Discoveries from Russia World Cinema

Two young social workers are delivering a fugitive child to his mother by ferry. But in the middle of the icy Baltic Sea, something goes wrong.

Driven by trust and self-persuasion, one anesthesiologist sets out to find his missing brother and meets a stranger with unusual right hand.

A curious spider has settled in the house of an old lace-maker. The love of weaving patterns helps them to make friends.

A person is constantly changing in every moment of their life and yet remains the same. No matter how lucky, young or even in love we are, we bear our loneliness inside at all times. There is no escaping from it. Its lingering around during drunken parties in the dorms... Watching us... even when we are not in our own bed. The main character of this movie meets a girl who completely turns his world upside down as he is just beginning to learn how to find his inner peace. Her deliberate loneliness is a reassured protection from all the pain, lost hopes and disappointments. Not quite a love story, but more than just a story of someone's life! - Do you feel lonesome with me? - Of course.

Fantastical story about an artist whose life changes after a ballerina from a film poster comes to life. Mostly lost.

The desire to get her daughter back becomes the driving force in the way of the lead female character as she makes desperate attempts to rebuild their lives upon the release from yet another drug rehab.

A full-length documentary about old age on the eve of death. Everyone is afraid of senility. We talk about old age not as a path through the clinic and oblivion in the cemetery, but as a bright period of life which has many advantages associated only with older age. This film is about people who know the reasons to live and what to do with their lives at any age. The characters of the film answer the main questions of younger people’s crises by their actions, fulfilling their evolutionary mission by giving young people faith in the future. The film doesn’t have a finished script, it’s a true story. We are filming in real-time. Each character has their own line, and time will tell how it will develop.

The story is about two fishermen who happened to be in the same boat.

Documentary and dramatization of Tarkovsky's time in Siberia hunting for diamonds with a secret scientific expedition, which led to his desire to become a filmmaker. Includes an adaptation of his unpublished film script "The Concentrate".

Just one day of psychological interrogation of R. Höss reveals his monstrous activities in the concentration camp, as well as the historical background to this terrifying, as he said - work.

The world is on the brink of chaos, with everything spiraling toward the abyss, and hope seems lost. Yet, in this dire moment, true men of courage emerge—heroes without fear or blame, the real musketeers. Vivat!

Two babies are in dire need of pacification.

A stage fantasy by Mark Zakharov based on the works of Aristophanes and Anton Pavlovich Chekhov.

Five young men set out in search of Kolchak's legendary gold, following a map accidentally discovered in the museum's storerooms. Each treasure hunter pursues their own goals, but a tragic accident changes all their plans and forces them to act according to the brutal rules of the "gold rush." ​​Unexpectedly, the expedition's search is overtaken by the centuries-old past of these places—those very same fractures in time prophetically spoken of by one of the gold bar hunters. The Reds and Whites, exhausted by the civil war, also have their own plans for the gold of the Supreme Ruler of Russia...

Composer of the sublime score and also worked with Andrei Tarkovsky on Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev and Solaris. He talks about working on War and Peace and with Tarkovsky and Andrei Konchalovsk.

Two get into the room, it's unclear how, it's unclear where. They could go out, but the doors suddenly close ...

A portrait of people who live on the margins of life and exist outside normal society.

Single dad Nick trolls the parking lots of New Jersey, looking for the next victim for his dent repair scam. But with his fed-up teenage daughter along for the ride, his day goes off the rails.

It's 2018. Russia has just elected its President. A new, old President. Nothing will change during the next six years, and, at first glance, you just have to accept it. This is the way people think, whilst heroes feel otherwise. Russia has many heroes. This film is about them.

On a hot summer day, Katya and Alina are bored in the yard. They run away from the playground to explore the world around them and meet a taciturn woman. The new acquaintance asks the girls to help her carry mirrors home. The new acquaintance takes an unexpected turn.

Chronicles of the cultural life of Tashkent (2007 – 2015). From the murder of Mark Weil to the wedding of Alisher Usmanov. Tashkent Biennale, apartment buildings, video art festival, conversations about nothing, amateur performances and operational shooting, advertising and much more. Tashkent, which no longer exists, just as these people are no longer in it.

1917, Yakutia. 9-year-old Mikita is growing up beyond his years, as he, along with adults, learns the difficult life of a Yakut cattle breeder, where every day is a struggle for survival. New challenges await the boy, as the events of the revolutionary, rebellious time violently invade the traditional way of his family, violating the values and way of life that have been established for centuries.

A stage adaptation of the 1869 novel ‘The Idiot’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky, directed by Alexander Marin.

Ironic reflection about the power of our thoughts, of temptation and its overcoming. In secrecy from his girlfriend, a young man goes to a city beach with its seductive female visitors to take pleasure in the sun. Unexpectedly he learns that his dreams and imagination are all too obvious: the husband of one of the women accuses him of adultery. The hero, caught unawares and discouraged, manages to pay off the man. But it appears not only the jealous husband has seen the hero’s thoughts.

Who is he - Leo Tolstoy? The film, based on Tolstoy's diary and his photographs, plunges into Tolstoy's special, borderless dialogue with himself and with the world, which does not end, as he believed, with death. However, it will not be possible to see Tolstoy himself - he is given only in reflections: in photographs and in the perception of other people.

The story of the boy Vanya Proshkin, our contemporary, in whom, after being exposed to a thunderstorm, his analytical abilities, unusual for his age, opened up.

We are looking for ourselves (our place) in the disturbing present, in the vague future, sometimes looking into the past, we avert our eyes in fright. Meanwhile, in our country, not on that European patch where we hustle, constantly complaining, but on the whole vast Russian expanse, another life breathes. It depends little on everything that is commonly called the values ​​of civilization, but it breathes deeply. The harsh nature of the north, vast deserted expanses, sea and river fisheries, as one of the main sources of life support, all this formed a unique way of life for Russia, its own culture and even its own special language, which Lomonosov attributed along with Russian and "Little Russian" to the three main Russian dialects. All this together created a completely special human type, a special “Pomor character”, rooted in the White Sea land and absolutely self-sufficient in this rootedness.

The protagonist of The Wooden Room is a director of documentaries, who lives with his wife - who is as stoic as he - in an isolated hut in the woods. The director is obsessed by filming marginal events in life. The closer he can get to these events with his camera, the more he becomes involved with them. In the end he falls victim to them. The film, with no dialogue and hardly any sound, is an experimental meditation on the complex, continually-changing relationship between a film-maker and his subject.

Fleeing the bustle of a big city, a young couple seeks refuge in the chilling silence of the deep woods. In this half-forgotten primeval world, nightmares blur into waking dread, and sinister tales of old come alive: chorts, rusalkas, nightwraiths, witches, and ancestral curses lurk just beneath the surface. As dreams curdle and reality unravels, something old and malevolent tightens its grip — drawing them ever deeper into the pitch-black abyss of Slavic horror. What lies behind old prejudices, and what dark secrets does the past of these places hold? Where does true evil reside — in black magic curses or in the hearts of the people around you? The first step into the swampy quagmire has already been taken, and you will never return to how things were before.

The seasoned intelligence officer still can’t enjoy a peaceful life. A call from a former colleague pulls Matveev back into action. Oleg Uralsky warns him of a looming threat and reveals that people connected to Operation 'Gambit' are being eliminated. It’s possible that Uralsky himself could be the next target.

A body washes up on the shore. Everyone, except the child, sees loved ones in the drowned woman who are no longer alive. Alone with the heroes, the drowned woman comes to life. After each meeting with the dead woman, people feel worse physically, but they are not ready to give up this communication. Will the heroes be able to let go of the past?

Short film from the series "Hospital Tales", part one. Sung by Maxim Praslov.

Praskovya continues working in the Bank despite hunger in the freezing siege of Leningrad. Her husband went to war. The only thing he left is the ink pot. This gift is the only item which makes Praskovya feel warm. In the most critical moment when no hopes or energy is left only the ink pot acts as a twist of destiny.

Kunashir, one of the biggest islands of the Kuril Archipelago, is situated 16 kilometers from Japan. It was occupied by the Soviet army in 1945. One year later, after a short period of cohabitation, 17.000 Japanese and Ainu people who were living in the Kurils and on Sakhalin were deported to the island of Hokkaido. Since that time Japan has been demanding the return of the Kuril Islands. A peace treaty between the two countries still has not been signed.

The lieutenant Suvorov and his small group of soldiers come to an abandoned village where only few people are left, and among them there is a schoolteacher with children. Suvorov is quite sure that the front line soon will be here. The lieutenant and his soldiers stay in the village and start their first fight with Nazis, giving time the others to leave…

Grouchy grandpas are trying to drive a young traveler out of their forest, who climbs everywhere and disturbs them. But when the main old man finds himself in danger, the traveler saves him and grandpas accept him into their pack.

Members of a punk band attempt a robbery for and unknown client while having hired actors to impersonate them at their own concert.

Brother and son, it was only yesterday that he came back from the army. Only his sister is at home, his mother is wandering somewhere as usual. But the man, who has come back, has changed completely.

Ivan Lashin, a young man who lives with his mother in the country and works at home, met director Vitaly Suslin. The young man told the director about his life, they wrote a script together and thus the feature film "Head. Two Ears" was born, in which Ivan played himself as the main character. Russia’s most important festival Kinotavr declared it the best script and the film also received the award of the Russian Film Critics Guild. Now, a few years later, Vitaly and Ivan have made a new film which talks about Ivan’s life after festivals: has he changed, what is he dreaming about?

The aging writer Shelestov falls passionately in love with a young actress Olga Rogina and wants to marry her. They spend many evenings together and, it seems, their story is approaching a happy denouement. But suddenly, a plane of a famous aviator lands near the town because of a plane breakdown. Romantic Olga falls in love with him and, leaving Shelestov, flies away with the pilot of the plane. The writer becomes desperate and commits suicide.

Musical theme by Alexander Vertinsky, piano part by Maksim Kravchenko. A story inspired by the famous romance.

A stage adaptation of the 1869 novel ‘The Idiot’ by Fyodor Dostoevsky, performed at the Vasilyevsky Theatre.

About a girl who chewed gum all the time.

Nadya is 31 years old. When she was younger, she ran away from her native Kazakh village to a large Russian city, where she began a new life with a new name, a new story, and, ultimately, a new destiny. Years later, she decides to return to her homeland, where her father still lives, in order to face her biggest childhood fear and become whole at last.

“I want to show things how they are.” Meet Maria (Masha) Alyokhina of the Russian activist movement Pussy Riot, who has been protesting against the regime of Vladimir Putin through public, colourful and non-violent actions for over a decade. “The system pretends to have a serious face. That’s how they want the fear to go inside you and paralyse you. And we believe that the smile and humour break this fear.” Maria Alyokhina describes today’s Russia as a totalitarian regime and the development since 2012 as “the road to hell”, reaching a low point with the attack against Ukraine in 2022.

The world of a corporate cleaner collapses, when he get replaced by a robot.

The Bolshoi presents the famous star-crossed lovers from Shakespeare’s most tragic love story set to Prokofiev’s cinematic score.

The wife of a young man finds out that he betrays her. Trying to win her back, the man develops a plot during which he must convince his wife that she saw an completely different man. A man who looks like him, as two peas in a pod.