A 1988 documentary film directed by Alexander Sokurov, about the later life and death of Soviet Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film was originally intended to mark the 50th birthday of Tarkovsky in 1982, which would have been before his death. Controversy with Soviet authorities about the film's style and content led to significant delays in the production.
The life and work of the great Russian composer Dmitriy Shostakovich is presented in this documentary through rare images and audios from many archives, more
The life and work of the great Russian composer Dmitriy Shostakovich is presented in this documentary through rare images and audios from many archives, at one time censored by the Soviet government. A brief take on his life, from his transition as an early prodigy to a first rate artist, his celebrated compositions and the final years with a declining health. close
The film “Maria” is a requiem in memory of the Russian peasant Maria Semenovna Voynova. Maria Semyonovna grew flax all her life. It is possible that with more
The film “Maria” is a requiem in memory of the Russian peasant Maria Semenovna Voynova. Maria Semyonovna grew flax all her life. It is possible that with her life, important peasant secrets of working in the field have gone. Transferred to her at one time by inheritance techniques of agricultural engineering in her family to pick up no one. The son tragically died, the daughter will not work in the field, most likely she will completely leave the village.
The film consists of two chapters. The first is a color summer impression of Maria Semyonovna. Haymaking, bathing in the river, work on linen fields, vacation to the Crimea, which happens in the life of a peasant (especially in summer) is extremely rare - the very first impressions of a city man, who was the author of the film. The task is to create an impression, to immerse the viewer in pastoral emotion. The second part is a sad “gift” of fate. It's been nine years. These years have brought change. There were not some, there were others. The second chapter is a black and white image with a story about how the fate of Maria Semyonovna ended. It's a sad, elegiac narrative. The director intended to give a panorama of the fate of a particular person in specific circumstances.”
Alexander Sokurov (from the author's abstract) close
The manifestation and fireworks on the 1st of May, one of the ritual celebrations of Soviet times, as a gathering of tired participants of a mass scene more
The manifestation and fireworks on the 1st of May, one of the ritual celebrations of Soviet times, as a gathering of tired participants of a mass scene falling into pieces without the director's orders and without any aims. close
This intimately narrated journey from Russia to Rotterdam, via rail, road and Finnish ferry, is a melancholy meditation on divinity, time and place in more
This intimately narrated journey from Russia to Rotterdam, via rail, road and Finnish ferry, is a melancholy meditation on divinity, time and place in art, purpose (or its lack) and the loneliness of the soul. Passing through misty snowscapes, half-glimpsed cities and the icy night sea-swell. close