The Twelfth Summer 2008

A story about a very special summer in a life of twelve years old Mishka.

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family 2000

The story of the last year and a half of Tsar Nicholas II and his family from the February Revolution of 1917 to their execution in July 1918.

Golem: The Petrified Garden 1993

Danny Cornish, a sort of stateless man who arranges art exhibits, is called from Tel Aviv to Paris with the news that a great uncle has died, in Birobidjan, the autonomous Jewish zone in Russia, leaving him a valuable art collection and the hand of a huge sculpture of a Golem. The uncle's will instructs Danny to find the rest of the statue, so Danny, who speaks no Russian, embarks on a trip that takes him (and the Golem's hand) to Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Siberia, fumbling with hotel clerks, taxi drivers, and bureaucrats, following leads, and making discoveries about myth, story telling, art, and hope.

I Was Stalin's Bodyguard 1989

This controversial documentary created a storm in Russia by taking the cloak off a violent, repressive period of Soviet history. Filmmaker Semyon Aranovich found the last surviving personal bodyguard of Joseph Stalin, Alexey Robin, who began working for the dictator in the 1930s.

Bum 1988

Temptation 1987

Zhenya, a senior in high school, is transferred to a new school after changing her place of residence. The new school is full of kids from privileged families. The school has different mores, different values and she can’t resist the temptation to join the elite of the class.

Tough Kids 1983

A former athlete runs a camp dedicated to reforming juvenile criminals, a tough job with no quick payoffs.

Summer Trip to the Sea 1978

A story about a group of Arkhangelsk kids during 1942.

The House is Being Built 1978

The plot is based on a conflict that arose at the architectural design institute.

The Ascent 1977

Two Soviet partisans leave their starving band to get supplies from a nearby farm. The Germans have reached the farm first, so the pair must go on a journey deep into occupied territory, a voyage that will also take them deep into their souls.

Woodpeckers Don't Get Headaches 1975

A young boy grapples with first love and his ambitions as a drummer during an eventful summer holiday.

Dauria 1972

A chronicle of life in a small village in the Baikal Region on the eve of World War I and at the time of the October Revolution. The age-old foundations are crumbling, the process of social stratification is underway and, as a result, some people go to defend the revolution, and others - to fight against it. The main hero is the young Cossack Roman Ulybin. At first, this carefree daredevil is preoccupied only with one problem: whether his sweetheart, Dashutka, is to marry him or a merchant’s son, Alyoshka. Roman is killing time fist-fighting with his rival. But little by little, the young man realizes that the world around him has changed, that people are fighting for equality and social justice, and, being a real Cossack, he can’t remain on the sidelines…

The Beginning 1970

A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of Baba Yaga in the amateur theatre — and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.

A Ballad of Love 1970

Leningrade. Galina works as a restorer at Catherine Palace; she is a sculptor as well and takes her profession very seriously and enthusiastically. Vera, a friend from art school, sees her loneliness and introduces her to her husband's colleagues - friendly Mitya and mysterious Andrey. Soon Galina finds herself torn between the two men.

Mama Got Married 1969

A sublime, exceptionally well acted film about a single working class mother and her teenage son. She finds a man and marries him, her son is jealous and full of hot air at first but comes to understand her in the end. That's all. The simplicity of the story notwithstanding, this is one of the most sincere and lyrical films to have been produced in the 1960s-1970s Soviet Union. Very realistic, too, showing the life as it was then. Lyusyena Ovchinnikova is superb, it is this film that makes one realize what a wonderful and under-appreciated actress she was. Nikolay Burlyayev is very good as a lanky teenager, the final scene with him carrying a glass of carbonated water for his mother is stunning. Oleg Efremov is very convincing as a working class man who found his happiness at last.

The Seventh Companion 1967

A portrait of the era of "Red Terror" during the civil war that followed the Bolshevik revolution, The Seventh Companion offers a character study in General Adamov (Andrei Popov), a law professor in the tsarist army, who is incarcerated by the Bolshevik secret police along with many other members of the bourgeoisie. Finally released into the new world of the Soviet Union, the resigned officer finds that he has lost everything from his old life except a mantel clock that he carries through the night from place to place, until he ends up back where he started.

The Story of Asya Klyachina, Who Loved, But Did Not Marry 1966

Asya, a lame collective farmer, is in love with the father of her unborn child. However, he does not reciprocate, leaving her forced to choose between a loveless marriage to another suitor, or single motherhood.