How did cinemas operate in besieged Leningrad and why did screenings become a form of internal support? Researcher Alexey Dunaevsky will talk about the book compiled from archival documents: the repertoire of 1941-1943, the fates of the halls and viewers, rare photos and testimonies - the history of the city through the light of the film projector. In besieged Leningrad, cinema continued to exist - and this sounds almost incredible. The meeting is dedicated to research that restores a forgotten layer of urban everyday life: film distribution and the operation of cinemas in 1941-1943. The discussion will focus on a book created based on a wide array of archival sources, documents, and testimonies. The main question here is not about entertainment. Cinema during the blockade turned out to be part of spiritual resistance - a way to hold on to normalcy, maintain attention to the world, and find a point of support in the harshest circumstances. You will learn how screenings were organized, which halls operated, how the repertoire changed, and what happened to the viewers for whom going to a screening became the event of the day. The special value of the conversation lies in the details that usually remain behind the scenes. The book meticulously assembles the picture of film distribution: the fates of venues, routes of posters, rare photographs, fragments of correspondence, and official documents. Many materials are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, so the meeting will interest both those who love to "check sources" and those who seek living, concrete stories. The format is a lecture with a presentation of the publication and visual materials. This is a good option for listeners who care about St. Petersburg beyond the usual narratives: not the grand facades and loud dates, but human everyday life preserved in documents. An additional plus is the opportunity to see how research is built: from archival discovery to a coherent narrative. The speaker is Alexey Lvovich Dunaevsky, a film historian and author of a series of books on the history of world cinema. The sale of the publication is not planned, but there will be a substantive conversation about how cinema helped the city endure - and why this topic resonates.