CHKALOV CULTURAL EXCHANGE COMMITTEE (360) 735-0365

1701 Broadway # 245 jfrost@chkalov.org

Vancouver, WA 98660

A three-man Russian film crew led by Mikhail Degtyar, Executive Director of TVC Television in Moscow, will visit the United States to document Valery Chkalov’s historic Transpolar Flight in 1937. This will be a four-part documentary on Chkalov’s life in honor of Chkalov's 100^th Birthday Anniversary on 17 February 2004. The film crew plans to visit every place in the States where Chkalov and his crew visited after their historic flight.

The film crew will be hosted here in Vancouver and Portland on October 7^th through the 10^{th by} the Chkalov Cultural Exchange Committee, a group formed to promote American and Russian understanding through social, cultural, educational and business activities. The Russian film crew plans to shoot scenes at the Marshall House where Chkalov gave his famous speech on the porch asking for our two countries to live together in peace and harmony. The crew will also be filming at Pearson Field and Pearson Air Museum, as well as Chkalov Drive, the street named after the famous aviator in Cascade Park.

The Russians celebrate the anniversary of the births of historic figures as well as the anniversary of the historic events themselves. Valery Chkalov, being the "Russian Lindbergh," has over 350 monuments in Russia to commemorate his aviation feats and there are numerous celebrations being planned all over Russia next February in honor of his 100^th Birthday Anniversary.

The Chkalov Cultural Exchange Committee is currently working with a similar committee in Moscow to plan these events as well as a series of celebrations here in Vancouver in June of 2004 surrounding the 67^th Anniversary of the First Transpolar Flight in 1937, which terminated here at Pearson Field. For more information on these events contact Jess Frost at (360) 735-0265 or jfrost@chkalov.org.