Russian
see all genres ›Alert to film's value as both art and propaganda from early on, the Soviet Union oversaw one of the great cinematic industries in the world during the silent era, turning out narrative and documentary features influential around the world. The Stalinist era's derogatory effect on expression eroded that stature until a new wave of talent proclaimed itself during a Cold War "thaw" from the late 1950s onward. Today's Russian filmmakers mix older high-art traditions with brashly commercial new ones.
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Genres / International / Eurasian / Russian
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Nostalghia
NOSTALGHIA is Andrei Tarkovsky's brooding late masterpiece, a darkly poetic vision of exile. It was the first of his features to be made outside of Russia, the home to which he would never return. Tarkovsky explained that in Russian the word "nostalghia" conveys "the love for your homeland and...Watch Movie
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Elena
Winner of Cannes' Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize, ELENA is a gripping, modern twist on the classic noir thriller. Sixty-ish spouses Vladimir and Elena uneasily share his palatial Moscow apartment (he's a still-virile, wealthy businessman; she's his dowdy former nurse who has clearly...Watch Movie
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The Rape of Europa
THE RAPE OF EUROPA is an epic journey through seven countries, into the violent whirlwind of fanaticism, greed, and warfare that threatened to wipe out the artistic heritage of Europe. For twelve long years, the Nazis looted and destroyed art on a scale unprecedented in...Watch Movie
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Elektro Moskva
Welcome to a weird and definitely wired world of avant-garde rock musicians, DIY circuit benders, vodka-swilling dealers and urban archaeologists/collectors, all fascinated with obsolete Soviet-era electronic synthesizers: primitive and ungainly beasts like the Polyvox, ESKO, Yunost and the...Watch Movie
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Silent Souls
One of the most acclaimed films of 2011, SILENT SOULS is a breathtakingly beautiful road-movie masterpiece. After the sudden death of his wife, tough guy Miron asks taciturn writer Aist to accompany him on a long journey to dispose of her remains according to the rituals of the Merya people (an...Watch Movie
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Pinhas
Pinhas and his mother are new immigrants from Russia. While his mother barely makes a living working night shifts, she devotes her spare time to the affair she has with a married man. On the third floor lives a religious family, and Pinhas is drawn to their warmth and unity. There he meets a girl...Watch Movie
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The Dry Valley
DRY VALLEY is the first full feature film by Alexandra Strelyanaya. The film is based on the famous novel written by Nobel Prize laureate Ivan Bunin. This story unites the destinies of the landowners and their servants, and is considered to be one of the most complete portraits of the Russian...Watch Movie
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The Edge
THE EDGE is a story of suppressed passion and destructive obsession set in a remote post WWII Siberian village, sparked by the arrival of Ignat, an emotionally and physically damaged Soviet tank commander with an obsession for steam engines. His self destructive streak causes increasing havoc...Watch Movie
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In Memoriam Alexander Litvinenko
Were it an episode in a lurid spy thriller, it would be dismissed as too fantastical: a dissident intelligence officer, a thorn in the side of a ruthless and unforgiving regime, dispatched in the most inventively terrifying of ways, by nuclear poisoning. Not only that, hotels,...Watch Movie
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Russian Ark
Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov (THE SUN) broke boundaries with his dreamlike vision of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, RUSSIAN ARK. It's the first feature-length narrative film shot in a single take (on digital video, using a specially designed disc instead of tape). RUSSIAN ARK is shot...Watch Movie
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Wagner and Me
English actor and raconteur Stephen Fry explores his passion for history’s most controversial composer, Richard Wagner. Can he salvage Wagner’s music from its association with Hitler? Animated by Fry’s trademark wit and intelligence and set against the backdrop of Germany's annual Bayreuth...Watch Movie
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100 Days Before the Command
Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the merciless violence that surrounds them on a daily basis. Their only means of saving their dignity is by preserving the humanity and compassion they share for each other. Visually astonishing and emotionally...Watch Movie
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Shooting Range
The American dream looks a lot like a nightmare in this kaleidoscopic Soviet animated film. A downtrodden man wanders a neon New York City looking for a job. He’s lured into a shooting range by a greedy manager who schemes to drive up entrance fees with the novelty of a human target. The worker...Watch Movie
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Girl Model
Despite a lack of obvious similarities between Siberia and Tokyo, a thriving model industry connects these distant regions. GIRL MODEL follows two protagonists involved in this industry: Ashley, a deeply ambivalent model scout who scours the Siberian countryside looking for fresh faces to send to...Watch Movie
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Attention! Wolves!
With shades of A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER, this unusual Soviet animation blends symbolic allegory and documentary photographs to warn against the persistent threat of fascism. A feral boy is found in the woods the same day that the Nuremberg Trials’...Watch Movie
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Hipsters
Moscow 1955. Stalin has been dead two years, but not even Khrushchev's thaw can prevent Komsomol shock troops from hounding hipsters (stilyagi), fans of American jazz, culture and fashion. The student Mels, a Komsomol member, meets Polya, a hipster, while conducting a raid on a hipster hangout....Watch Movie
