The Hunter (2011): Learning Russian Through Film

The Hunter (2011; Охотник), directed by Bakur Bakuradze, is a film of few words. Starring Mikhail Barskovich, Tatyana Shapolova, and Gera Avdochenok, the film employs lesser-known actors in the creation of this deeply moving picture. The film was critically well received and was nominated for the UN Certain Regard Award at the 2011 Cannes Film […]

Leviathan (2014): Learning Russian Through Film

Leviathan (2014; Левиафан) is a powerful film that lives up to its theological title. The film stars well-known actors who participated in director Andrey Zviaginstev’s other pictures, namely Aleksey Serebryakov, Elena Lyadova, and Roman Madyanov. Zviaginstev is known for his landscape-heavy film style in which the sublime seems to play its own character. This can […]

The Black Spider: Learning Russian Through Film

Produced by Kremlin Films and released in late 2019, Лев Яшин. Вратарь моей мечты, was later released under various English names: The Goalie of my Dreams, The Dream Goalkeeper, or, especially for its release in England, The Black Spider. The film is the biopic of legendary Soviet goalkeeper Lev Yashin, known as “The Black Spider” […]

Doctor Lisa: Learning Russian Through Film

Doctor Lisa (known as Доктор Лиза in Russian) is a 2020 biographical drama based on the life of Elizaveta Petrovna Glinka (Елизавета Петровна Глинка in Russian). The film follows Doctor Lisa, a beloved humanitarian and charity worker, through one day of her busy life. The movie was directed by Oksana Karas and produced by KIT […]

Ivan’s Childhood: Learning Russian Through Film

Ivan’s Childhood (known as Иваново детство in Russian) is a 1962 Soviet war film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky and produced by Mosfilm. Selling over 16.7 million tickets in the Soviet Union alone, Ivan’s Childhood was Tarkovsky’s first feature film and one of his most successful projects. The film tells the story of a young boy who […]

Country of the Deaf: Learning Russian Through Film

Country of the Deaf (known as Страна глухих in Russian) is a 1998 crime film based on Renata Litvinova’s novel To Own and Belong (Обладать и принадлежать in Russian). The film sits in the top 20 Russian films of the 90s according to KinoPoisk and depicts an alternate Moscow set in the early 1990s that […]

AK-47 Kalashnikov (2020 Film)

AK-47 Kalashnikov (known as «Калашников» in Russian) is a Russian film which chronicles the rise of inventor Mikhail Timofeyevich Kalashnikov, creator of one the most infamous weapons of the modern era, the AK-47 assault rifle. The film is currently available on Amazon. Released in February of 2020 by MPI Media Group and sponsored by the […]

Arrhythmia: Russian Film on Amazon Prime

Arrhythmia is a romantic drama examining the lives of the young married couple; Katya and Oleg. Oleg is a paramedic played by Aleksandr Yatensko, whilst his wife Katya, played by Irina Gorbacheva, works as a nurse in the emergency hospital. The young couple together battle alcoholism, work-life in the medical field, and a drowning relationship, […]

Звезда / The Star: Learning Russian Through Film

The 2014 film Звезда (The Star) is a satirical anti-fairytale written and directed by the esteemed Armenian-Russian film and TV producer, Anna Melikyan. While Melikyan’s art house work has won numerous awards and been given positive critical reviews, they have not been box office hits. Such is the case with The Star, which has earned […]

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