Yekaterinburg, Russia, July 17th, 1917. Czar Nicholas II Romanov and his entire family are brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks. This tragic event puts an end to the long dynasty that had ruled the country with an iron hand since the coronation of Michael I Romanov in 1613.
Irina SherbakovaHerself - Historian
Aleksandr SokurovHimself - FilmmakerViktor YerofeyevHimself - WriterPaul Edward KulikovskyHimself - DescendantLudmila KulikovskyHerself - P. Kulikovsky's WifeJulia DemidovaHerself - Peter and Paul Fortress Sub-directorSergei MironenkoHimself - Historian
Czar Nicholas II of RussiaHimself (archive footage)Czarevitch Alexei NikolaevichHimself (archive footage)Czarina Alexandra FeodorovnaHerself (archive footage)
From the cabinets of curiosities created in Italy during the 16th century to the prestigious cultural institutions of today, a history of museums that analyzes the social and political changes that have taken place over the centuries.
Laika, a stray dog, was the first living being to be sent into space and thus to a certain death. A legend says that she returned to Earth as a ghost and still roams the streets of Moscow alongside her free-drifting descendants. While shooting this film, the directors little by little realised that they knew the street dogs only as part of our human world; they have never looked at humans as a part of the dogs’ world.
September of 1944, a few days before Finland went out of the Second World War. A chained to a rock Finnish sniper-kamikadze Veikko managed to set himself free. Ivan, a captain of the Soviet Army, arrested by the Front Secret Police 'Smersh', has a narrow escape. They are soldiers of the two enemy armies. A Lapp woman Anni gives a shelter to both of them at her farm. For Anni they are not enemies, but just men.
Torn by personal guilt, Italian General Umberto Nobile reminisces about his 1928 failed Arctic expedition aboard the airship Italia.
A Jewish boy separated from his family in the early days of WWII poses as a German orphan and is taken into the heart of the Nazi world as a 'war hero' and eventually becomes a Hitler Youth.
Tsarevich Alexei was one of the smartest people in the state. His father Peter hoped that he would take his place, but Alexei tried with all his might to remain out of power and wished for ordinary human happiness.
In 2012 two members of anarchistic female band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in a Mordovian labor camp for "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred". Russian film collective Gogol’s Wives follow each step of the feminist punk band’s battle against Putin including their first disruptive performances on a trolley bus, shooting a video about transparent elections, a controversial performance in a Red Square cathedral, and footage shot in a jail cell. Support comes from many corners including Madonna who painted the words "Pussy Riot" on her back and wore a balaclava during her Moscow show. The documentary portrays the grim state of present-day Russia, a country starkly divided between conservatism and anarchy. Pussy Riot believes that art has to be free and they're willing to take it to extremes. "Pussycat made a mess in the house," they say, and the house is Russia. The filmmakers do not seek to moralize, they simply edit events and leave viewers to draw their own conclusions.
The life of Marie and Peter seems perfect, but their greatest wish remains unfulfilled: a family of their own. After several painfully failed attempts to have a child by natural means, Marie and Peter decide to try adoption in Russia. Carried by their longing and after many months of preparation and waiting, they set off to get to know their future daughter Nina in a children's home thousands of kilometers away from Germany. They still have no idea that they are only at the beginning of a tour de force against the Russian authorities – and they are facing the biggest challenge for their relationship, because while Marie and Peter are fighting for their future child, the question is: are we still pursuing the same goal? Each for himself – and especially as a couple?
A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.
A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.
For years now, the Kremlin has been systematically trying to use well-trained hackers for its own benefit. In exchange for freedom and protection, they do the dirty work of the state, interfering in other countries’ elections and penetrating government networks. Just how dangerous is Russia’s cyber army?
It’s the last dictatorship of Europe, caught in a Soviet time-warp, where the secret police is still called the KGB and the president rules by fear. Disappearances, political assassinations, waves of repression and mass arrests are all regular occurances. But while half of Belarus moves closer to Russia, the other half is trying to resist…
While investigating the furtive world of illegal doping in sports, director Bryan Fogel connects with renegade Russian scientist Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov—a pillar of his country’s “anti-doping” program. Over dozens of Skype calls, urine samples, and badly administered hormone injections, Fogel and Rodchenkov grow closer despite shocking allegations that place Rodchenkov at the center of Russia’s state-sponsored Olympic doping program.
An expansive Russian drama, this film focuses on the life of revered religious icon painter Andrei Rublev. Drifting from place to place in a tumultuous era, the peace-seeking monk eventually gains a reputation for his art. But after Rublev witnesses a brutal battle and unintentionally becomes involved, he takes a vow of silence and spends time away from his work. As he begins to ease his troubled soul, he takes steps towards becoming a painter once again.
A dying man in his forties recalls his childhood, his mother, the war and personal moments that tell of and juxtapose pivotal moments in Soviet history with daily life.
As Russian writer Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) thinks it is impossible that his novel Doctor Zhivago is published in the Soviet Union, because it supposedly shows a critical view of the October Revolution, he decides to smuggle several copies of the manuscript out of the country. It is first published in 1957 in Italia and the author receives the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958, which has consequences.
The small town agog Hussars entry. Love between cornet and the young actress suddenly faces intrigue made by a St. Petersburg bureaucrat. The actress father dies after being involved in this game and perspectives look dark... But evil will eventually be defeated by the nobility, loyalty and love.
Stories from the lives of the tenants of the Moscow's communal apartment: Kostik, who is a college student, lives with his aunt while studying; Arkady Velyurov who is a performing artist; Khobotovs, who are a divorced couple; and Sava, who is Margarita Khobotov's new fiancé. All these people live in one apartment and their lives constantly touch each other's.
An examination of the life of great Russian author Leo Tolstoy, who penned the 1877 novel Anna Karenina.
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, is remembered as the instigator of the October Revolution of 1917 and, therefore, as one of the men who changed the shape of the world at that time and forever, but perhaps the actual events happened in a way different from that narrated in the history books…