USSR

  • Aleksandr Muratov & Kira Muratova – Vesenniy dozhd AKA Spring Rain (1958)

    1951-1960Aleksandr MuratovDramaKira MuratovaShort FilmUSSR

    Two young people meet when they are punished for travelling on the train without a ticket and discover shortly afterwards that they work in the same factory. Their good connection is hindered by her bad memory of her alcoholic father.
    (FILMAFFINITY)Read More »

  • Ali Khamraev – Bez strakha aka Without Fear (1971)

    1971-1980Ali KhamraevDramaUSSR

    Synopsis from the Siskel Film Center:
    “Circa 1920, a young Red Army officer with a keen enthusiasm to launch his native village into the modern age issues a decree that women are to abandon Islamic garb and drop their veils. A 14-year-old girl takes the first step with tragic and unforeseen consequences, and yet the officer continues to pressure his reluctant wife to lead the other women into compliance, a move that will throw the village into revolt. Co-written by Andrei Konchalovsy, WITHOUT FEAR sensitively portrays the dilemma of an ancient culture in conflict with an alien bureaucracy.”Read More »

  • Margarita Barskaya – Rvanye bashmaki AKA Torn Shoes (1933)

    1931-1940DramaMargarita BarskayaUSSR

    The first sound film for children “Torn Shoes” was released in 1933 and won the world audience. It’s about kids from a poor family living in some European country (looks like pre-nazi Germany); two brothers have one pair of shoes for both. The author of the film Margarita Barskaya was proclaimed the leading director of child cinema. In 1937 she was repressed and her name was taken off the Soviet cinematography.Read More »

  • Ali Khamraev – Triptikh AKA Triptych (1979)

    1971-1980Ali KhamraevArthouseDramaUSSR

    Triptych is the story of three women: an illiterate girl who wants to build a house, a school teacher representing authority who goes to a northern Uzbekistan village where traditions and strict Moslem practices have kept the people subjugated, and an old woman kidnapped in her youth by a poor peasant thereby making her his property.Read More »

  • Semyon Timoshenko – Napoleon-gaz (1925)

    1921-1930Sci-FiSemyon TimoshenkoSilentSoviet silent cinemaUSSR

    Synopsis:A squadron of American warplanes, armed with gas developed by Corsican chemist Gannimer (dubbed “Napoleon Gas”) flies to Leningrad. American workers inform soviet comrades about the impending catastrophe. But the air attack on the city has already begun, and the assault troops of the enemy capture one suburb of the city after the other. The Red Army is organizing the defense and reflects the attack of the enemy with gas-armed drones

    … All these events turn out to be a dream of a girl from Komsomol, who came to the farm to agitate for Aviahim.Read More »

  • Boris Ivchenko – Annychka (1969)

    Drama1961-1970Boris IvchenkoUSSRWar

    A wartime melodrama shot through with the folkloric magic and vivid imagination that defined Ukraine’s so-called “poetic cinema” of the 1960s. In the dark days of Nazi occupation, a young girl native to the Carpathian mountains falls in love with a wounded Soviet partisan. Their affair sets in motion a tragic chain of events, as her family turns against her with shocking results. Borys Ivchenko’s roving camera and the striking performances of Lyubov Rumyantseva, Grigore Grigoriu, and Ukrainian screen icon Ivan Mykolaichuk make this an classic of Ukrainian cinema.Read More »

  • Aivars Freimanis – Puika (1977)

    1971-1980Aivars FreimanisDramaUSSR

    Quote:
    Based on the novel by Jānis Jaunsudrabiņš, “Puika” tells the story of Latvian peasants at the end of the 19th century through the eyes of a poetic village boy Yantsisa.Read More »

  • Eldar Shengelaia – Samanishvilis Dedinatsvali AKA Stepmother Samanishvili (1977)

    1971-1980DramaEldar ShengelaiaUSSR

    Мачеха Саманишвили / სამანიშვილის დედინაცვალი

    Impoverished old nobleman Bekina insists on marrying a wife, but his son Platon does not want to have sharer in father’s inheritance. Platon finds two times widowed and childless bride for Bekina, but a fate makes fun of him.Read More »

  • Amo Bek-Nazaryan – Dom na vulkane AKA House on the Volcano (1929)

    1921-1930Amo Bek-NazaryanDramaSilentUSSR

    Quote:
    To celebrate the centenary of Armenian film, we present a new restoration of this neglected silent classic by Hamo Bek-Nazaryan, the founding father of the nation’s cinema. A co-production of the Armenian and Azerbaijani national studios, this historical melodrama recounts the brutal suppression of an oil workers’ strike in pre-revolutionary Baku. Bek-Nazaryan’s mastery of the silent screen is on full display here, from the striking use of close-ups and densely-plotted narrative intrigue to the show-stopping devastation of the finale. Presented with a new score by Juliet MerchantRead More »

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