Slavic

The Duelist (Дуэлянт) is a 2016 Russian adventure drama written and directed by indie filmmaker Aleksey Mizgirev (Алексей Мизгирев). Starring Pyotr Fyodorov (Пётр Фёдоров), Vladimir Mashkov (Владимир Машков), and Sergeу Garmash (Сергей Гармаш), the film is the third Russian film released in IMAX. The film is set in Saint Petersburg in 1860. The retired officer Yakovlev […]

Brothers Grim (Братья Грим—spelled differently from the original Brothers Grimm; грим means stage or film makeup in Russian, but that might be coincidence) is a Russian soft rock group. It was founded in 1998 by the brothers/twins Grim—actually Konstantin (Kostya) and Boris (Borya) Burdaev (Констаинтин/Костя Бурдаев; Борис/Боря Бурдаев), who went by Konstantin Grim and Boris […]

Zveri (Звери; “beasts”) is a Russian rock group formed in 2001, one of the biggest and best-known to emerge in Russia in the twenty-first century. Its founder was Roman Bilyk (Роман Билык), who goes by the name Roma Zver (Рома Зверь). Zver grew up in Taganrog and attended a construction and economics institute nearby before […]

Black Lightning (Чёрная молния) is a 2009 Russian fantasy/adventure/superhero film. It is about a 1966-issue Volga car (one of the Soviet Union’s makes) that Dmitry Maikov, a high school student, is given by his father. It turns out that the car can actually fly … and it contains missile launchers. Dmitry goes through multiple changes […]

Taras Bulba (Тарас Бульба) is a 2009 Russian historical drama based on the Gogol story of the same name. The story, first published in the 1830s, is about a Zaporozhian Cossack (a Ukrainian self-governing military tribe) colonel, Taras Bulba—loosely based on some historical figures—and his sons, who join the war against Poland. Much of the […]

Aya RL is a Polish electronica/psychedelic rock group founded in 1983 in Jarocin, at a music festival. The already-established Polish-Russian soloist Igor Czerniawski (drums, keyboard, vocals) met the members of the band Hook, composed of Paweł Kukiz (percussion, vocals) and Jarek (Jarosław) Lach (guitar), and they formed a trio, originally under the name Aya Red […]

Bajm is a classic Polish rock band that was founded in 1978. The original members were Beata Kozidrak (the founder and vocalist, and the only member who has stayed throughout the band’s history), Andrzej Pietras, Jarosław Kozidrak, and Marek Winiarski, with Andrzej Koziara and Andrew Gradkiewicz joining soon after. The band’s name comes from the […]

Jacek Kaczmarski is a legendary Polish singer-songwriter, poet, and writer. He is famous for both his art and his political activities, a combination that has made him a celebrated Polish figure among academics—his work and life has been much studied—readers, music fans, and many others. Kaczmarski was born in Warsaw in 1957 to a Polish-Jewish […]