Mikhail Gorbachev

Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza's journey as a person with top secret clearance and total access to the President.

Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century.

Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War.

The shocking story of Aum Shinrikyo, the doomsday cult that unleashed a deadly nerve gas in Tokyo’s subway system in 1995. Founded by disillusioned yoga teacher Shoko Asahara, Aum transformed into a terrorist organization while Japan’s police and media turned a blind eye. Featuring rare archival footage and an interview with one of Asahara’s former high-ranking disciples. A Sundance premiere.

The Katyn massacre, carried out by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, was only one of many unspeakable crimes committed by Stalin's ruthless executioners over three decades. The mass murder of thousands of Polish officers was part of a relentless purge, the secrets and details of which have only recently been partially revealed.

The 23rd June 2023. The Russo-Ukrainian war rages on. In an unexpected turn of events, the Wagner Group chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, orders his men to seize Russia's southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The opening salvo of a mutiny against the Kremlin.

With the release of new documents in 2025, this gripping exploration revisits the JFK assassination, featuring expert insights and theories that leave viewers questioning the truth behind the events of a day that changed history.

Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first politicians to congratulate Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States in 2016, but over time the relationship between the two heads of state has had its ups and downs. Are they friends or enemies? Has their mutual admiration turned into mutual distrust?

The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, thousands of documents were hastily shredded by the dreaded GDR political police. 16,000 bags filled with six million pieces of paper were found. Thanks to the meticulous work of technology, the destinies of men and women who had been spied on and recorded without their knowledge could be reconstructed.

Three decades after the nuclear explosion, almost everything has been said about this ecological and sanitary disaster that made Pripiat a part of History. How did the greatest industrial disaster change the course of History, disrupt global geopolitics and, directly or indirectly, redistribute the balances and power relations of the twentieth century? The world will never be the same again. By retracing the incredible battle waged by the Soviet Union against radiation, this film proposes to retrace and enlighten an extraordinary story, while exploring the historical stakes in the medium and long-term…

Avenue, university and even an asteroid bear his name. Academician Sakharov is known all over the world: someone as the creator of the hydrogen bomb, someone as an outstanding public figure and human rights activist. All his life Andrei Sakharov lived between two fires - science and humanism - and this dualism formed the basis of the film. The picture will show the scientist as he saw himself, through his dialogues with the Conscience.

Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?

Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.

Russian Federation, December 31, 1999. After President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin becomes acting president of the country. From that day and for a year, Vitaly Mansky's camera documented Putin's rise to power. The story of a privileged witness. The harsh explanation of the reason why politics is the art of possibility of achieving the best with the support of many, but also of giving the worst in return.

From 1989 to 1991 a string of unpredictable events happened that brought to light the rivalry between two men: Gorbachev, hindered by the economic results of his perestroika, and Yeltsin, embodying the hopes of the Russian people. Illustrated with interviews of top protagonists such as Mikhail Gobachev himself, the documentary recounts the critical last two years of the former USSR.

As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it.

A guide to human history through its most audacious power grabs. From Julius Caesar to Napoleon; from Mussolini to the strongmen of the present day - we see how the world we know has been shaped by those who dream big.

A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives.

Legendary and controversial attorney Roy Cohn was a power broker in the rough and tumble world of New York City business and politics. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top counsel during investigations into Communist activities in the 1950s, Cohn is also known for being Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, fixer and mentor.

This is the story of Enrico Berlinguer’s solitude and success during his years as General Secretary of the PCI—from 1972 until his death while addressing a rally in Padua on June 11, 1984—told through the eyes of a young Walter Veltroni. The narrative is complemented by previously unseen archival material, interviews with key political figures (both Italian and international, such as Napolitano and Gorbachev), and footage shot in the Sardinian locations that were dear to Berlinguer.

In her quest to uncover the wrongdoings of the Russian authorities, Anna Politkovskaya inspired awe in some and fear in countless others. At age 48 she was assassinated for simply doing her job. This documentary is based on Anna's conversations with filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya, Anna's former university professor and personal friend. Shot over a period of 20 years, this exclusive footage creates an incredible story of a woman who consciously gave her life for her convictions.

No synopsis available yet.

Two journalists born in the mid '80s decide to take a look back at how their country changed in the last 30 years since the fall of communism. The end product is a documentary containing footage of political events and historical milestones significant to Romania accompanied by a narrator's voice walking the viewer through the events, and also interviews with Romanian politicians and other influential public figures sharing their thoughts and their different views on those events.

Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country.

The film tells a story about the latest musical revolution in recent history – the early days of the rave scene and the golden age of techno culture. International political changes in the mid-80s and early 90s, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, in a short period of time allowed this cultural phenomenon to become a mass movement which was almost completely independent from the global corporations and which did not fight with the system but created its own system.

Rock & Roll spread the sound of freedom across the Iron Curtain and throughout Eastern Europe and the USSR, despite Communist attempts to outlaw it and to crush what they perceived was a contamination of their youth. Over the next thirty years, thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western values helped fuel the nonvio- lent implosion of the Soviet regime. FREE TO ROCK features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West, the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe who reveal how Rock & Roll music was a contributing factor in ending the Cold

Follow in the footsteps of burlesque actor Pierre Richard, a key figure in French cinema in the 1970s and 1980s.

The three-hour-long documentary covers 25 years in the life of Nicolae Ceaușescu and was made using 1,000 hours of original footage from the National Archives of Romania.

Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme was openly shot to death on a February evening 1986 on the streets of Stockholm. In one night, the country of Sweden was transfigured. “Palme” is about his life, his time, and about the Sweden he had created. About a man who altered history.

A portrait of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), a witness of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), a dissident, a woodpecker who tirelessly pecked the putrid brain of the Communist regime for decades, demanding democracy loudly and fearlessly. Silenced, arrested, convicted, imprisoned, dead. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010, alive forever. These are his last words.

An HBO documentary, takes a ‘personal, not political’ look at George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States.

1960. The USSR starts humanitarian aid programs based on Marxist ideology in several newly independent African countries. For more than 35 years the Soviets expand their influence in Africa. Soviet filmmakers are sent along to document the glorious advance of socialism on the entire continent. After the fall of the Soviet empire Russia lost political interest in Africa, but thousands of kilometers of footage shot on African soil remain. With the help of filmmakers from back then, OUR AFRICA will recreate the time of the “Great Utopia” and expose the mechanisms behind the creation of propaganda films.

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

A look at the state of the global environment including visionary and practical solutions for restoring the planet's ecosystems. Featuring ongoing dialogues of experts from all over the world, including former Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev, renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, former head of the CIA R. James Woolse

Hammer & Tickle: The Communist Joke Book is a 2006 propaganda documentary film about "jokes" under the Soviet Union.

“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now...

Delving beneath the hype of Barack Obama's historic bid for the U.S. presidency, this documentary takes a close look at Obama's work in the Illinois state senate, his record in the U.S. Senate and his words on the campaign trail. Featuring interviews with numerous Washington insiders, media experts and politicians, the film scrutinizes Obama's record on taxes, immigration, energy, health care, abortion, foreign policy, Iraq and more.

On April 26, 1986, a 1,000 feet high flame rises into the sky of the Ukraine. The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant just exploded. A battle begins in which 500,000 men are engaged throughout the Soviet Union to "liquidate" the radioactivity, build the "sarcophagus" of the damaged reactor and save the world from a second explosion that would have destroyed half of Europe. Become a reference film, this documentary combines testimonials and unseen footage, tells for the first time the Battle of Chernobyl.

Urban sprawl, extinct species, depletion of natural resources and global warming are all causes of deep anxiety. Here to stay takes an uncompromising look at Planet Earth today, in all its beauty but also its scars and contradictions. Illustrating the intricate relationship and contrasts between the miracles of nature and man's obsession in trying to tame them. Can we turn back the tide? What do we really want for ourselves?

A documentary on the 1956 Olympic semifinal water polo match between Hungary and Russia. Held in Australia, the match occurred as Russian forces were in Budapest, stomping out a popular revolt.

The explosion at Chernobyl was ten times worse than the Hiroshima bomb and was due to a combination of human error and imperfect technology. An account of the sixty critical minutes prior to the explosion of the nuclear power plant on the night of April 26, 1986.

No synopsis available yet.

A different history of the Cold War: how Estonians under Soviet tyranny began to feel the breeze of freedom when a group of anonymous dreamers successfully used improbable methods to capture the Finnish television signal, a window into Western popular culture, brave but harmless warriors who helped change the fate of an entire nation.

Exploration of Rambo as a cultural icon and essential spirit of the Reagan era. Featuring Sylvester Stallone, cultural critics Susan Jeffords, Ella Shohat, and film critic John Powers. Produced for the "Rambo" Special Edition DVD box set.

After years of requests, Nardwuar the Human Serviette has finally entered the digital age with a compilation of over 60 of his favourite video interviews. Based around his two MuchMusic Specials, Nard Wars I and Nard Wars II and clocking in at over 5.5 hrs on 2 DVDs, "Doot Doola Doot Doo .... Doot Doo!" encompasses everything from former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Snoop Doggy Dogg to your mother!

A group of angels look longingly upon the life of humans. Berlin now is a very different place: unified in name but overrun with crime, corruption, and—in what turns out to be a key theme here—Americans.

Veteran journalist and author Edward Behr spent a year investigating the rise and fall of Nicolae Ceausescu. Executed on Christmas Day 1989, Ceausescu was once a hero to his own people, and in the west. Behr's film reveals the truth behind the myth, in a tale of megalomania, farce, and horror.

Iconic American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is the subject of this documentary, which looks at both his life and his influence on pop culture. The film provides details about Warhol's upbringing in Pittsburgh and follows his move to New York City, where he found massive success turning pop imagery into art and eventually founded "The Factory," his famed studio and party venue. Among the many notables interviewed are Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein.

On Nov. 22, 1963 the world was shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The mystery surrounding this history-changing event has led to many unanswered questions.

Multilayered documentary about the dissolution of the Ministry for State Security of the GDR: Half a hundred buildings, a thousand rooms, bunkers, its own prisons - the Berlin central complex of the former Ministry of State Security. Workplaces of desk jockeys, hunters, surveillance officers. A labyrinth of human alienation.

An historic presentation by CNN documenting the lead up to and the beginning of the war in Iraq.

Why do these events, as they recede into the past, attract increasing interest? Probably because, as time goes on, it becomes evident that these events—almost unparalleled in human history—continue to have a profoundly fateful impact on the fate of democracy in Russia...

Historic Russian battles to repel invaders serve as prelude to the story of events that redrew the map of Eastern Europe and parts of Asia in the 20th century. Following the turmoil of the Bolshevik Revolution, Communist Russia faces the venom of Nazi aggression. 1940's film footage reveals the harsh reality of total war, as the Red Army and Soviet civilians alike confront a brutal and tenacious enemy. The following decades are darkened by tensions between the USSR and foreign powers, and violent measures taken to silence voices of dissent. Finally, the Soviet people's yearning for a freer society leads to accelerating reforms and the ultimate dissolution of the USSR.

The film talks about the rise and fall of the two most influential protagonists in GDR-politics. In succession, over long stretches even together, Ulbricht and Honecker determined the course of the GDR, of course without ever getting out of being a satellite state to the big brother in Moscow. The film looks for the caesura and crucial points in the power game between Ulbricht and Honecker.

A crazy documentary about the dawn of occult movements related to the expectation of the end of the world, after the collapse of the USSR!

A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it.

A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party.

In the film, the authors act as researchers of the Thaw era and the generation of the sixties.

About the leaders and the nature of the activities of informal groups in Moscow: “Democratic Union” and “People’s Front”.