Mystery of the Third Planet (Тайна третьей планеты) is a 1981 animated Soviet feature film based on the children’s sci-fi novella Alice’s Travel by Kir Bulychov (Кир Булычёв), from the Alice (Алиса) book series. The year is 2181, and Alice Selzynova (Алиса Селезнёва), along with her father Professor Selznyov (профессор Селезнёв) and their trusty compadre Captain […]

Prisoner of the Caucasus, or Shurik’s New Adventures (Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика; sometimes called Kidnapping, Caucasian Style in English) is a 1966 Soviet comedy produced by Mosfilm and directed by the comic genius Leonid Gaidai (Леонид Гайдай). The film was initially censored (apparently for showing the controversial practice of bride kidnapping in the Caucuses), […]

Prisoner of the Mountains (Кавказский пленник) is a 1996 film adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s 1872 war novella “Prisoner of the Caucasus.” Directed by Sergei Bodrov (Сергей Бодров) and starring Oleg Menshikov (Олег Меньшиков), Sergei Bodrov, Jr. (Сергей Сергеевич Бодров), Dzhemal Sikharulidze (Джемал Сихарулидзе), and Susanna Mekhralieva (Сусанна Мехралиева), the film was nominated for an Academy […]

Tangerines (Mandariinid) is a 2013 Estonian–Georgian drama film. It’s in Russian and Estonian, despite the fact that it takes place in and was filmed in Georgia. The film is about a village in Abkhazia (considered a part of Georgia or an independent republic, depending on who you ask), whose residents are mostly ethnic Estonians. The year […]

The Return (Хайтарма / Qaytarma) is a 2013 Crimean-Tatar (not to be confused with simply Tatar!) dramatic film. It was produced in Ukraine and is in both Russian and Crimean Tatar languages. The film tells the story of the events of May 1944, when over the course of a few days Stalin had the Crimean Tatars […]

I’m Ivan, You’re Abraham (Я — Іван, ты — Абрам) is a 1993 French–Belarusian film. It is in Belarusian, Polish, and Yiddish. The film was Belarus’s 1994 submission to the Academy Awards for consideration for Best Foreign Language Film (and one of only two films independent Belarus has ever submitted). The film takes place in […]

Dangerous Acts Starring the Unstable Elements of Belarus is a 2014 documentary about the Belarusian Free Theatre, an underground theater and political opposition group in Belarus. It was produced by HBO but is partly in Belarusian. The theater has been operating since 2005. It uses art as a means of resistance, putting on plays that highlight the […]

Baltic View is a new project that aims to get films from the Baltics—both documentary and feature—to a wider audience. The project currently consists of 12 films uploaded on the video-sharing site Vimeo. In the founders’ own words, the project “is a pioneering international project presenting films from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia under one cinema flag.” […]

Viking (Викинг) is a 2016 Russian historical action film. Directed by Andrey Kravchuk (Андрей Кравчук), the film is loosely based on the Primary Chronicle, the earliest known written history of Rus’, and the Icelandic King’s Sagas. It has been dubbed “Russia’s Game of Thrones” by Screen International for its dark cinematography and its medieval storyline […]