Profiled previously on this site, titled Black Russians – The Red Experience, the work-in-progress film will explore…

…the lives and experiences of the black Americans who went to the Soviet Union during the Stalinist era in search of an ideal life. Escaping from racism and the Great Depression, they dove into new lives, having “nothing to lose” and no reason to turn back. Did they find what they were looking for? Their descendants who live in Russia and America today will share a story of their ancestors as well as their own.

Today Russia is a country where racism is ever-increasing, especially with an influx of African immigrants also looking for better lives for themselves, just as black Americans did decades ago.

According to one report by the BBC… nearly 60% of black and African people living in Russia's capital, Moscow, have been physically assaulted in racially motivated attacks. Africans working or studying in the city live in constant fear of attack. The report's clear conclusion was that black people living in Russia exist in a state of virtual siege. Many of the attacks are pre-meditated and extremely violent. One Nigerian migrant interviewed by the BBC had been repeatedly stabbed in the back and then shot. Another man said his attacker had attempted to remove his scalp.

Officially there are some 10,000 Africans living in Moscow – many as economic migrants.

Although this film is less about recent migrants and more about those black Americans who went there earlier in the 201th century, and their descendants.

Black Russians – The Red Experience is currently in development, from USA-based Red Palette Pictures, along with UK-based 1066 Productions, with director Yelena Demikovsky leading a team of academic researchers, consultants and more.

It's expected to debut in 2013.

A 10-minute preview of the upcoming film has surfaced and is embedded below, so watch it (you'll also find the poster below):