USSR

Quote:
Stalingrad has inspired many movies, but none so sweeping and monumental as this 1949 Soviet production. More than a movie, this is a spectacular military re-enactment of the Battle of Stalingrad – supervised by the Red Army, deploying thousands of veteran troops, as well as the actual tanks, planes and ships (including captured German materiel) from the Eastern Front. In its meticulous recreation of Stalingrad’s key campaigns, the film ranges freely across fronts and capitals, bringing to life the military and political players who shaped this epochal battle. Read More »

Synopsis:
1942. Picture of Josef Stalin.

Stalingrad. The greatest battle that humanity has ever known occurred in the summer of 1942 on a wide expanse of the Soviet land. It was 1942. The Soviet Union fought Hitler’s gigantic war machine one-on-one.

Stalin speaks with Comrade Vasilevsky saying: “It’s clear. They are moving towards Stalingrad. This is the second time that we’ve had to defend this city from the enemy.” He adds that they don’t know the full plans of the Germans, but this plan is even more adventurous that the one for last year’s capture of Moscow.Read More »

Synopsis:
The film is based on one chapter from Fazil Iskander`s epic Sandro from the Village of Chegem. It tells a story about one feast of Josef Stalin and his closest entourage. Sandro from the village of Chegem appeared as an Abkhaz folk dancing performer at this feast. This routine performance turned into a nightmare after he returned home as the purges of artists who attended the feast were about to begin. The year was 1935…Read More »

The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty was pieced together by documentarian Esfir Shub from material recorded between 1913 and 1917, and represents the final years leading up to the Russian Revolution. Through editing, Shub casts a critical, ironic light on the former czarist regime. The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is the first film in Esfir Shub’s trilogy that continued with The Great Road (1927), and concluded with Lev Tolstoy and the Russia of Nicolai II (1928).Read More »

The only Azeri feature-length animated film made during the Soviet Union. A mix of traditional and cutout animation. An animated opera.Read More »

In search of housing, a student finds an ad about renting an apartment for a very reasonable fee – and immediately agrees to a woman who recently buried her son to comply with all her conditions. The young man moves into the apartment and gradually becomes a witness of incomprehensible mystical phenomena.Read More »

Quote:
At the airport of one European country, a messenger who was maintaining a relationship between Dr Haas and the secret service of Western Europe’s countries was assassinated. Dr Haas drew attention to himself during the World War II, when he tested his deadly venom that caused psychological disorder on the prisoners of the death camp. In order to stop Has in his attempt to test his poisonous gas on the citizens of the world, thus completing his dreaded plan of decreasing the human population, KGB sends its seasoned agents to Daregate, center of the pharmaceutical industry having the suspicion that Has is in fact hiding on that location.Read More »

Stop-motion feature based on a play by S. Mikhalkov.Read More »

Quote:
The Stone Cross (Kaminnyi khrest, 1968), based on two short stories (“The Stone Cross” and “The Thief,” both published in 1900) by Galician novelist Vasyl’ Stefanyk. The Russified Osyka initially proposed an adaptation of an Andrei Platonov story, but Tsvirkunov reportedly told Osyka, “In Ukraine we have our own Platonov, one who is closer to us.” Thereafter, the director found a Russian translation of Stefanyk, coincidentally with commentary by Platonov, believing that with this he had found the “Ukrainian Platonov.” Having discussed Stefanyk’s significance for Ukrainian culture with Osyka, Drach then agreed to write the screenplay.Read More »