Films by Language

Russian

Carlos

Olivier Assayas

An extraordinary three-part epic of the rise and fall of Carlos the Jackal. “Edgar Ramirez inhabits the title role with the arrogant charisma of Brando in his prime. It’s an astonishing film.” — indieWIRE

The Concert

Le Concert

Radu Mihaileanu

A band of out-of-work Moscow musicians travels to Paris posing as the celebrated Bolshoi Orchestra in this lavish, shamelessly entertaining comedy-drama from the director of Live and Become. With Mélanie Laurent.

Cooking History

Ako sa varia dejiny

Peter Kerekes

Irreverent and wry, this engrossing documentary hybrid observes 20th-century European upheaval from the field kitchen, casting startling new culinary perspectives on warfare. “Fascinating.” — Variety

Countryside 35x45

Glubinka 35x45

Evgeny Solomin

Life in the Siberian countryside is celebrated in this delightful film that follows an itinerant photographer on a mission to provide country folk with the photos necessary for new Russian identity papers.

Farewell

L’Affaire Farewell

Christian Carion

This tense, atmospheric, true Cold War spy movie centres on a disillusioned KGB colonel who risked everything in the early 80s to let the West know just how thoroughly Soviet spies had infiltrated American security.

How I Ended This Summer

Kak ya provel etim letom

Alexei Popogrebsky

In this spectacular psychological thriller two men working on an isolated Arctic weather station are locked in a lethal battle of wills. “Gripping… a magnificent adventure in outward-bound filmmaking.” — Sight & Sound

I Am Love

Io sono l’amore

Luca Guadagnino

Tilda Swinton in a hyper-stylish drama about a wealthy Milanese clan. “An exquisite, all-enveloping feast of sensual pleasures. It’s almost certainly the most elegant piece of cinema you’ll see this year.” — The Times

Melody for a Street Organ

Melodiya dlya sharmanki

Kira Muratova

This moving, extravagantly realised tale of two children lost on the streets of Kiev is a new masterpiece by the brilliant Kira Muratova (The Aesthenic Syndrome) and a damning vision of the post-Soviet era.

Russian Lessons

Andrei Nekrasov, Olga Konskaya

The Russian-Georgian War in August 2008 is captured live from the front lines in astonishing first-hand coverage that counters the official version relayed by Russia and broadcast, unchallenged, by the Western media.

Russian Snark

Stephen Sinclair

Screenwriter Stephen Sinclair (Braindead) turns writer/director with this bittersweet comedy about a couple of refugee artists from Russia (Stephen Papps, Elena Stejko) getting to grips with life in Auckland.

Space Tourists

Christian Frei

This enlightening, visually stunning film takes us on a journey into privatised space travel and the 21st-century legacy of the Soviet space programme.

The Woman with the 5 Elephants

Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten

Vadim Jendreyko

Eighty-five-year-old Svetlana Geier is perhaps the greatest translator of Russian literature into German. This erudite, very moving documentary about her passion for literature gracefully unfolds to encompass a great sweep of history.