Discoveries from Russia World Cinema

Sasha is an ordinary boy whose life is not much different from the everyday life of an average schoolboy. Sasha's parents are divorced, so they put their personal ambitions above the interests of their son. From lack of attention, Sasha begins to withdraw into himself. Everything changes when, after school, Sasha meets a new friend – a strange cleaner in a pilot's jumpsuit.

In 1957 French student Pierre Durand comes to Moscow to do an internship at Moscow State University. Here he meets ballerina Kira Galkina and photographer Valera Uspenskiy. With them he discovers the cultural side of Moscow — not just the traditional one, but the underground one as well. During his year in Russia’s capital Pierre lives an entirely different life than what he’s used to. But the internship and the experience of the Soviet people’s way of life are not the only things Pierre is after. He’s searching for his father, White officer Tatishchev, who was arrested in the 1930s.

Tanya Babanina from Protvino near Moscow bakes masterfully and dreams of her own cafe. But to fulfill a dream, they say, you need to get out of your comfort zone. And Tanya goes out on an international scale, finding crazy adventures on her rolls. One in Sri Lanka. Without money, documents and a husband who cheated on her immediately after the wedding. But with a hangover, in a winter coat and ... under the same roof with three guys who are not at all happy with her.

Meeting on a Saturday morning to drink champagne, the friends embark on a new journey through the depths of the male subconscious. What are the men talking about this time? Of course, about the personal. Lyosha is trying to understand whether "female friendship" exists, Kamil discusses whether it is possible to fire his best friend, Lovelace Slava recalls his first love (or was it not his?), and Sasha reflects on the loss of his father and the need to enjoy life here and now. And yet, walking around the center of Moscow, friends discuss how to screw in a light bulb so that she is satisfied, and what candid photos scream about on social networks, and what is chevapchichi.

Runaway prisoner goes searching for a treasure to the island populated with poachers and starover cult with his two companions, an intellectual and a prostitute

A terminal diagnosis forces a career-obsessed advertising executive to rethink his priorities, relationships and outlook on life.

An account of the life and work of Russian filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-86) in his own words: his memories, his vision of art and his reflections on the fate of the artist and the meaning of human existence; through extremely rare audio recordings that allow a complete understanding of his inner life and the mysterious world existing behind his complex cinematic imagery.

why cannes is a gulag, zvyagintsev is an electron, and anton dolin listens to bach on the croisette promenade

Moscow 1950s, June. City residents, having loaded all their scrub from mattresses to pots, into commuter trains, go to dachas and villages. Among them is the family of the boy Denis Korablev. Denis's parents don't really want to continue the tradition of renting a house for three summer months in the countryside, but Denis's grandmother is convinced that fresh country air is extremely useful for all of them. Life in the village is in full swing. Denis's dad rides a bike, Denis's mom walks around the village in a white sundress, Denis's grandmother makes strawberry jam, which is a lot this year. Denis has fun in the village - he joins a local gang of boys, makes friends with a girl Lena, goes to the boat station and plays a lot of mischief. One day, the worst thing for every boy happens to Denis - he falls in love.

A comedy about how a birthday gift may not be who it says it is…

Korzhik, Karamelka and Kompot, together with their parents, they go to rest at a seaside resort, where bright events await them, full of cheerful bustle and meeting new friends.

Four novels of the film-almanac are united by a common theme - all the most important happens in reality, and not on the Internet. Politicians and housewives, students and stars, adults and adolescents all over the earth take millions of selfies every day. Perhaps these photos will remain a dead weight in the phone's memory, but sometimes they can change lives. However, the heroes of the tape do not suspect anything about it...

The film "Who left the Light ..." is dedicated to the memory of theater director, theater and film actor Vladimir Ageev. He has been called "the main alchemist of modern filmmaking." A student of Anatoly Vasiliev, Vladimir Ageev paved his own path in art. His search and research led him to create his own creative style, to the "Theater of Mystery and Joy". The film uses archival recordings of the director's rehearsals, fragments from performances.

Yurka is a self—contained twelve-year-old schoolboy who is grieving the loss of his father. The ordinary course of his life changes when new students appear in the classroom — a brother and a sister. Together they will have to grow up and find out what true friendship is worth.

Crises happen in any relationship. The most romantic day of the year has prepared serious challenges for the heroes. Will they find the strength to cope? Or will they be scared and disperse? The film is about the fact that true love is able to conquer everything, even if Cupid's arrow accidentally hit the wrong place.

According to ancient legend, the artist found a mineral that can revive any inanimate thing. To hide the mineral, he inserts it into a doll named Hagi. A century later, Hagi falls into the hands of a puppeteer, and he with horror discovers that the old doll is alive. Moreover, she also has a nasty character. Criminals try to take possession of it in order to use it for mercenary purposes. But they do not know the secrets of this doll - no one can take possession of it, but it has a destructive effect on any person who falls within its influence.

What's going to happen if you meet your soul mate but she's not ready even to hear about sex?..

On their way home through an unknown city, Alexander and his father are attacked and seriously injured by some drunken juvenile delinquents. The father dies, and Alexander becomes a dangerous witness, which must be eliminated.

Vita, an employee of a private spy agency, is handed a case of tapping into and listening to the mysterious life of a new "client". By day, her work on the case seems all the more routine; by night she's involved in a steamy and passionate affair. Sooner rather than later however, Vita realizes that the man with whom she is having an affair with, is the same man she's been spying on for the agency. From this point on nothing is what it seems, as Vita becomes entangled into a deadly game of cat and mouse.

What price are you willing to pay for success? Since childhood, dreaming of becoming a rock star Lisa comes an offer from America, and she leaves the family - husband Artem and little daughter Vita. They once dreamed to go to America to make music with Artyom, but after the birth of their daughter they had to forget about creativity. Now Artem raises her daughter alone, interrupted by odd jobs. Once he is forced to speak with covers of Russian pop music at corporate parties. He takes Vita with him, and she unexpectedly rescues his father — he sings a song for him, the words of which he does not know. Their extravagant performance hits the Internet, collects millions of views, and attracts the attention of a famous producer. He promises to make them true stars. But Vita does not want to be a star at all - she wants her mother to come back ...

In the old house, but in the heart of the big city lives a Russian intellectual Chekhov's tailoring Ilyin. He lives a quiet-peaceful and for the time being do not know what in the old closet is the entrance to a mysterious cave and magic the room from which you can easily get to any capital in the world…

In a time after devastating wars, plagues, and natural disasters, the social order has collapsed, and new moral systems, beliefs, and forms of survival emerge. The story follows Ivan Morozov, who leaves his wife Katya to search for necessities, and meets Sergei Volkov, a mysterious companion. Together, they travel through haunting landscapes filled with forgotten villages, strange rituals, and mythological echoes, culminating in a profound and painful choice.

In Almaty, a sheltered and chaste woman named Din sees her life intertwined with the experiences of a prostitute who looks like her.

The radio air is a whole layer of the life of the night city. Radio helps to meet the lost in the night, brings comfort to the homes of people suffering from loneliness and insomnia. DJs become not just masters of the ether, they are the arbiters of fate.

Ilya stutters a lot, and this interferes with everything - his personal life, communication with the child, work. In desperation, he enrolls in the course of the famous doctor Cherkasova, a guru in his field, whom patients consider a magician and wizard. There he meets new friends and a new love - a young girl Vera. But it turns out that Cherkasova herself likes Ilya, and she intends to win him over.

A rich, smart, charming philanthropist from Saint-Petersburg Andrei Rokshin is found dead at home. The culprit is a woman wearing a black veil. Investigator Sinev takes the case.

What do the head of a secret file cabinet, students who don’t shy away from a glass, a police lieutenant colonel, and a prisoner’s wife have in common? All these people turn out to be the heroes of one story, which began with two friends who decided to earn extra money. In pursuit of a long ruble, they come to the Volkovo cemetery in St. Petersburg. As it turned out, this detective story began in the distant past, when we were all part of the same System, sacredly looking after its own interests and not leaving alone any of those who once touched the terrible secret. The lazy students don’t even suspect that they are already on the verge of death...

The director of the orphanage, Andrey Mast, is fighting the lawlessness reigning there and introducing strict rules. The new pupil Inna opposes these rules and will seek justice in her own way.

In present day Moscow three childhood friends in their forties - former school band players - live their everyday lives of a police officer, a taxi driver and a surgeon. They have lost track of each other. Three stories of betrayal, love and ageing are told in parallel. In fact, unknown to our heroes, their paths cross and their lives become connected. But they are not aware of it even when they reunite for a breaking performance at their graduation anniversary.

Vadim, a successful businessman, enjoying great success with the female, kidnapped bandits for the purpose of obtaining a ransom. Collect an impressive amount of money for racketeers Vadim instructs his sexy mistress Mary. Police Colonel Shmelkov with a group of capture organizes an ambush and prepares for a meeting of unwelcome visitors in the apartment at Maria.

Following king Berendey's orders, his youngest son, Ivan is sent to find the wonderful Firebird. In his search he is accompanied by his loyal friend and helper - Sery Volk, who, through his wits is always there to help his lightheaded friend. Fascinating and dangerous adventures , the executions of Ivan's cruel brothers and his fated encounter with Elena Prekrasnaia, are awaiting our heroes. The young spectators would be absorbed by the magical world of russian tales, with their traditions and characteristical aesthetics wonderfully mixing up with modern cinema. As for the parents, they will most certainly appreciate the humor and music especially written by popular rock artists.

Story of Russian military advisors in the Central African Republic.

This is a poetic film set in the times of Lenin's NEP. A ballet dancer steals a brooch and gives it as a present to another dancer. This is a crime of passion. A mysterious black ball is after the heroine. She runs away from it and manages to give the brooch in an exquisite pirouette movement, as shiny as diamond facets. What gives a stone its dazzling luster are its polished facets. But the real gem is love, and it's much harder to get than any diamond in the world.

Sergei’s beloved wife Yelena has passed away, and the bereaved husband is inconsolable. He remains obsessed with pictures of Yelena and with a braid of her hair that he has saved. One day, while walking in the street, he passes by a woman who bears a striking resemblance to Yelena.

A young German, Werner Müller, turns out to be a volunteer in the neurological department of an ordinary St. Petersburg hospital. A foreigner, overwhelmed by the impulse to help all the sick and needy, has a long and eventful day ahead of him. Every now and then, finding himself in comical situations and making his way through misunderstandings, the volunteer discovers all the facets of the Russian national character.

In 1907, the Russian authorities learn that a revolutionary known as 'Granddad' is living in hiding with his brother. The revolutionary is soon arrested and sent to Siberia. After ten years of struggling to survive in harsh conditions, he is finally released when the Tsarist government is overthrown in February 1917. He is welcomed home as a hero, but he soon finds that even his own son has different views than he does about the future of Russia.

Moscow, the 90s ... A city without a past and without a future. A city that doesn't forgive mistakes. Showing Moscow bohemia, the criminal business: nightlife, easy money, excitement and confusion form the surface of this life. The main characters of the film are businessman Mike and his friend and partner in smuggling Lev, a psychiatrist Mark and his school friend Irina who became the mistress of a nightclub, her two daughters - a crazy Olga working in the same club as a singer, and Masha - the “Moscow Princess” on the threshold of her thirtieth birthday. Love stories smoothly flow into a crime drama.

A young Japanese girl Rin-san comes to the pre-revolutionary Russia with a great and wonderful mission: to understand the mastery of iconography and attach Japan to the Russian Christian culture. She does not know that Russia stands on the verge of tragic change. Terrible years of atheism are coming. Envy of mediocre, intriguing nuns, the tragic love of a terrorist-regicide will turn Rin's life upside down...

A story of a young girl Claudia who works as a security guard on a slowly dying metal plant.

Based on the story of the same name by I. Turgenev. A story about the romantic feeling of falling in love with a young man for whom everything is for the first time.

Very little time has passed since the beginning of World War II. The young captain of the ship receives a crucial task - to deliver a secret cargo. But besides this, prisoners are brought on board. During swimming, convicts riot. At the same time, an enemy aircraft is circling the ship. In this difficult moment, the crew of the ship have to join forces with the prisoners, because this is the only way to resist death...

Popular teen video-bloggers became digital persons after being «hacked» by evil computer virus. They need to find their way back home from this «digital trap».

New adventures of three bogatyrs and their comrade-in-arms Julius Horse.

Two people play out a story of love and desperation that's enacted through music in this drama from writer and director Ivan Vyrypaev. Sasha (Alexei Filimonov) is a man in his twenties who lives in the small town of Serpukhov and has fallen in love with a woman who is also named Sasha (Karolina Gruszka).

In the future, all diseases have disappeared, and people don't need medicines. They come to the pharmacy for spiritual joys: a languid look, an anti-scandalous vaccine and vitamins against lies.

A convict named Valiko, a Georgian by nationality, accidentally took part in a prison escape. But local villagers mistake him for a new Franch teacher and employ him in their local school.

In a small community in the Ural mountains of Russia in 1953, just after Stalin's death, Barracks begins with the arrival of Olga (Irina Senotova). Olga is alone, her entire family wiped out by a Stalinist purge in Leningrad. She is soon romanced by a militiaman named Alexei, who serves as the community liaison to the government

The Role is about a brilliant actor in revolutionary Russia who takes on the greatest role of his life - the role of another man. Influenced by the ideas of symbolism and the Silver Age, he decides to slip into the life of his doppelganger – a revolutionary leader in the new Soviet Russia. First intrigued, then obsessed, he flings himself into the role and lives it to the hilt… even when the play of the life he is writing heads towards a tragic finale. Based on true incidents in the lives of Russia’s symbolists, this gripping film explores how far one man will go for the role of a lifetime.

The Kazakh village Karatas has long been subjugated by a criminal boss called Poshaev. He provides housing and jobs for the locals but will ruthlessly execute anyone who dares to oppose him. This is the lesson the pauper Arzu is about to learn first-hand—his wife Karina has informed the police about the crimes that are taking place there. Arzu is a cripple; now he must raise his little daughter alone. He is so helpless and grief-stricken that he doesn’t even seem to be contemplating revenge. Poshaev takes him under his wing and offers him the position of a guard at a building site. Soon Arzu has a chance to prove his loyalty, and he becomes Poshaev’s right hand. But where do Arzu’s real loyalties lie—with his boss or with the idea of justice?

A romantic story about love between successful top-manager Yuliya and vineyard owner Victor.

A story of an actor named Oleg whose wife has been seduced by his neighbor. As he is thoroughly convinced of her infidelity, he would like to poison her. An old man named Prokhorov helps him to get rid of his wife by lecturing about famous deaths caused by poisoning. It is from Prokhorov we learn that many famous and not so famous like Cesare Borgia and Caligula were killed as they were poisoned.

The evil witch Mombi and the self-styled girl General Ginger have seized power in the Emerald City of Oz. The Scarecrow, along with his friends, disenchants the daughter of the last legitimate ruler of the Emerald City, Ozma, and fights for justice. And in this they are helped by the girl Dolly from Kansas, the good fairy Glinda and the scientist Woggle bug.

Since childhood, Svetka Artyukhova was teased for being overweight, and she chose the best way to take revenge - she became a cop. Now no one dares to laugh at her. And the opera Artyukhova herself jokes only to scare the detainees. But on the instructions of her superiors, Svetka will have to go on a stand-up tour under the guise of an administrator in order to reveal the drug sales scheme. A person who never smiles will have to be the errand for those who make jokes. The case is under special control, there is little time, and anyone can be a criminal. Sveta gets down to business with her usual simplicity, assertiveness and without any jokes.

A 15-year old Vika has to grow up. Only yesterday she was just a teenager and now she’s a mom. Catching sidelong scowls of adults, being mocked by peers, unbearable responsibility – it seems like the entire world is against her and Vika is all by herself. More truly, she has a child now, she’s not all alone.

A former German officer is coming back to USSR in order to help to clear land mines he put during the war.

Tells about the events of November 1945 when the first Post War championship of the USSR winners, Dynamo-Moscow, went on the historic tour of Britain. Soviet football players won not only on the football fields of England. They managed to win the hearts of the English audience, transforming the view created by the Western press and propaganda about the Russian people and the Soviet country.

Anna, a sociology student from a prosperous family, must pass her internship and goes outside to conduct a study, during which it is necessary to find out how modern Russians see their future.

Set on a remote Russian steppe during the Russian Civil War of 1917-1921, a captured White Guard Officer is about to be hanged by the Bolsheviks. Will a reprieve arrive in time?