While Irina Pantaeva is known as an author, actress, and fashion icon, this is the first time the Buryat Mongol story is being told. During Stalin's rule, thousands of Buryat Buddhist monks were killed or sent to gulags. Local shamans also "disappeared." Irina grew up in the final years of Soviet oppression. She struggles against the Russian regime in a quest for creative freedom before she flies to the West. Ten years later, Irina returns with her son, Ruslan, and visits the only Buddhist monastery to survive the Soviet regime. Her family of artists and shamans celebrate the revival of their ancient culture in a region closed to outsiders for over half a century. Irina shares this culture with Westerners through the universal language of art and raises her American family according to time honored Buryat tradition.
While Irina Pantaeva is known as an author, actress, and fashion icon, this is the first time the Bu...
