CSULB
LIBRARY FILMS
from/on
RUSSIA
and
its neighbors
This list is
organized
chronologically.
| NEW (after 2012) | ||
| ORTHODOX
/ IMPERIAL RUSSIA |
[Before 1917] | jump |
| 1917 REVOLUTION / CIVIL WAR | [1910-20s] | jump |
| STALIN'S USSR | [1930s] | jump |
| GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR / WWII | [1940s] | jump |
| POST-WWII USSR | [1950-60s] | jump |
| LATE USSR / PERESTROIKA | [1970-80s] | jump |
| POST-SOVIET RUSSIA | [1990s-] | jump |
| GEOPOLITICS / NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES | jump | |
| FILMS WE WOULD LIKE TO HAVE - help needed | jump | |
Molodoĭ balet mira (1969, 71 min.)
This fascinating look at the world of international ballet competitions features a young Mikhail Baryshnikov competing -- and winning -- in Moscow in 1969. Baryshnikov performs an excerpt from La Bayadere and a solo from an original ballet by Leonid Jakobson entitled Vestris. Also featured is a young Ludmila Semenyaka performing a scene from Giselle. There is also a rare film clip of Anna Pavlova.
Sibiriade (Konchalovsky MCC 393
Sacred stage: the Mariinsky Theater (2005 60 min.) NA7771.S25 S37 2005
Set against the backdrop of the magical White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg, this documentary features the best in Russian symphonic music, ballet, and opera at Russia's premier theater--the Mariinsky, also known as the Kirov. The film explores what the theater has meant to Russian and Soviet culture and how it has somehow maintained its artistic excellence through war, revolution, and the collapse of Communism. It also looks at the life and work of Maestro Valery Gergiev, artistic and theater director at the Mariinsky, and captures the excitement of his world--a world populated with artists, socialites, financiers, politicians and celebrities. The film also features stunning performances from the opera and ballet, and interviews with scholars and performers.
The Admiral (2008 118 min., Andreĭ Kravchuk) PN1997 .A2768 2010
Admiral Alexander Kolchak is one of the White Army's most controversial commanders. Married to Sofia and with a young son, Kolchak nevertheless falls heavily for Anna, the wife of a friend and fellow officer. Although Kolchak and Anna initially try to resist their passion and are separated in the chaos of the Revolution, they eventually unite in Siberia, where Kolchak is fighting the Bolsheviks on the banks of the Ushakovka River.
12 (2007 Mikhalkov) MCC 391 PN1997 .T83 2009
Set in contemporary Moscow where 12 men must decide the fate of a young man accused of murdering his step-father. Consigned to a makeshift jury room, one by one each man takes center stage to confront, connect, and confess while the accused awaits a verdict and revisits his heartbreaking journey through war in flashbacks.
Leviathan (2015 141 min. Zvyagintsev) PN1997 .L4832 2015
Kolya lives in a small fishing town near the stunning Barents Sea in Northern Russia. He owns an auto-repair shop that stands right next to the house where he lives with his young wife Lilya and his son Roma. The town's corrupt mayor is determined to take away his business, his house, and his land.
The Russians: a film about Oleg Videnin (2011 52 min.) TR140.V53 R87 2011
The film accompanies Oleg Videnin as he photographs people on the streets of Bryansk, as well as in Russia's empty villages and along Russia's roads. He also provides a deep insight into his working methods in the darkroom and the methods he uses when photographing people. The film includes several sequences of Oleg Videnin's outstanding and moving photography
Sokurov: early masterworks (1994 133 min.) PN1997 .S63272 2012
Disc 1. Whispering pages (orig. title: Tikhiye stranitsy) (1994, 77 min.) -- Disc 2. Stone (orig. title: Kamen) (1992, 79 min.) -- Disc 3. Save and protect (orig. title: Spasi i sokhrani ; remake of Madame Bovary) (1990, 133 min.).
"A deluxe collector's set featuring three early masterworks by visionary Russian filmmaker Alexander Sokurov in newly translated and restored director's cuts: "Whispering pages, a brooding beautiful film inspired by nineteenth century Russian literature, primarily Dostoevsky's Crime and punishment. Stone, a mysterious tale about a young night watchman's encounter with the ghost of Chekhov, and Save and protect, a visually sumptuous adaptation of Flaubert's Madame
Elena (2012, 109 min., Zvyagintsev)
The story of Elena and Vladimir, an older couple. The wealthy but stingy Vladimir treats Elena more like a servant than a wife. They each have children from their first marriages, a son and a daughter. Elena's son is unemployed and can't feed his wife and two children; they live only on the money Elena provides them, while Vladimir's daughter lives a bohemian life. In the hospital following a heart attack, Vladimir's daughter visits him. Their time together strengthens their usually distant relationship. Upon leaving the hospital, Vladimir declares that he's decided to change his will so that his daughter will receive all his money, leaving Elena with only a meager annuity. This will make it impossible for Elena to help her son financially. Humble and obedient, Elena then resorts to a desperate step.
Mermaid (2007, 100 min.) PN1997 .M43575 2010
The "story of Alisa, a lonely little girl from a seaside village who takes a vow of silence while believing she has the power to make wishes come true. But when Alisa is forced to move to Moscow as a teenager, her fairytale world will collide head-on with the realities of love, innocence, and material life in modern Russia."
How I ended this summer (2010, 130 min., Alekseĭ Popogrebskii) MCC 431
On a desolate island in the Arctic Circle, two men work at a small meteorological station, taking readings from their radioactive surroundings. Sergei, a gruff professional in his fifties, takes his job very seriously. His new partner, bright eyed college grad Pavel, retreats to his MP3 player and video games to avoid Sergei's imposing presence. One day while Sergei is out, inexperienced Pavel receives terrible news for Sergei from HQ. Intimidated, Pavel can't bring himself to disclose the information. When the truth is finally revealed, the consequences explode against a chilling backdrop of thick fog, sharp rocks, and the merciless Arctic Sea.
ORTHODOX / IMPERIAL RUSSIA (Before 1917)
The story of a young Russian prince who flees the court to become a monk and later renounces even that position to travel the country as a poor pilgrim.
Andrei Rublev = Andrei Rublev / directed by Andrei Tarkovsky PN1997 .A39 1992
Story of the famed 15th century icon painter who survives the cruelties of medieval Russia to create works of art.
Ivan Groznyi = Ivan the Terrible / directed by Sergei Eisenstein PN1997 .I773 1984
Originally produced as a motion picture, pt. 1 in 1944, pt. 2 in 1946. Eisenstein died before completing pt. 3
Alexander Nevsky = Alexandr Nevsky / directed by Sergei Eisenstein PN1997 .A3198
Biographical story of Prince Alexander Nevsky and his successful resistance against an attempt by the Teutonic Knights to invade Russia in 1242.
Voina i Mir = War and peace / directed by Sergei Bondarchuk PN1997 .W346 1982
Follows the interconnected lives of a group of Russian aristocrats from 1805 to 1812, including Napoleon's invasion of
Comment: The film is based on the famous novel by Leo Tolstoy.
Oblomov = Oblomov / directed by Nikita Mikhalkov PN1997 .O246 1981
A comedic drama about a landed gentry of nineteenth-century
Raba l︠i︡ubvi = Slave of love / directed by Nikita Mikhalkov PN1997 .R122 2006
During the Russian civil war, a Moscow film crew has gathered in the Crimea. In this fascinating historical love story, the leading actress, Olga, contemplates the revolutionary situation, and after viewing a newsreel of White Army atrocities chooses to return to Bolshevik-controlled Moscow.
Bakenbardy = Sideburns / directed by Mamin PN1997 .B243 1992
The Pushkin Club is a group of reactionaries who affect 19th century dress and want to remove from
Russkiy Kovcheg = Russian Ark / directed by Alexander Sokurov PN1997 .R933 2003 MCC 401
A modern filmmaker magically finds himself transported to the 18th century, where he embarks on a time-traveling journey through 300 years of Russian history. Russian master Alexander Sokurov has tapped into the very flow of history itself for this flabbergasting film. Thanks to the miracles of digital video, Sokurov uses a single, unbroken, 90-minute shot to wind his way through the Hermitage in
A former law student kills two women and is tortured by remorse. Basically, life behind the imperial capital’s façade of power.
Richard Harris stars as a foreign entrepreneur, who ventures to Russia in 1885 with dreams of selling a new, experimental steam-driven timber harvester in the wilds of Siberia. Julia Ormond portrays his assistant, who falls in love with a young Russian officer, played by Russian star Oleg Menshikov, and spends the next 10 years perfecting the harvester and pursuing her love, who has been exiled to Siberia.
Lev Tolstoy = Leo Tolstoy PN1997 .L4412 1984
This film traces the turbulent life of one of the greatest writers of the 19th century, Leo Tolstoy. We follow his life from childhood through his stormy marriage and up to his death. This film is vital for all who are interested in gaining a true insight into the driving forces behind Tolstoy's magnificient body of works.
The last station (2010) PN1997 .L3394 2010
In honor of his newly created religion, Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy renounces his title, property, and family in favor of poverty and celibacy. For the Countess Sofya, his wife of nearly fifty years, this is the last straw! After she discovers his plans to leave the rights to his iconic novels to the Russian people rather than his own family, she decides to use every trick of seduction in her considerable arsenal, to fight for what she believes is rightfully hers.
Rasputin = Rasputin / directed by Elem Klimov PN1997 .R349 1989
The story of the rise of Rasputin, his influence over the royal court, and his lust for power that eventually threatens the House of Romanoff and all of
Dersu Uzala = Dersu Uzala / by Akira Kurasawa PN1997 .D4537 1994
In eastern Siberia [Far East], 1902, a native hunter befriends the leader of a Russian mapping expedition and becomes its guide and primitive philosopher.
O liubvi = About love (2004) / directed by Sergei Solov'ev PN1997 .A2685 2004
Based on A. Chekhov's works.
Moi Ivan, tvoi Abraham = Ivan and Abraham (Belarus/France 1993) PN1997 .I7725 1993
In 1930s Poland, it was traditional for some Christian boys to live for a time with Jewish families in order to learn a trade from Jewish craftsmen. For this reason, Ivan has gone to live on a large estate with Abraham and his family, has learned Yiddish, and has become Abraham's best friend. But the anti-Semitism born of poverty, ignorance, and superstition is fierce in this community of and the two boys run away into the countryside to flee an imminent conflict. Journeying together in a menacing environment, they reveal their innocence and inseparability. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107588/
1917
REVOLUTION
/ Civil War (1910-1920s)
The rider named Death PN1997 .R893 2005
A
small band of
radicals takes on a dangerous game of political
assassination as they attempt to bring down the Russian
monarchy
through any means necessary. Based on terrorist Boris
Savinkov's
autobiographical novel. Moscow of nearly a century ago
is
"exquisitely recreated".
"Documentaries
like A
fish factory in Astrakhan (1908) preceded the first Russian
dramatic production, Sten'ka Razin (Romashkov, 1908).
Meanwhile, the
Moscow branch of Pathé produced its own version of the film
d'art,
Princess Tarakanova (Hansen/Maître, 1910) and soon followed
with the
first of many Chekhov adaptations, Romance with double bass
(Hansen,
1911). 38 minutes"--Notes from publisher.
Mat' = The
mother
PN1995.75
.M37
1970
Relates
the
injustices caused by the tsarist regime and which lead to
the mother's conversion to Communism during the 1905
revolution.
October
1917 direction,
Sergei M. Eisenstein and Grigori V. Alexandrov. PN1997 .O3
1990
Silent
film by the Russian master, Sergei
M. Eisenstein, detailing the events
leading
up to the Russian Revolution. The original version was heavily
censored by
Stalin, but in 1967 a full restoration was made, and a music
score by
Shostakovich
and sound effects track were added.
Stachka = Strike (1925) / directed
by Sergei Eisenstein
PN1995.75 .S774 1999
Story of
a strike by factory workers in
tsarist Russia which is brutally suppressed.
The Red
and
the white / directed
by Miklуs Jancsу
PN1997 .R355 1990
Commissar
(1988/2007)
/ directed
by A. Askoldov
PN1997
.C74623
2007
PN1997
.C74636
The
female commissar
of a Russian town taken over by the Red Army
becomes pregnant and is forced by her superiors to stay with a
poor
Jewish family until she gives birth.
Beloe solntse pustyni = White sun of the desert / directed by Motyl' PN1997 .W53413 2003
[This is one of the most popular Soviet films, a tragicomedy. The end of the Civil War, Central Asia.] A recently discharged soldier makes his way across the desert, seeking only to get to his native village. He happens to be in the area usually occupied by a bandit and his gang. The bandit has left, abandoning all the women connected with the gang, and it falls to the soldier to help them get to safety. Special features: Interviews with the screenwriters ; "Basmachi": archival footage of conflicts such as the one the feature is about.
Potomok
Chingis-Khana = Storm over
Revolutionary drama centered
on a young Mongol thought to be descended from Genghis Khan
whom
imperialists seek to use to further
their expansionist interests. After
a series of misadventures the young ls and leads his
people against
their
oppressors. Central
Asia
Raba l︠i︡ubvi =
Slave of love PN1997 .R122
2006
Set
in the Soviet
Union in 1922, a school for orphan boys, one of the
Dostoevsky Schools of Individual Study, has some discipline
problems,
that ultimately lead to a revolt by the students. The boys
then set up
their own "republic" and try governing themselves.
Bed and sofa
PN1995.75
.B432
1995
Satirical film which points up the social consequences of the Soviet housing shortage. A husband and wife invite a friend to live with them and sleep on the sofa, but soon the husband winds up on the sofa. A landmark film because of humor, naturalism, and its sympathetic portrayal of the woman.
My iz
Dzhaza = Jazzman PN1997
.J38
1984
When jazz is condemned at his music school as a product of a bourgeois society, a young man forms a street jazz band and finds some benefactors to help the band gain recognition in the Soviet Union of the 1920s.
Siberiada
= Siberiade by Andrei
Konchalovsky
PN1997
.S5673
1994
An
epic romantic
drama about three generations of two feuding families,
the rich Solomins and the poor Ustyuzhanins, of a Siberian
village, from the time of the Russian Revolution to
the
present-day
exploration of hidden resources of Siberian soil.
The film depicts the destinies of the Don Cossacks during the First World War and the Civil War in Russia. Based on Nobel Prize winning novel by Mikhail Sholokhov. 4 DVD disks
Aėlita
PN1995.75 .A345 2004 (also online via
Kanopy)
The
desert of forbidden art
2010 80
min.
N6988
.D47 2010
"How
does art survive in a time of oppression? During the Soviet
rule
artists who stay true to their vision are executed, sent to
mental
hospitals or gulags. Their plight inspires young Igor
Savitsky. He
pretends to buy state-approved art but instead daringly
rescues 40,000
forbidden fellow artists' works and creates a museum in the
desert of Uzbekistan,
far from the watchful
eyes of the KGB"--Container.
Looks
at the life and works of the important and influential 20th
century
composer Igor Stravinsky. Presents commentary from
Stravinsky's three
surviving children, as well as musical associates and friends.
Includes
performances of some of Stravinsky's important works, as well
as
documents, photographs, and archival film.
Katyn (2009)
PN1997
.K414
2009
Dramatization
of the massacre of 20,000 people (interned Polish officers as well
as
civilians accused of treason by the occupying Soviet forces)
by the
Soviet secret police at Katyń in the spring of 1940, and the
cover-up
that followed. Follows the fictional stories of four families,
separated from one another in the confusion of September 1939,
when the
Soviets and Germans
invaded
Poland, through the Soviet occupation in 1945 when the truth
of the
massacre gets suppressed.
Veselye
rebiata
= The
world is laughing (1934) / directed
by G.V. Aleksandrov PN1997
.J526
1996
A
musical comedy which pits a whip-cracking,
animal-herding,
good-hearted rustic with a fine voice and a Pan-like effect on
all who
hear
him against a so-called "finer" stratum of society. Leaving a
trail of
mirth
and mayhem from the seaside to the
TSirk = Circus (1936) PN1997 .C498 1996
Alexandrov's attempt at importing American musical comedy into Soviet film. An American circus star who has a black baby can only find happiness with the Soviet people in the Soviet Union.
Wolga,
Wolga = Volga, Volga
(1937/38) PN1997
.V6585
1996
Love
story in
which the boy and girl quarrel over whether his classical
music performance or her folk music performance will win the
Moscow
amateur talent show
The
post-Soviet
Utomlennye
Solntsem = Burnt by
the sun (1994) / directed by Nikita Mikhalkov PN1997
.B827
1995
Russian filmmaker
Nikita Mikhalkov is also the
star of this
tragic 1994 drama
about the last happy season in the life of a Bolshevik
hero's family.
The
year is 1936, and Stalin's purges are in full swing. Despite
his
reputation
and revolutionary record, Sergei
Kotov (Mikhalkov)
seems
to be on the dictator's hit list, as indicated by the
insulting arrival
of
his wife's former lover, an agent of government police. Mikhalkov treats all this as a
matter of
personal
and political intrigue dropping like rotting fruit in the
middle of a
sunny
and loving period for the Kotov
clan. The
director
ingeniously understates the mounting threat until one begins
to realize
that
the Kotovs are only
geographically distant
from
the long, bloody reach of Stalin. By the time we do realize
it, the
shock
of change is almost unbearable. A very fine movie all
around, though Mikhalkov's
touches of magic realism
(particularly
the presence of a golden orb that keeps popping into the
action) are
distracting and a subject of controversy among viewers.
(amazon.com)
Zemlia
=
Earth;
Bezhin
Lug =
Bezhin
meadow
(1930/1937) directed
by Sergei Eisenstein
PN1997
.E177
2001
Earth: A Ukranian
landowner is
forced to give up his holdings to the
state. Vasili obtains a tractor and under his leadership the
collective
is successful. He is shot by the landowner's son. Vasil's
father asks
that he have a "modern" funeral with songs by the young people
of their
new life. Bezhin
meadow:
Eisenstein's film was banned in Russia
in 1937, and
subsequently all prints were destroyed. This print is a
reconstruction
by Sergei Yutkevich from old stills and sketches. It was to
have been
about the young pioneers and their contribution to Soviet
collective
farming, but became instead the story of the struggle between
old and
new forces in Russia as symbolized in the story of a young boy
who
opposes his evil father. Earth,
originally released as a motion picture in 1930. Bezhin meadow
is a partial reconstruction from episodes originally filmed in
1935-1937.
Zerkalo = The Mirror (1974) directed by Andrei Tarkovsky PN1997 .M586 2000
Tarkovsky's
looking
glass is not merely cracked but shattered and we
see the jagged, jumbled reflections of its shards, imges of
Tarkovsky's
childhood mixed with fragments of his adult life--a child's
wartime
exile, a mother's experience with political terror, the
breakup of a
marriage, life in a country home--all intermingled with
slow-motion
dream sequences and poetic chunks of stark newsreels.
Repentance
= Pokayaniye/ directed
by Tengiz Abulaze PN1997 .M4577 1988
Poka︠i︡anie
=
Repentance PN1997 .P6468 2003
In
a small Russian village a woman is put on
trial for repeatedly digging up the body of the town's
recently
deceased ruler.
The trial gradually reveals the truth about the despot's
vicious reign
of
terror, and forces the townspeople to face the reality of his
(and the
GREAT
PATRIOTIC
WAR / WWII (1940s)
Osvobozhdenie
= Liberation
(1968-1971) directed
by Yuri Ozerov
PN1997
.O7164
2004
War, Drama,
Color,
445 min; Format: Full screen,
4:3; Russian film director Yuri Ozerov's
most
famous work was the
five-part WWII epic Osvobozhdeniye
(The
Liberation) that was hugely
popular in his native country -- each of the first two parts
was seen
by 56 million people. Osvobozhdeniye,
his biggest success,
was notable not only for its impressive battle scenes but also
for its
attempt to show the war from the perspective of ordinary
Russian
soldiers.The
production is reportedly "the most expensive film endeavor in
the
history of the Soviet Union," with "fortunes spent on
reconstructing
the
Fall of Berlin, featuring the most impressive war scenes on
film." Whether
this assertion is true or not, the blend of rare archival
footage and
original shots are unique and unforgettable. No
subtitles. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151852/
Voskhozhdenie = The Ascent (1976) directed by Larisa Shepit'ko PN1997 .A7597 2008 PN1997 .V876 1997
Larisa Shepit'ko's masterpiece is taken from Vasil Bykau's story "Sotnikov" and set in German- occupied Belorussia in 1942. This story of the tragic fate of a group of partisans is replete with spiritual strength and religious symbolism. It won the Golden Bear at Berlin in 1977. Shepit'ko was wife of another filmmaker, Elem Klimov (Come and See). No subtitles. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075404/Zvezda = The Star (2002) PN1997 .S65757 2005
"The year 1944. The "Star" is a radio call sign for a group of war scouts who went on an assignment behind the German front line. Having found the location of German tank concentration, they report to the headquarters, at the cost of their lives, about the impending attack."--Www.ruscio.com. The first post-Soviet film reviving the tradition of war films.
A
zori zdes tikhie = The dawns
here are quiet PN1997
.D3215
2004
This
dramatic story
of women in the war has won numerous international
prizes and awards. The action takes place during the Great
Patriotic
War (1941-1945). Russian
Karelia, the autumn of
1941.
Five anti-aircraft gunner girls, who are
mostly under twenty years old, and their commander, Sergeant
Vaskov,
discover that a German subversive detachment has landed in
this, still
far-removed from the front line, locale. The information must
be
delivered to the headquarters. However, the saboteurs have
broken
communications, cutting off the small group from their own
people and
leaving them no hope of getting any help. The enemy endeavors
to
further penetrate into the rear of the Soviet army on a
mission to
destroy a number of essential facilities. Vaskov and the five
girls
accept battle, being outnumbered by sixteen Fascists, armed to
the
teeth.
Kukushka
=
The Cuckoo (Russia 2002) / directed
by Rogozhkin PN1997
.M46
1989
Proverka na
dorogakh =
Checking on the
roads directed by
Alexei
German PN1997
.C2218
2002
Film
is set in the
winter of 1942 during the Nazi occupation of Russia
in WWII. Partisan guerrillas, headed by Ivan Lokotkov (Bykov),
are
testing the POW Lazarev, who briefly collaborated with the
Nazis for
survival. Lazarev is not executed, but instead he is given a
chance to
prove his loyalty. He has to go back to the Nazi controlled
railway
station, where everyone knows him, and to hijack a train with
food
supplies. Lazarev (Zamansky) proves himself a hero.
An
orphan boy serves the Russian army by
reconnoitering behind enemy lines during World War II.
An evocative, poetic journey through the shadows and shards
of a boy's
war-torn youth. 12-year old Ivan works as a spy at the World
War II
eastern front. The small Ivan can cross the German lines
unnoticed to
collect information. Three Soviet officers try to take care
of this
boy-child.
Idi i smotri
= Come
and see
= Viens et
vois / directed
by Elem Klimov
PN1997 .C7456 2001
The
horrific and harrowing experiences of a
young
boy coming of age during the brutal German occupation of
Ballada
o soldate
= Ballad
of a soldier / directed
by Grigori Chukhrai
PN1997
.B2454
2000 also on VHS tape PN1997 .B34 1980
A
young soldier refuses a medal following a
heroic action and instead takes leave from the front to visit
his
mother. During
his travels by train, truck, and on foot, he meets many
people: a
crippled
veteran, a comic sentry, faithful and faithless wives, and a
girl with
whom
he falls in love.
Letiat
Zhuravli = The cranes are flying
/ directed by Mikhail Kalatozov
PN1997
.C842
2002
Mikhail Kalatozov's
luscious portrait of love and loss
during
World War II stars almond-eyed beauty Tatyana
Samojlova and handsome Aleksei
Batalov as moony-eyed young
lovers whose
innocent
romance is shattered by war. When the idealistic boy
volunteers for
service,
his draft-dodging cousin steals the despondent girl by brute
force, yet
she
never gives up on her true love, even when he's reported
dead. Kalatozov's patriotic
paean to fallen soldiers
and
home-front heroes is an undeniably sentimental melodrama
suffused with
lush
images and lyrical sequences, a kind of cinematic poetry
unseen in
Soviet
cinema since the experimentation and optimism of the silent
days. Produced during the "thaw"
following Stalin's repressive
reign,
it won the Palme d'Or
prize at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival and set Kalatozov
on the road to more ambitious expressions of Soviet
idealism in the
modern
world.
Comment: Gone by the wind of WWII.
Detskii
Sad = Kindergarten / written
and directed by poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko PN1997 .K432 1984
"...s
sprawling, semi-autobiographical
film which follows the adventures of a young boy cast adrift
in
Vor = The thief / directed by Pavel Chukhrai PN1997 .T42815 1999
An
Academy Award nominated (Best Foreign
Language Film, 1997) tale of passion, betrayal and innocence
lost, as
seen through
the eyes of an impressionable young boy. Set in post-World War
II Russia.
Video Cassette 10008
Podranki = The Orphans PN1997 .O6683 1983
A
successful novelist
revisits the scenes of his childhood, where he
and his two brothers were homeless orphans surviving by their
wits amid
the chaos of World War II. Now finding his brothers cool and
indifferent, he wonders if the warmth and care of their early
years
together did not make them the best years of his life.
Svolochi
PN1997
.S9315
2006
A rusophobic fantasy film: The year is 1943. Polkovnik
Vishnevskiy
(Andrei Panin) receives an
order from the government to train a group of diverse soldiers
to stop
the actions of a German army group called "Eidelveis". The
mission is a
top-secret one. Vishnevskiy trains young (14-15 year old) boys
from
juveniles. They all know that after the mission is finished
they all
will be eliminated since they all know to much to be left
alive.
POST-WWII USSR (1950-60s)
Karnavalnaia
noch = Carnival
night PN1997
.C287
2003
This Russian musical manages to satirize Soviet life without ever offending the Politburo. The story concerns a group of young stage performers who, in true Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland fashion, wanna put on a swell show. Trouble is, the hidebound Ministry of Culture expects the kids to do a propaganda piece. Undaunted, our heroes and heroines stage the show their way, finding fun and romance along the way.
Russkoe = Russian
(Russia 2005) PN1997
.R9
2005
The film is based on five novels about [famous writer Eduard]
Limonov's
adolescence in
late-1950s Kharkov,
taking most
of its material from "Memoir of a
Russian
Punk" (Podrostok Savenko). Andrei Chadov gives a charismatic
performance as the film's hero, Edichka, moving from
preoccupation with
everyday teenage concerns to a darker second half dominated by
his
incarceration in a lunatic asylum.
Katok i Skripka =
The Steamroller and the Violin / directed
by
Andrei Tarkovsky
PN1997
.S682
2002
At the center of the film is the unlikely friendship between Sasha, a young boy who loves to play the violin, and Sergey, the macho driver of a steamroller. The film sidesteps sentimentality to give us a warm yet ironic look at two individuals who bridge differences in generations to form a powerful bond.
Moskva Slezam
Ne Verit =
The
setting is
Comment: Academy Award, Best Foreign
Film.
Krylʹ︠i︡a
=
Wings / dir. Larissa Shepit'ko PN1997 .W5535
2008
Following an injury,
Nadya's decorated
service as a pilot ended, as did her romance to another pilot,
Mitya,
who did not make it out of battle. Two decades later, Nadya
now lives
an ordinary life as the headmistress of a high school. It's
not a
satisfying occupation for her. Released in 1966, this a
feminist movie
of profound beauty, moving effortlessly from cramped, rundown
interiors
to wide open public spaces and somehow making its protagonist
look
small in either of them.
LATE
USSR / PERESTROIKA
(1970-80s)
Mimino (1977, 97 min)
PN1997
.M5654 2004
Comedy about a Soviet Georgian helicopter pilot who goes to
Moscow to
fulfill his ambition to become an international airline
pilot.
Interethnic relations in the late USSR
Rudolf
Nureyev: celestial attraction 2010
52
min.
GV1785.N8
R824 2010
A
retrospective look at the life and work of Rudolf Nureyev
through
interviews, archive footage, re-enactments and original dance
sequences. a 2008 French television program. In
English or
French with subtitles in German, Spanish, or Italian
My perestroika: a
nation's history is
personal 2012
88
min.
HC336.27
.M9 2012
Follows
five ordinary Russians living in extraordinary times, from
their
sheltered Soviet childhood, to the collapse of the Soviet
Union during
their teenage years, to the constantly shifting political
landscape of
post-Soviet Russia.
Stalker
directed
by Andrei Tarkovsky PN1997
.S657475
1993 v.1-2
Cargo 200 =
Gruz 200 (2007 89 min., Balabanov) PN1997
.C28 2009
In 1984, in provincial Russia, the daughter of a
communist party regional secretary is kidnapped and abused by
a police officer. Meanwhile there is a brutal murder nearby,
and military corpses return from Afghanistan. Based on actual
events, an unflinching portrait of the decline of the Soviet
era.
Ivan Vasilevich
meniaet
professiiu = Ivan Vasilievich changes
career directed
by Leonid Gaidai
(1973)
PN1997
.I83
2001
Shurik Timofeev builds a working model of a time machine.
By
accident,
Ivan Bunsha, an apartment complex manager, and George
Miloslavsky, a
petty burglar, are transferred to the 16th century Moscow, while Tsar
Ivan the Terrible goes into the year 1973.
Ironiia sudby, ili, S lëgkim parom! = Irony of fate, or enjoy your bath directed by Eldar Ryazanov PN1997 .I5772 2001
A
group of old
friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing
house on New Years eve. Unfortunately too much vodka and beer
makes two
of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them has to go
to
Leningrad and one of them goes... but its the wrong one.
Zhenya wakes
up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow
he takes
a taxi and goes home. The street name, apartment number, the
way an
apartment complex looks and even the key coincide completely -
just
typical Soviet-type 'economy' architecture. Imagine the
surprise of
Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without
trousers in
her bed. What's more - Nadya's fiance also finds him
there... Moscow,
Leningrad
Osennii
marafon =
Autumn marathon directed
by Danelia
PN1997
.A887
2000
Sto dnei do prikaza = 100 days before the command PN1997 .O535 2000
Five young Red Army recruits struggle for survival against the violence that surrounds them on a daily basis.
Sto dnei posle detstva = One hundred days after childhood directed by Sergei Solov'ev PN1997 .O533 2004
A
story of friendship
and first love, set in a summer camp for teenage boys and
girls in
contemporary Russia. A group of teenagers spend their summer
at a
summer camp. Mitia falls in love and gets so occupied with his
own
problems that he forgets the others
Note: Only in Russian: no
subtitles or
multilingual support.
Garazh = Garage directed by Eldar Ryazanov PN1997 .G287 2004
The
characters of
this movie are all waiting for their garages to be
built. Suddenly, on one of the meetings, they learn that 4 of
them will
not get their garages. And since some of them have powerful
"hands"
that support them, the government of this "Garazh kooperativ"
(Garage
Club) decided to expell those that don't have those "hands".
One of the
members, Malaeva, who was unhappy with that, locked them in
their
conference room, where they had to spend the whole night in
discussions. Note:
Only
in Russian: no subtitles or
multilingual support.
Sluzhebnyi roman =
Office
romance directed
by Eldar Ryazanov PN1997
.O334
2003
Anatoli Yefremovich Novoseltsev works in a statistics institution, whose director is an unattractive and bossy woman. An old friend of his, Yuri Grigorievich Samokhvalov, who gets appointed assistant director of the institution, wants to make Novoseltsev the head of the department but encounters objections from Ludmila Prokopievna Kalugina, the director. Samokhvalov then advises Novoseltsev to lightly hit on the boss. Ironically, Novoseltsev and Kalugina fall in love with each other.
Note: Only in Russian: no
subtitles or
multilingual support.
Nevero︠i︡atnye
prikl︠i︡ucheni︠i︡a italʹ︠i︡an︠t︡sev v Rossii = Unbelievable
Adventures of Italians in Russia
PN1997
.N376 2006
Treasure hunters from Rome go to Russia on a search for hidden
treasure
and experience a series of wild and humorous adventures. Comedy typical of the late Soviet
time: time
machine allows travel to Muscovy Russia and back...
Brilliantova︠i︡a
ruka = Diamond arm PN1997 .B74517 2005
An eccentric comedy about a modest Russian worker who starts a
heroic
combat against a gang of smugglers. Comedy
Obyknovennoe
chudo
= An ordinary miracle PN1997.O259 2006
The film is after Evgeniy Shvarts' fairytale play, full of
stories and
miracles experienced by the heroes and told us. The main theme
is that
the miracle of love is able to destroy any sorcery. A
popular
late
Soviet film.
Mimino
PN1997
.M5654 2004
Korolʹ
Lir
Interdevochka = Intergirl PN1997 .I5125 2005
The
adventures of a
Leningrad call girl -
a
hospital nurse who becomes
an "international girl", a prostitute who caters to foreigners
with
hard currency, who marries a client from Sweden and goes
straight.
Note: Only in Russian: no
subtitles or
multilingual support.
Legko li byt molodym? = Is it easy
to be young? / directed
by Yuris Podnieks HQ799.L3 I8 1988
Alienated
youth in the [late]
Little
Vera
= Malen’kaia Vera / directed
by Vasily Pichul PN1997 .L5778 1989
The
controversial, award winning Russian
movie
about a woman torn between her lover and her bitter parents.
Comment: A
popular
perestroika time
film signaling the end of the Soviet system.
Chuchelo =
Scarecrow
PN1997
.S296
1988
Life
through the eyes
of Russian young teens.
POST-SOVIET RUSSIA
Girl
model
(2013, 77
min.) HD8039.M77
G57 2013
Follows
an American modeling scout as she seeks new talent
in Siberia
and attempts to find work
for 13-year-old Nadya Vall in Tokyo's modeling
industry, which favors
young girls.
Brigada is a group of four friends, who grew up together and formed a powerful gang in Moscow. Initially they did business together, but an unplanned murder transformed them into a gang. Now their lives are at risk and there is no way back. The gang leader Sasha Bely (Besrukov) ends up pursuing a political career as a representative in the Russian Parliament - the Duma. His opponent in the election campaign is The Detective (Panin), who was watching the gang for 12 years.
Comment:
This is the
most popular post-Soviet TV serial, a kind of encyclopedia of
the last
10 years.
Magnitnye
buri = Magnetic storms
PN1997
.M25445
2003
Life in a factory town in contemporary provincial Russia is depicted. Strikes and unrest at the factory combine with a romantic triangle in the hero's private life.
Okraina = The outskirts
PN1997.O917
2003
A
group of men fight
injustice as they try to discover who stole their
land. Their hunt for the offenders takes them from the gentle
countryside to the halls of power.
A.n.a.t.o.m.i.ia. t.A.T.u. = Anatomy of
t.A.T.u. (2004)
[documentary film] ML421.T38
M36
2004
A frank, behind-the-scenes look at the Russian girl duo t.A.T.u. during 2003 as they begin a U.S. tour and later compete in the Eurovision music contest.
Progulka = The
Stroll PN1997
.S7858
2003
Watch the exploits of three young romantics as they dance around St. Petersburg, Russia, getting themselves involved in everything from a soccer riot to a rainstorm to a fight between best friends. Set in mostly real time, Olya, Alyosha and Petya act as if the world is their due and they live to enjoy every moment of it.
Comment:
You
literally stroll through St.Petersburg, even a map is
provided. A
useful urban film.
Thirty five-year-old Lilia is a naive resident of a Russian provincial city. She lives with her old father and works in a chicken slaughterhouse. Despite her disarming charm she lacks a man in her life. Her attempts to form relationships always lead to nowhere. One day, a well-known pianist gives a concert in the city. Lilia is enchanted by him, and she will tie herself in knots trying to conquer the man.
Starukhi = Old women directed by Sidorov PN1997 .O375 2003
In
a small Russian
town,
the only inhabitants of which are a group of elderly women,
the only
male presence is when the soldiers visit their grandmothers.
The only
male who lives with them is a young lad with Down's syndrome.
The
monotony is broken when a family of refugees arrive, who are
not given
a warm welcome.
A
young miner, long
out of work and money, has spent years suffering
from his unrequited love for a beautiful young woman. After
spending
several years in Moscow, the woman returns even more
unattainable. Yet
she herself proposes marriage to the startled miner. A small provincial town south of
Moscow
Osobennosti natsionalnoi rybalki = Peculiarities of Russian national fishing (1998) PN1997 .P3962 2000
General
Ivolgin,
forester Kuzmich, and good-natured Lyova lose their
way on a fishing trip and wind up in Finland, where they
decide to have
a good time anyway but end up leaving their vodka and fishing
equipment
behind. North European
Russia, Karelia
Brat = Brother
PN1997
.B7587
2000
Soon after being discharged from the Army, Danila runs afoul of the authorities. He goes to live with his brother, a gangster, in the free-wheeling city of Leningrad. Soon Danila is immersed in the city's organized crime scene. Comment: A very popular film.
Brat 2 (2007) PN1997 .B75872 2007
Second
film about a Russian "hero" Danila Bargov. He meets his army
buddies
with whom he fought in Chechnya. One of them, Konstantin,
tells Danila
about his brother, a professional hockey player in America,
who is
swindled into an oppressive contract by the team owner and his
Russian
partner. A few days after this conversation Konstantin is
found dead
and Danila needs to go to America to solve this crime.
Maria is a young successful scientist. Working on the creation of a new medication, she's very close to a major scientific breakthrough. However, on one ordinary winter day, her life is drastically changed. Maria's husband has disappeared without a trace. Unable to find rest either at home or at the laboratory, the young woman drives around Moscow trying to find out what happened to her missing spouse. In the mean time, a series of brutal murders of young good-looking women take place in the city. Several days later, Maria realizes that her own life might just melt down like a snowflake.
Nebo, samolet, devushka = Sky, airplane, girl directed by Renata Litvinova PN1997 .S5998 2003
A
stewardess meets a
man in an airport bar and they have an affair.
This love story starts in a posh bar at an airport and evolves
through
chilly hotel rooms, barren lands, under cloudy skies so as to
depict
the inner feelings of Lara and Georgi. The director has a
distinctive
Russian
style, in the tradition of great directors like Tarkovsky,
with its
simple, almost functionalist settings, theatrical acting,
silences, and
the observation of nature as a futurist filmmaker would have
done in
the '20s. On the other hand, contemporary Russia is very
present.
Uvlechenia
directed
by Kira Muratova PN1997
.P37385
2000
Tells the story of a blonde, Lilia, and a brunette, Violetta, and their fascination with horses. Their interest extends to the men who ride the horses, and the feeling turns out to be more than mutual, as our two heroines set off on a series of torrid encounters. People with a passion for horses are observed in this Russian film by filmmaker Kira Muratova. The film has no real plot. Instead it zeros in on several scenes in which people talk about or hang out around horses. In the first segment, set on the lawn of a seaside hospital, an healing, wheelchair bound jockey, a nurse and an eccentric circus performer, Viola, discuss the difference between racehorses and circus horses. Another scene is set at a racetrack where gunshots are heard in the background. Fashion models are doing a layout amongst the horses.
Nastroishchik
= The tuner directed
by Kira Muratova PN1997
.N3325
2005
A former nurse, Liuba (Nina Ruslanova), seeking marriage through newspaper personal ads, is bilked by a stranger whom she mistakes for her new date. Liuba's elderly, well-to-do girlfriend, Anna Sergeevna (Alla Demidova) is defrauded in a different fashion: having placed a newspaper ad for a piano tuner, she is entrapped by Andrei (Georgii Deliev), who is not only an excellent tuner and musician, but also a reasonably good petty thief and scam artist. Andrei and his current lover, Lina (Renata Litvinova), attempting to further secure the women's trust by returning Liubas money, which had been scammed yet again by a second potential husband cum con-artist, place their own fake personal ad in a newspaper so as to locate the suspect. Having returned Liuba's stolen money, Andrei finally swindles both Liuba and Anna Sergeevna through an elaborate bank forgery scheme-in a word, a portrait of normal human nature a la Muratova.
Tri
istorii = Three Stories directed
by Kira Muratova
PN1997
.T69
2003
A
man goes to see his
former schoolmate working at a boiler house and
persuades him to burn in the furnace the corpse of his
communal flat
neighbor whom he has just murdered after a quarrel. An
orphaned girl
gets a job in the archives of the maternity home to find out
the
identity of her mother who abandoned her years earlier. She
finds her,
befriends her and takes the first opportunity to throw her
into the
sea. An old intellectual tries to explain to the neighbor's
five-year-old daughter "all the abomination of her lumpen
existence".
The girl feeling hurt for her mother decides to poison the old
man with
arsenic.
Mat i syn =
Mother and son = Mutter und Sohn
directed
by Alexandr Sokurov
PN1997
.M78412
2000
Set
against one
stunning landscape after another, this is the tale of a
son, his dying mother, and the enormous loss that impends as
their
ultimate separation approaches.
Otets i syn = Father and son
directed
by Alexandr Sokurov
PN1997
.F4986
2004
A
father and son live
together in a rooftop apartment. They have lived alone for
years in
their own private world. Sometimes they seem like brothers, at
other
times they appear to be like lovers. Following in his father's
footsteps, the son, Alexei
attends military school. He likes sports and has problems with
his
girlfriend. She is jealous of Alexei's relationship with his
father.
Alexei's father knows he should maybe accept a better job in
another
city, maybe search for a new wife. But who will ease the pain
of
Alexei's nightmares?
The Return = Vozvrashcheniye (2004,
Zviagintsev) PN1997 .R4615 2004
Within
the emotional
vacuum of a fatherless childhood, young brothers
Andrei (Vladimir Garin) and Ivan (Ivan Dobronravov) have grown
closer
than most siblings. But when they least expect it, the father
the boys
have never known returns. Under the cool midnight sun of a
coastal
Russian
summer, Andrei and Ivan eagerly hop into a car for a week long
fishing
trip with a complete stranger they desperately need to believe
is their
father. But as they travel deeper into the Russian
wilderness, their journey devolves from vacation to boot camp
to
father-sons love triangle and ultimately to a test of wills
that pushes
to the brink of violence. As it dawns on the boys that the man
who
could be their father might be trying to abandon, exploit, or
kill
them. The Return's Jungian landscape gives way to fervid
Freudian rage,
shocking loss and bittersweet redemption.
Vovochka
Professor
Schefski,
H.
A
Russian television
mini-series centering around Vovochka, a
ten-year-old boy, an ever-inventive daredevil, who happens to
be quite
a handful for the grown-ups around him. With Vovochka's
arrival at his
country place on the eve of the New Year holidays, the life of
that
quiet suburban Moscow
village
blows up, both literally and figuratively.
Oligarkh = Un nouveau russe = Tycoon PN1997 .T933 2004
During
the Gorbachev
years, Platon Makovski and his four buddies are
university students who jump on the private capitalism
movement.
Fast-forward 20 years, Platon finds himself the richest man in
Russia,
having sacrificed his friends to get to the top. But with this
cynical
rise, comes a brutal fall.
Koktebel'
PN1997
.K6972
2003
"A broke and recovering alcoholic travels from Moscow to Crimea's
Koktebel
with
his eleven-year old son. Their journey through the Russian
heartland
brings them into contact with a number of "local characters,"
each of
whom assists or hinders the journey. The goal of their
journey, to
start a new life, is one that has a long tradition in Russian
culture
and cinema, though its trajectory is traditionally reversed:
characters
move from the periphery (the countryside, the past) to the
center (the
capital, the future)"--The Kinokultura film review website.
After discovering his mother is still alive, a six-year-old Russian boy runs away from his orphanage and sets out on a perilous journey to find her. Pursued by orphanage staff and the police, Vanya Solntsev must now face the most difficult challenges of his young life in this story inspired by true events.
Fragile: the Russian photographer Evgeny Mokhorev TR140.M592 F73 2010
Documetary about contemporary wonderfully artistic Russian photographer from St. Petersburg.
Oriental elegy= Élégie orientale = Восточная Элегия DS822.5 .O75 2009
Another Sokurov's art-documentary film. Oriental elegy is the first among the "Japanese" videos by Alexander Sokurov, where real people are represented in their normal conditions and surroundings. They are simple people, but not ordinary. Their originality lies in the special nature of their souls, where poetry and mythology mean more than the symbols of contemporary reality.
A humble life is an unhurried and detailed report from an old solitary house, lost in the mountains, in the village of Aska (Nara Prefecture), Japan, where an old woman, Umeno Matsuyoshi, lives alone.
Dolce is a form of documentary about a well-known Japanese writer, Toshio Shimao, who died in 1986, his widow and their daughter. It serves as a framework to underline the film's deep insight into the biographical narration. There is but one way to touch that world, to feel its exquisite flavour and its perverse pain - to do it as in a lyrical music piece, tenderly, dolce.
Illegal DVD, 95 min. copy at Multicultural Center
Tania is a former teacher from Russia, living illegally in Belgium with her 14-year-old son, Ivan. One day, they are stopped on the street for a routine check by the police; Tania is arrested and placed in an immigration detention center for women, while Ivan manages to escape. Threatened with imminent deportation and fearful for Ivan's fate, Tania embarks on a harrowing journey, determined to preserve her dignity and find her son. http://www.filmmovement.com/filmcatalog/index.asp?MerchandiseID=243
How I Ended This Summer DVD, 124 min. copy at Multicultural Center
A polar station on a desolate island in the Arctic Ocean. Sergei, a seasoned meteorologist, and Pavel, a recent college graduate, are spending months in complete isolation on the once strategic research base. Pavel receives an important radio message and is still trying to find the right moment to tell Sergei, when fear, lies and suspicions start poisoning the atmosphere. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588875/plotsummary
GEOPOLITICS / NEWLY INDEPENDENT STATES
Femen - Ukraine is
not a brothel (2014, 73 min.) HQ1236.5.U57
F46 2014
Ukraine's topless
feminist sensation Femen has created a media frenzy across
Europe, but
before they take the world by storm, these bold and beautiful
women
must confront the dark and perverse forces that power their
organization.
Ukraine: the birth of a nation
(2008, 2 videodiscs (200 min.)) DK508.12 .U573
2008
Four films by director Jerzy Hoffman dedicated to
the cultural and political history of Ukraine.
Family
Portrait
in Black and White (2012, 85 min.) HQ759.7
.F36 2012
Presents the experiences of 17 abandoned Afro-Ukrainian
children
and their Ukranian foster mother. Discusses the prevalence of
racism in
Ukraine.
Workingman's
Death (2005, 122 min.) HD4901
.W6755 2008
A look at what people from different countries endure in
order
to have a job. Includes a coal miner in Ukraine, a slaughterhouse
worker in
Nigeria, a sulfur miner in Indonesia, a steel worker in China,
and a
ship-breaker in Pakistan.
Pit #8
(Auk nr
8) (2012. 95 min) DK508.8
.A95 2014
In
the heart of a once thriving
Ukrainian
coal-mining region everybody digs - retirees, unemployed
miners and
even the children. Years ago, the town's desperate residents
decided to
start mining illegally; they excavate everywhere. The story
focuses on
the Sikanov family, which has three children. 15-year-old
Yura, the
grandson of a powerful Soviet plant director, is the head of
the family
working as a miner in the illegal pit. Most of all Jura wants
to run
his own cafe somewhere far from home, but the responsibility
for his
two sisters and looming economic crisis pushes his dreams into
the
distant future.
Danila Bagrov
meets his army buddy Konstantin Gromov
in Moscow, with whom he fought in Chechnya. The friend tells
Danila
about his twin brother Dmitry, who is a professional hockey
player in
America. However, the team owner in cahoots with his Russian
partner
have swindled the young star into an oppressive contract,
allowing them
to rob him blind. Several days after this conversation Danila
finds
Konstantin dead. In order to straighten things out and avenge
his
friend, Danila goes to Chicago...
Sex slaves 57 min. HQ281 .S49 2006
Reports on the transnational traffic in which women are lured or kidnapped for the purpose of forced prostitution, and the government indifference that makes the abuses extremely difficult to stop. Traffickers, their female victims, and experts are interviewed. Concentrates especially on the abduction of women in Moldova and Ukraine for forced prostitution in Turkey. Follows the journey of one man determined to find his abducted wife and buy back her freedom.
Okradena zemlya 2009 DK508.833 .G46 2009
Genocide Revealed is a historical feature documentary focusing on the 1932-1933 forced famine in Soviet Ukraine engineered by Stalin’s regime. The film depicts a human tragedy of unparalleled proportions. Up to to 12 million starved to death. Based on moving testimonies of survivors; commentaries by historians and writers; rare historical film and photos of the period; Soviet archival documents; this feature documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Yurij Luhovy, examines the genocidal intent in the efforts to destroy Ukrainians as an independent nation. -from website. Ukraine
Vladyka Andrey = Metropolitan Andrey 2008 PN1997 .M4382 2008
The basis for this film is the life and work of a renowned historical figure and church leader, Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Andrei Sheptycky. -from container label. Ukraine
Taras Bul'ba 2009 128 min. PN1997 .T34777 2009
Set in the Ukraine of the 16th century, a powerful Cossack chieftain is determined to regain his land from treacherous Polish invaders. Despite bitter dissension in the ranks, he is soon leading his soldiers into savage warfare. But further conflict erupts when his headstrong son, Andrei, falls deeply in love with a Polish girl. Spectacular battle scenes highlight the nonstop action, arriving at a shattering climax in which father and son must ultimately confront the rift between them. Ukraine
Taras Bul'ba 1962 123 min. PN1997 .T34775 2006
In 16th century Ukraine, the Cossacks are fighting against the invading Turks and the treacherous Poles. Taras Bulba is a powerful Cossack chieftain who wants his land free. In Kiev, one of his two sons, Andrei, falls in love with the Polish governor's daughter. For her love, Andrei betrays his own people. Taras Bulba himself kills Andrei because of his betrayal, and eventually leads the Cossacks to victory. Tony Curtis, Yul Brynner, Christine Kaufmann Ukraine
Klitschko (2012 ca. 113 min.) GV1127.U58 K55 2011
The story of two Ukrainian brothers, Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, both world heavyweight boxing champions who held world titles in 2008 at the same time. Ukraine
Dukhovnye golosa: iz dnevnikov voiny, povestvovanie v piati chastiakh = Spiritual voices: From the diaries of war, a narration in five episodes/ by Aleksandr Sokurov UA772 .S65 2004
Documentary about the desolute and dangerous lives of the Russian soldiers stationed along Tajikistan-Afghanistan border.
Dom
dlia
Durakov = House of
Fools
(Russia
2002)
Professor
Schefski,
H.
Shiza =
Schizo
PN1997
.S314
2005
This beautiful and moving feature, set in modern-day Kazakhstan, depicts the hard choices a young man makes when he's caught between poverty, crime and love, guided only by his wits and his better nature.
Since
Otar left = Depuis qu'Otar est parti
PN1997
.S5965
2004
A
family portrait of
three generations of Georgian women in the city of Tbilisi. Eka
obsesses over her physician son Otar, while the other two
attempt to
deal as best they can with Eka's burning desire to see him. A
poignant,
bittersweet story.
Kavkazskii
plennik = Prisoner
of the mountains
/
by Sergei Bodrov
PN1997
.P7358
2000
A Russian army patrol is ambushed
by
Caucasian
rebels and two survivors are taken prisoner, by a local
patriarch who
is
hoping to barter them for the release of his captured son. A
bond of
understanding develops between the soldiers and their
captors, but it
is broken when plans for their release go awry and a chain
of violence
and retaliation is precipitated.
Teni
Zabytykh
Predkov = Shadows of forgotten
ancestors (1967) by
Sergei Paradzhanov PN1997
.S38364
1980
Ambavi Suramis tsikhitsa = Legenda o Suramskoy Kreposti = The Legend of Suram fortress by Sergei Paradzhanov PN1997 .L387 2001
The Georgians' repeated efforts at building a fortress against invaders fail until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. The young man sacrifices himself to save his country.
K‘art‘uli P‘ilmi = Ashik Kerib : the lovelorn minstrel by Sergei Paradzhanov PN1997 .L387 2001
Tale of a lovelorn musician, his travels and travails, and the eventual restoration of his mother's eyesight as well as his winning the hand of his intended. Done in a highly stylized, theatrical fashion.
Nran
guyne = Tsvet granata = The color
of pomegranates PN1997
.C738
2001 by Sergei
Paradzhanov
Stylized biography of noted eighteenth century Armenian
poet and
troubadour Sayat Nova, based on his writings. It depicts the
poet's
life in eight sections, from childhood to death, rich with
symbols of
sacred and secular Armenian life.
Paradjanov:
a requiem (57
min.), directed by Ron Holloway, and Hagop
Hovnatanian
(10 min.) an
early short film directed by Paradjanov -- on the videodisc
with The color
of pomegranates PN1997
.C738
2001 film.
Neskorenii = The Undefeated PN1997
.U4495
2001
Absurdistan
DVD (copy of the Multi-Cultural Center)
An allegorical comedy centered on two childhood sweethearts
who seem
destined for one another until the women of their isolated
village,
angered by male indifference toward the water shortage, go on
a sex
strike that threatens the young couple's first night of
love.
Director: Germany. Location: Azerbaijan