Crush
Five short love stories, which become a statement of the directors about love. A shoemaker, a reporter, a pavement hooker-in, a psychiatric patient and a young man released from prison are the main characters of the film, heroes in a time of no heroes. All of them have the important qualities of being openhearted and not afraid of loving.
Alexey German Jr.
Pyotr Buslov
Boris Khlebnikov
Kirill Serebrennikov
Ivan Vyrypaev
Casts & Crew
Also Directed by Alexey German Jr.
Russia 2017. The world could be on the verge of a great war. People are anxious that things could fall apart. Evolving around an unfinished building, a diverse group of outsiders struggle to find their place in this rapidly changing society, making up the mosaic of existence that is life itself…
A fat middle-aged man in German officer's uniform gets off a train somewhere in Russia in winter. He is a doctor who has just been called up we learn eventually. This is the end of the line- the Germans are about to retreat. He goes to a hospital which is being evacuated and is thrown out. Kicked out he wanders with another conscript- a failed actor turned postman. The postman is deafened by a shell explosion. They meet their Russian equivalents, others as bad at killing as they are, while other Russians and Germans kill one another around them.
In 1961, a Soviet medical officer is conflicted about his position overseeing the health of future cosmonauts.
Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.
Follows a Russian professor who takes to social media to criticize his city's administration. He soon finds himself accused of embezzlement and placed under house arrest.
Military drama about the first detachment of female fighters who found themselves at the front during the Great Patriotic War.
A university teacher in a small town is fighting for justice. He enters into a struggle for his ideals, his name, and sometimes for existence.
Dovlatov charts six days in the life of brilliant, ironic writer who saw far beyond the rigid limits of 70s Soviet Russia. Sergei Dovlatov fought to preserve his own talent and decency with poet and writer Joseph Brodsky while watching his artist friends get crushed by the iron-willed state machinery.
This film is a very short story about a former rescue worker returning from Tokyo – a man who is quite successful in his everyday life, and who, after hearing about another earthquake in Japan, dropped everything and went there to help. He is flying back home in an almost empty plane. Indeed, many regular flights have been canceled, and the ones that are still operated do not sell out. He is flying back with a very elderly Japanese man he had just saved – the man is now all alone in the world, his family had died. And the two men somehow clicked. Perhaps because our main character is also lonely. Also flying with them on the plane are those who are no longer here.Those who did not survive the disaster. Together with the characters, their past moves through space – their memories, their world. The world that is no less, but perhaps even more important for them than the reality.
Garpastum is a Latin word meaning ball game. Set in 1914 in St. Petersburg, the brothers Andrey and Nikolai are passionate about the matches they play on the streets. They hatch a scheme to buy a playing field. But World War I has already begun and soon their lives and dreams will be shattered.
Also Directed by Pyotr Buslov
Igor, a Russian oligarch gets into a heated argument with Eva, his estranged daughter whilst traveling on his private jet. Igor orders the plane to land. As the plane touches down Eva disappears into the Goan jungle. Thus begins Igor's desperate search for his only daughter. A search that will bring him and Eva into contact with various characters who in turn are trying to find their own paths through life. Makar, a guy from Novosibirsk, who is desperately searching for enlightenment. Alexey and Kristina are ending their marriage here, while Dimon and Lenya are raising hell and pushing Goa to its partying limits. Kosmos the Guru ("just don't call him that") dispenses the chemicals that in a bat of an eyelid will take you to an alternate reality. There are different destinies here. There are a myriad of people. But all of them have one Motherland, which is easy not to love as long it is close to you
A wealthy pharmaceutical business owner, Edik is used to managing and controlling. But fate brings him an unexpected surprise. The unemployed artist Petrovich, who decided to say goodbye to life, falls from the roof of a skyscraper onto a brand new expensive businessman’s car. Is the miserable life of a loser worth that kind of money? Moreover, he will never be able to return them. But debt must be received at all costs, for Edik it is a matter of principle, forgiving others is not in his rules. Edik decides that Petrovich will work for him for free, he has every right to do so, because he is a real master of life. Or does he only think so, and everything can change at any second and turn over exactly the opposite?
The events in the film take place from 1958 to 1961 at the legendary Soviet polar station. A group of polar explorers goes there to build an airfield on which a large transport plane can land.
Russian poet, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky was an idol of the 1970s and '80s. In 1980, at the age of 42, he passed away during the Moscow Olympic Games. This is the story of his last great love as handed down to his son from a family friend. Written by nitorch.
The film takes place a few years after the events shown in Bummer. Kostyan "Kot", who lost all his friends, the woman he loved and was nearly killed in the first installment of the film tries to begin a new, peaceful life. But is it possible to do? Has Russia changed and do "bratki" on black "bummers" no longer control business? Can he escape his past?
Corrupt cops, street gangs, "Bratki" in "Bummers" (BMWs) steal and "Merins" (Mercedeses), angry truck drivers, beautiful women and death are what four friends in a black Bummer who go on a mission from one region of Russia to another are about to face in the wasteland of small-town Russia. A critique of the policies of Boris Yeltsin, it depicted the economic crisis that followed Russia's transition towards a free market economy, and with it, a lost generation, with no job security, who are pushed into a world of crime and rebellion. Despite a modest budget of US$700,000, and a limited cinematic release, it became a national hit in Russia as well its soundtrack, popularized by 'Seryoga's' (Серёга) music video "Чёрный Бумер" ("Black Bummer"). Both the film and its soundtrack have won awards, including the prestigious Golden Aries from the Russian Guild of Film critics.
The current mayor of Sineozersk, Arkadiy Anikeev, is caught by police for bribes on a large scale. By the court decision, he placed under house arrest at the place of registration. His wife, who is a owner of all of their property on documents, left him. Once in a communal apartment, Anikeev confronts his childhood friend, Ivan Samsonov. Leaving aside all his past disagreements, Anikeev decides to help Samsonov to become the new mayor of Sineozyorsk to defeat his former ally who betrayed him in order to become a new mayor and also became his wife's lover.
An anthology of five films of five minutes each by five well-known Russian directors, inspired and financed by the chewing gum company Wrigley.
Russian poet, singer and actor Vladimir Vysotsky was an idol of the 1970s and '80s. In 1980, at the age of 42, he passed away during the Moscow Olympic Games. This is the story of his last great love as handed down to his son from a family friend. Written by nitorch.
Also Directed by Boris Khlebnikov
Oleg is a young gifted paramedic. His wife Katya works as a nurse at the hospital emergency department. She loves Oleg, but is fed up with him caring more about patients than her. She tells him she wants a divorce. The new head of Oleg’s EMA department is a cold-hearted manager who’s got new strict rules to implement. Oleg couldn’t care less about the rules – he’s got lives to save; his attitude gets him in trouble with the new boss. The crisis at work coincides with the personal life crisis. Caught up between their patients, alcohol-fueled off-shifts, and an evolving health care system, Oleg and Katya have to find the binding force that will keep them together.
Oleg lives in a small Belarusian village with his wife, three children, and his in-laws. He has practiced more than one trade: ensign, tractor driver, technician at a local school... Then he decides to leave for Moscow to earn extra money: the life of many people compels them to do this (it is always better here we are not). Yet, what reason has Oleg? A closer acquaintance with the life that remains behind in Belarus provides an unexpected answer to this question.
Annual Charitable Christmas Evening “Action!”
"Free Floating" is a melodrama with elements of comedy about a young lad from an ordinary provincial town like many in Russia, with just one kindergarten, one school, one factory. As a result, one grows up here never facing the alternative as to what to choose, for everything is preordained. Leonid is an ordinary lad who, like his peers, goes to discos, dances with girls and picks fights with the local riff-raff later. Everything is going well for him, as his life is totally predictable. But one day the factory closes down and he becomes disoriented. For the first time ever, he is to make a choice on his own and think seriously about what he would like to do...
Boris Ermolaevich Cheryshev was called Churchill at the institute-not only for some resemblance to the British Prime Minister, but also for his extraordinary mind and intuition. These qualities helped him quickly rise through the ranks of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Also Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov
Leningrad, one summer in the early eighties. Smuggling LP’s by Lou Reed and David Bowie, the underground rock scene is boiling ahead of the Perestroika. Mike and his beautiful wife Natasha meet with young Viktor Tsoï. Together with friends, they will change the destiny of rock’n’roll in the Soviet Union.
The film tells about the time in which the characters of the movie "Leto" lived. Performer of the role of "Skeptic" Alexandr Kuznetsov interviews Natalya Naumenko, Artemy Troitsky, Igor Petrovsky, Seva Novgorodtsev and Andrey Tropillo about Russian rock, the 80s, Soviet youth, the Leningrad way of life and the spirit of that time. The conversations take place in the real locations of the movie "Leto", where the characters come to tell how everything was in reality, and plunge into nostalgia and praise or, on the contrary, criticize "artistic fiction".
A mother loses her son during a winter visit to a remote town.
Documentary theatre play
Young and enthusiastic Alexander Aduev comes to St. Petersburg from the province, ready to conquer the whole world. Very soon all his ideals were crushed, and he himself repeated the fate of his practical and impassive uncle Peter.
Abstraction about love and search, oblivion and rebirth. The story unfolds in a conventional space that vaguely resembles our world - one scene smoothly changes into another, and with it the characters of the characters and their relationships, music and visual images change.
Yuli Ivanovich Blok is a music lover and enthusiast of early sound recording, who in 1889 was the first to bring Edison's phonograph to Russia, came up with the idea to record the great pianist Anton Rubinstein's playing on a phonograph. But the pianist flatly refused to sign up. Then those present, among whom was Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, just started messing around with the device, recording everything that comes to mind. The film is based on a famous case that occurred in January 1890.
About the fate of musicians, songwriters, producers from different cities of Russia and the countries of the former USSR.
Also Directed by Ivan Vyrypaev
The two main characters, a man and his female friend, came to watch the play. Things happening on stage and real life are gradually mixing up, and now they will have to figure out what is «reality» in the world of endless entertainment.
Ironic and philosophical film. Here everything is not as it really is. And this opens up a new essence of all things.
Series of television plays.
Based on a play about a female dancer who finds her inspiration in the dirt markets of Delhi
They saw each other only once. At a wedding with lots of alcohol. Their eyes met and that was it. They didn't understand rationally what happened to them but they felt that they cannot keep living and breathing without each other. Cosmic magnetism with irresistible intensity pulled them together. They no longer belonged to themselves, their families and friends and that's how a tragedy evolves.
Two people play out a story of love and desperation that's enacted through music in this drama from writer and director Ivan Vyrypaev. Sasha (Alexei Filimonov) is a man in his twenties who lives in the small town of Serpukhov and has fallen in love with a woman who is also named Sasha (Karolina Gruszka).
Home concert by Boris Grebenshchikov from London, where the musician was caught in quarantine. The audience will hear both time-tested favorite hits and new songs. Kvartirnik as a format of musical direction appeared in the period of the USSR, when musicians gathered in the apartments of friends and arranged improvised concerts, mainly in the rock style. Boris Grebenshchikov, one of the founders of the format, together with other then – beginning performers, and today – already legends of Russian rock-arranged apartment parties and sang his songs, which eventually became part of the "Golden Collection" of Russian music. Well! Again "Kvartirnik"– now on a different occasion, but with the same energy!
The Diary of Polina Żerebcowa, now an acclaimed writer and journalist, is a moving record of entering adulthood during the course of the war. The Chechen author describes her childhood and youth, which spanned from 1994 to 2004. First as a nine – year-old girl, then as a teenager, she documents her process of adolescence, presents her own vision of the world and immortalizes the experiences that shape her-she records her whole life, which takes place during the horrific Chechen wars. And although Polina's diary is a loose personal note, it is exceedingly evocative and lyrical. It leaves no one indifferent. The show, whose main character is the aforementioned diary presented by the outstanding actor, Andrzej Seweryn, gives Polina her voice so that she can tell us about what she experienced, what happened over the course of 10 years, during the two Chechen wars. Thus the story of how to remain human in the most inhumane circumstances is created.