
Chad Gracia
Directing
Biography
Chad Gracia is best known for directing the Sundance Grand Jury Prize-winning The Russian Woodpecker. His production company, GraciaFilms, produces cinema that highlights the horrors of totalitarianism in Russia and abroad.
Known For

As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it.
The Russian Woodpecker

The first Soviet sexologist is sent to the gulag and is haunted by stories of fellow inmates. They provide unforgettable vignettes of Soviet sexual brutality, from the utopian ideals of the 1920s, to gay life in the 1930s, the rape of women by those in power, and the use of sexpionage to entrap enemies of the State. A visually compelling exploration of how totalitarianism ultimately destroys all forms of human intimacy. Part 1 of the trilogy "Sex in the Soviet Union."
Gulag Eros of the Russian Mind

A gripping journey through seven decades of sexual ignorance, oppression, and suffering, brought to life through the words and experiences of the first Soviet sexologist. Ukrainian survivors of the regime courageously recount the harsh realities they endured, from the pervasive suppression of sexual expression to the rampant exploitation and abuse that plagued Soviet society.
Sex in the Soviet Union

Mariupol is an industrial city on Azov sea. I went there as a young sailor 20 years ago. The places alive in my memory are mostly destroyed. The battle-line of the Russian-Ukrainian war is just nearby the city. In the night I can hear the bombing. However, I am looking for the miracle there.
Me and Mariupol

The main exposition of the museum in Avdiivka was dedicated to the Caucasus. In 2015, exposition was partly destroyed due to a Russian projectile. But now in Avdiivka there is again a people's museum - a place where the most wonderful ideas come to life.
People’s Museum of Avdiivka

A director returns to visit his friend and cinematographer on the front lines.