Aleksandr

Moya lyubov (My Love) is the latest breathtaking animation by Aleksandr Petrov, using his conventional technique of paint-on-glass, a very painstaking and time consuming technique (Moya Lyubov took 5 years to make) but also a very rewarding one, always a visual treat. Based on "A Love Story" (1927) by Ivan Shmelyov, it tells the story of Anton, a sixteen year old high-school student, high on romanticism and heroism, searching for his beloved, to whom he’ll give his first feelings.

'Mirror' is the celebrated Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky's most autobiographical work in which he reflects upon his own childhood and the destiny of the Russian people. The film's many layers intertwine real life and family relationships - Tarkovsky's father, the poet Arseny Tarkovsky, reads his own poems on the soundtrack and Tarkovsky's mother appears as herself - with memories of childhood, dreams and nightmares.
From the opening sequence of a boy being cured of a stammer by hypnotism, to a scene on a printing works which encapsulates the Stalinist era, 'Mirror' has an extraordinary resonance and repays countless viewings.

Lev Kulesov's legendary "constructivist Western" (adapted from a story by Jack London) was a highlight of the Soviet Cinema of the 1920s and one of the most popular films of its time. Upon finding gold in the Yukon a group of prospectors descend into murder. The survivors are facing an existential choice. The DVD presents a new transfer of the film and a contemporary score by Austrian composer and musician Franz Reisecker. As an extra it includes the only surviving fragment of Kulesov's Vasa znakomaja, featuring sets by avantgarde artist Aleksandr Rodcenko.

Set in a dystopian future where corporate brands have created a disillusioned population, one man's effort to unlock the truth behind the conspiracy will lead to an epic battle with hidden forces that control the world.

The award-winning director Andrei Tarkovsky the son of a famous Russian poet, was born in 1935 and grew up in and around Moscow during the Second World War. This non-linear autobiographical film is considered by many Russian-speakers to be his best film and is his most personal meditation on time, history and the Russian countryside. In a series of episodes and images, he captures the mood and feeling of the period just before, during and after the war. Lyrical reminiscences of his mother and of his father's poetry figure large in the film, along with extraordinary images of nature. Combining black-and-white and color work, with some unusual documentary footage, this highly regarded movie is structured with the logic of a dream.

An early work from Chekist director Aleksandr Rogozhkin. Beautifully shot, mixing luminous high-contrast monochrome with bleakly desaturated colour.

How do you wage war with an enemy who surrounds you at all times but remains forever out of sight? This was the question raised by filmmaker Alexander Sokurov as he journeyed to the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border to interview the Russian soldiers trapped in a perpetual state of danger and desolation. As the weary soldiers await the arrival of an enemy who may never materialize, Sokurov embeds himself with them to offer one of the most unique and involved portrayals of military quandary ever committed to celluloid.

Alexander Sokurov’s Confession is like no other movie you will ever see. Visceral and at times brutal, it’s a livid illustration of the effects of monotony and oppression on the spirit. More than anything else, this haunting film presents a world of unremitting bleakness, a world of suppressed desires and unspoken despair.
Originally a five-part semi-documentary series on Russian television, this scaled down release tells the story of a Russian naval commander in charge of an Arctic-based ship. The film reveals the daily duties associated with the ship, but it is really about solitude and isolation. Voice-over narration by the commander, other sailors, and even a third-person voice provide the "confession" of the title.