This page features selected resources and films produced during the Soviet period in Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Russia. For more specific resources on individual CEE countries, please see additional pages on this guide.
Battleship Potemkin (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925).
"Odessa — 1905. Enraged with the deplorable conditions on board the armored cruiser Potemkin, the ship's loyal crew contemplates the unthinkable — mutiny. Seizing control of the Potemkin and raising the red flag of revolution, the sailors' revolt becomes the rallying point for a Russian populace ground under the boot heels of the Czar's Cossacks."
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Bed and Sofa (dir. Abram Room, 1927).
"Daring for its time — or any time — Bed And Sofa is the story of a love triangle between a woman and two men living together in a one-room basement apartment in 1927 Moscow. When Liuda becomes pregnant and no one knows which man is the father, she must determine her own future."
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Man with a Movie Camera (dir. Dziga Vertov, 1929).
"Named the best documentary film of all time by Sight and Sound, it is presented here in its entirety for the first time since its original premiere. Discovered and restored at EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam — with extensive digital treatment by Lobster Films — the 35mm print from which this edition is, in part, sourced is the only known complete version of the film. The Man with the Movie Camera features musical accompaniment by The Alloy Orchestra."
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Alexander Nevsky (dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1938).
"Sergei Eisenstein's landmark tale of Russia thwarting the German invasion of the 13th century was wildly popular and quite intentional, given the prevailing Nazi geopolitical advancement and destruction at the time."
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The Cranes are Flying (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
"This landmark film by the virtuosic Mikhail Kalatozov was heralded as a revelation in the post-Stalin Soviet Union and the international cinema community alike. It tells the story of Veronica (Tatiana Samoilova) and Boris (Alexei Batalov), a couple who are blissfully in love until World War II tears them apart. With Boris at the front, Veronica must try to ward off spiritual numbness and defend herself from the increasingly forceful advances of her beau’s draft-dodging cousin."
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The Ascent (dir. Larisa Shepitko, 1976)
"Set during World War II's darkest days, THE ASCENT follows the path of two peasant soldiers, cut off from their troop, who trudge through the snowy backwoods of Belarus seeking refuge among villagers."
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Stalker (Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979)
"A hired guide — the Stalker — leads a writer and a professor into the heart of the Zone, the restricted site of a long-ago disaster, where the three men eventually zero in on the Room, a place rumored to fulfill one’s most deeply held desires."
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"The Glasnost Film Festival is a collection featuring 22 Soviet documentary films produced or released in the beginning of the "Glasnost Era" — 1987-1988. These films definitively document the dramatic cultural and political changes that led to the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. All were produced originally on 35mm film and are subtitled in English."
UCLA students, staff, and faculty access through Kanopy. Log into the campus VPN or proxy server to view video. View all volumes of the Glasnost Film Festival via this link.