And as part of their footage, they have recorded an interview with Islander Bob Le Sueur – who lived through the Occupation – discussing the life of Louisa Gould, who perished in a German concentration camp after being caught sheltering a Russian slave worker during the Second World War.
Soviet-born filmmaker Semyon Pinkhasov (71), who emigrated to the United States in 1976, said he had decided to make the film having first heard about a group of ‘Norman Islands’ when he was a 13-year-old living in Moscow.
‘When I was 13 I heard a radio broadcast which mentioned that some Soviet soldiers had been prisoners of war in British islands which they referred to as the Norman Islands,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t understand how Soviet soldiers who had been serving on the Eastern Front could have ended up in the British Isles.
‘Then a few years ago I made a documentary about a Portuguese diplomat who saved people’s lives during the war.
‘I presented this film in New York and during the showing, a history professor gave me a book about the Occupation of the Channel Islands.
‘When I read it I realised that the radio show I had listened to aged 13 had been talking about Soviet soldiers in Jersey, so I decided to make a film about their story and about the Island in general.’
Mr Pinkhasov – who was the fencing coach of the 1984 US Olympic team – has brought two film assistants with him from New York, including Roger Yager (80), a veteran US filmmaker.
‘It will be a multi-layered film and I want to introduce American and Russian audiences to the British Channel Islands because they’ve never heard of them,’ Mr Pinkhasov added.
Mr Yager said that once completed, the film would be shown in Moscow and New York.
‘We are also hoping to get it shown on paid-for TV cable channels in the US,’ he added.
The documentary is expected to last for approximately one hour and the interview with Mr Le Sueur – who was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for sheltering Russian slaves during the Occupation – will run for up to seven minutes.
‘They have recorded me talking about the Occupation and the story of Louisa Gould at my home in St Clement, outside the house where she first sheltered the Russian slave in St Ouen and outside her old home,’ added Mr Le Sueur (97).
‘It’s very interesting that they will be making the documentary for a Russian audience too.’
The film crew, who were hoping to film at the Jersey War Tunnels today, are flying back to New York on Tuesday.
