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Vinni-Pukh (Винни-Пух)
The Russian version of Winnie the Pooh
Free access via Russian Film Hub
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Operation "Y" and Other Shurik’s Adventures / Операция "Ы" и другие приключения Шурика (Operatsiia Y i drugie prikliucheniia Shurik)a
Length: 92 min.
This Russian sketch-based farcical comedy follows the character of Shurik as he stumbles into a variety of situations, including saving a warehouse from being robbed, and trying to help a bully understand the error of his ways.
The Wedding / Свадьба (Svadʹba)
Length: 114 min.
A young miner, long out of work and money, has spent years suffering from his unrequited love for a beautiful young woman. After spending several years in Moscow, the woman returns even more unattainable. Yet she herself proposes marriage to the startled miner.
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14 Up: Born in the USSR
Length: 89 min.
Director: Sergei Miroshnichenko
Sequel to the documentary Age 7 in the USSR, this film follows up with the children 7 years later after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
900 Days: Myth and Reality of the Siege of Leningrad
Documentary about the Blockade of Leningrad during World War II. The film presents an emotional picture of the struggle of some survivors, whose personal memories tend to be overshadowed by the heroic myth held up by the authorities. That myth is in painful contrast with the horrific truth they were forbidden to mention all these years.
Age 7 in the USSR (Born in the USSR)
Length: 66 min.
Director: Sergei Miroshnichenko
Shot two years prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union, this program emulates the 7 Up documentary model in which a group of children reveal their thoughts and feelings on camera.
Ballerina / Балерина
The BAM Zone: Permanent Members
Chernobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks
Cold Fear: Gay Life in Russia
CzechMate: In Search of Jiří Menzel
Dancer
Length: 85 min.
Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.
Dancing for Dollars
Length: 100 min.
The Bolshoi Ballet's first trip to America was a political and artistic triumph and audiences queued for days to see these legends of ballet. Bolshoi in Vegas, a richly entertaining documentary, follows their disastrous 1996 tour in which they hoped to capitalize on this earlier success. Kirov in Petersburg traces the development of an institution, which is both irremediably altered and condemned to trade on its past glories.
East Side Story
The Flames of Paris = Flammes de Paris (the Bolshoi Ballet )
Length: 124 min.
Interviews and rehearsals with Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev and Alexei Ratmansky. Filmed at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, March 2010.
Free to Rock
The Harvest of Sorrow: The Memories of Sergei Rachmaninoff
A documentary on the life of Sergei Rachmaninoff, including brief segments from various performances of his instrumental and vocal works. Also includes appearances and personal narratives of the composer's relatives: Rachmaninoff's niece, Sofia Satina, and his grandson, Alexander Rachmaninoff. Originally produced as a documentary for television in 1998.
In Pursuit of the Siberian Shaman
Length: 72 min.
A documentary on the revival of Buryat shamanism based on the field research on Olkhon Island. Also shows a behind- the-scenes look at an indigenous shaman living on the island as he moves between shamanic rituals performed for the local clientele and shows performed at various resorts for Western tourists in search of "primitive" cultures.
In the Name of Love: Modern Day Mail Order Brides
Russia’s dismal post-Soviet economy has given rise to widespread alcoholism, depression, and divorce. One consequence is that many desperate young Russian women turn to marriage agencies in a bid to escape--those linking Russian women with "rich" American men are thriving. Filmed principally in St. Petersburg over several years, this film examines the motiviations of two agency heads and follows several of these women as they seek a brighter future.
The Leningrad Legend
Length: 71 min.
A behind-the-scenes look at the Kirov Ballet and its determination to develop into a modern entity. Host Makarova visits the Vaganova School and reviews its 250 year history. Includes performance clips by some of the Kirov Ballet's most famous and respected dancers.
Maiia Plisetskaia / Майя Плисецкая
Prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, of the Bolshoi Ballet, is the subject of this documentary. Contains some rare films of her as a child, and highlights from Swan lake, Sleeping beauty, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliet, Dying swan, Raymonda, Stone flower, Don Quixote, and other ballets.
Makarova Returns
Length: 60 min.
Natalia Makarova returns to the Soviet Union after nearly 20 years of separation. This program includes her triumphant return to the Kirov stage where she began her illustrious career and features excerpts from her performances, and her personal reflections on her career as well as interviews with her family and members of the Kirov.
Meeting Gorbachev
Documentary filled with unforgettable archive materials and based on three never before seen interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, the former General Secretary of the USSR. Celebrates Gorbachev's three remarkable accomplishments: negotiations with the US to reduce nuclear weapons, cessation of Soviet control of Eastern Europe and the reunification of Germany, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc.
My Perestroika
Documentary that 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.
New Samaritans
Length: 53 min.
The Samaritans are one of the most enigmatic people living in Israel today. They have lived separate ethnically, never intermarrying with either Arabs or Jews. The film tells the story of Yair and Rajaiiy who were given permission to marry wives from Ukraine and Russia, following the women's acculturation to the Samaritan religion. In Hebrew and Russian, with subtitles in English.
Nureyev: A Portrait
Primo Levi's Journey
Length: 91 min.
In 1945, Primo Levi was liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp. With the war still underway, he embarked on a thousand-mile journey to his home in Turin, Italy. Retracing his historic trip, the film weaves a path through a modern Europe that has both changed and remained eerily the same--from democratic rallies in the East to neo-Nazi demonstrations in the West.
Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer
Founded in 2011, Pussy Riot is an anonymous feminist art collective/punk band based in Moscow. The group’s protest inside the Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral led to the members being arrested and tried for trespassing, wearing "inappropriate" sleeveless dresses and disrupting social order. Nadia, Masha, and Katia were accused of religious hatred in a trial that reverberated around the world and transformed the face of Russian society.
Putin’s Kiss
Length: 85 min.
Portrays contemporary life in Russia through the story of Masha, a 19 year-old girl who is a member of Nashi, a political youth organization connected with the Kremlin. Extremely ambitious, the young Masha quickly rises to the top of Nashi, but begins to question her involvement when a dissident journalist whom she has befriended is savagely attacked.
The Red Soul
Length: 90 min.
More than 50 years after the death of Joseph Stalin, Russia is still divided. Was Stalin a great leader who made Russia into a superpower? Or was he a ruthless dictator, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people? The Red Soul shows how the past lives on in present-day Russia, and thus makes its mark on the future.
Russian Feminism: Twenty Years Forward
Russian Opera at the Bolshoi
Length: 112 min.
A visual illustration of the glorious history of the Bolshoi opera, the theatre, its operatic productions and world-renowned star singers.
Russians Deprived of Russia / Русские без России (Russkie bez Rossii)
Standing on Sacred Ground
Documents how indigenous peoples stand up for their traditional sacred lands in defense of cultural survival, human rights and the environment. Volume 1: In the Russian republic of Altai, people create their own mountain parks and resist a gas pipeline. In English and Russian with English subtitles
T'an bakhtale!: Good Fortune for You
This documentary was shot in Russia in 1993, and Roma people from different backgrounds describe what it means to be a Roma.
Ukraine Sonata
As the shadow of Soviet control slipped away from the former satellite states, Ukraine stepped forward and declared its independence. Free of Moscow’s grip, gone is the state funding that supported the arts. Ukraine Sonata looks at the years before, during and after the great ’Perestroika’ of the Soviet Union and how the Independent Republic of Ukraine is negotiating the changes on a musical level.
Iron Closet
Women of the Gulag
Maya: Portrait of Maya Plisetskaya
They Would all be Queens / Todas iban a ser reinas
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12 chairs / 12 стульев (12 stulʹev)
Arrhythmia / Аритмия (Aritmiia)
Beanpole / Дылда (Dylda)
The Cherry Orchard
The Chronicles of Melanie / Melānijas hronika
Length: 120 min.
A terrifying account of the mass deportation of residents of Soviet-occupied Latvia that occurred in June of 1941 based on the memoirs of Melanija Venaga. Melanie was one of over 17,000 people deported to Siberia and separated from her husband. The three week journey on the cattle cars to Siberia is just the beginning of the long and brutal exile.
Latvian, Russian & German dialogue; English subtitles.
Doctor Zhivago / Доктор Живаго (Doktor Zhivago)
Length: 848 min.
Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war and revolution. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget. (11-episode serial, made for television)
Dubrovsky / Дубровский (Dubrovskii)
Fiddler on the Roof
The Film About Alekseyev / Кино про Алексеева (Kino pro Alekseeva)
Furious / Легенда о Коловрате / Legenda o Kolovrate
Length: 118 min.
A story of a legendary battle, where seventeen fearless warriors defend their land against an army of thousands of well-trained soldiers.
Ice / Лёд (Led)
The method / Метод (Metod)
Of Freaks and Men / Про уродов и людей (Pro urodov i liudei))
Length: 89 min.
Explores the seamy underside of the early 20th century upper classes.
Professor Dowell's Testament / Завещание профессора Доуэля (Zaveshchanie professora Douelia)
Length: 91 min.
Based on Aleksandr Beliaev’s novel, Professor Dowell’s head. After sharing the results of his research on immortality with his colleagues, Professor Dowell disappears and his assistant uses their work for criminal purposes.
A Railway Station for Two / Вокзал для двоих (Vokzal dlia dvoikh)
Length: 141 min.
The adventures of a former concert pianist Ryabinin on an overnight pass from a Siberian labor camp.
The Red and the White / Csillagosok Katonák
Length: 90 min.
This film about the absurdity and arbitrariness of war is set in Central Russia during the Civil War of 1918. It details the battles between the Red soldiers of Russia, aided by Hungarian Communists, and the counter-revolutionary Whites in the hills along the Volga River. Banned in Russian for many years. In Hungarian and Russian with English subtitles.
Salyut 7 / Салют 7 (Saliut 7)
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson / Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон (Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson)
Length: 134 min.
A classic adaptation of short stories about genius detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Doctor Watson. Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced as motion picture in 1979.
The Sign of Four / Сокровища агры (Sokrovishcha agry)
Length: 145 min.
Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced by Lenfilm Film Studio in 1983.
Solaris / Солярис (Solaris)
Length: 169 min.
Based on the science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem. Ground control has been receiving strange transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate, he experiences the strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his own consciousness.
Text / Текст (Tekst)
Three Sisters
The White Crow / Белая ворона (Belaya vorona)
Length: 127 min.
Capturing the raw physicality and brilliance of Rudolf Nureyev, whose escape to the West stunned the world at the height of the Cold War. With his magnetic presence, Nureyev emerged as ballet's most famous star, a wild and beautiful dancer limited by the world of 1950s Leningrad. His flirtation with Western artists and ideas leads him into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the KGB.
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The Cherry Orchard
Doctor Zhivago / Доктор Живаго (Doktor Zhivago)
Length: 848 min.
Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war and revolution. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget. (11-episode serial, made for television)
Dubrovsky / Дубровский (Dubrovskii)
Lolita (1962)
Length: 153 min.
Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s celebrated yet infamous 1955 novel. It chronicles a middle-aged literature professor’s unusual and doomed sexual passion/obsession for a seductively precocious pubescent "nymphet" named Lolita.
Professor Dowell's Testament / Завещание профессора Доуэля (Zaveshchanie professora Douelia)
Length: 91 min.
Based on Aleksandr Beliaev’s novel, Professor Dowell’s head. After sharing the results of his research on immortality with his colleagues, Professor Dowell disappears and his assistant uses their work for criminal purposes.
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson / Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон (Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson)
Length: 134 min.
A classic adaptation of short stories about genius detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Doctor Watson. Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced as motion picture in 1979.
The Sign of Four / Сокровища агры (Sokrovishcha agry)
Length: 145 min.
Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced by Lenfilm Film Studio in 1983.
Solaris / Солярис (Solaris)
Length: 169 min.
Based on the science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem. Ground control has been receiving strange transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate, he experiences the strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his own consciousness.
Three Sisters
Hover your mouse over the "i" icon to read a description of the film.
Ballerina / Балерина
Boris Godunov / Борис Годунов
Dancer
Length: 85 min.
Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.
Dancing for Dollars
Length: 100 min.
The Bolshoi Ballet's first trip to America was a political and artistic triumph and audiences queued for days to see these legends of ballet. Bolshoi in Vegas, a richly entertaining documentary, follows their disastrous 1996 tour in which they hoped to capitalize on this earlier success. Kirov in Petersburg traces the development of an institution, which is both irremediably altered and condemned to trade on its past glories.
The Flames of Paris = Flammes de Paris (the Bolshoi Ballet )
Length: 124 min.
Interviews and rehearsals with Natalia Osipova, Ivan Vasiliev and Alexei Ratmansky. Filmed at the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, March 2010.
Free to Rock
The Harvest of Sorrow: The Memories of Sergei Rachmaninoff
A documentary on the life of Sergei Rachmaninoff, including brief segments from various performances of his instrumental and vocal works. Also includes appearances and personal narratives of the composer's relatives: Rachmaninoff's niece, Sofia Satina, and his grandson, Alexander Rachmaninoff. Originally produced as a documentary for television in 1998.
The Leningrad Legend
Length: 71 min.
A behind-the-scenes look at the Kirov Ballet and its determination to develop into a modern entity. Host Makarova visits the Vaganova School and reviews its 250 year history. Includes performance clips by some of the Kirov Ballet's most famous and respected dancers.
Maiia Plisetskaia / Майя Плисецкая
Prima ballerina Maya Plisetskaya, of the Bolshoi Ballet, is the subject of this documentary. Contains some rare films of her as a child, and highlights from Swan lake, Sleeping beauty, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliet, Dying swan, Raymonda, Stone flower, Don Quixote, and other ballets.
Makarova Returns
Length: 60 min.
Natalia Makarova returns to the Soviet Union after nearly 20 years of separation. This program includes her triumphant return to the Kirov stage where she began her illustrious career and features excerpts from her performances, and her personal reflections on her career as well as interviews with her family and members of the Kirov.
Maya: Portrait of Maya Plisetskaya
Medea: A Russian Ballet in One Act
Length: 70 min.
Filmed in the Soviet Union and never seen before by Western audiences, this extraordinary one-act ballet, Medea, freely interprets the classic drama of Euripides. Through music and dance it reveals the ancient story of a powerful woman's revenge upon her faithless husband and the younger rival who has stolen him away from her. Based on the play by Euripides.
Nureyev: A Portrait
The Nutcracker / Щелкунчик (Shchelkunchik)
Length: 100 min.
Based on Hoffman's fairy tale, "The Nutcracker and the mouse king", the beloved classical ballet takes place one Christmas Eve in a small 19th century Russian town. Marie's brother breaks the doll given to her by her Uncle Drosselmeyer. She falls asleep and has a wonderful dream about the nutcracker's coming to life.
Red Star: Red Army Chorus & Dance Ensemble
Length: 88 min.
Songs and dances are performed by the Red Army Chorus and Dance Ensemble.
Ruslan and Lyudmila: Magical Opera in 5 Acts
Russian Opera at the Bolshoi
Length: 112 min.
A visual illustration of the glorious history of the Bolshoi opera, the theatre, its operatic productions and world-renowned star singers.
Hover your mouse over the "i" icon to read a description of the film.
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson / Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон (Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson)
Length: 134 min.
A classic adaptation of short stories about genius detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Doctor Watson. Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced as motion picture in 1979.
The Sign of Four / Сокровища агры (Sokrovishcha agry)
Length: 145 min.
Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced by Lenfilm Film Studio in 1983.
Hover your mouse over the "i" icon to read a description of the film.
Professor Dowell's Testament / Завещание профессора Доуэля (Zaveshchanie professora Douelia)
Length: 91 min.
Based on Aleksandr Beliaev’s novel, Professor Dowell’s head. After sharing the results of his research on immortality with his colleagues, Professor Dowell disappears and his assistant uses their work for criminal purposes.
Solaris / Солярис (Solaris)
Length: 169 min.
Based on the science fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem. Ground control has been receiving strange transmissions from the three remaining residents of the Solaris space station. When cosmonaut and psychologist Kris Kelvin is sent to investigate, he experiences the strange phenomena that afflict the Solaris crew, sending him on a voyage into the darkest recesses of his own consciousness.
Hover your mouse over the "i" icon to read a description of the film.
Doctor Zhivago / Доктор Живаго (Doktor Zhivago)
Length: 848 min.
Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war and revolution. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget. (11-episode serial, made for television)
The method / Метод (Metod)
Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson / Шерлок Холмс и доктор Ватсон (Sherlok Kholms i doktor Vatson)
Length: 134 min.
A classic adaptation of short stories about genius detective Sherlock Holmes and his friend Doctor Watson. Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced as motion picture in 1979.
The Sign of Four / Сокровища агры (Sokrovishcha agry)
Length: 145 min.
Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Originally produced by Lenfilm Film Studio in 1983.
Hover your mouse over the "i" icon to read a description of the film.
Doctor Zhivago / Доктор Живаго (Doktor Zhivago)
Length: 848 min.
Based on the novel by Boris Pasternak.
A poet and surgeon, husband and lover finds his life disrupted by war and revolution. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget. (11-episode serial, made for television)
Furious / Легенда о Коловрате / Legenda o Kolovrate
Length: 118 min.
A story of a legendary battle, where seventeen fearless warriors defend their land against an army of thousands of well-trained soldiers.
The Red and the White / Csillagosok Katonák
Length: 90 min.
This film about the absurdity and arbitrariness of war is set in Central Russia during the Civil War of 1918. It details the battles between the Red soldiers of Russia, aided by Hungarian Communists, and the counter-revolutionary Whites in the hills along the Volga River. Banned in Russian for many years. In Hungarian and Russian with English subtitles.
These lists include feature films, mini-series, documentaries, and animation related to Russia, the Slavic world, and the former Soviet Union that are held by the UCSB Library.
All videos are on DVD and can be checked out. They are located in Media Collection on the 2nd floor, Ocean Side unless another location is listed.
Unless noted, the films listed are in Russian and have English subtitles available.
The films are listed by their English titles, which do not always translate exactly from the Russian. To find a film by the Russian title, go to the "Slavic-related Films (all)" page and use the "find in page" feature of your browser.