Russian

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.” […]

The Trap (Пастка in Ukrainian, Ловушка in Russian) is a Russian/Ukrainian drama TV series that began airing in 2013. Each episode is about 40 minutes. It is a remake of a popular Armenian TV series, Vorohayt (Ворогайт in Cyrillic). It seems that the show was initially filmed by a Russian–Ukrainian partnership, but political events got in the way in […]

Everlasting (Бессмертник in Russian, Безсмертник in Ukrainian) is a Ukrainian melodrama. It spans four seasons, 100 episodes in total. It finished its run in 2015, and was one of the most popular TV shows in Ukraine while it was running. It is mostly in Russian, with Ukrainian subtitles; the star, Marina Dyakonenko, has acted in […]

In-Laws (Сваты in Russian; Свати in Ukrainian) is a Ukrainian, Russian-language, sitcom that was on the air from 2008 to 2013. There are six seasons, a film (actually, a musical!), and a few special episodes and spin-offs. Supposedly a seventh season is in the works, but it’s not clear when, if ever, it will be released. […]

Kitchen (Кухня) is Russia’s favorite recent sitcom. Spanning six seasons and a movie (!), it aired between 2012 and 2016 and has since led to a spin-off, Hotel Eleon (Отель Элеон), about some of the favorite secondary characters. A second movie should appear in 2017. The show takes part mostly in the eponymous kitchen, in one […]

Streets of Smashed Lampposts (Улицы разбитых фонарей), or Menty (Менты; a usually derogatory word for cops) is a long-running Russian police procedural. It’s been going since 1998, and there are now 16 seasons. Each episode features a different case to be solved, while also describing the everyday lives of Russian police officers; it’s similar in some ways […]

Comedy Woman (title originally in English) is a Russian sketch/standup comedy show—sort of the female version of Comedy Club, in which women barely take part. The show started in 2008, and there are now nearly 200 episodes. The show grew out of the comedy club/cabaret show Made in Woman. It was founded in 2006 by Natalya Yeprikyan (Наталья […]

Let Them Talk (Пусть говорят) is a Russian talk show reminiscent of the classics of American daytime TV—particularly Jerry Springer. The show has been airing since 2001, when it was called The Big Wash (Большая стирка—because you could watch it while you did the laundry); after a few years it was changed to Five Evenings (Пять вечеров), and then […]