Aleksandr Zavyalov

A slice of life among Russian intelligentsia on the eve of WWII. A haunting reminder of Stalin's psychotic purge of 1938 and the nightmarish German siege of Leningrad.

A mysterious Dark Horseman slays young girls near the village of Dikanka, and he has already butchered 11 ladies. Nikolai Gogol, a scribe from Saint Petersburg has to take charge of the investigation, but the closer he gets to solving the case, the more fits he has, causing macabre visions. When he learns the next victim is his beloved, Liza, he doubts that he can protect her and resist the murderer. Fortunately, he meets somebody who can help him: Khoma Brut, the witch hunter, martial artist and philosopher. Together they spend three dreadful nights in an old chapel reading the funeral service for Ulyana, the witch, and calling upon the ghastly evil spirit Viy.

This charming comedy tracks the lives of several romantic pairs through trials and tribulations. The main focus of the story is a young soldier with a good heart but little ambition and his fiancée, who feels torn when a charming and sophisticated intellectual enters her life and sweeps her off her feet. There are also several side stories, also all dealing with relationships, most significantly the soldier's mother, whose comfortable but unexceptional marriage is threatened when a past love returns to her life.

Harry Palmer heads a private investigation business based in Moscow. His associates are Nikolai "Nick" Petrov, ex-CIA agent Craig, and ex-KGB Colonel Gradsky. They take on the job of finding 1000 grams of weapons-grade plutonium stolen from the Russian government, though they do not know the identity of their client.

The group of immigrants who depart to the United States, by chance finds itself in a deserted forest. Cut off from the civilized world, they begin to build their "own America".

When long-time British agent Harry Palmer loses his job because the Cold War is over, he's promptly approached by a Russian bossman, Alex. In St. Petersburg Alex tells Harry of his plan for Russia's future, which is threatened because a deadly biochemical weapon called the Red Death has been stolen from him. He'll pay Harry handsomely to retrieve it. An ex-spy friend tips Harry off that it's being sent to Beijing by train, aboard which we begin to learn whose side everyone's really on.

A satiric comedy which dissects the iconography of the 'Soviet Hero'. Original footage of a propaganda film from 1941 is the starting point for this parody of the ideological cliches of Soviet cinema. It follows the story of a Russian crew across the North Pole.

No synopsis available yet.

A lonely, defenseless, unsettled man meets a beautiful gypsy woman and falls in love with her. Having left the service, having left home, he sticks to the camp, but even here he finds neither home nor love — only pity. So he remains a "gadjo" for everyone, a stranger.

From his childhood in Russia to his last days in California, the tumultuous ininerary and bathed in melancholy of the legendary pianist and composer Serguei Rachmaninov. This film is based on the legend that Rachmaninoff received a bouquet of lilacs from an unknown admirer after every performance. He emigrated to the United States, and after an interval, began to receive the mysterious lilacs again.

Three people in the cab of truck: Alexei the driver, his partner Nikolai, and Marina, a prostitute they picked up on their way. Or so it seems... In fact, all three are police detectives. Their task: to uncover a gang that has been robbing long-haul trucks.

General Ivolgin, forester Kuzmich, and good-natured Lyova lose their way on a fishing trip and wind up in a neighboring country, where they decide to have a good time anyway but end up leaving their vodka and fishing equipment behind.

The purposeful village guy is indifferent to entertainment, but strictly follows the daily schedule, studies languages and exact sciences. There are two goals in his life - to become an astronaut and win the heart of his former classmate.

A tragicomic grotesque fantasy about the adventures of a drum and its owner in a country once called the Soviet Union.

Yuri Stepanovich Ipatov, who once held a high-ranking position, is dismissed from his post due to financial misconduct. Coming to terms with his guilt and deeply remorseful, he decides to return to the factory where he began his working life — this time as an ordinary laborer. However, in making this choice, Ipatov did not expect that his beloved daughter Natasha would not only disapprove, but would see it as humiliating to be the daughter of a "small" man...

A religious socio-political publicistic drama set in the 1960s-70s in the territory of the USSR.

A parody of the clichés and techniques of the Soviet adventurous comedy genre of the 1950s-1970s. This is a story about three heroes who return to their home city after escaping from prison. Truthfulness and sincerity help the characters find their place in the changed system.

No synopsis available yet.

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 Finn preparing a work on the Russian hunting traditions and customs, comes to Russia to collect materials and is invited to take part in a hunting party. His flamboyant companions include an Army general, with more than a passing resemblance to Aleksander Lebed, a police detective, local forest ranger (a devotee of Zen Buddhism) and some big-city types from St. Petersburg. Inevitably, their good intentions soon give way to endless drinking, visits to local farm girls and much else besides.

Based on Russian tales.

An almanac of short feature films based on stories by Mikhail Mishin from the collection of short stories "Pause in a Major".

In a year of 1924 a commissar from Soviet Russia is trying to find and kill Finnish general.

A young doctor relocates to a remote region of central Asia, thinking his fiancee soon will join him ...