Discoveries from Russia World Cinema

Primary school teacher Veronica returns to school from maternity leave and rethinks her life.

A reconstruction of the uncut prologue of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, the scene with the gunners Foma and Erema and a fragment from the unfinished part 3 featuring the German knight Heinrich von Staden. In between stills and newsreel footage. Over a commentary written and spoken by Naum Kleiman. The Criterion DVD extra ends at 33 min, the longer version has added fragments of parts 1 and 2 at the end.

After a seamstress’ husband breaks her arm as a result of a disagreement, the mother of two’s life becomes increasingly more difficult. However, through the power of magic, she unexpectedly resists and grows a second pair of arms the next time he tries to be violent. Her husband then finally learns that she is more than capable of taking matters into her own hands.

In the space of the metropolis lives the lost girl Orlandina, who is programmed for self-destruction. This film is about the real, about the man himself, about the soul of man. You live, breathe, walk, the soul subconsciously, unconsciously returns you to its root, awakens gene memory.

The main character of the film has always considered herself happy in marriage. But one day she finds out that her husband in another city has a family.

People relate to village life; but some cannot tolerate it. Others do not even represent a different way of life.

Silent film from 1915 which draws on the story of Carmen

Кассирша супермаркета Галина находит утешение от семейных неурядиц в любви к студенту и помогает ему выбраться из-под материнского гнета. Студент счастлив, но чтобы решить свои материальные проблемы, он выносит из магазина, когда Галина работает за кассой продукты. Разумеется, они попадаются…

At the heart of this documentary lies the study of the Currentzis phenomenon. What is his creative method? What is the spirit of the music? How to express it most accurately to the audience and what is the freedom and responsibility of the modern artist? To answer these questions, the crew filmed the conductor for 10 years including the tour of his symphony orchestra MusicAeterna in Germany.

The war in Abkhazia ended more than twenty years ago. But the shadows wandering in the corridors of the republican psychoneurological hospital still remind us of its impact. Sometimes we see ourselves in those shadows and glimpse fragments of reality in their monologues. The monochromatic way they see the world carries many more meanings than we are able to perceive.

Drunk major Anton Losev knocks down a schoolgirl at a pedestrian crossing, a girl in a coma. The case is led by investigator Olga Vishnevetskaya. The powerful Losev family hopes to easily hush up the case by "buying" the investigator. However, Vishnevetskaya does not make any compromises. Three years ago, the same drunk major knocked her husband to death. Now Olga is doing everything to make Anton Losev go to jail.

This film presents a unique behind-the-scenes look into the lives and training of two of the world’s top figure skaters, Evgenia Medvedeva and Alina Zagitova. In the spotlight, they soar and spin through the air while beaming radiant smiles. But their real lives include more discipline, devastating falls, and harsh criticism than perfect landings and effusive praise.

Based on a painting by M. Vrubel, a poem by M. Lermontov and the play "Faust" by Goethe. This film is the first part of the trilogy 'Everlasting Variations'. The author attempts to expose the atmosphere of early 20th century Russian romanticism, which Vrubel's works so brilliantly illustrate.

Katya is a workaholic with no personal life, a strict boss and the most principled notary in the city. But the New Year, as you know, is a time of miracles. A simple joke from a disgruntled subordinate turns into an incredible New Year's Eve adventure for Katya.

In the fairy-tale kingdom of Nedalia, twin princes fell in love with a beautiful girl Mona, the daughter of a mirror seller. The beautiful girl gave her heart to the cheerful romantic Sebastian. The rejected brother turned into the cruel wizard Mortis and enchanted all the mirrors of Nedalia. But even this was not enough for him. Evil began to penetrate from the fairytale kingdom into the real world. Only the hereditary princess can break the spell: she turns out to be a kind and cheerful girl Carrot-top, who lives in a modern city and does not suspect about her "fairy-tale" origin... Dangerous adventures and comic situations, dwarves and wizards, an insidious mirror and a magic nut, mysterious Silkworms, Sandman, Chooch - a restless virus of mischief...

Pulkin brings heavy artillery to a fight with a minuscule annoyance.

Over the past 9 years, the Ukrainian government has adopted numerous laws facilitating organ transplantation. In 2021, the Ukrainian parliament approved law 5831, stipulating Ukrainians, including children, can become organ donors posthumously without their notarised consent and without relatives’ consent.

Directed by Lithuanian choreographer, Anželika Cholina, this multiple award-winning Vakhtangov Theatre production of Anna Karenina tells the story of Tolstoy’s classic novel entirely in contemporary dance. In this way, Cholina succeeds in finding the equivalent of Tolstoy's words in harmony and movement, with every gesture holding meaning. The distinctive music of Alfred Schnittke helps to reveal the inner turmoil of the characters and their depth. Winner of the "Villanueva Award", Best Foreign Performance, International Havana Theatre Festival; Winner "Crystal Turandot" Best Debut Performance, Olga Lerman.

The film "Rock Beyond" is dedicated to Viktor Tsoi, Boris Grebenshchikov and Sergei Kuryokhin, who became the Main Heroes of Russian rock in the 1980s and 1990s. The authors strive to show the atmosphere and energy of those years, as well as the opinion of modern young people about Rock culture before they were born.

Marusi's father dies on the operating table, and from that moment her life has changed dramatically. In search of work, the girl meets Alexei and his cousin Kostya. Both young men are not indifferent to Marusa - now she has to make a difficult choice. She still does not know that Kostya is the very doctor who unsuccessfully operated on her father.

Filmed as part of Ilya's Exile project.

Scenes from everyday life based on folk song. Made while filming "Conquest of the Caucasus".

In the life of the national artist, actor Vsevolod Fleminsky, a crisis ensued. Advertising, in which you have to shoot, endless photo shoots, television series - all this is like an endless tape, but there are no real roles. And then there was still undisguised greed for his dearest half, and in combination with his agent Svetlana Nikolaevna. And Fleminsky decided to quit. He transferred his small roles to his fellow actors, gave the mobile phone to some monk in the train, and he disappeared at his dacha. However, it turned out that his wife had leased the cottage to a certain trading company. The owner of this company Irina met with hostility the appearance of an uninvited owner. But. .. from hatred to love, as you know, one step, and he was quickly passed by the participants of this duet .

Based on Vasil Bykov’s story of the same name. During the Second World War a Soviet prisoner of war returns home, but everybody treats him with suspicion. In the course of the questioning it becomes clear that his story differs from what the words of the woman, whom he calls his wife. Only a face-to-face confrontation can unearth the truth.

A classic detective story devoid of a backstory and ending, consisting almost exclusively of sinister and inexplicable (at first glance) events. The world of the St. Petersburg outskirts, inhabited by violent morons and bloodthirsty maniacs. All this is obtained using the arbitrary perpendicular method.

A fortune teller helps a woman gain the affections her beloved, with deathly consequences.

BORN TO BE FREE is a revelatory investigation by three intrepid free-diving journalists, Gaya, Tanya and Julia, into the global trade in wild sea mammals. Their journey takes us to the most remote corners of Russia and witnesses, for the very first time, the shocking treatment that whales, dolphins and walruses are subjected to and discovers the corruption at the heart of this cruel international business.

The heroes of the film suffer from misunderstanding and lack of parental love. Nikita has everything, he is not afraid of anything, if anything - dad will cover. But he has no dream. Sasha - on the contrary, is ready to do anything to earn his dream - an expensive car. The parents of both do not understand what is missing, and what does not suit these "new adults". The plot of the film will bring together such different people, and the principle of Talion will tell us about "retribution to equals".

The capital's little thing Lana, in order to save her career, goes to the North instead of a hot vacation. There she gets involved in an adventure from which only the truck driver Grisha can save her - a rude lout who loves nothing except his Ural truck. In their joint journey-chase through the wild wilderness, Lana will find something completely different from what she was looking for: the beauty of the endless North, simple and sincere people, a real man and a woman's happiness.

The freelance editor has long been in love with the host of the TV program he edits. He has never seen her live, but he has all the footage of her, even the ones that aren't in the public domain. Finally, he decides to ask her out on a date, in front of the whole office, but fate teaches him a lesson.

On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The results, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won, were not recognized by 14 countries. Protests and mass detentions of protesters have been taking place in the country for more than two months. Documentary director Maxim Shved, in order to capture the mood of people and their political views, installed cameras in the cars of two taxi drivers, Pavel and Anna. They talk to passengers, and inevitably their dialogues come down to politics.

Yakutia, the 1930s. Old Mikipper and his wife Oppuos live their days in thick taiga. Cows, hunting, fishing make up the simple everyday life of the old people. Once early in the winter an eagle flies into their garden. The old people dare no drive it away because eagles are sacred. All through the winter they feed the bird so that it does no attack their cattle. Gradually they grow accustomed to each other. On a cold Christmas day the eagle makes its way into the house and occupies the honorary place in the corner on the shelf next to the icons. From then on the people and the bird start their life together in one house.

Like a lone cowboy, Sergei passionately devotes his life to traditional horse breeding in the impenetrable Arctic Sakha; permafrost and the absence of roads, electricity and channels of communication mean that there is nobody else to rely on but oneself. Sergei is sensitive and introspective; he truly cares about his family, community and treats nature with the utmost respect. He loves the independence and freedom this life brings, despite the immense sacrifices that it necessitates, such as total isolation and being a stranger to his own children. Spectacular camerawork characterizes the Sakha horses in all their magnificence, and juxtaposes the post-soviet towns and the boundless taiga landscapes, where the cold bites through the screen.

A tragic miniature. Pavel Yartsev, aided by a footman, robs his mistress Ellen Belogorskaya. But the pearls in the stolen necklace turn out to be fake. The movie is not fully preserved, without inscriptions.

A group of girls sets off for a remote island to learn kitesurfing. They dream of soaring above the water like their instructors, strange, rude guys obsessed with the waves and wind. The boys aren't exactly thrilled about having to teach someone, but they need the money for a trip to Cape Verde. What is true kitesurfing—the joy of flight or the pain and humiliation? And what is freedom for the islanders—embracing their own path or escaping the big world?

An experimental sitcom, shot in the style of silent films of the early twentieth century. A parody of military-patriotic films. The plot of the film is the battle of the Russian army with Napoleon in 1812.

A woman's view of the generation of thirty-year-old men, who fell to the lot of Afghanistan, and the "criminal revolution", and the drug wave, and AIDS...

Not so lucky scam artist Jesse hides from the police in a travelling circus. He learns that the circus performers have real superpowers, and makes with them a deal to pull a series of incredible schemes. However, it turns out that the circus troupe is cursed. The actors are threatened not just by death, but also by eternal confinement in a lost dimension for wayward souls. Jesse decides to risk his life and save friends from the circus.

Dziga Vertov-directed Soviet newsreel covering: International Youth Day and demonstrations / All-Russian Olympiad / Streetcar collision / Construction of automobiles in a Petrograd factory.

A lonely woman asks a stork for a little boy. And he brings her a rabbit instead of a child. What came of it is told in a funny and sad story.

Russian Winter is a terrible thing... especially if it arrives in mid-July. Out amidst the icy storm, something raises its hideous head - a Russian zombie - senseless and merciless.

Sergei Govorukhin, son of well known Soviet and Russian film director Stanislav Govorukhin, was a Russian scriptwriter and war correspondent. This is his first and only documentary, dealing with his feelings about the first war he covered - the first Chechen war - as well as his very cynical view of Russian society during this time. These feelings and opinions were shared by many other war correspondents and cameramen at the time. The author used heavily contrasting footage and sound to illustrate his point of the indifference of 90's/early 2000's Russian society towards the conflicts it found itself in after the Second World War.

“Bolero” by Ravell is expressed in the mouvements of surrealistic paintings and in the rhythm of the film. This short animation won Golden Berlin Bear for Best Short Film.

The story begins on June 21, 1941, as German forces secretly assemble along the border of the Soviet Union. The film follows a group of young artillery officers who find themselves at the center of events from the very first hours of the war. After losing their weapons and escaping from German captivity, they take a stand against overwhelming enemy forces. The story continues through 1942–1943, where the main characters face even greater danger and increasingly dramatic trials.

This is a story about a city guy Nikolai, who will have to go instead of his friend on a rural business trip. A series of funny events, meetings and the beauty of the Yakut village encourage Nikolai to make an important decision in his life…

A train is roaring. A girl wades through the tall grass and a man crosses the river. What happened? Did it happen?

Galimžjan, an old man living an ascetic life by the sea, confronts his past as his son is accused of assaulting a man in the city. Galimžjan has lost his faith in a mythical fish called Baigal that is said to live in the nearby Volga river. But Baigal, who can bestow luck on those who reach it, might be just what he needs.

Fedor is a young locksmith in Murmansk, a frozen city in the obscurity of the Russian Arctic. Client after client, he roams through the alleys of concrete animated by a fantasy that isolates him from the city and its population. His dreams corrode his relation to reality and open the door to a phantasmagoric universe; a second sun is rising above the Russian Arctic.

Based on the novel The Man Who Killed by Claude Farrère.

The documentary film “To the Arctic,” filmed by director and ethnographer Leonid Kruglov, is dedicated to the discoveries and research of the largest icy desert in the world. For the first time, the film captures all the most remote and inaccessible Arctic archipelagos of the Russian high-latitude Arctic, which are scattered over an area of more than 10,000 km. Among them are Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, Ushakov Island and the New Siberian Islands archipelago, Wrangel Island and the De Long archipelago, as well as many other hidden corners of the North.

An assassination attempt is being made on a prominent businessman Stanislav Volny. He miraculously survives, he is picked up by the descending woman Lyuska. Stanislav decides not to tell anyone that he has survived. He himself wants to understand what happened and calculate the customer. Starting an independent investigation, he realizes that the roots of the crime go back to his past. Stanislav is to blame for his wife Nina, whom he once forced to get rid of their child, and since then Nina can not have children. And Stanislav managed to have a young lover - model Larisa - and decided to leave his wife to marry a model ...