Attendees will have the chance to win a pair of tickets to the Met Opera's February 21st performance of the brilliant Russian epic Prince Igor!

On the occasion of The Metropolitan Opera's new production of Alexander Borodin's epic opera Prince Igor, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, the Film Society will present a screening of Sergei Eisenstein's epic Russian film Alexander Nevsky, preceded by a discussion exploring the role of powerful leaders in the creation of the Russian nation. Tcherniakov and Music Historian and Professor Simon Morrison (Princeton University) will join a panel discussion, with an introduction by Peter Gelb, General Manager of the Met.

The work of director Sergei Eisenstein helped to create the universal language of cinema and his 1938 masterpiece Alexander Nevsky is no exception. With a spectacular score by Sergei Prokofiev, it was a rousing call to the Russian people—and a neat bit of propaganda for Stalin. Eisenstein had the use of the Russian army for battle scenes, and his detailed staging, particularly the Battle of the Ice (fought on Lake Peipus in 1242), makes for a stirring patriotic spectacle.