After a few years of record-breaking growth, Russia’s film industry took a break in 2019. Many analysts attribute this to stagnating incomes, but it seems an even bigger issue is the failure of this year’s lineup to really capture Russian values and imaginations. Much like in 2018, the films that did best are those that […]

An Armenian singer, actor, and keyboardist, Essaï Altounian (Եսայի Ալթունյան) is most famous artist as a French popstar. He sings mostly in French, but also has released hits in English and, of course, Armenian. Altounian was born 1980 in Paris, France. The son of Armenian parents, Altounian was greatly influenced by the stories of his […]

These cartoons are full of joyful, bright, and homey holiday charm. It’s no secret that the holiday season is most precious to us in childhood. Because for children, it is not just an opportunity to gather together with loved ones. It’s an occasion for presents, Grandfather Frost, Snegurochka, beautiful spruce trees, and hope for a […]

Paulig, a Finnish-owned foods company, recently introduced a line-up of geographically branded coffees to the Russian market. The locations the coffees claimed to represent were established coffee capitals: Havana, Paris, and New York. Soon after these three appeared, however, a fourth, locally-branded, Moscow flavor joined them. While Russia’s rapidly growing coffee market makes a localized […]