chrystal when she was having difficulty getting into Russia to do a film, especially in Chechnya at that time. Russian Embassies abroad request individuals making movies to contact our news agency. I work with many film crews from the West including National Geographic, Discovery Channel, Cineflix and others making documentaries. I also take journalists into areas that are hard to get to, including Chechnya at that time and last year into South Ossetia (do a search on South Ossetia with Canadian journalist Scott Taylor). That's just part of my job. From an ex-pat who's been here for 15 years...David |
| David Burghardt June 8, 10:19 PM | ...And on July 1 I'm going to Siberia with a group of Italian and American scientists plus a Discovery Channel film crew and Italian news station. We will go to Tunguska to try and find the reason for the meteorite-comet-explosion-UFO theories from the event that happened in 1908. We'll be living in tents in the middle of mosquito-ridden swampy Siberia. One more thing...It's not just Ramzan Kadyrov whom I've met on several occasions, but also Medvedev, Putin, Shuvalov, UN Ambassador Churkin. On the lighter side, I'm also involved in the music industry and have been the Russian producer for a famous Belgian singer, Helmut Lotti, when we filmed 18 music clips throughout Russia ("From Russia with Love"), as well as write the lyrics for Russia's Dominique Joker (Apelsyn), Nikita Malinin, and my latest is with German singer Thomas Anders (Modern Talking). |
| kto vinovat June 9, 9:05 AM | Fifteen years in Russia and still so naïve. The reason foreigners don’t visit Chechnya is not “because of all the horror stories affiliated with it”, it’s because only aid workers or journalists on state-organised propaganda junkets like the ones organised by David are allowed to go there. Chechnya today is being rebuilt, which is good, but it doesn’t excuse Kadyrov’s absurd personality cult, his corruption and his ruthless repression of opponents and their families at home and abroad. Check out the hilarious website where you can watch the Canadian bimbo help out in the whitewash: www.chechnyatoday.com. Unless it’s a parody, the biography of Kadyrov would put Kim Jong-Il to shame: “The list of kind, really titanic acts of Ramzan Kadyrov is extensive… Skilled astrologers approve that Ramzan Kadyrov was born under the same stars as great commanders of ancient civilizations were, which skillfully combined two natures in themselves: military and state. But the smile of Ramzan Kadyrov tells that he is able to do a lot of useful things. When whole world is literally out of breath from expanding, like tumours, immorality, when many heads of the big and small states, having submitted with “natural course of a history”, the Chechen leader declares: “We should return to our sources, to cleanliness and spirituality, to our customs and traditions…” Best of all: “…the President has carried out his own checking on the prisoners’ food, on what they sleep, in what dressed, how they spent the leisure, level of health service.” That’s while torturing them in the underground prisons in Tsenteroi, right? |
| James Kimer June 10, 12:28 PM | @David - thanks kindly for the clarification. I may hold some different views on these topics (and names) you've listed there, but I appreciate your explaining how you came into contact with this project. |
| James Kimer June 10, 12:29 PM | @David - thanks kindly for the clarification. I may hold some different views on these topics (and names) you've listed there, but I appreciate your explaining how you came into contact with this project. |
| Robert Terpstra August 11, 1:06 AM | David Burghardt, I am interested in travelling to Chechnya and the north Caucasus region in the next 6 months. I read your posts and articles on RIA Novosti and was hoping to touch base and get in contact with you regarding the work you do. Perhaps you are able to help me and facilitate the process to enter the region. I am a freelance journalist and was recently working in Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan and the Occupied Territories. Me and my colleague are also interested in establishing a news magazine in Odessa. Email me at robbiets2000@gmail.com and/or visit my blog/articles' archive at robbiets2000.gnn.tv. Talk to you soon, Robert |
| ivana split December 2, 11:09 AM | hello everybody |
| ivana split December 2, 11:11 AM | Great news, I would like to travel to Dagestan and Chechnya. I would be happy for all your advices and suggestions. I am not a journalist, and I would like to know if I can go there as a common tourist. |
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