IDS 101: The Riddle of Russia: Films and Websites

Three generations of women share a small, crowded apartment with Nina at the center of it all. Twice married and divorced, with two sexually active daughters, one from each failed marriage, she is also at the beck and call of her mute mother who rings her bedside bell whenever she craves attention...

With biting satire, jumping back and forth in time, this film condemns its characters to an eternity of irony. In one section, a medieval king named Vano executes his wife for being unfaithful. Seamlessly the film flashes forward to the early 1930s, with another Vano, played by the same actor, portraying a low-down thief who suddenly seizes power..

In this cross-cultural comedy, Gombo, a Mongolian shepherd, and Sergei, a Russian road builder, strike up a friendship and go on the road together, headed for the city. Intending to buy a TV and condoms, Gombo is on his way to becoming a modern man. ...

A young musician discovers a magic window which takes him from his rundown Russian apartment to the streets of Paris.

Trapped by obligations to his pre-teen brother, single mother, and aging grandfather, 18-year-old Sergey rebels by shirking responsibility altogether. Aided by the privileged, Westernized diplomat's son Kostya, and straight-laced schoolmate Styopa, Sergey pursues girls, drugs, and rock n' roll. ...

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.

Eight year old Sasha becomes a hostage of his grandmother's unconditional love.

A modern filmmaker finds himself magically transported to the 18th century where he embarks on a time-traveling journey through 300 years of Russian history. The first feature film ever created in a single take.

In Russia during the 1880's, the female assistant of a foreign entrepreneur is dispatched to a cadet school in Moscow to negotiate a deal. After her arrival, the head of the school, General Radlov, becomes enamored with her, but the beautiful foreigner falls in love with a young officer...

Colonel Sergei Kotov, a hero of the Revolution, is spending the summer in the country with his young daughter, his wife and her eccentric family. But when his wife's childhood love suddenly appears, the idyllic summer day takes a surprising turn...

Having a fatherless childhood, young brothers Andrei and Ivan have grown closer than most siblings. But when they least expect it, the father the boys have never known returns. The boys eagerly join accompany him on a weeklong fishing trip...

A sweeping romance about a free-spirited Frenchman whose romantic idyll with a princess in pre-Soviet Georgia is threatened by the barbarism of the Russian revolution.

A hard-working, patriotic taxi driver starts to go over the edge when he meets up with a flaky, westernized, Jewish jazz musician who represents everything the taxi driver despises ... and secretly desires.

Set in contemporary Moscow where 12 men must decide the fate of a young [Chechen] man accused of murdering his step-father.

While the Cold War heats up on the world stage, rebellious youth in 1955 Moscow wage a cultural battle against dismal Soviet conformity, donning brightly colored black-market clothing,..

Explores the art and culture of Russia in a journey across history, encompassing Russia's architecture, paintings, music, literature and cinema. Part 1 examines icon painting, the first Russian art form, and reveals the spiritual ideas that have animated Russia for 1000 years. Part 2 examines Russian architecture from Eastern-inspired onion domes to Western-type palaces. Part 3 explores Russian music and cinema and looks at how new media forms are shaping Russia today.

Documentary about a Russian rock group, Aquarium, and its dedicated and popular leader, Boris Grebenshikov. The group struggles to make music despite censorship, and when glasnost loosens up the restraints Grebenshikov travels to New York to record an album. Now the question is, will he return to his bandmates and loyal fans?

What's motivating the thousands of Russian women who sign up with agencies to meet and marry American men? From the gray skies of St. Petersburg to sunny California ranches, we see the financial and emotional pros and cons of exporting one's heart. The film grapples with the tremendous economic challenges and difficult decisions facing Russian women today.

This documentary portrays how Russians and Americans collaborated in reviving women's activism in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia and in creating Russian women's studies on both sides of the ocean. The film is based on interviews with 18 experts who were engaged in this project, including activists and scholars. Participants assess the project's successes and failures since the days of glasnost and discuss the stiff challenges that Russian feminists face in the Putin-Medvedev era.

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. Together, these childhood classmates paint a complex picture of the dreams and disillusionments of those raised behind the Iron Curtain.

Founded in 2011 after Vladimir Putin was given a third term as Russian president, Pussy Riot is a feminist art collective/punk band based in Moscow. The group's protest inside the cathedral was intended to protest Putin's union of church and state.

Danila Bagrov, recently discharged from the army, returns to his quiet, provincial home town. But life is boring in this Russian backwoods, so he heads for Petersburg, to live with his elder brother who, he has heard, is doing quite well. Upon his arrival, Danila discovers that his brother is indeed doing well, having joined the mob. Soon Danila too is immersed in the city's organized crime scene.

Trigger-happy sibling assassins Simon and Sergei work as errand boys for Mikhailovich, the sadistic kingpin of a provincial Russian town.

Living among humans are those who possess various supernatural powers. They are divided into the forces of light and the forces of the dark. Centuries ago both sides signed a treaty to end a war. Now the battle is about to happen again.

Anton fights the forces of darkness while trying to find and save his son, but when vampires from the dark side mysteriously get killed, he is framed for their murders and must now try to escape the Day Watch who is looking for his blood.

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.

In a land torn apart by war, two men on opposite sides are about to find out they have one thing in common. Wounded and emotionally tortured, they are taken in by Anni, a young war widow. None of them understands the others' languages, but it doesn't seem to matter. After a hard day at work on Anni's farm, who needs words?

In a desolate, sun-sorched corner of the world, an elderly woman has come to see her beloved grandson. He is a young officer stationed at a remote military outpost. With the enemy just beyond the compound, she wanders the barracks, observing the routines of military life, before making a sudden trip into the outlying countryside.

Following his Russian naval service, young dreamer Asa returns to his sister's nomadic brood on the desolate Hunger Steppe to begin a hardscrabble career as a shepherd.

Stylized biography of noted eighteenth century Armenian poet and troubadour Sayat Nova, based on his writings.

A Russian submarine grounded on a New England sandbar is mistaken for an invasion force by the over-imaginative townspeople.

Lavish retelling of the final years of the Russian Tsar and Empress. The film begins in 1904 and shows the stark contrast between the opulent life of the nobility and the poverty of the peasants...

A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget.

Re-creates the 1905 mutiny on the battleship "Prince Potemkin." It focuses on a mutiny by the battleship's crew and the subsequent massacre of civilians, reflecting the spirit of the times.

A collection of animated short films by Soviet-era directors and artists from 1962-1990.

Story of the famed 15th century icon painter who survives the cruelties of medieval Russia and creates works of art.

When Veronica's lover, Boris, goes to war, she moves in with Boris' family. His cousin seduces her and out of guilt she marrys him. Unhappy in her marriage and still in love with Boris she leaves her husband to wait for Boris to return.