The Best of Russian Cinema

After leaving the colony, the thief recidivist Yegor Prokudin, nicknamed Gore, decides to go to the village where the blue-eyed stranger Lyuba lives with whom he corresponded - after all, he needs to wait a bit and look around. But life in the village destroys all of Yegor's plans, and he decides to forever break with the past. Now he has friends, work, a beloved woman. However, the criminals, former friends of Yegor, are not going to put up with his new lifestyle.

A retired professor has returned to his estate to live with his beautiful young wife, Yelena. The estate originally belonged to his first wife, now deceased; her mother and brother still live there and manage the farm. For many years the brother (Uncle Vanya) has sent the farm's proceeds to the professor, while receiving only a small salary himself. Sonya, the professor's daughter, who is about the same age as his new wife, also lives on the estate. The professor is pompous, vain, and irritable. He calls the doctor (Astrov) to treat his gout, only to send him away without seeing him. Astrov is an experienced physician who performs his job conscientiously, but has lost all idealism and spends much of his time drinking. The presence of Yelena introduces a bit of sexual tension into the household. Astrov and Uncle Vanya both fall in love with Yelena; she spurns them both. Meanwhile, Sonya is in love with Astrov, who fails even to notice her. Finally, when the professor announces he wants to sell the estate, Vanya, whose admiration for the man died with his sister, tries to kill him.

Soviet Union, near the Chinese border, 1923. A stranger has just come in this little country village. He is a teacher, sent by the Communist Party to teach the ignorant masses. But the countrymen are to help him, and even to let their children go and "sleep" at school instead of giving a hand. There is only, Altynai, an orphan, to seem fascinated by the teacher and his knowledge.

Early in the 20th century, family and friends gather at the country estate of a general's widow, Anna Petrovna. Sofia, the new wife of Anna's step-son, recognizes Misha, the brother-in-law of one of the widow's admirers: a few years before, they had been idealistic lovers and now she can't believe he has settled for a dim wife and a job as a teacher. Amidst parlor games and idle talk of women's rights and peasants' capabilities, Sofia and Misha rekindle their love. Will they flaunt convention, abandon families, and run away to pursue lost dreams? Rescue comes from an unexpected place.

In 1953, the year Stalin died, many prisoners (some political, but mostly common criminals) were released from the Soviet Gulags. This is the story of a remote settlement which was under attack by a bunch of these recently-released blood-thirsty thugs in the summer of 1953, and the townspeople, along with a two political prisoners, who try to stop them.

A fascinating and human portrayal of a once-famous fighter pilot and loyal Stalinist named Nadezhda Petrovna. Now a 41-year-old provincial schoolmistress, she has so internalized the military ideas of service and obedience that she cannot adjust to life in peacetime.

In a freezing cold World War II winter, two pro-Soviet partisans - Sotnikov and Rybak - head off to find food for themselves and their compatriots. They find a sheep at the home of a German Headman but their return to camp is interrupted when they are arrested by a Nazi patrol. Taken prisoner, Sotnikov stands true to his beliefs and refuses to answer any questions despite physical abuse and torture. Rybak on the other hand argues that since they know nothing, they should simply tell them all that they know and do whatever they can to stay alive. One of them will live, but at a very heavy cost.

A touching lyrical film story about the fate of a dog losing its beloved master, about people's attitudes towards the "smaller brothers", which radiates souls like an X-ray, revealing baseness and petty meanness in some, and nobility, compassion and love in others. The film was nominated for an Oscar film award in 1979 as the best film in a foreign language.

Somewhere in Northern Russia in a small Russian Orthodox monastery lives an unusual man whose bizarre conduct confuses his fellow monks, while others who visit the island believe that the man has the power to heal, exorcise demons and foretell the future.

The Soviet Union in 1984, the decline of the Soviet Era. The daughter of the Secretary of the Regional Committee of the Communist Party in a small town disappears one night after leaving a dance club. There are no witnesses, no suspects. The same night a brutal murder occurs in a house in the outskirts of town. The murderer is the owner of the house. Police captain Zhurov has to investigate both cases . . .

During World War II, 12-year old Ivan works as a spy on the 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.

The year is 1917. We are in the Russian countryside. It is the middle of freezing winter. A pale young, newly educated doctor arrives. Having to deal with one medical challenge after another he soon becomes the center of everyone's attention. To soothe the impressions of human suffering he turns to morphine.

Russian poet Andrei Gorchakov, accompanied by guide and translator Eugenia's traveling through Italy researching the life of an 18th-century Russian composer. In an ancient town, he meets Domenico, who years earlier had imprisoned his family to save them from the evils of the world. Seeing some truth in Domenico's act, Andrei becomes drawn to him. In a series of dreams, the poet's nostalgia, and his sense of kinship with Domenico become intertwined.

Matyora is a small village on a beautiful island with the same name. The existence of the village is threatened with flooding by the construction of a dam. This is the story of the inhabitants of Matyora and their farewell to their homeland.

The main character of the film Lena is an engineer in a printing house. Her fiance Volodya is a promising scientist. They are about thirty. The film tells about their life for several months: from the July rain to late autumn. Relationships that begin as ideal end with a break when Lena, disappointed, having revised her views on life, refuses to marry Volodya.

The story of Kafka's Castle.

The action of this psychological film takes place in the 1920s in a small provincial town in southern Russia. The civil war is over, but the Bolsheviks are still far from complete victory. A group of gangsters of former white officers rob a train of gold, which needed to buy bread for the hungry, and five friends, former Red fighters, engage them in mortal combat.

Russian provincial town in the middle of the 1930s Stalin's Great Purge. Ivan Lapshin, the head of the local police, does what he has to do. And he does it well.