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Russian and East European Institute
Documentaries on Russia and the CIS
Titles in red were acquired during the 2007-2008 academic year
ABC NEWS: RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS (ABC1-ABC6)
March 2000
This weeklong Nightline series looked at crime, the military, politics,
sexual freedom, and the difficulty of making ends meet in the Russian
Federation.
- Sex in Russia (ABC1)
- Russian Television (ABC2)
- Russian Military (ABC3)
- Crime in Russia (ABC4)
- Who is Boris Berezovsky? (ABC5)
- The Next Russian President (ABC6)
AKVARIUM: 30 LET (DVD) (AKV)
2002, 142 min., in Russian with English-language menu screens.
Concert footage: A live filming of Akvarium and special guests at "Luzhniki”
playing thirty songs for their 30th year anniversary celebration. Bonus track
includes a history of the group and Boris Grebenshchikov.
ALL THE BEST FROM RUSSIA (ALL1)
1977, 52 min.
The best in ballet, folk-dancing, and all-round entertainment from inside
Russia. Includes the Bolshoi Ballet, Don Cossack dancers, the Armenian
Folk Ensemble, and the incomparable treasures in the fabulous Hermitage
Museum.
ANASTASIA: DEAD OR ALIVE (ANA)
1995, 60 min.
Did Anastatsia Romanov die with the rest of her family in that Yekaterinburg
cellar in July 1918? Or was she really Anna Anderson, the mysterious young
woman who surfaced in Berlin in 1922 and later moved to the United States?
This NOVA documentary attempts to tackle this mystery, examining among
other things the genetic makeup of the bodies found in a mass grave unearthed
in Siberia.
ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA (ANI) (DVD)
1924-1984, Russian with English subtitles.
- DISC 2: FASCIST BARBARIANS (110 min.) is a 17 film reaction to the Nazi invasion of 1941. After breaking the non-aggression pact and declaring war, the Nazis became animals in the propaganda films, turning into snarling warthogs and depraved vultures.
- DISC 3: CAPITALIST SHARKS (99 min.) contains six films that take on the bourgeoisie the world over - and sometimes beyond. In Interplanetary Revolution (1924), capitalists escaping to Mars discover the revolution has spread throughout the galaxy.
- DISC 4: ONWARD TO THE SHINING FUTURE: COMMUNISM (118 min.) contains 11 works, most of which mythologize the state and envision the inevitable utopias of the future. Dziga Vertov's Soviet Toys (1924), however, offers criticism of the state and satirizes the communist members who cashed in on Lenin's New Economic Policy (NEP), which introduced a limited form of capitalist enterprise.
Containing more than five hours of rare material in all, this DVD set offers a fascinating look at the history of Soviet propaganda. It is an invaluable resource that displays how one of the greatest powers wanted their people to envision the rest of the world, as well as being an idiosyncratic tour through Russia's rich and varied history of animated art.
AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS OF THE WORLD (APP)
1941, 6 min., Russian, Yiddish and English with English subtitles.
Historic Russian newsreel footage, produced in 1941, in which a group
of some of the Soviet Union's most prominent Jewish writers and artists
appealed to Jews throughout the world to join the Soviet people in their
fight against Fascism. Film director Sergei Eisenstein, actor Solomon
Mikhoels and poet Peretz Markish are among the notable figures making
a plea to the viewing audience.
ART AND SPIRITUALITY: THE RUSSIAN ICON (ART1 and ART2)
Ideal supplementary material or stand-alone presentation for Art and History
courses, Russian area studies classes, theology classes, or advanced Russian-language
classes (Russian version). Available in Russian and English.
A.R.M. AROUND MOSCOW (ARM)
1994, 75 min., Directed and Edited by Jeanne C. Finley and Gretchen Stoeltje.
Four times a year Los Angeles businessman Ron Rollband, owner of American-
Russian Matchmaking (A.R.M), brings 15 American men to Moscow to meet
over 500 potential Russian brides. A.R.M Around Moscow explores what happens
when mutual fantasy collides with the reality of post cold-war, cross
cultural marriage.
THE AVANT-GARDE IN RUSSIA (AVA)
1993, 89 min.
Through painting, architecture, sculpture, theatre, film, and fashion,
the avant-garde of the arts in Russia explored primitivism, cubo-futurism,
and productivism. The optimism and vitality of Russia's artists were quickly
crushed by Social Realism, the official style of Soviet Message Art. This
program presents examples of art produced before and after the controls
and restrictions were placed on creative artists, and explores the effects
and impact of state-controlled art.
BABYN YAR (BAB)
Ukrainian without subtitles.
THE BATTLE OF TSUSHIMA: 1905 JAPAN ENTERS THE WORLD SCENE (BAT1)
1991, 41 min.
This program traces the opening of Japan imposed by the shoguns, the arrival
of Commodore Perry, the modernist attitudes of the Meji Emperor. It covers
Japan's declaration of war on China in 1894; the Treaty of Shimonosaki,
which grated Japan huge reparations, the island of Formosa, Port Arthur
in Manchuria, and a kind of protectorate in Korea; and the resulting alliance
between Russia and China, which would set the stage for the confrontation
between Russia and Japan. The program sets the stage in St. Petersburg
as well as on the seas, as the tempests that would batter the twentieth
century were set in motion.
THE BETRAYED (BET)
1995, 78 min.
This video looks at Russia's war with Chechnya through the eyes of mothers
of some of the Russian soldiers who were missing in action after the attack
on Grozny. The Betrayed portrays a very human side to the Chechen war,
a side not typically seen through the media.
BETWEEN HITLER AND STALIN: UKRAINE IN WORLD WAR II - THE UNTOLD STORY
(BHST)
2004, 58 min. In English. Directed by Slavko Nowytski.
Eye witness accounts and scholarly analyses illustrate the tragic history
and the valiant struggle of the Ukrainian nation caught between two enemy
occupations: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. A project by the Ukrainian
Research & Documentation Centre, this film premiered in Toronto in September
2003. Narrated by Jack Palance.
BETWEEN TWO FIRES (BETW)
2001, 50 min.
A New documentary details the awful predicament that faced 153 Russian
prisoners held at Fort Dix at the end of WWII. Between Two Fires exposes
how Russian anti-Communists were captured and held on American soil during
W.W.II, only to be forcibly repatriated in an effort to placate Stalin-an
egregious violation of the Geneva Convention Agreement. This film garnered
a Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary in the 2002 New York International
Independent Film and Video Festival, a Bronze Oscar in the Academy of
Motion Picture, Arts and Sciences' 27th Annual Student Academy Awards,
a CINE Eagle, and first place in the Spindle Top Film Festival.
BEYOND OUR BORDERS: RUSSIA (BEY-3) (DVD)
30 min.
A new cultural geography series geared toward teaching students about
the geography and history of the world's major countries. Helps students
understand other peoples' environments, values, and significant historical
contributions. The DVD also features maps that clarify geographical data
such as a country's global location, major regions, and important cities.
Here one can see Russia's most important regions and natural wonders such
as the Ural Mountains, the Volga River, Siberia, and Lake Baikal. One
also understands more fully the changes free enterprise is bringing to
Russia.
BEYOND OUR BORDERS: UKRAINE (BEY-4) (DVD)
30 min.
A new cultural geography series geared toward teaching students about
the geography and history of the world's major countries. Helps students
understand other peoples' environments, values, and significant historical
contributions. The DVD also features maps that clarify geographical data
such as a country's global location, major regions, and important cities.
Ukraine's greatest city, Kiev, has its own renown and historical treasures,
as have other cultural and environmental sites such as Pechersk Monastery,
medieval castles, the Crimea, and the heartland city of Lviv. In Ukraine
rich agriculture, Orthodox religious traditions, communist-era monuments,
and resilient people intermingle.
THE BIRTH OF SOVIET CINEMA (BIR)
1996, 49 min.
The Communist government attracted some of the most brilliant and innovative
writers-directors-producers in the history of cinema, who used this new
medium to stage plots centered on the Party line: the heroism of the people,
the cruelty of the upper classes, the joys of communal action and service
to Mother Russia. This program presents an anthology of scenes from the
most striking and famous of these films, including Eisenstein's Strike,
Potemkin and October; Pudovkin's Mother, End of St. Petersburg and Storm
over Asia; and Dovzhenko's Arsenal and Earth.
THE BLACK TULIP (BLAC)
27 min.
Understanding the impact of the Afghan War on Soviet society is essential
to an understanding of glasnost and perestroika. Even though Soviet troops
have been withdrawn, that is not the end of the story. As the Vietnam
War changed our society, so too has the Afghan war changed Soviet society.
This is a remarkable look at the human impact of the war on the Soviets.
The soldiers' words are reminiscent of Vietnam. These scenes are followed
by visits to a Soviet cemetery, where many of the soldiers who died in
Afghanistan were buried.
BOUGHT & SOLD: AN INVESTIGATIVE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL
TRADE IN WOMEN (BOU)
1998, 42 min.
Produced & Directed by Gillian Caldwell. Completed in October of 1997,
Bought & Sold is an investigative documentary about the international
trade in women, and includes new material from Global Survival Network's
two-year undercover investigation into the traffic in women for prostitution
out of Russia. This video includes undercover footage of meetings with
the Russian mafiya, interviews with women who were trafficked overseas
and perspectives from experts from around the world about how to address
the problem.
THE BRATSK SEA (BRA2)
2001, 50 min., in English.
This documentary looks at the social disaster that came along with the
construction of a power plant in the city of Balagansk under the orders
of the Soviet Union's Communist planners during the early '60s. Residents
were sold on the project through propagandist news reporting, but the
reality fell far short of the dream. The relocated residents found their
new land had inferior soil, leading to farm production shortages, lack
of water and other serious problems.
BUSINESS IN RUSSIA (BUS)
1994, 42 min.
Russian with no subtitles (third-year college Russian level). University
of Kentucky Language Labs production features the adventures of Kevin
and Katie, two young Americans who have decided to do business in the
new Russia. Shot on location in Vladimir, Russia.
CHEKHOV (CHE)
1996, 53 min., Russian with English subtitles.
A superb documentary of the life, thoughts and great themes that made
Chekhov the man and the artist, this film is also a superb Russian film.
Set in Moscow in 1914, ten years after Chekhov's death, this program gives
us Chekhov through the eyes of those who worked with him and loved him,
using Russian documentary footage to make both the playwright and his
time come to life.
CHILDREN OF THE SOVIET UNION (CHI)
1988, 22 min.
This documentary explores the life of Alyosha, a twelve year old boy living
in the Soviet Union. The video introduces the viewer to the many facets
of Soviet society and culture, presented against a rich backdrop of the
Soviet Union's colorful history and geography.
CNN's COLD WAR SERIES
At last, the unclassified truth about an unusual struggle for world power.
Applying a framework of both the ideological and military confrontations
between the two Great Powers, each of these twenty-four consecutive episodes
features a single compelling event. Using newly released footage to tell
much of the story that began in 1945 and ended in 1960, Cold War takes
the viewer inside the Pentagon, the Kremlin, and the missile sites in
Cuba, to Yalta and Potsdam, Budapest and Berlin, to Hanoi and Panmunjon.
A must-see for anyone who lived through these turbulent times. Belongs
to the West European Studies Department. Please contact them at west@indiana.edu
to inquire about checking out the series.
-
THE COLD WAR REMEMBERED Part I 1995.
Thirteen 30-min programs (separate video cassettes) follow an informal
discussion format, emphasizing the memories, stories, and analyses of
participants representing all perspectives of the conflict. Each program
covers a particular period of the Cold War years, with historical footage
followed by reminiscences of the participants:
- The Beginning: World War II Allies to Cold Warriors (COL101)
Trace to 1917: Workers of the World, Unite; Yalta 1945; George Kennan's
Containment; Marshall Plan Rebuilds Europe.
- The Early Years (COL102)
Truman Doctrine; Czech Coup 1948; Berlin Blockade and Airlift 1948-49;
Germany is Split; "Who Lost China?" 1949
-
Cold War Crises (COL103)
Formation of NATO 1950; Korean War 1950-52; Red Scare: Senator McCarthy
and House Un-American Activities Committee; Stalin's Death and Malenkov's
"new course"; Federal Republic of Germany Admitted to NATO 1953-54.
-
Krushchev's Push and De-Stalinization, 1955-57 (COL104)
Hungarian Revolution 1956; First Outward signs of Sino-Soviet Split;
Suez Crisis; Sputnik; Krushchev Shakes Up Leadership.
-
Cold War Heats Up (COL105)
U2 Shoot-Down 1960; Berlin Wall 1961; Bay of Pigs 1961; Cuban Missile
Crisis 1962.
-
Space Race (COL106)
Krushchev Replaced by Kosygin and Brezhnev 1964; Prague Spring 1968;
the Brezhnev Doctrine 1968.
-
The 1970's: The Coming and Going of Detente (COL107)
Nixon Goes to China 1971; SALT 1972; Vietnam and the Proxy Wars;
Yom Kippur War 1973; "The Gulag Archipelago"; SALT II; Helsinki
1975; Brezhnev Invades Afghanistan 1979.
-
The Final Years of the Old Guard (COL108)
Olympic Boycott 1980; Deployment of Cruise and Pershing Missiles
in Europe; Reagan Declares Russia is the "Evil Empire" and the American
Military Build-Up; KAL 007 Downing 1983; SDI; Drift: Brezhnev to
Andropov to Chernenko to Gorbachev.
-
Gorbachev's Reforms (COL109)
Gasnost and Perestroika; New Era in Arms Control; Reagan-Gorbachev
Sumits: Geneva 1985, Iceland 1986.
-
Signs of Unraveling (COL110)
Price of Reform for Gorbachev; Privatization and the End of Price
Controls; Hard-liners Hold On.
-
The Break-Up of the USSR (COL111)
Decline: Baltic Revolts 1988; Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989; Failed
Coup; Yeltsin Takes the Helm; A New Eastern Europe.
-
Retrospective: KGB vs. CIA (COL112)
Spies and Counter Spies; Intelligence War; Terrorism; Industrial
Espionage.
-
Where Do We Go From Here? (COL113)
Post WWII Dream of Peace Long Delayed; Defining the New World Order;
United States as Lone Superpower; Russia Struggles to Recover; American
Role in Strengthening Russia; Future of NATO; Ethnic Strife; New
Economic and Political Freedom in Eastern Europe.
-
THE COLD WAR REMEMBERED Part II
1995, thirteen 30-min programs (separate video casettes) investigate
the less visible side of the Cold War found in the discreet battles
between the CIA and the KGB. Traces the two intelligence organizations
from their seminal development through 1989. Same roundtable discussion
format as the first series, with journalists, authors, scholars, and
former intelligence personnel recounting their experiences and knowledge.
- The Revolution and the Rise of Soviet Intelligence (COL201)
CHEKA; NKVD.
- Soviet Intelligence and WWII (COL202)
Soviet Intelligence and the "Great War"; KGB.
-
WWII, The Cold War, and the Rise of the Security State in America
(COL203)
OSS; 1947: The National Security Act; DOD; CIA; NSC.
-
Role of the KGB in Post-WWII Soviet Politics (COL204)
Quieting Dissent; Running the Gulags; Influence on Foreign Policy.
-
Role of National Security Establishments in American Politics
(COL205)
NSC Directives; Domestic Acitivites; Influence on Foreign Policy.
-
Intelligence Explosion (COL206)
How Central is the Central Intelligence Agency?; Conflict with the
FBI; DIA and the Other Agencies within the Armed Forces; The National
Reconnaissance Administration; Conflicts within the Intelligence
Community.
-
The KGB and CIA in Eastern Europe: The Central Front (COL207)
Hungary 1956; Prague 1968; East Germany; Poland.
-
The Technology Race (COL208)
The A-Bomb; The U2; Satellites
-
Vietnam (COL209)
CIA Role in Vietnam; The War's Effect on the CIA; KGB Involvement;
Congress: Pulling in the Reins on the CIA (Church Committee).
-
The Great Conspiracies (COL210)
The Kennedy Assassination; Allende; The CIA and the Mafia; The CIA
and Drugs; The CIA and Iran-Contra.
-
Before the Fall: What Both Sides Knew Before Communism Imploded
(COL211)
Was There an Intelligence Failure on Both Sides?; Did the CIA or
KGB Do Anything to Encourage or Discourage the Fall of Communism?;
Why Was the Intelligence Community Caught Off Guard?
-
The Future of Intelligence in the Post-Cold War World (Part
I) (COL212)
CIA's Role in the New World Order; The KGB and the End of the Soviet
System.
THE COMPLETE WORKS OF YURI NORSTEIN (NORS)
2005 , Approx. 98 min.
Includes Norstein's first film, 25th - First Day (1968); Battle
of Kerjenets (1971); Fox and Rabbit (1973); Heron and
Crane (1974); Hedgehog in Fog (1975); and Tale of Tales
(1978).
CONQUERORS: PETER THE GREAT (PET)
1997, Approx. 30 min.
Peter the Great dragged Russia out of the Dark Ages and into the modern
world by creating strategic political alliances that advanced its economic
might. Modernizing a country that has existed for centuries as a feudal
backwater state was no easy task. Discover how this great Russian monarch's
passion and perseverance spawned military victories, vibrant cities and
a renewed national pride that made Russia a key player in a new world
order.
CROSSROADS OF CONTINENTS (CRO)
33 min. In English.
A short documentary examining the history and culture of Siberia and Alaska,
the crossroads of two continents.
CZARIST RUSSIA: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (CZA)
1979, 22 min.
Providing a background to the Russian revolution, this video uses stills
of artwork to show life under the czars and the growing restlessness of
the workers as liberated ideas infiltrate the autocratic and rigidly constructed
society. Emphasis is on events leading to the government overthrow, emergence
of Russian communism, industrial growth, and expansionist activities.
DATELINE: 1985, MOSCOW (DAT85)
1991, 23 min.
In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev assumed power in the Soviet Union, inheriting
a war in Afghanistan, poor relations with the West, and a legacy of corruption,
repression, bureaucracy, and a faltering economic system. This documentary
traces the roots of the legacy which General Secretary Gorbachev inherited
and examines the results of his policy of "glasnost"--openness, including
a more open and critical Soviet media, the release of long-held political
prisoners, a new age of detente with the West, and cessation of the war
in Afghanistan.
DATELINE: 1987, THE SUMMIT (DAT87)
1991, 23 min.
This documentary traces the history of past US-Soviet summit meetings,
from the first Big Four summit in Geneva in 1955 to the 1987 Washington,
DC summit meeting between US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev.
DATELINE MOSCOW (INS14) and INSIDE THE USSR (INS15)
1983, 30 min. each.
In this two-part INSIDE STORY series, the difficulties journalists have
experienced in covering the Moscow beat since World War II is analyzed.
Current coverage of the Soviet Union by both American and other correspondents
is viewed.
DAYS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD: COMMUNISM:THE FALL OF THE ROMANOVS AND
THE BERLIN WALL (DCRB) (DVD)
2003, 51 min.
Fourth film in BBC World's "Days that Shook the World" series. The execution
of the Romanovs, in 1918, marked Russia's irrevokable shift from a monarchy
to a communist state. The destruction of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, signified
the collapse of that state and its Marxist ideology. This gripping, realistic
program cinematically dramatizes the events of these two historic watersheds:
indelible emblems of the birth pains and death throes of the Soviet Union.
The story begins at Ipatiev House, where a dynasty died, and ends at Checkpoint
Charlie, where the will of the people spoke - and the gates to freedom
opened. Original BBCW broadcast title: The Murder of the Romanovs and
the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
DISCOVER RUSSIA (DIS)
1990, 30 min.
Produced by the National Geographic Society, this video is a film journey
through the old and new, from palaces of the tsars and the countryside
of yesterday to vibrant city life under glasnost. Places visited include
Leningrad, Moscow, Zagorsk, and Rostov-Veliki.
EARLY RUSSIA (EAR)
1979, 22 min.
A collage of artwork traces the development of Russia as a nation from
its origins of loosely allied Viking trading posts through the reign of
Peter the Great and the beginnings of Russia's modern history. Russian
art and architecture are significant themes in portraying the early influence
of Byzantium and the adoption of Eastern or Orthodox Christianity and
the later influence of West European culture.
EASTERN & RUSSIAN ORTHODOXY (EARO)
25 min.
The Hagia Sophia temple in Constantinople may have inspired the adoption
of Eastern Orthodoxy by Russia. Its influence on iconographic art, Russian
literature, and the Russian people in conflict with Mongols and Communism
is brought to life in this film. This title is one of eight 25 min. programs
in the CHRISTIANITY IN WORLD HISTORY SERIES by New Dimension
Media. Suitable for ages 6-12 & up.
EISENSTEIN AND STALIN: WHEN ART AND POLITICS CLASH (EIS)
1999, 59 min.
Drawing on sixty volumes of diaries and other recently revealed archival
materials, this program presents the struggle between Joseph Stalin and
Sergei Eisenstein, who fought for freedom of expression in a climate of
exiles and executions. Rare clips of the preeminent Russian director's
controversial films - including the deleted Trotsky scene in "October,"
the original ending of "The General Line," and recovered footage from
the banned "Bezhin Meadow" - and interviews with the director of the Eisenstein
Museum, friends, associates, and former students underscore the coercive
power of Stalin's authoritarian regime.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA SERIES (ENC1-5) 1990, 5 Videos.
- SETTING THE MOLD (ENC1)
28 min. After a wartime alliance, an adversarial relationship developed
between the United States and the Soviet Union in the years immediately
following World War II. This video chronicles this relationship from
1945 to 1953 using archival film, newsreels, and interviews with American
and Soviet journalists, historians, and newsmakers of the period.
- CRACKING THE MOLD (ENC2)
29 min. This video explores the circumstances surrounding President
Dwight Eisenhower's decision in 1955 to hold the first post-World War
II meetings with Soviet leadership after a decade of Cold War hostility.
- THE MOLD BROKEN (ENC3)
28 min. This video surveys the period from the end of World War II to
the end of 1989 from the point of view of residents of Eastern Europe.
- RECASTING THE MOLD (ENC4)
30 min. This video describes the rise of nationalism in the 1960s among
the postcolonial states of the Third World, and how these merging countries
challenged the superpowers in new ways, forcing them to redefine their
relationships in order to avoid nuclear conflict.
- BREAKING THE MOLD (ENC5)
30 min. This video examines the fluctuation in U.S.-Soviet relations
in the decade and a half following Watergate and the Vietnam War, with
focus on the roles played by American leaders Jimmy Carter and Ronald
Reagan and Soviet leaders Leonid Brezhnev and Mikhail Gorbachev.
ETERNAL MEMORY: VOICES FROM THE GREAT TERROR (ETER)
1997, 81 min. English. Directed by David Pultz, Narrated by Meryl Streep.
This historical documentary examines the Stalinist purges and terror in
the Soviet Union during the Thirties and Forties when an estimated twenty
million people lost their lives; some in labor camps, other starved in
state-induces famine, and many others executed for "crimes against the
state." Focusing on the Ukraine, the film incorporates historical footage,
interviews with witnesses and survivors, public officials such as former
U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brezinski and former KGB official
Mykola Holushko, and such eminent historians as Robert Conquest of Stanford
University and Roman Szporluk of Harvard University.
EVGUENI KHALDEI, PHOTOGRAPHER
UNDER STALIN (EVG)
1997, 60 min. In Russian with English subtitles.
A sensitive and long overdue tribute to a war photographer whose vision
was anything but subtle" (Clare Thomson, The Bulletin). With an artist's
eye and a journalist's immediacy, Evgueni Khaldei chronicled some of the
pivotal events of his time--from Red Square to the Budapest Ghetto, the
fall of the Reichstag to Yalta, and the Nuremberg trials. Despite being
hand-picked by Stalin, he was also a constant victim of state-approved
anti-Semitism. In this film, he takes us into his home and opens up his
entire photo library, covering some 60 years of Soviet and world history.
FACE OF RUSSIA (FAC1-3)
1998, 54 min each.
- Part I: The Face on the Firewood (FAC1)
Reveals the spiritual ideas that have animated Russia for 1,000 years,
witnesses recent restorations of churches and monasteries from Kiev
to the Kremlin, and looks at icon painting, the first Russian art form.
- Part II: The Facade of Power (FAC2)
Examines Russian architecture, from the Eastern-inspired onion domes
on churches to the Western-type palaces of unparalleled splendor. Also
looks at the writings of Gogol, including Dead Souls, which still influences
Russian artists today.
- Part III: Facing the Future (FAC3)
Explores the advance of Russian music and cinema, including the great
composer Musorgsky, director Sergei Eisenstein, and looks at how new
media forms are shaping Russia during its current time of change.
THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY (FAL)
1927, 90 min., English subtitles.
A daring and innovative document portraying the fall of the Czarist regime
and the rise of Communist rule.
FAMILIES OF RUSSIA (FAM2)
2002, 30 min., In English.
Families of the World takes you on a fantastic journey to another country
where you view the unique lives of two Russian children and their families.
FAULTLINES: RUSSIA: THE SEARCH FOR POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS LINKS (FAUL)
(DVD)
2003, 37 min.
It is no irony that Victor Zorkaltsev, a Communist, is also the head of
the religious committee of the Russian parliament, the Duma. It is also
not an accident that the Russian government paid for an extraordinary
replica of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour that is maintained by local
businessmen. And if more than 80 percent of Russians describe themselves
as Orthodox Christians, why do only 5 percent go to church regularly?
These are three of many examples in this potent program that concentrates
on the resurgence of the Russian Orthodox Church and how its aspirations
to spiritual and political power pose a threat to the fundamental freedoms
of many Russians.
FEAR AND MUSE: ANNA AKHMATOVA (FEAR)
1999, 60 min.
The story of Anna Akhmatova is told in this documentary with astonishing
images - from the thriving art scene in Imperial Russia through war, revolution
and famine, into the sixties when poetry readings would fill whole stadiums.
Claire Bloom reads her work, Christopher Reeve narrates, Joseph Brodsky
and other poets and scholars comment.
FINDING DZHULYNKA (FIND) (DVD)
2004, 42 min., English. Directed by Richard Rosing.
A year after Vladimir Rosing left Russia, the Russian Revolution arrived. He lost his family, his inheritance, and his country forever. He made a new life in England and America, but never forgot the people and places he loved so much. In September 2001, his American family returns to Russia on a mission of discovery looking for traces of the past Val Rosing left behind. What they find there is more than a memory—and nothing less than a miracle. Bonus features include a 22 minute educational background interview with Priscilla Roosevelt, author of “Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History”, as well as a 31 minute compilation of rare historical recordings by famed Russian tenor Vladimir Rosing.
FILMFAIR COMMUNICATIONS
A series of documentaries examining Russian literature and history. (Films
are shelved under individual title.)
- ALEXANDER BLOK (ALE1)
1991, 25 min.
The Poet of Joy, Blok employed the themes of hope and of will to overcome
barriers to freedom, as he decried the working class poverty of Petersburg
that surrounded him.
- ALEXANDER PUSHKIN (ALE2)
1991, 25 min.
Born into a life of ease, Pushkin gave spirited voice to calls for reform,
inspired the citizenry, and incurred the wrath of the Czar.
- ANTON CHEKHOV (ANT)
1991, 25 min.
Living in the years between the periods of great political upheaval,
1848 and 1905, Chekhov wrote about the pain, irony and curious workings
of everyday Russian life.
- BORIS PASTERNAK (BOR1)
1991, 25 min.
A poet and novelist, the 1957 publication of Pasternak's novel Dr. Zhivago
in Italy, and the award of the Nobel Prize in Literature, led to his
dismissal from the Soviet Writer's Union. In 1988, his expulsion from
the union was cancelled, posthumously, and the novel published in the
USSR.
- FYODOR DOSTOEVSKY (FYO)
1991, 25 min.
Caught up in the revolutionary fervor that swept Europe in 1848, Dostoevsky
gave voice to the call for political change. Arrested, he survived a
sentence of death only to endure ten years of prison and military servitude,
from which came the motif so prominent in his works: the delicate intertwining
of good and evil.
- LEO TOLSTOY (LEO)
1991, 25 min.
Born into a life of wealth, Tolstoy's interest in writing flourished
during his military service, where he also fell victim to a struggle
that would mark the rest of his life: the conflict between the wealth
he enjoyed and the poverty of the masses.
- MAXIM GORKY (MAX)
1991, 25 min.
Perhaps foremost amongst his peers in his avowed love for the Russian
people, Gorky lived and wrote his belief that society must be motivated
by active, courageous people. Arrested in the revolution of 1905, he
left Russia vowing not to return until it had achieved a new constitution.
As friend and confident to Lenin, he did return, triumphantly.
- VLADIMIR MAIAKOVSKY (VLA)
1991, 25 min.
In 1917, Maiakovsky worked tirelessly as the revolution's premiere sloganeer.
However, with the Bolsheviks in power, he devoted himself to journalism,
and candid appraisals of the waste and brutality he witnessed.
FRONTLINE: AFTER GORBACHEV'S USSR (FRO)
1992, 60 min.
In this program, Hedrick Smith investigates what has happened to the people
and institutions of the USSR since 1989.
FRONTLINE: LOOSE NUKES (FRO1)
1992, 57 mins. Distributed by PBS video.
This program examines the new nuclear threat that has arisen in the post-Cold
War era. Even though the fear of nuclear annihilation has diminished,
hundreds of tons of nuclear material have disappeared inside the former
Soviet Union to create a new danger. The program explores the perilous
state of nuclear security in an area already rife with political upheaval
and uncertainty.
FRONTLINE: RETURN OF THE CZAR (FRO2)
2000, 60 min., Distributed by PBS video.
Almost a decade after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia is arguably
more free than at any time in history. But while the West has applauded
the market reforms of former President Boris Yeltsin, in Russia there
has been a collapse. As career KGB officer Vladimir Putin - Yeltsin's
anointed successor - is set to ascend to Russia's presidentcy, FRONTLINE
takes an indepth look at what Russia has become and why.
FRONTLINE: THE STRUGGLE FOR RUSSIA (FRO3)
1992, 120 min.
FRONTLINE presents an in-depth look at Boris Yeltsin's presidency, exploring
Russia's economic and social chaos and examining what went wrong with
Yeltsin's "shock therapy" economic reforms. The program looks at the battle
between Yeltsin and his political opponents and documents how the resulting
power vacuum was skillfully exploited by the ultranationalist leader Vladimir
Zhirinovsky.
FRONTLINE: WAR IN EUROPE (FRO4)
1999, 120 min.
Frontline correspondent Peter Boyer undertakes an in-depth examination
of the Balkan War. Senior military leaders including General Wesley Clark
narrate the story of political constraints, internal divisions, and strategic
miscalculations.
THE FUTURE OF THE SOVIET UNION, SESSION 1, BLOOMINGTON (FUT1)
Panel discussion at IU for Indiana politicians - December 1991.
THE FUTURE OF THE SOVIET UNION, SESSION 2, BLOOMINGTON (FUT2)
Panel discussion at IU for Indiana politicians - December 1991.
THE FUTURE OF THE SOVIET UNION, SESSION 1, IUPUI (FUT3)
Panel discussion at IU for Indiana politicians - December 1991.
THE FUTURE OF THE SOVIET UNION, SESSION, 2, IUPUI (FUT4)
Panel discussion at IU for Indiana politicians - December 1991.
GENDER MONTAGE: FILMS FROM POST-SOVIET SPACE
(GEND) (DVD)
2006
- Women's Happiness or Men's Dignity
(Armenia, 2006, 25 min, Dir. Karine Verdiyan and Nika Shek): This film
portrays two Armenian women. One woman is a divorcee who, forced to
give up her career as an artist during her marriage, finds freedom,
happines, and creative expression in her new life but struggles with
social stigma. The other is a widow, who, nostalgic for her late husband,
believes that women's happiness lies in the patriarchal male-headed
household where women are homemakers. Despite their conflicting opinions
both find strength in themselves and their work as they raise families
as single mothers.
- Return (Georgia, 2006, 28 min, Dir.
Levan Glonti): Liya's past is troublesome - her mother was killed by
her father, and she herself was beaten by him many times - and she spends
her adult life trying to cope with these memories.
- Elechek (Kyrgystan, 2006, 26 min, Dir.
Nailya Rakhmadieva): Sairash was contentedly married for more than a
quarter century until the day her husband took a second, younger wife.
Sairash walked out. Her community and relatives blamed her, divorce
laws would not protect her, and any division of property would inflict
pain on her beloved children. Though her decision set her on a path
of hardship, Sairash found the path to her true self.
- Kristina and Christ (Lithuania, 2006,
22 min, Dir. Inesa Kurklietyte): Kristina, a graduate from Oxford University,
is not ordained to become a priest because she is a woman. As an assistant
pastor she could act as a lay person only. However, she has focused
on encouraging women and girls in her community to seek equal rights
of women and men in the Church and society at large.
- There Are Women in Russian Villages
(Russia, 2006, 28 min, Dir. Pavel Kostomarov and Antoin Kattin): Two
women, a mother and daughter, demonstrate that poverty in Russia is
increasingly a women's phenomenon. Luba and Alesya live in a typical
Russian village: the population consists of male drunkards, with few
or no exceptions, and exhausted women. As underpaid and overworked milkmaids,
Luba and Alesya have no one but themselves to rely on.
- New Penelope (Tajikistan, 2006, 26
min, Dir. Georgii Dzalaev): Economic depression and political chaos
force Tajik men to become migrant laborers, working in unsafe conditions
and with inconsistent pay. Tajik women attempt to keep their families
alive, and, in some cases, enter polygamous marriages to feed themselves
and their families. Often these women relate to Penelope, the wife of
the mythical hero Odysseus, who waits many years for her husband to
return. The men working abroad and the women left behind face the same
fate: hard work and human rights abuses.
- Who Will Sing a Lullaby (Ukraine, 2006,
29 min, Dir. Nina Rudik): Masha's father and Katya's grandfather are
on paternity leave. They are among the few men from Kiev who dared to
use their right to take parental leave. Challenging their traditional
role as breadwinners, overcoming social stigma, and encouraging their
wives to realize themselves outside of the home, these two men show
that personal choice can prevail for them and their wives over traditional
gender roles.
GENGHIS BLUES (GEN1) (DVD)
1999, 80 min.
A wonderful musical odyssey is captured in this Oscar-nominated documentary.
A short-wave radio broadcast from Moscow introduced San Francisco-based
blues musician Paul Pena to the art of "throat-singing." This unusual
vocal style developed in the small country of Tuva, located between Mongolia
and Siberia. For Pena, who is blind, the discovery led to a new musical
obsession. The film follows him as he travels to Tuva to participate in
the country's major throat-singing competition, his visit creating a cultural
exchange that otherwise might never have happened. Pena's battles with
depression and the struggles of the Tuvan people are also detailed in
this marvelous portrait of international harmony. Audience Award-winner,
Sundance Film Festival. Directed by Roko and Adrian Belic.
GLASNOST & ECOLOGY (GLA)
51 min.
In this documentary a team of German scientists joins a team of Soviet
environmentalists to assess three major sites of environmental devastation--Leningrad,
Lake Baikal, and Chernobyl. From the EARTHSCOPE Series, winner of the
1991 ACE Award for "Best Educational Series."
THE GLASNOST FILM FESTIVAL (GLA1-12)
This is a selection of 22 Soviet documentary films produced or released
in the Soviet Union in the first years of the glasnost era, 1986-88. The
Festival was brought to the United States in 1989 by the Citizen Exchange
Council and the American-Soviet Film Initiative (Moscow). The documentaries
were chosen to represent a variety of Soviet film styles and studios as
well as a diverse range of current Soviet concerns.
- VIDEO 1: Against the Current (GLA1)
27 min. This is a film about ecological crime and how the residents
of Kirishi educate themselves to the meaning of citizenship. They are
called extremists and "greenies," but they continue to organize protests
of a major synthetic protein plant.
The Wood Goblin: Confessions of an Old Man
19min. For 15 years he has lived alone in the woods with a cat and two
dogs. He commanded a tank company during World War II, was a local Communist
party chief, and was fired after a smear campaign. He then "joined the
party of the green world" which he now defends against resourceful poachers
and woodcutters.
- VIDEO 2: The Temple (GLA2)
59 min. A strikingly beautiful film about the 1000th anniversary of
Christianity and the role of religion in Soviet society, both past and
present.
- VIDEO 3: The Tailor (GLA3)
50 min. This is a sobering look at the spiritual void and disillusionment
of the current generation of middle-aged adults. They entered life with
faith in their talent, in their destiny, and in love. By the dawn of
the Brezhnev years they were aged before their time, having lost their
preferred work and the opportunity for creative self-realization.
Early On a Sunday
16 min. On a winter morning several old village women go to the forest
to gather wood. They chop down some pine trees, build a fire, banter
about life, and finally go home. Their observations evoke feelings of
compassion, bursts of laughter, and respect for the dignity and patience
of these women who are unaware of their own worth.
- VIDEO 4: Chernobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks (GLA4)
54 min. Vladimir Shevchenko's film crew was the first in the disaster
zone following the meltdown of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in
1986. They shot continuously for more than three months. A lifeless
city. Empty villages. A dead forest. Various agencies blocked its wider
release. Filmgoers in the Soviet Union saw it only after the director's
death.
The BAM Zone: Permanent Residents
19 min. The Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) railroad in Siberia is called
the longest monument to the stagnation of the Brezhnev years. Behind
the marches, songs, and delegations, equipment was breaking down, lives
were broken, and souls were calloused. "The track lies there and is
of no use."
- VIDEO 5: Scenes at a Fountain (GLA5)
28 min. The ironic title refers to powerful, rumbling column of fire
-- the world's largest natural gas fire that burned over one year on
the shores of the Caspian Sea. The film dramatically documents the courageous
firemen who risked their lives to cap the howling 600 feet high blaze.
The Limit
15 min. "This is a shout of horror about how the terrible catastrophe
of drinking condemns a human being," said one Soviet critic. Families
are divided, homes are neglected, and kids are hungry.
- VIDEO 6: And the Past Seems But a Dream (GLA6)
67 min. In 1937 a group of children wrote an idealistic book called
We Are From Igarka. The filmmaker planned to film their touching reunion
50 years later. But another childhood was revealed quite different from
the book. It's a film about the collapse of faith, first faith in God,
then Stalin. It's about the slavish need for an idol and the complicated
attitudes of people to Stalinism.
Theater Square
26 min. On 1 June 1988 a hunger strike was staged in Erevan over the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, populated mainly by Armenians but
part of the neighboring republic of Azerbaijan. The film portrays this
event without any commentary or interviews.
- VIDEO 7: Black Square (GLA7)
57 min. This tells the story of Russia's artistic avant-garde from the
1950s to the 1970s when artists were confronted by semi-official, ideological
art. It is a cinematic appreciation of works only recently allowed to
be exhibited and a story about artists, many of whom were forced to
leave their own country.
Dialogues
29 min. A bacchanal of rock-jazz and a carnival of punk music erupt
in an abandoned Leningrad palace. Collective singing, dancing, and playing
make this group of people a community and an ensemble, not just a crowd.
- VIDEO 8: This is How We Live (GLA8)
30 min. A shocking look at the alienation and moral depravity of young
people. The ugliest of them are homegrown fascists who wear swastikas
on their sleeves. They happily introduce us to their program for reconstructing
society through sterilization and selection.
Homecoming
17 min. Veterans of the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan returned home
from the battlefield with unresolved feelings about a demoralizing and
unpopular war. A veteran comments in this film, "All the ones who have
come back, you can see it from the look on their faces. They have anguish
in their eyes. The war hurts your body, and even more your soul."
- VIDEO 9: Marshal Blucher: A Portrait Against the Background of
an Epic (GLA9)
70 min. The film tries to unlock the riddle of the dramatic 1930s in
the Soviet Union, studying the fate of the entire country through the
biography of one hero. Marshal Vasily Konstantinovich Blucher was one
of the best Red Army commanders, yet, in 1938 he was declared an "enemy
of the people" and perished in Stalin's torture chambers. Rare archival
footage illustrates the excesses of the Stalin era.
- VIDEO 10: The Trial -- II (GLA10)
55 min. This dramatically chronicles the awakening of contemporary civil
identity. The word "trial" here has two meanings: the Stalinist trials
of the of the 1930s and 1940s and a court of conscience, putting the
epoch of the Stalin personality cult on trial. The "Testament" of Bolshevik
theoretician Nikolai Bukharin, who was executed by Stalin, is revealed
for the first time by his wife.
Adonis XIV
9 min. Its horns ornamented with little bells, a "Judas" goat serenely
leads a herd of sheep, cows, and horses to the slaughterhouse. Censors
discovered the resemblance between reality and this documentary parable,
and the film was shelved for 9 years. A director stated, "Everyone who
sees this short story should look around and ask himself, 'Why did I
survive?'"
- VIDEO 11: Final Verdict (GLA11)
66 min. A handsome student shoots a woman and her guest. The director
and killer try to understand the motive behind this tragedy. During
twenty painful months alone on death row, the killer discovers he is
no longer the person he once was. The film argues that the death sentence
doesn't remove the guilt of the killer but puts it on us.
The Evening Sacrifice
18 min. The director tried to capture the spirit of a crowd. "He placed
the camera in the right place and turned it on at the right moment."
His colleagues praise him as an underground artist.
- VIDEO 12: Are you Going to the Ball? (GLA12)
29 min. What is the price young athletes pay for their fleeting celebrity?
This film takes a look at one of the Soviet Union's most sacred institutions:
its world famous women's gymnastic team. Featured are Olympic champions
Olga Korbut and Lyudmila Turischeva.
Tomorrow is a holiday
19 min. With indifferent and mechanical movements, women workers stuff
chickens into metal containers. The workers' dorms are not homes but
rather utilitarian lodgings. The women, enraged by their abnormal living
conditions, "keep singing songs to avoid crying or swearing."
GREAT DECISIONS TELEVISION SERIES, VOL. I (GRE)
1995, Each program is 30 min.
Russia and Its Neighbors: US Policy Choices is program #3 of 4. With William
Hyland, Professor, Georgetown University and Ambassador Thomas W. Simons,
Jr., Coordinator of US Assistance to the New Independent States. Also
included on this cassette are The United Nations at Fifty: Reaching Out
or Overreaching?; Nuclear Proliferation: Can it be Capped?; and Middle
East: Lasting Steps to Peace.
GREAT DECISIONS 1993 (GRE1)
30 mins. each., Includes program on the United Nations.
GROWING OLD IN RUSSIA (GRO)
2001, 50 min., in Russian with English subtitles.
A look at the lives of senior citizens in the Lake Baikal region of Russia,
where the brutal winters tie the community close together and make sharing
memories a major pastime. World War II veterans still bring out their
uniforms and wear them with pride, rugged living and chores still occupy
a land with limited government assistance, and vodka is in heavy use by
these hardy souls.
THE HERMITAGE: A RUSSIAN ODYSSEY (HER1-3)
1994, 3 videos.
- Video 1: Catherine the Great: A Lust for Art (HER1) 54 min.,
English. With stunning art and dramatic readings from Catherine the
Great's diaries, this intriguing program investigates a self-professed
"glutton for beauty," who feasted daily on Rembrandts, Rubenses, and
Brueghels.
- Video 2: Tyrants and Heroes: The Nineteenth Century Czars (HER2)
53 min., English. Marked by dramatic contrasts, this fascinating program
depicts both the wrenching violence of the 19th century and the resplendent
art of Russian royalty collected during the turbulent era. Rod MacLeish
puts remarkable paintings, statues, and end-of-the-century photographs
in their historical contexts.
- Video 3: From Czars to Commissars: A Museum Survives (HER3)
55 min., English. In this moving final program, vintage film illustrating
the horrors of revolution and war plays counterpoint to breathtaking
works by Matisse, Renoir, and Picasso.
HERMITAGE MASTERPIECES (HERM1-6)
1992. (Six-volume set; each 80-minute video has three parts) One of the
world's greatest museums, the Hermitage, in St. Petersburg, Russia, is
the home of countless masterpieces from every school of Western art, represented
by Rembrandt, Raphael, da Vinci, Rubens, van Dyck, El Greco, Goya and
Renoir. The museum houses Europe's largest collection of Picasso's Cubist
paintings and large galleries of Matisse and Gauguin. In addition, displays
of sculpture, decorative arts and the architecture of the building are
on view in over 400 rooms. In this series of 18 programs, a vast selection
of rarely seen treasures, fascinating narratives about the art, the artists
and their times and fine classical music combine to illuminate the stunning
visual images, making each program a unique and memorable experience.
- Volume 1 (HERM1): The Museum's Majestic Architecture; Highlights of
the Masterpieces; Russia in the Age of Peter the Great.
- Volume 2 (HERM2): Decorating Arts of Italy, France and England; Art
from Mesopotamia to Ancient China; the Art of Ancient Egypt.
- Volume 3 (HERM3): The Vast Sculpture Collection; The Classical World
of Greece and Rome; Art of the Middle Ages.
- Volume 4 (HERM4): Art of the Early Renaissance; Raphael, da Vinci
and the High Renaissance; Art of the Netherlands: 15th and 16th Centuries.
- Volume 5 (HERM5): Rubens, van Dyck and the 17th Century Flemish Painters;
Rembrandt and the 17th Century Dutch Painters; Velazquez, El Greco,
Goya and the Spanish Masters.
- Volume 6 (HERM6): French Classical Style of the 17th and 18th Centuries;
The Road to Impressionism: 19th Century France; Modernism: Matisse,
Picasso and More 20th Century Painters.
HIDDEN MEMORY (HIDM)
1995, 56 min.
Eighty years ago, Soviet authorities began a systematic effort to destroy
Russian religious and cultural traditions in order to secure loyalty to
the state. Today, a handful of folklorists are in a race against time
to uncover and preserve true Russian culture. Traveling though the countryside,
often at their own expense, students and scholars are visiting elderly
villagers, recording their songs, dances and stories and collecting traditional
costumes. Russia: Hidden Memory takes viewers on a journey through
remote areas seldom visited by outsiders. As a dedicated Russian folklorist,
Galina Sysoeva teams with American folklorist, Deirdre Paulsen, to search
out the few survivors who remember the "pure" rituals and celebrations
that were performed for centuries and capture them for future generations.
HISTORY'S TURNING POINTS: THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (HTR)
After the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II in March 1917, two boyhood friends
fought for control of the vast Russian empire. By October, after months
of civil unrest, Vladimir Lenin overthrew his arch rival Alexander Kerensky
and created a one-party dictatorship of the proletariat. A 70 year experiment
with communism began that would embrace every aspect of Russian life.
HOMAGE TO CHAGALL (HOM)
1977, Canadian, 90 min., in English.
A study of the life and works of the great Russian artist, superbly filmed
in color, and with narration by James Mason. Included is rare footage
of Chagall and Madame Chagall.
THE HUNT FOR THE TRUE OCTOBER: THE REAL RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (HUN4)
1999, 26 min.
In this program, Cambridge University's Orlando Figes and St. Petersburg
Herzen University's Vitaly Startsev investigate the circumstances of the
October Revolution, exploding the popular myths reinforced by Sergei Eisenstein's
film October. The film also explores the "what-ifs" that could have led
to democracy in Russia instead of dictatorship.
IF THE PEOPLE WILL LEAD (IF)
1992, 58 min.
A lively exploration of the evolution of freedom in the former Soviet
Union, and especially of the critical role played by the media. Leading
Soviet print and television journalists describe their first steps to
freedom and their later battles against renewed censorship prior to and
during the 1991 coup.
IMMORTAL FORTRESS (IMMO)
1999, 52 min. In English and Russian (with English subtitles).
Bloodied and demoralized, Russian units withdrew from Chechnya in September
1996 a year and a half after it bludgeoned its way into the Chechen capital
of Grozny. But the war is far from over. In fact, Chechnya's continuing
conflict with Russia is a story that spans centuries.
Award winning Immortal Fortress and its producer/director Dodge
Billingsley take the viewer on a dangerous behind-the-scenes journey into
Chechnya, exploring the tiny mountain republic's war driven culture while
searching for its most popular modern day warrior, Shamil Basayev.
After centuries of blood feuds, battle traditions, and resistance to all
foreign occupiers, the warrior cult defines Chechen society. Every Chechen
man is first a warrior, then a farmer, baker or oil worker. Shamil Basayev
personifies this warrior spirit. To Russia and the West he is considered
a terrorist, but in Chechnyava hero. His battlefield exploits have become
legendary. The surprise attack on the Russian city Budyonnovsk in 1995
and the invasion of western Dagestan in 1999 have brought him international
attention.
Immortal Fortress is a riveting look behind the scenes of one of
the work's most controversial men, and answers the broader question of
why Shamil Basayev and thousands of other Chechens fight.
IN THE NAME OF LOVE: MODERN DAY MAIL ORDER BRIDES (NMAI)
2002, 58 min. By Shannon O'Rourke.
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, documentary film In the Name of Love
explores the financial pros and cons of exporting one's heart. The film
grapples with the tremendous economic challenges and difficult decisions
facing Russian women today. The film is told from the point of view of
five Russian women, four of them single mothers, who struggle for dignity
as they endure male chauvinism, poverty and culture shock all while searching
for love.
INSIDE THE GLOBAL ECONOMY: ECONOMIES IN TRANSITION (INS)
1994, 60 min. Produced by Annenberg/CPB, this video is a part of their
series examining the global economy, offering a balanced view of how the
world's economic picture has developed and what the futrue might hold.
Economies in Transition examines the transformation of the former
Communist countries into free-market economies.
INSIDE GORBACHEV'S USSR SERIES (INS1-4)
1990, 4 videotapes, 58 min. each.
- Part I: The Taste of Democracy (INS1)
From emotion-charged sessions at the Congress to defiant meetings of
neighborhood councils, ordinary citizens are confronting powerful institutions
in ways novel to Soviet society.
- Part II: Comfortable Lies, Bitter Truths (INS2)
Gorbachev fights a powerful bureaucracy as he tries to replace party
slogans with fresh thinking. Teachers and media, enjoying a new freedom
of the press, expose historical lies in an effort to stimulate independent
thought; hard-liners resist change.
- Part III: Looking for Perestroika (INS3)
Plans for economic reform are stymied by fear of taking risks or losing
power. Visits a coal mine, a state farm, a private enterprise, and the
economic ministry in the Kremlin. How restructuring has affected the
standard of living and new private business.
- Part IV: Coming Apart (INS4)
A resurgence of religious movements, ethnic rivalries, and demands for
independence are bringing the USSR to the verge of implosion. Focuses
on Uzbekistan, Armenia, and Lithuania.
INSIDE THE SOVIET UNION (INS5-13)
This rich series is being made available through a special arrangement
with the Society for Cultural Relations, US/USSR. Made during the years
that the Iron Curtain was most impenetrable, these films provide a real
and rare opportunity to explore the mindset of the Soviet people at a
time when speech, thought, and lifestyles were systematized and controlled.
These are propaganda films in a pure and tragic sense; they promote and
inspire belief in a system that ultimately could not work.
- LENIN AND THE BOLSHEVIKS (INS5)
60 min.
Two profiles of the revolutionary leader and hero of the Soviet Union,
Vladimir Ilyich Lenin.
- SOVIET WAR STORIES FROM WW II (INS6)
115 min.
Four short programs that explore mixed memories of WW II, from a variety
of Soviet perspectives.
- OUR SOVIET ALLIES/WW II (INS7)
50 min.
Four historical programs combine authentic WW II footage with recollections
of misty-eyed veterans to document the great Soviet victories of WW
II.
- NAZI WAR CRIMES: BABI-YAR (INS8)
50 min.
Babi-Yar was occupied by the Nazis in 1941 and used for extermination.
Graphic film and testimonies of escaped victims are incorporated.
- OPIATES OF THE MASSES--RELIGION IN THE USSR (INS9)
105 min.
The battle between church and state was never more profound in the Soviet
block.
- FUN IN THE USSR (INS10)
95 min.
A collection of five short, whimsical and bizarre films of how the Soviets
spend their weekends and vacations.
- THEATER OF THE IRON CURTAIN (INS11)
55 min.
Film provides a behind-the-scenes look at legitimate theater in the
Soviet Union.
- SOVIET BEDTIME STORIES: FILMS FOR CHILDREN. (INS12)
60 min.
Some of the best Soviet films for children are represented in this collection.
-
THE PARTY LINE ON SOVIET JEWRY (INS13)
1990, 50 min.
This controversial documentary is intended to explain the Soviet position
on Soviet Jews to the outside world. This state-oriented propaganda
has biographies on successful Soviet Jews, including a doctor, an engineer
and a group of uncensored Jewish poets and writers. The Soviet government
warns of the temptation to flee to Israel, but insists that Russia is
the "true" homeland.
INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS (INT)
1994, 50 min., Russian with English subtitles.
Twentieth-century Russia is the less than willing subject of this close
psychoanalytic interpretation, inspired by Freud's book of the same name.
Archival and newsreel footage, together with commentary employing the
psychoanalytic method, offer great insights which clarify such cataclysmic
events and the rise of Stalin and the Cold War.
INTERVIEWS FROM RUSSIA (INT2) (DVD)
2002, 90 min.
Russians speak about new poverty, new problems, and new opportunities.
Some are successful businessmen and businesswomen, others feel they're
victims of the new Russia. A film by Slawomir Grunberg, Slava Paperno
and Viktoria Tsimberov, distributed by Lexicon Bridge Publishers and designed
to aid in the teaching of Russian language. In Russian, no subtitles.
AN INTRODUCTION TO RUSSIAN LITERATURE (INT1)
1975, 56 min.
This video examines Russian history from the early nineteenth century
to the present through the eyes of some of its major writers, including
Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Pasternak, Blok, Akhmatova,
and Solzhenitsyn.
IS IT EASY TO BE YOUNG? (IS)
1987, 90 min., Latvian with English subtitles.
This controversial Soviet documentary by filmmaker Yuri Podniek captures
members of the punk rock subculture cavorting at a concert, being dragged
into court for smashing up a train, and telling the camera about the tender
hopes and the drab realities of their lives as hospital orderlies, morticians,
and drug-addicted, disillusioned Afghanistan veterans.
ISLAMIC RESURGENCE AND HOLY WAR: THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND INDONESIA
(ISL) (DVD)
2003, 52 min., In English.
Over the last decade, Islam has swiftly grown in popularity so much so
that today one in every five people on Earth is a follower of Mohammed.
But with this resurgence has come an increase in friction between Muslims
and non-Muslims. Segment one of this program focuses on four divinity
school students from Tatarstan who dropped out to join the jihad in Chechnya,
while segment two tracks the efforts of President Abdurrahman Wahid to
make peace between rioting Muslims and Christians on the Indonesian island
of Ambon.
ISLAM, ASIA, AND MODERNITY (ISLI1, ISLI2, ISLI3, ISLI4, ISLI5,ISLI6)(DVD)
2005. In English.
A three-day conference to explore the changing politics, practices, and representations of Islam in Asia; how these changes are studied, documented, taught, and represented in the academy and the media; and how these practices affect politics society, and culture in Muslims Asia.
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 1(ISLI1)
Islam, Asia and Modernity.
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 2 (ISLI2)
Gender, Sexuality, and the Body in Asian Muslim Societies.
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 3 (ISLI3)
Islamic Arts and National Culture.
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 4 (ISLI4)
The Crisis of Masculine Identities in Post Soviet & Post 9-11.
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 5 (ISLI5)
Education and Islamic Legal Subjects in Asia
- Islam, Asia and Modernity 6 (ISLI6)
Closing Comments: Asian Islam and the Politics of Knowledge
IVAN THE TERRIBLE (IVA6) (DVD)
1999, 50 min.
His name conjures images of senseless brutality, yet in Russia, Ivan the
Terrible is considered by many a national hero, even a man of God. Filmed
entirely on location, this documentary presents a thorough biography of
Russia’s despot of contradictions. Also highlighted is how Stalin admired
Ivan and saw in him a role model and useful symbol of the state. The program
offers readings of Ivan’s diary and letters, interviews with leading scholars,
and extensive footage from Sergei Eisenstein’s classic film—personally
commissioned by Stalin—about Russia’s first Czar. The Oprichniki, the
dreaded brotherhood sworn to protecting Ivan, are seen as a precursor
to Stalin’s secret police. A BBC Production.
IVAN THE TERRIBLE: A&E'S BIOGRAPHY (IVA5)
1998, 50 min.
A&E's Biography explores this fascinating, vital-if violent-ruler who
shaped the destiny of a nation. Best remembered for his ruthless and wanton
brutality, this first Russian tsar dragged his nation out of the Dark
Ages, expanded borders and founded a regime that lasted until the February
Revolution of 1917-more than three centuries later.
I WAS STALIN'S BODYGUARD (IWAS)
1990, 73 min., English subtitles. Directed by Semeon Aranovitch.
Having found the last surviving personal bodyguard of Josef Stalin, who
had begun working for the leader in the 1930's, Aranovitch weaves together
unprecedented, first-hand testimony with rare film footage, including
Stalin's home movies.
THE KING AND THE FOOL (KING1)
1990. Directed by Yossi Turisky.
The Yiddish Theater in Moscow blossomed during the cultural renaissance
that followed the Russian Revolution. Two of the moving forces behind
the theater were Solomon Mikhoels and Benjamin Zuskin, two multi-talented
artists. Affectionately called "the king and the fool," roles
they played in their Yiddish language performance of King Lear, these
two worked together to help forge one of the great theater troupes of
all time. Following World War II, when Stalin took aim at one creative
Jewish talent after another, each was targeted for execution. The actors'
dramatic story is forcefully told by those who knew them best. The video
includes excerpts from films and plays, including Yidishe Glikn (Jewish
Luck) and King Lear, in which each performed.
LAST OF THE CZARS (LAS)
1996, 150 min.,
This documentary explores the life and times of Czar Nicholas II and his
family. "Last of the Czars" includes rare, never-before-seen film footage,
actual letters, czarist-era survivor interviews, photos and other rare
items. The video provides viewers with a finely-detailed look at Russia's
most dramatic era.
LAST OF THE CZARS: DEATH OF THE DYNASTY (LASD)
2002, 47 min.
Decades of social unrest coupled with the privations of Word War I brought
Russia to revolution; yielding to the people’s will, Czar Nicholas II
abdicated the throne. This finely crafted program presents the final years
of the Romanovs, from the outbreak of revolt and the return of Lenin to
their brutal execution, the culmination of the Bolshevik leader’s lifelong
plan of revenge. The program uses an incredible array of rare film footage,
diaries, letters, and interviews with survivors of the era, to include
Prince Nicholas Romanov, the present head of the family. DNA evidence
is also examined, proving finally the identities of the Romanov remains.
A Discovery Channel Production.
LAST OF THE CZARS: NICKY AND ALIX (LASN)
2002, 47 min.
What this intimate portrait makes apparent is that Czar Nicholas II and
his wife remained lovers and devoted parents; shy, kindly, and dangerously
naïve, they retreated from the empire’s realities to the safety of a close-knit
family. The program looks at the courtship and early years of "Nicky and
Alix"—Nicholas, heir to the Russian throne, and Alexandra, granddaughter
of England’s Queen Victoria. This period sees the birth of their four
daughters and son, Alexei. Rare films of the era include footage of Nicholas
II’s coronation over 100 years ago. Interviews, photos, and letters from
the Romanov Archive in Moscow enhance the narrative. A Discovery Channel
Production.
LAST OF THE CZARS: THE SHADOW OF RASPUTIN (LASS)
2002, 47 min.
After four daughters, Czar Nicholas II and Alexandra finally had a son,
the long-awaited heir to the Russian throne; what they kept secret was
that Alexei was born with hemophilia. As this program shows, the royal
couple’s desperation to save their son led them to put their total trust,
politically as well as medically, in reputed mystic Gregory Rasputin.
With World War I raging and Alexandra thought to be a German spy by the
Russian people, the Czar’s reputation was further damaged by the rumors
surrounding Rasputin. Firsthand accounts, diary entries, rare footage,
and some of the Czar’s own photographs bring to life this strange chapter
in the Romanov saga. A Discovery Channel Production
L'CHAYIM, COMRADE STALIN! (LCH)
2001, 90 min, Russian & English w/ English subtitles. Directed by Yale
Strom.
This video traces the history of Birobidzhan, the capital of the Soviet
Union's Jewish Autonomous Region, from 1928 to the present. Heeding the
slogan "To a Jewish land,"·Jews from the U.S.S.R. as well as Canada, the
U.S., Poland, France and Argentina, among other countries, made the arduous
trek, by boat and train, to Siberia. The region, rife with disease and
deprivation, was a crushing disappointment to these first pioneers. In
subsequent years, despite encouragement from organizations such as AMBIJAN
and IKOR, Jewish immigration steadily declined.
In March 2000, American filmmaker Yale Strom flew to Moscow to begin
a seven-day trip, via the Trans-Siberian Railroad, to Birobidzhan. Accompanying
him was interpreter-bodyguard (and former KGB agent) Slava Andreovich,
grandson of Mikhail Kalenin, first president of the U.S.S.R. and architect
of the Jewish Autonomous Region. Fascinating footage from Russian archives
and scenes from the Soviet propaganda film, Seekers of Happiness, are
woven into the journey. In Birobidzhan, his interviews with early Jewish
pioneers of the J.A.R. and young proponents of the revival of Yiddish
culture, paint a vivid portrait of contemporary Jewish life in Russia--a
compelling tale of the perseverance of Jews and their Yiddish culture
in the face of forced migration, anti-Semitism, and great privations--as
well as the circumstances surrounding this unique chapter in Soviet, and
world, history.
LENIN AND HIS LEGACY (LEN)
1993, 30 min.
This program traces the life and legacy of Lenin. Using documentary footage
dating back to 1896, the program shows pre-revolutionary Russia, the Revolution,
and the events after Lenin's death: the treason trials of the 30s, the
war, the death of Stalin and many of his successors, Gorbachev's call
for reforms, the shifts in domestic and foreign policy.
HEROES & TYRANTS OF THE 20th CENTURY: LENIN (LEI) (VHS)
2001, 40 min, English..
Heroes and Tyrants vividly recreates the path to glory of this inspiring leader who led the Bolshevik Revolution to become the founder of the Russian Communist Party and the first head of the Soviet state. The compelling close-up reveals a ravaged and chaotic Russia and the fiery speeches of a man who led his nation to become the dominant power it is today. Heroes and Tyrants leaves you with a Lenin you have never seen before.
LEO TOLSTOY (LEO1)
1984, 103 min., English subtitles.
This film traces the turbulent life of Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest
writers of the nineteenth century, from childhood through his stormy marriage
and up to his death.
GREAT RUSSIAN WRITERS: LEO TOLSTOY (DVD) (LEO2)
2007, 30 min, English
This biography presents a revealing look into the events, people, and places that influenced the creation of the author’s major works, and tells the story of the impact that Russia had on the history of western literature. Filmed on location in Russia.
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOSEF STALIN (LIF)
1993, 58 min.
This is the documentary story of the man who subverted the Russian Revolution.
Suppressing Lenin's dying wish that Stalin be replaced, he became Lenin's
heir. The program follows the struggles and betrayals of the 20's, the
atrocities of the 30's, the carnage of the war, the sleight of hand by
which Stalin imposed his conditions on Roosevelt and Churchill, and the
end of this demented man.
LIFE ON THE ATOMIC RIVER (LIF3) (DVD)
(2002, 60 min.) Contains 200 interviews with Russian doctors, teachers,
farmers, and children who live in the most irradiated spot on Earth. A
film by Slawomir Grunberg and Slava Paperno, distributed by Lexicon Bridge
Publishers and designed to aid in the teaching of Russian language. In
Russian, no subtitles
LIFTING THE YOKE: UKRAINE (LIF1)
1994, 50 min.
This program examines the effects of establishing an independent Ukraine
after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Emotional and divisive issues
accompanying this endeavor include: the legacy of Stalin, conflicts and
competing interests between the Church and the nationalists, and the question
of to what degree the language should be imposed.
THE LIGHT THAT FAILED; MACNEIL LEHRER NEWSHOUR (LIG)
1992, 85 min.
George Kenan, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Robert Conquest and other experts discuss
how and why communism failed in the Soviet Union. In a series of interviews,
they examine the past role of communism, the events and ideas that lead
to its collapse, and the current economical and political climates in
the Soviet Union; in particular, war-torn Yugoslavia.
THE LOSS OF AN ENEMY (LOS)
1992, 28 min.
This program looks back at the origins of the Cold War and what its end
means to our country. Extensive use of archival footage illustrates the
major milestones of the era. Includes commentary by Hedrick Smith, Strobe
Talbott, and Alexei Arbatov. Aired on public television.
THE MAGIC OF THE BOLSHOI BALLET (MAG)
1987, 60 min.
This rare collection of the most historic performances by the leading dancers
of the famed Bolshoi Ballet Company features highlights from favorite ballets
as they were performed from the 1930's to the present.
MAN AND MUSIC SERIES (MAN2, MAN3, MAN4)
- RUSSIA UNDER THE TSARS: THE SEARCH FOR A VOICE (MAN2)
1989, 53 min.
The Russian-ness of Russian music derives from the folk song and the
music of the Orthodox Church: the characteristic modes, the sounds of
bells, the unison a cappella voices of the Russian liturgy-sources not
mined until Glinka laid down the foundations of a Russian school of
music, almost single-handedly. The program traces the cultural history
of Russia from the 17th century, covering the cultural role the tsars,
the building of St. Petersburg, the enthusiasm for France cut short
by the Napoleonic invasion, the role of Pushkin and, above all, of Glinka.
This program includes sections of Glinka's A Life for the Tsar, Kamarinskaya,
Cherubimskaya; and the so-called Rostov Action.
- RUSSIA UNDER THE TSARS: MUSIC FOR A NATION (MAN 3)
1989, 53 min.
"The Search for a Voice" covered the origins of Russian music and proceeded
through the work of Glinka; this program begins in 1881, the year in
which Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto
premiered. The program covers the introduction of the Mighty Fistful,
and focuses on the life and works of Tchaikovsky. Includes sections
of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto, First String Quartet, Eugene Onegin,
Swan Lake, the Symphonie Pathetique; Balakirev's "Islamei"; Borodin's
"In Central Asia", Second String Quartet; and Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov.
- RUSSIA UNDER THE TSARS: MUSIC FOR THE WORLD
(MAN4)
1989, 53 min.
The musical era that began at the turn of the 20th century was filled
with turbulent change: virtuoso performers like Scriabin and Heifetz
emerged from the conservatories, and one world-class composer followed
another. In many ways, the Composer’s Corner of Leningrad’s Lavra Cemetery
sums up the story of Russian music, but Rachmaninov and Stravinsky lived
abroad, showing that Russian music had entered the Western world on
its own terms. Stravinsky and Schoenberg turned out to be the giants
of their time, pushing music towards further and further limits. Musical
contents include sections of Rachmaninov: Second Piano Concerto; Scriabin:
"Poème de l’extase"; Stravinsky: "Petrushka"; Prokofiev: First Piano
Concerto.
MARINA TSVETAYEVA (MAR1)
1994, 56 min.
This docudrama includes archival footage of the times and places that
provided the backdrop of Tsvetayeva's life. It also presents readings
in Russian and English of her poems, diaries and letters as well as dramatized
scenes and interviews with key writers, biographers, and translations
of her work.
MASTERPIECES OF THE HERMITAGE (MAS1 and MAS2)
Series of 30 minute programs.
- The Museum's Majestic Architecture (MAS1)
A walk-through tour of the Hermitage museum, paying attention to the
architecture of the palaces and to the history of the Emperors living
in them.
- Russia in the Age of Peter the Great (MAS2)
A view of seventeenth century St. Petersburg, as it looked before Peter
began the process of transformation from swampland into an urban center
dominated by European architecture.
MAXIM GORKY (1868-1936) (MAX1)
1998, 30 min.
Maxim Gorky, novelist, playright and essayist, was the founder of Socialist
Realism. Although known principally as a writer, he was also a prominent
figure in the Russian Revolution. The life of Gorky is brought to life
in this informative documentary.
MICHAEL AND SVETLANA (MIC4)
2002, 90 min.
He knew no Russian, and she knew no English. They met through a newspaper
ad and decided to get married. A film by Slawomir Grunberg and Slava Paperno,
distributed by Lexicon Bridge Publishers and designed to aid in the teaching
of Russian language. In Russian, no subtitles.
THE MIGHTY FISTFUL (MIG)
1990, 60 min.
Until the 19th century, fashionable Russian audiences preferred Western
music. Then came Glinka, Balakirev, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin,
Scriabin, Tchaikovsky. The program covers the distance from folk tradition
to the founding of the Russian style of music by Glinka. Performers include
James Galway, Sosipov's Balalaika Orchestra, and the Kirov, Bolshoi and
Royal Ballets. Included are excerpts from Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla
Overture; Tcheshnikov's Let Us Give Prayer; Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov,
Coronation Scene; Borodin's Quartet No. 2 in D Major; Rimsky-Korsakov's
Flight of the Bumblebee, A Bride to the Czar; Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto,
Swan Lake, Symphony No. 6 (Pathetique); Scriabin's Prometheus; Stravinsky's
The Firebird.
MODERN RUSSIAN CULTURE (MOD1 and MOD2 and MODR) (DVD)
2004.
An audio-visual, multi-disciplinary course of lectures on modern Russian
culture with high quality photographic images, CD-quality music and narration,
and hypertext-linked notes. Each lecture offers 25 to 30 images with informational
captions and a note which is intended to be both specific (what the work
of art or architecture is) and elaborative (what the work's significance
or historical-cultural context are). All texts are in English, with Russian
equivalents provided for the names of monuments and buildings, titles
of paintings, and names of the artists and architects. From Lexicon Bridge
Publishers.
- Moscow (MOD1) (DVD)
- Petersburg (MOD2) (DVD)
- Reference Disc (MODR) (DVD)
- Russia in Art (MOD4) (DVD)
- Russian in Transition (MOD5) (DVD)
MODEST MUSSORGSKY (MOD)
1993, 78 min.
This program, filmed entirely on location in Russia on the 150th anniversary
of his birth, aims to discover the true Mussorgsky and reveal the radicalism
of the man and his music. Music in the program is performed by some of
Russia's greatest talents: the conductor Gennadi Rozhdestvensky and the
Ministry of Culture Symphony Orchestra, the pianists Nicolai Petrov and
Viktoria Postnikova, the soloists and chorus of the Bolshoi Theatre and
Tallin State Opera, Estonia.
MONSTER: A PORTRAIT OF STALIN IN BLOOD (MON 1-6)
1992.
This six tape series, produced by Alexandre Ivankin at Contact Studio,
Moscow, uses never before released films from the Russian archives and
personal interviews to tell the true story of the annihilation of approximately
40 million Russians by Stalin.
- Episode 1: Stalin and Mind Control (MON1) 46 min. Stalin anticipates
Germany's Joseph Goebbels in his marshalling of Soviet media to manipulate
the minds of his population. All organs of communication are taken under
Stalin's control, including painting, sculpture, poetry, theater, cinema
and architecture--even opera and ballet.
-
Episode 2: Stalin's Secret Police (MON2) 46 min. Stalin's rise
to power is attributed largely to his control of the vast secret police
complex, known first as the Cheka and eventually as the KGB. At Stalin's
direction the secret police becomes the bludgeon with which Stalin enforces
his political and personal will, liquidating party rivals, purging the
Red Army, and creating in his "gulags" the largest slave labor force
since the Pharaohs.
-
Episode 3: Stalin and the War (MON3) 46 min. Prior to the start
of WWII, Stalin signs a nonaggression pact with Hitler, hoping to buy
time and build up his armed forces. His plan backfires when Hitler launches
surprise attack "Barbarossa" against the Soviet Union, and his panzers
sweep to within 10 kilometers of Moscow. When Stalin issues disastrous
orders, the Soviet people, with enormous effort and sacrifice, beat
back the German Wehrmacht, and in spite of Stalin's blundering win a
great victory.
-
Episode 4: The Private Life of Joseph Stalin (MON4) 46 min.
Stalin is born of doubtful parenthood and grows up a Marxist and a revolutionary,
organizing riots and robbing banks to fund party activities. While Stalin
is twice-married, both wives die suspicious deaths, the first of "typhoid"
after being kicked in the stomach while pregnant, and the second of
"appendicitis" after committing suicide. Stalin then systematically
murders or imprisons his many inlaws. Witnesses of these events furnish
the horrid details.
-
Episode 5: Stalin's Enslavement of Rural Russia (MON5) 46 min.
Russia's 40 million farmers resist Stalin's attempt to seize their lands
and to collectivize Soviet farming. The result is a virtual war that
lasts for years and results in the deaths of 20 million farmers and
their families through execution, deliberate starvation and death in
the labor camps.
-
Episode 6: Stalin...The Last Empire (MON6) 46 min. Stalin is
largely responsible for subverting the idealism of the Bolshevik Revolution,
which preached a peoples' democracy to a power-hungry system of elitism
which ignores the peoples' needs and rewards only the party aristocracy.
"Stalinism" does not die with him in 1953 but remains a political legacy
that is finally toppled by a determined Soviet people in August 1991.
MOSCOW AND LENINGRAD: THE CROWN JEWELS OF RUSSIA (MOS2)
1990, 50 min.
The history and culture of Russia are revealed in this program as viewers
tour the Kremlin and Lenin's tomb, watch the pageantry of Red Square,
see St. Basil's Cathedral, and enjoy the Bolshoi Theater and the Moscow
Circus. Then, in Leningrad, viewers visit the Winter Palace, the Alexander
Column, and the extravagant Palace of Petrodvorets.
THE NEW RUSSIA (NEW 1-5)
20 min each.
This series brings to life the scale and diversity of Russia, using spectacular
views from space and three dimensional graphics.
- Volume 1: The Moscow Region (NEW1) This program examines the
role of Moscow, the largest population center in Russia, as the center
of urban and economic development in the new Russia. In addition to
looking at Moscow's role as the seat of government, the program visits
several local businesses.
-
Volume 2: The Kuzbass. (NEW2) The Kuzbass, a region deep in
the frozen region Siberia, is the heart of Russia's heavy industry.
This program examines the town of Novokuznets, its old Stalinist center
of town, its high rise suburbs and its local residents.
-
Volume 3: The Volga River (NEW3) This program examines many
of the characteristics of the Volga River, from the reservoirs formed
by a series of huge hydroelectric dams to the concentration of heavy
industry on the river and the resulting pollution. The impact of industrial
contaminants on the local population, economy and ecology is also examined.
-
Volume 4: The Steppes of North Caucasus (NEW4) This program
joins a small group of farmers for the wheat harvest on the vast plains
of the Russian Steppes. The video explores the impact of farming methods
and on the way of life for Russian farmers, as the giant collective
farms of the Soviet era have given way to farmers who now own their
own land.
-
Volume 5: Norilsk: Life in the Arctic (NEW5) This program
explores the extraordinary city of Norilsk, located above the Arctic
Circle and is the home of more than 200,000 people. The video examines
how the exploitation of the regions rich mineral wealth by open cast
mining and other destructive methods have affected the delicate ecology.
The lives of the nomadic native people are also discussed.
NAMEDNI 1961-2003 (NAM 1-6)
Leonid Parfenov hosts NTV's encyclopedic view of recent Russian history
from Khrushchev through the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence
of an soft authoritarian state. As Parfenov says at the beginning of each
episode, it's the story of "events, people, and styles that defined
our way of life – things that we find impossible to forget but even
harder to understand." Originally meant to cover the last forty years
of Soviet power, the popular TV series eventually expanded into the twenty-first
century. In each hour-long episode, Parfenov hits the major happenings
of the year in question, from politics, culture, and sports to Russia's
sub rosa lifestyles.
THE NEW RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (NEW6)
1991, 47 min.
Made by CNN, this video document focuses on the failed 1991 hardline coup
in the Soviet Union that temporarily imprisoned President Mikhail Gorbachev
and thrust Boris Yeltsin into the world spotlight.
THE OCTOBER 1917 REVOLUTION & AFTER (OCT1)
1993, 26 min.
This documentary traces the defeat of Russian forces in WWI, the overthrow
of Nicholas and the Czarist family, and the rise to power of the Communists.
Drawn from Russian and Western newsreel footage and from Soviet propaganda
films that dramatized some events of the Revolution, this video also shows
the effects of the Revolution in Western Europe.
THE ORANGE CHRONICLES (ORC) (DVD)
2007, 98 min., English, Ukrainian, Russian with English subtitles. Directed by Damian Kolodiy.
From Kyiv to Odessa and Lviv, the filmmaker engaged with Ukrainians on all sides of the debate to compile this personal account of the three months spent in the midst of the Orange Revolution. The documentary explores the people’s motivations to mobilize, and the emotional conflicts among a bitterly divided populace. The film is a tribute to the human spirit, whose yearning for freedom, the pursuit of happiness, and spiritual fulfillment will not be denied. In the process of documenting the revolution, Kolodiy rediscovers his own modern Ukrainian identity and comes to understand the personal imperatives behind one nation’s fight for justice.
ORANGE REVOLUTION (ORR) (DVD)
2007, 106 min., English. Directed by Steve York.
One candidate in Ukraine’s 2004 Presidential elections is backed by the post-Soviet regime. Eight weeks before the election, the opposition candidate is mysteriously poisoned. He survives, but with a severely disfigured face. In the final voting, blatant vote fraud hands the election to the regime. Fed up with censored media, corruption, and rule by wealthy oligarchs, they have voted for change, and now they are taking over Kyiv to enforce their will. Through snow and freezing temperatures they stand their ground, blockading government buildings, demanding a new election. Through the eyes and in the voices of the Ukrainian people, Orange Revolution tells the story of a people united, not by one leader or party, but by one idea: to defend their vote and the future of the their country.
OUT OF THE PRESENT (OUT) (DVD)
1996, 95 min., in Russian with English subtitles, directed by Andrei Ujica.
Man's place in the universe has never been contemplated quite the way
it is in this singular documentary. Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev's
ten months on board the Mir space station are captured in footage shot
during his record-breaking visit to the heavens, which is contrasted with
images of the collapse of the Soviet Union from 1991 to 1992. While Krikalev
was away from Earth, the empire that sent him to space ceased to exist,
his hometown of Leningrad became St. Petersburg, and the nature of global
affairs underwent massive change. "Yet, the extraterrestrial shots
and scenes have the effect of somehow dwarfing and distancing these historic
events, however momentous. Galaxies, like grains of sand, spread across
the sky, and even the epochal sights of the collapse of the Soviet state
shrivel in comparison" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune).
PATH TO AGREEMENT: RUSSIA AND UKRAINE (PAT)
1992, 38 min., English and Russian versions.
A co-production of Ostankino and Common Ground Productions, this program
begins with background on the Russian Ukrainian conflict including an
interview with Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk. The program then shows
a "search for common ground" between Alexandr Lavrinovich, Vice President
of the Ukrainian nationalist party Rukh, and Sergei Baburin, leader of
the Russian parliamentary faction Rossiya. The video presents an easily
accessible picture of the ethnic conflict of the former USSR.
PEOPLE'S CENTURY: PART 1 (PEO)
1998, 55 min.
Episode 3: 1917 Red Flag. As Communism is put into practice, the Russian
people live through the greatest social experiment the world has ever
seen. Communist Party members and activists from the era are interviewed,
including Ana Bukharina, the late widow of Nikolai Bukharin.
PEOPLE'S GALA CONCERT (GAL)
1991, 143 min., Russian with English subtitles.
A landmark documentary; Semeon Aranovitch explores the roots of Russian
anti-Semitism during Stalin's final years, set around the murder of the
brilliant actor Solomon Mikhoels and the case of a group of Russian doctors
charged with attempting to poison Stalin. Aranovitch draws on rare archival
footage and interviews with survivors and their descendants to relate
this untold history.
THE PERSONAL FILE OF ANNA AKHMATOVA (PER)
1989, 65 min., Russian with English subtitles. Semeon Aranovitch.
A moving portrait of the extraordinary Soviet poet, Anna Akhmatova. Although
her work was banned and went unpublished for 17 years, her poem "Requiem"
became the underground anthem for the millions who suffered under Stalin.
This unique film, which uses Akhmatova's diaries for text, also includes
portraits of Akhmatova's friends and contemporaries--Boris Pasternak,
Vladimir Mayakovsky, Mikhail Sostchenko.
POST-SOVIET RUSSIA: PROMISES DEFERRED (POS)
1997, 55 min.
This program examines how the Russian city of Gorky has adapted to a free-enterprise
system. We see public reaction to the auction of government property,
and the opening of private markets. Class divisions became apparent in
interviews with the Russian nouveau riche, the Mafia, and average citizens.
Ordinary people, tired of waiting for economic benefits promised through
privatization, support Communist political candidates who promise renewed
state control and a return to traditional Russian values. The city is
shown as being torn apart by violent tensions and antagonisms that exist
between the advocates of reform and Neo-Communists.
POWER OF PLACE: WORLD REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY: RUSSIA'S FRACTURING FEDERATION (POW7-8)
- Facing Ethnic and Environmental Diversity (POW7) 1996, 30 min.
Case studies include the question of independence in the ethnically
mixed Republic of Dagestan in the face of the current devolutionary
process and the uncertainties of a harsh climate and poor infrastructure
in the Russian countryside around Volgoda.
- Central and Remote Economic Development (POW8) 1996, 30 min.
Case studies include the effects of the shift to a market economy on
real estate values in St. Petersburg and the difficulties of industrial
production in Bratsk, Siberia.
- Geography for the 21st Century (POW-NEW)
2003.
Case studies include the "Northwest Contrast" and "Holding
the Hinterlands".
PUTIN: A BITTER DECISION (PUT2) (DVD)
49min, in English.
In the mind of Vladimir Putin, 9/11/01 marked the day that triggered a
chain of events that ended with Russia's acceptance into the ranks of
the West-but at a terrible cost to national pride and the balance of nuclear
power. This program narrates the circumstances leading to President Putin's
bitter decision to trade U.S. approval of the war in Chechnya for what
has proved to be a diminished role in world politics. Footage of Putin,
George W. Bush, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Security Council Secretary
Vladimir Rushailo, and Djuma Namagani, military commander of the Islamic
Movement of Uzbekistan, is featured, along with gripping images of New
York's Ground Zero and Central Asian Islamist extremists in action.
PUTIN: STAIRWAY TO POWER (PUT1) (DVD)
49min, in English.
This program tracks the career of Vladimir Putin from KGB spymaster for
the USSR to president of the Russian Federation. Footage of landmark events-the
fall of the Berlin Wall, the election and re-election of Boris Yeltsin,
the war against Chechnya, terrorist attacks on Moscow-are featured, as
well as archival interviews with former Stasi official Horst Jemlich,
former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and
Vladimir Gusinsky, al Qaeda-trained Chechen army commander Omar ibn al-Khattab,
the IMF's Michel Camdessus, former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott,
and Putin himself.
RUSSIA: REBUILDING A NATION (R-REB)
2002 , 25 min.
Using an investigative approach to physical and social geography, this
program follows North American students to Russia to look at the nation's
efforts to rebuild following the collapse of the USSR. It examines the
impacts of Western civilization from market restructuring to intellectual
openness.
RUSSIAN AVANT-GARDE: A ROMANCE WITH THE REVOLUTION (RAV)
1999, 55 min.
This program documents the achievements of the Russian avant-garde movement
and the impact of the Russian Revolution, which at first nurtured modern
art as an emblem of communist culture and then banned it in favor of socialist
realism. Set within the context of the life of the pivotal art critic
Nikolai Punin, the key events of the Lenin/Stalin years and the contributions
of major artists such as Malevich, Tatlin, and Filonov are described.
Plentiful examples of paintings and sculptures plus period newsreel footage
add a strong visual appeal to the story of a compelling period of both
art and world history.
RED DAWN, (RED8)
20 min.
Red Dawn focuses on the period beginning with the abdication of Tsar Nicholas
in February, 1917 and ending with the Bolshevik seizure of power in October,
1917. "Red Dawn" outlines the ineffective policies of Nicholas, the events
of the February Revolution, the rise of Bolshevism based upon united leadership
and utopian promises, as well as the reality of destitution, starvation,
and homelessness.
RED EMPIRE (RED1-7)
1990, 54 min. each. Series presented by Dr. Robert Conquest.
- Volume 1: Revolutionaries (RED1) Nicholas and Alexandra rule
a massive empire, one sixth the world's land mass, 150 million people
of 100 different nationalities. Life is hard and the workers discontent.
Moisei Muravnik, now 99 years old, recalls the Siberian goldfields strike
of 1912 that ignites the workers' movement.
- Volume 2: Winners and Losers (RED2) War with Germany leads
to civil war in Russia. Among the first casualties are the Tsar and
his family. As the Reds and the Whites fight for control of the empire,
those who suffer most are the people, victims of battle and famine.
The Communist Party, under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky, gains
control.
-
Volume 3: Class Warriors (RED3) Communism continues to draw
the attention and praise of people throughout the world. One reason
is the rhetoric of Joseph Stalin, who calls for a world order based
on the rights and contributions of all workers. But, in fact, Stalin
is a brutal and ruthless dictator, and when the peasants do not accept
his plan for collective farms, he viciously starves them by the millions.
-
Volume 4: Enemies of the People (RED4). Why does a child denounce
his parents, demanding their execution? When Stalin's five year plans
fail to turn the Soviet Union into a super power, he blames secret traitors
and urges the people to find them. Today they still comb the forests
for hidden grave where millions of innocent people were executed. Ultimately,
Stalin does create the Red Empire, but the cost in terms of human live
is almost incomprehensible.
-
Volume 5: Patriots (RED5) Confusion reigns in the Soviet Union
over whom the people should support in World War II. But Hitler forces
their decision when he invades in 1941. The Soviets are no match for
the Nazis, who destroy everything on their way to Moscow. But in the
end, the harsh Russian winter defeats the Germans, who are soon pushed
back, leaving the infamous Joseph Stalin a hero and the unlikely ally
of America and Britain.
-
Volume 6: Survivors (RED6) Victory in World War II is replaced
with the Cold War, as the Communists reject all Western influences as
decadence. Truth is redefined as the radio and airplane are said to
be invented by Russians, not Westerners. But the Soviets do make great
advances, including the first space flight. When Stalin dies, the future
of the Red Empire is again uncertain until Nikita Khrushchev takes control.
-
Volume 7: Prisoners of the Past (RED7) Lenin's ideal of individual
rights has still not materialized and the people are restless. Freedom
lives in their hearts even as Khrushchev's successor, Leonid Brezhnev,
crushes rebellion and invades Czechoslovakia. The old guard fails; Brezhnev,
Andropov and Chernenko all die within a three year period. That sets
the stage for Mikhail Gorbachev, a youthful vigorous leader who promises
hope and change.
RED FILES (REDF)
1999, 240 min.
Exposes the Soviet view of recent history through interviews with key
Soviet participants, never-before-seen archival film and declassified
dossiers. These compelling stories of personal and political intrigue
were hidden behind the Iron Curtain for generations. Two-tape set.
- PART 1: SECRET VICTORIES OF THE KGB To the West, they were
traitors. To the Soviet Union, they were heroes. This program tells
a twisted tale of intrigue and ideological obsession -- in which men
and women betrayed the West to spy for the KGB.
- PART 2: SOVIET SPORTS WARS This program presents the bittersweet
stories of four premiere Soviet athletes: Igor ter Ovanesyan (long jump),
Olga Korbut and Larisa Latynina (gymnastics), and Anatoly Firsov (hockey).
- PART 3: SECRET SOVIET MOON MISSION This episode presents the
story of the mastermind responsible for the entire Soviet space program:
Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.
- PART 4: SOVIET PROPAGANDA MACHINE The program weaves observations
- including those of Boris Yefimov, Pravda's political cartoonist from
1922 to 1980, Russian television journalist Vladimir Pozner, former
American Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Vietnam veteran Jan Scruggs
with archival film to trace the 70-year history of the communist and
capitalist propaganda machines.
REFLECTIONS OF TERROR: Life in the Gulag (REF)
1990, 30 min., Ukrainian without subtitles.
Originally entitled Voni stoiat' peredi mnoiu (They Stand in Front of
Us), this film was produced and directed by the Ukrainian writer Anatol
Kostenko, a former Zek. Kostenko interviews survivors of Soviet labor
camps and commemorates those who perished.
REJOICING IN THE DARK (REJ)
1990, 78 min., English subtitles. Directed by Ekaterina Pravdina, Svetlana
Rezhushkina, and Alexander Koniashov.
A film about Russian poets...Russian poets and Russia. Marquis de Custine
wrote prophetically in the mid-nineteenth century that "when the Sun of
openness rose above Russia, it would throw light on such abominations
and such awful outrages that the whole world would shudder." There are
no outrages in the film. This is just a story of some people who practiced
the art of surviving without conforming or betraying their inner "self."
REPORT FROM THE EDGE (REPO)
2000, 50 min., English narration.
This documentary provides an in-depth look at the lingering environmental
costs of the former Soviet Union's unchecked industrial growth. The focus
is the city of Bratsk, located in Siberia with a population of approximately
270,000 that has been exposed to potentially harmful byproducts of a nuclear
power plant, a chemical plant and a metallurgical plant.
REVEALING RUSSIA (REV1-5)
1992, Russian with English narration and subtitles.
Film series by Marina Goldovskaya.
- Video 1: The Shattered Mirror (REV1) 58 min. Filmmaker's personal
journey through ordinary Russian life at a time of great change. Includes
meetings with filmmaker's friends and acquaintances, as well as personal
scenes of her own wedding and the death of her mother.
-
Video 2: The House With Knights (REV2) 58 min. Built in the
early 1900's, this gr
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