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University of Iowa Main Library

Media Services Holdings in Russian and Soviet Cinema

Prepared for use in 016E:175 The History and Politics of Russian and Soviet Film

Prof. Paula A. Michaels

Fall 2002

The following annotated bibliography represents most, though not all, of UI’s holdings in the Main Library. Like the course, this bibliography is organized chronologically. There is no particular order within a given year.

This bibliography was generated using Endnote 5’s automatic download feature, which accounts for problems with formatting and transliteration. Because of the size of the bibliography, I was not able to go through the entire document and correct each entry before the start of the semester. I am fairly confident, however, that these gaffs will not get in the way of using this bibliography.

The library catalogues films not only by director, but also by screenwriter. For some reason it is by screenwriter that I was able to download these citations and though it coincides often with the director, there are important exceptions. Some films are listed here by their less well-known screenwriter, with no credit to the director. Over time I plan to add all relevant information to the bibliography, but in the meantime, we will have to fill these lacunae as you choose films for your research papers in consultation with the professor.

1910s

Bauer, E., I. A. Protazanov, et al. (1910s [1992]). Early Russian cinema collection. New York, NY, Milestone Film & Video.

2731VHS. Ten-volume collection includes films by Evgenii Bauer, Iakov Protazanov, Starewicz, Chardynin, all from the 1910s.

Bauer, E., A. A. Khanzhonkov, et al. (1916). Umiraiushchii lebed (The Dying Swan). S.l. Chicago, Sunland Video ; Distributed by Facets Multimedia.

8062VHS. Gisella, a mute but talented dancer, discovers her lover is unfaithful and leaves home to persue a ballet career. She attracts the attention of a painter obsessed with portraying death and becomes his model, with tragic results.

Protazanov, Y., L. Tolstoy, et al. (1917). Father Sergius. Sandy Hook, Ct., Video Yesteryear.

3191VHS. On the eve of his wedding, a young officer discovers that his fiancee has been the mistress of the Czar Nikolai I. Angered and deeply disturbed, he retreats from the world and becomes a monk, only to be tormented by memories of his beloved and fantasies of the flesh thereafter.

1920s

Vertov, D., V. I. Pudovkin, et al. (1922). Kino Pravda (Film Truth) In: Three Soviet masters compilation Eisenstein, Dziga-Vertov & Pudovkin. S. l., Hollywood's Attic.

8079VHS. Kino-pravda features footage of the reconstruction of the Moscow trolley system, tanks leveling fields for an airport, and the trial of social revolutionaries. These shorts are from the second newsreel series by Vertov.

Eisenstein, S., Proletcult group., et al. (1924). Strike. Tujunga, CA, Foothill Video.

11700; also 5326VDIS; 2426VHS. A 1912 strike of factory workers is brutally put down by the authorities.

Kuleshov, L. V., N. Aseyov, et al. (1924). The extraordinary adventures of Mr. West in the land of the Bolsheviks. New York, N.Y., Kino on Video.

2374VHS. This satire about America's slanted view of the Soviet Union revolves around Mr. West, president of the YMCA, and what happens on his trip to the Soviet Union.

Mantell, H., R. Schickel, et al. (1920s [1996]). The birth of Soviet cinema. Princeton, N.J., Films for the Humanities.

7236VHS. This documentary examines the golden age of cinema in the 1920s in the Soviet Union by presenting excerpts from the masterworks of Eisenstein, Pudovkin, and Dovzhenko in which their artistry and innovation enhanced the use of their films as major propaganda tools. Made in 1996.

Protazanov, I. A., A. N. Tolstoy, et al. (1924). Aelita. New York, NY, Kino on Video.

5543VHS. A Moscow engineer designs a spaceship and travels to Mars to meet a woman who haunts his dreams, but finds himself embroiled in a Martian proletarian uprising.

Vertov, D. (1924). Kino-glaz (Kino eye). New York, NY, Kino on Video.

7703VHS. A collection of excerpts from newsreels and documentary films of Soviet life in the early 1920s made by Vertov and his "Kino-Eye" group.Highlighted are the activities of Soviet children and youth of the Young Pioneers and Young Leninists, meat production, inmates of a tuburculosis sanatorium and an insane asylum, appearances by a Chinese magician and an elephant, ambulance service, worker education.

Zheliabuzhskii, I. F. et al. (1924). Papirosnitsa ot Mosselproma (The Cigarette Girl from Mosselprom). New York, Kino on Video.

7634VHS. Zina, a cigarette girl, is loved by a middle-aged assistant bookkeeper but she becomes a movie actress and falls in love with her cameraman.

Pudovkin, V. I., N. Shpikovsky, et al. (1925). Chess Fever In: Three Soviet masters compilation Eisenstein, Dziga-Vertov & Pudovkin. S. l., Hollywood's Attic.

8079VHS. Shakhmatnaiagoriachka is a mad cap comedy about chess fanatic and his girlfriend.

Eisenstein, S., N. F. Agadzhanova, et al. (1925). Potemkin. Sandy Hook, Conn., Video Images : Video Yesteryear.

8171DVD; 1630VHS; 7234VHS. Dramatisation of the mutiny aboard the Russian battleship Potemkin in 1905 and the subsequent popular uprising in Odessa that was met by Czarist troops who massacred hundreds of innocent civilians.

Room, A. M., L. Semyonova, et al. (1926). Bed and sofa.

6634VHS. The story of a married couple who have a small flat in Moscow which, due to a housing shortage, they share with a single man. While the husband is away on business, the sensual wife and other man fall in love and begin an affair. After his initial outrage the husband calms down and the three settle into a into a menage-a-trois until the wife finds herself pregnant and when the two men are deciding what to do she announces that she other ideas on the outcome of her life.

Pudovkin, V. I., N. A. Zarkhi, et al. (1926). Mother.

9595DVD. Set in Russia at the time of the abortive 1905 revolution, the film shows the mother's conversion to Communism through her experience of the suffering and injustice caused by the Tsarist regime.

Kuleshov, L. V., J. London, et al. (1926). By the law. Brooklyn, N.Y., New York Film Annex.

6784VDIS; 8259VHS; 2434VHS. Four men and a woman go to the Yukon in search of gold. Based on the Jack London story "The Unexpected."

Pudovkin, V. I., Film Preservation Associates., et al. (1927). The End of Saint Petersburg, in: Classics of early Soviet cinema. Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment Inc.

5326VDIS. The End of Saint Petersburg, follows a young worker and his growing dedication to the revolutionary movement in Russia in the years 1914-1917.

Eisenstein, S., G. V. Alexandrov, et al. (1927). October (a.k.a. October 1917; a.k.a.Ten days that shook the world). Sandy Hook Conn., Video Yesteryear.

8648DVD; 7847VHS; 1405VHS. Depicts the events of the Russian Revolution during October, 1917, which ended the Kerensky regime and ultimately resulted in the Czar's being deposed.

Barnet, B. V., V. K. Turkin, et al. (1927). Devushka s korobkoi (Girl with a Hatbox). New York, NY, Kino on Video.

7757VHS. A girl who works in a small hat shop is given a supposedly worthless lottery ticket instead of wages by her unscrupulous employer. The ticket wins her a fortune, and a chase ensues to possess the ticket and her affection.

Shub, E. B., et al. (1927). The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty, in: Classics of early Soviet cinema. Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment Inc.

5326VDIS. The Fall of the Romanov dynasty is a documentary portrait of the fall of the Russian Czarist regime and the rise of communist rule using clips from many films, including personal footage by the Czar's own cameramen.

Pudovkin, V. I., O. M. Brik, et al. (1928). Potomok Chingis-khana (Storm over Asia; a.k.a. The Decendents of Chengiz Khan). New York, Kino on Video.

6784VDIS; also 7586VHS. Revolutionary drama centered on a young Mongol thought to be descended from Genghis Khan whom imperialists seek to use to further their expansionist interests. After a series of misadventures the young man rebels and leads his people against their oppressors.

Dovzhenko, O. P., et al. (1928). Arsenal. Tugunga, CA, Foothill Video Home Entertainment.

6784VDIS; 8010VHS; also 2425VHS. This film provides a picture of life in the Ukraine in 1914 by intercutting scenes showing the miseries of the class struggle in the countryside and the horrors of war at the front.

Kozintesev, G. M., L. Z. Trauberg, et al. (1929). New Babylon (the story of a forgotten revolution). Chicago, Ill., Facets Multimedia.

A dramatic reenactment of the uprisings during the Paris Commune.

Vertov, D. and Blackhawk Films Collection (Library of Congress) (1929). Man with the movie camera, In: Classics of early Soviet cinema. Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment Inc.

8576DVD; 5326VDIS; 2419 or 8533VHS. Man with the movie camera is a documentary without a plot, showing through a succession of street and interior scenes, the tricks which the camera is capable of, creating a boldly detailed portrait of the Moscow of the 1920s.

Turin, V. A., et al. (1929). Turksib, in: Classics of early Soviet cinema. Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment.

6784VDIS. Turksib is a feature length documentary that depicts the construction of the Trans-Siberian railroad and its effects on isolated peoples in Soviet Central Asia and the Far East.

1930s

Dovzhenko, O. P., et al. (1930). Zemlia (Earth). Davenport, Iowa, Blackhawk Films.

5326VDIS; 888VHS. Problems begin in a Ukranian village when a landowner resists handing over his land for a collective farm.

Kalatozov, M., L. V. Kuleshov, et al. (1930). Salt for Svanetiia, in: Classics of early Soviet cinema. Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment.

6784VDIS. Dzhim stvante [Salt for Svanetia] is a documentary about a road being built into the isolated Caucasian region of Svanetia, where the Ushkul tribe has lived for generations in a stone age culture and where basic items like salt mean the difference between life and death

Ekk, N., J. Stoliar, et al. (1931). The Road to Life. Brooklyn, NY, New York Film Annex.

5164VHS. A dramatization of the problem of orphaned juvenile delinquents in 1923 Moscow. After the repressive efforts of the government failed to reform these children, a group of Russian teachers gathered them into a workers' collective and taught them cooperation through useful manufacturing and recreation.

Vertov, D. and Facets Video (Firm). (1931). Entuziazm: Simfonia Donbassa (Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass). S.l. Chicago, Ill., s.n. ; Distributed by Facets Video.

7086VHS. Entuziazm is a documentary about the industrial and agricultural workers of the Donbas area of the Eastern Ukraine and their efforts to surpass the goals of the first Five Year Plan. A futurist film poem, it juxtaposes images and sounds in a way that earned severe criticism from the Soviet government. Kino-Pravda is composed of "excerpts from the second newsreel series made by Vertov and his Kino-Eye group".

Pudovkin, V. I., N. F. Agadzhanova, et al. (1933). Dezertir (Deserter). New York, Kino on Video.

6869VHS. A wise and forgiving German communist leader decides to send a young shipyard worker, Karl Renn (Boris Livanov), as an international delegate to the Soviet Union after the worker had deserted a picket-line and had expressed doubts about the methods of class struggle in his own country.

Aleksandrov, G. V., N. R. Erdman, et al. (1934). Veselye rebiata (Happy Guys; a.k.a.The world is laughing). Facets Multi-Media.

9454VHS. A musical comedy which pits a whip-cracking, animal-herding, good-hearted rustic with a fine voice and a Pan-like effect on all who hear him against a so-called "finer" stratum of society. Leaving a trail of mirth and mayhem from the seaside to the Moscow theater world, our hero eventually finds harmony and lifelong melody with a pretty, tuneful serving girl.

Vasiliev, S., G. Vasiliev, et al. (1934). Chapayev. Chicago, IL, International Historic Films Inc.

4323VHS. Known as an example of Soviet socialist realism and Stalin's favorite propaganda film, this depicts a legendary individualist Red Army leader and military strategist who battled the White Russians in the 1919 Civil War.

Vertov, D., A. Shaporin, et al. (1934). Three songs about Lenin. New York, NY, Kino on Video.

7588VHS. "Three anonymous songs about Lenin provide the basis for this documentary that celebrates the achievements of the Soviet Union and Lenin's role in creating them"--E. Gregersen.

Medvedkin, A., P. Zinoviev, et al. (1934). Schast'e (Happiness). New York, NY, Kino on Video.

7593VHS. A satirical comedy which brought humor to the Revolution, using old folklore. Banned by Stalin.

Eisenstein, S., A. G. Rzheshevskiæi, et al. (1935-37). Bezhin Lug (Bezhin Meadow) In: Three Soviet masters compilationEisenstein, Dziga-Vertov & Pudovkin. S. l., Hollywood's Attic.

6784VDIS; 8079VHS. Bezhin lug is the tale of peasant settlements being forcibly reorganized into state affliated collective farms and how it affects a father and a son. The original destroyed, this version is reconstructed from scenario grafts, photos, and film clippings, is a collection of still images featuring a spoken overview movieing picture segement at the beginning of the feature.

Aleksandrov, G. V., P. Orlova, et al. (1936). Tsirk (Circus). Facets Multi-Media.

9455VHS; ALSO 6020VHS. Alexandrov's attempt at importing American musical comedy into Soviet film. An American circus star who has a black baby can only find happiness with the Soviet people in the Soviet Union.

Petrov, V., A. N. Tolstoy, et al. (1937). Peter the First. S.l., Corinth Video.

3093VHS. This film revolves around the war between Russia and Sweden over control of the Baltic Sea.

Aleksandrov, G. V., N. R. Erdman, et al. (1938). Volga, Volga. Sarasota, FL, Polart.

5568VHS. Love story in which the boy and girl quarrel over whether his classical music performance or her folk music performance will win the Moscow amateur talent show.

Eisenstein, S., S. Prokofiev, et al. (1938). Alexander Nevsky. Indianapolis, IN, Kartes Video Communications Inc.

10133DVD; also 670VHS. Historical drama set in 1242 which deals with the defence of Russia by the prince, Alexander Nevsky, from invasion by Teutonic crusaders.

Donskoi, M., M. Gorky, et al. (1938). My Childhood (a.k.a. The Childhood of Maxim Gorky). Brooklyn, NY, New York Film Annex.

2992VHS. Four year old Gorky is placed under the guardianship of his grandparents.

Donskoi, M., M. Gorky, et al. (1939). My apprenticeship. Brooklyn, NY, New York Film Annex.

2993VHS. Gorky becomes an apprentice to a bourgeois family that falsely promises him an education. After learning to read in secret, he sets off on a seriesof trips where he sees his own poverty refected throughout Russia.

Donskoi, M., M. Gorky, et al. (1939). My universities. Brooklyn, NY, New York Film Annex.

2994VHS. The third part of this trilogy follows Gorky to the university where he joins the Revolution.

Eisenstein, S., S. Bindarchu, et al. (1979 (filmed in 1930s)). Da zdravstvuet Meksika

(Que viva Mexico). New York, NY, International Film Exchange ltd.

3189VHS. A blend of fact and fiction documenting the history and culture of Mexico and its people. The footage of this film was shot in the 1930's by S. Eisenstein, E. Tisse, and G. Alexandrov with the help of Upton Sinclair but not assembled and released till nearly 50 years later. Presented in four episodes with a prologue and an epilogue.

1940s

Eisenstein, S., S. Prokofiev, et al. (1944 & 1946). Ivan the Terrible. Indianapolis, IN, Kartes Video Communications Inc.

11729DVD. Ivan, Grand Duke of Russia, is crowned as the first Czar of Russia. His struggles to preserve his country are the main concerns of the first part. The landed gentry of Russia conspire to dethrone Ivan in the second part.

1950s

Petrov, V., I. Gorbachov, et al. (1952). The inspector general. Burbank, Calif., Hollywood's Attic.

7419VHS. A corrupt village incorrectly believes that a medicine-show entertainer is the omnipotent Inspector General from St. Petersburg in disguise. Adaptation from Gogol

Kalatozov, M., V. Rozov, et al. (1957). The Cranes are Flying. Santa Monica, Calif., Connoisseur Video Collection : Corinth Video.

7575VHS. A drama of love and disloyalty during World War II.

Shvart, E., et al. (1957). Don Kikhot (Don Quixote). New York?, Corinth Video.

4904VHS. An adaptation of Cervantes' novel about the adventures of Don Quixote, who imagines himself a lovestruck, gallant knight-errant, and his faithful, if reluctant, squire Sancho Panza.

Central Documentary Film Studio., Reel Images (Firm), et al. (1958). Eisenstein. Monroe, Conn. s.1., Reel Images ; Video Yesteryear.

959VHS. Biography of Soviet filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein, from his childhood to his career as a director.

Chukhrai, G. N., et al. (1959). Ballad of a soldier. Glenside, Pa., Distributed by Henwood Cinema Services.

308VHS. A young soldier, Alyosha, refuses a medal following a heroic action and takes leave from the front instead to visit his mother. During his travels by train, truck, and on foot, he meets many people, all affected by the war--a crippled veteran, a comic sentry, faithful and faithless wives, and a girl, Shura, with whom he falls in love.

1960s

Heifitz, J., A. P. Chekhov, et al. (1960). The Lady with the Dog. New York, N.Y.?, Corinth Video.

2906VHS. In Yalta at the turn of the century, an unhappily married woman and a married man start an affair which lasts secretly over the years.

Klushantsev, P., A. Kazanteev, et al. (1962). Planeta bur' (Cosmonauts on Venus). Medford, OR, Sinister Cinema.

8299VHS. Cosmonauts land on Venus and find themselves in peril by various alien monstrosities.

Kalatozov, M., (1963). Ia-Kuba (I am Cuba). Irvington, NY, Voyager Company.

8273VHS. A series of vignettes illustrates the extremes of wealth and poverty, the exploitation, and the passions that led to the Cuban Revolution. A joint production of Mosfilm (USSR) and ICAIC (Cuba); script by Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Enrique Pineda Barnet

Tarkovskii, A. A. B. V. Bogomolov, et al. (1963). My name is Ivan. S.l., Balzac Video.

7934; also 2440VHS. An award winning film about the German occupation of Russia and the bravery of a young boy called Ivan.

Paradzhanov, S., et al. (1964). Tini zabutykh predkiv (Shadow of Forgotten Ancestors). S.l., Public Media Home Vision.

7219VHS. Tragic tale of star-crossed lovers, Ivan and Marichka, separated by a family feud in the remote Carpathian Mountains of medieval Russia.

Tarkovskii, A. A., A. S. Mikhalkov-Konchalovskii, et al. (1966). Strasti po Andreiu (a.k.a. Andrei Rublev; The passion according to Andrei). Irvington, NY, Criterion : Voyager Company.

8669DVD; ALSO 4090VDIS. A very fictionalized account of the famed 15th century icon painter who survives the cruelties of medieval Russia and his own internal conflicts to create renowned works of art. This version includes: retranslated subtitles and the restoration of 40% of the original dialog; audio commentary and an essay by Vlada Petric; and an interview with Andrei Tarkovsky.

Shepitko, L. E., et al. (1966). Krylia (Wings). New York, NY, International Film Circuit.

8050VHS. A famous woman World War II pilot experiences difficulties in establishing relationships within the structure of modern Soviet urban life.

Askoldov, A., V. S. Grossman, et al. (1967). The Commissar. New York, N.Y., IFEX International Video.

2394VHS. In this drama set against the Russian Civil War, a tough Red Army commander's military career is disrupted by an unwanted pregnancy. Forced to stay with a poor Jewish family until her child is born, she finds herself transformed by the warmth and compassion of her hosts. She must ultimately decide whether to rejoin her troops or stay with her child.

Zarkhi, A., et al. (1967). Lev Tolstoi’s Anna Karenina. Oak Forest, Ill. MPI Home Video.

8299VHS. The wife of a high-ranking member of 19th century Russian society is ostracized when she forsakes all for a passionate affair with a dashing military man. The decline of her life is contrasted with a friend's increasing happiness and fulfillment in his marriage.

Bondarchuk, S. F., V. Solovyev, et al. (1967). Voina i mir (War and peace). West Long Branch, NJ, Kultur.

7011VHS. Follows the interconnected lives of a group of Russian aristocrats from 1805 to 1812, including Napoleon's invasion of Russia.

Batalov, A. V. (1968). The Overcoat. Chicago, Ill., Facets Video.

2998VHS. Production of the Gogol story of a clerk whose new overcoat changes his destiny.

Parajanov, Sergei (1968). The Color of Pomegranates (a.k.a. Sayat Nova).

5237VHS. This film is a biography of the Armenian troubadour Sayat Nova that concentrates more on the poet's life as revealed through his poetry than through a conventional narration of important events in Sayat Nova's life. We see the poet grow up, fall in love, enter a monastery and die, but these incidents are depicted in the context of what are presumably images from Sayat Nova's poems, poems that are seen and rarely heard (annotation from www.imdb.com).

Motyl, V., V. Ezhov, et al. (1969). Beloe solnte pustyni (White Sun of the Desert). Moskva?, Vista Home Video.

8688VHS. A fictionalized history of the Basmachestvo (Basmachi) movement which was joined by Moslem peasants to oppose Bolshevism and Pan Turkism in Turkestan and other Central Asian regions between roughly 1917 and 1924.

1970s

Kulidzhanov, L., F. Dostoyevsky, et al. (1970). Prestuplenie i nakazanie (Crime and punishment). s.l., Film Forum.

2995VHS. A former law student kills two women and is tortured by remorse.

Kozintev, G. M., I. Shapiro, et al. (1970). Korol Lir (King Lear). Glenside, Pa., Distributed by Henwood Cinema Services.

318VHS. Presents William Shakespeare's play about a foolish king who divides his realm between two ungrateful daughters.

Karassik, Y., L. et al. (1971). Chaika (The Seagull). S. l., s. n.

6252VHS. Set in provincial Russia, a penetrating study of the languid melancholia of the residents of an isolated country estate.

Shengelaia, G., E. Akhvlediani, et al. (1971). Pirosmani. Chicago, Kino International ;

Distributed by Facets.

9256VHS. Poetic treatment of the life of Georgian self-taught primitivist painter Nikola Pirosmanishvili (1863-1918), who remained in and around his native Tblisi, keeping mostly to himself as his work gained fame, then ridicule from contemporary artists and critics.

Tarkovskii, A. A., S. Lem, et al. (1971). Soliaris. New York, N.Y., Fox Lorber Home Video.

6736VDIS; 2306VHS. Cosmonauts living in a space station experience hallucinations resulting from attempted communication by the planet they are orbiting.

Moldova-film, et al. (1972). Prozreniie (Rude awakening). Oak Forest, IL, MPI Home Video.

4031VHS. Made by the Soviet government to address the issue of Soviet Jewry and their immigration to Israel. Denies discrimination against Jews in the USSR, highlights successful Jews in the arts, sciences, industry, and agriculture, and presents unhappy emigrâes to Israel seeking to return to their homeland.

Klimov, E. G., S. Lungin, et al. (1974). Agoniia (The Agony, a.k.a. Rasputin). New York, Kino on Video.

7312VHS. A historical film which recreates the atmosphere at the Russian court before the Revolution. Focuses on the murder of the "mad monk", Grigoriæi Rasputin in 1916 and the events leading to the murder.

Tarkovskii, A. A., A. Misharin, et al. (1975). Zerkalo (The looking-glass; a.k.a. The Mirror). New York, N.Y., International Film Exchange.

9534 DVD; 1496VHS. A film in which the protaganist's life is reflected through childhood memories.

Shepitko, L. E., et al. (1976). Voskhozhdenie (The Ascent). New York, N.Y., WinStar Cinema.

8251VHS. Russian partisans confront the Nazis during World War II. Two men react in different ways to their capture and torture.

Mikhalkov, N., et al. (1977). Neokonchennaia p'esa dlia mekhanicheskogo pianino (An unfinished piece for a player piano). Santa Monica, Calif., Connoisseur Video Collection.

5082VHS. Chronicles interlocking events and the troubled relationships of a large family on a warm summer day at a decaying estate in 19th-century Russia.

Varshchavskii, G. Golikov, et al. (1977). Doroga k schastiu (The Road to Happiness). Oak Forest, IL, MPI Home Video.

7538VHS. Twentieth century Russian history, from a Soviet point of view. Documents USSR history of the 60 years since the October Revolution emphasizing progress and success of the communist system.

Lotianu, E., A. B. f. Fradis, et al. (1978). Drama na okhote (The Shooting Party). Santa Monica, Calif., Connoisseur Video Collection.

7420VHS. A story of love and obsession set against the backdrop of aristocratic, tsarist Russia. The local magistrate falls in love with a woodsman's daughter, yet can't bring himself to confess his feelings. She marries another man, eventually leaves him and enters into a loveless affair with a count, bringing about a series of events that lead to the tragic and dramatic conclusion.

Mikhalkov-Konchalovskii, A. S., et al. (1979). Siberiade. New York, NY, Kino on Video.

4957VHS. An epic romantic drama about three generations of two feuding families, the rich Solomins and the poor Ustyuzhanins, of a rural Siberian village, from the time of the Russian Revolution to the present-day exploration of hidden resources of Siberian soil.

Tarkovskii, A. A., A. Demidova, et al. (1979). Stalker. New York, N.Y., Fox Lorber Home Video.

2856VHS. At the center of an outlawed region called the Zone lies a mystical room. Only the Stalker can lead a scientist and writer to this room where the center of power and evil confronts them and the future of mankind.

Menshov, V., V. Chernykh, et al. (1979). Moskva slezam ne verit (Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears). N ew Y ork , NY, Kino on Video.

12039DVD. A romantic comedy about three young, working-class, country girls, who go to Moscow in 1958 to seek work, men, and success.

Daneliia, G. N., A. Volodin, et al. (1979). Osennii marafon (An autumn marathon). New York, N.Y., IFEX.

7049VHS. A mild-mannered college professor finds his life made difficult by hounding students, a wronged wife, a demanding mistress, and a neighbor who insists the professor jog with him each morning at dawn.

Frumin, B., E. Topol, et al. (1979). Oshibki iunosti (The Errors of Youth). Chicago, IL, Facets Video.

8417VHS. Dmitri Gurianov is a Red Army conscript stationed at a Black Sea resort. Leaving behind the humiliations of army life, he chooses a high paying construction job in Siberia. He starts a love affair with a beautiful, enigmatic co-worker, but they split over the question of parenthood. Dmitri moves to Leningrad and drifts into a life among black marketeers and a marriage of expediency.

1980s

Kurosawa, A., V. Vasilev, et al. (1980). Dersu Uzala. Los Angeles, Calif., Embassy Home Entertainment.

2078VHS. The story about a Soviet explorer and his guide, and their mutual love and understanding of nature. Directed by the legendary Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa, and co-written with two Soviet writers.

Klimov, E. G., F. E. Bulgakova, et al. (1980). Larisa. New York, N.Y., International Film Circuit.

8049VHS. Tells the story of the life and creative work of Larisa Shepitko, one of the most popular Soviet motion picture directors; features remembrances by colleagues and her husband, Elem Klimov.

Mikhalkov, N., A. Adabashian, et al. (1981). Oblomov. New York, N.Y., IFEX Films.

2445VHS. Oblomov drinks, eats, and sleeps his life away as his estate dwindles to nothing.

Raizman, I., A. B. Grebnev, et al. (1982). Chastnaia zhizn (Private Life). New York, IFEX.

7633VHS. A manager of a large Soviet factory, who had spent all his time and energy in work, is facing retirement. He takes stock of his role as husband and father and the many things he has neglected and attempts to acquire a private life.

Tarkovskii, A. A., T. Guerra, et al. (1983). Nostalghia (Nostalgia). N ew Y ork, Fox Lorber Home Video.

8737DVD. A Russian intellectual, in Italy to do research, is constantly reminded of his homeland no matter where he is or what he is doing.

Yevtushenko, Y. A., K. M. Brandauer, et al. (1984). Detskii sad (Kindergarten). New York, NY, Kino on Video : IFEX International Video.

7761VHS. "...a sprawling, semi-autobiographical film which follows the adventures of a young boy cast adrift in Russia during World War II..."

Sokurov, A., H. Frank, et al. (1984/1987). Final verdict, and Evening Sacrifice. Oakland, CA, Video Project.

3068 VHS. Final Verdict: A student shot a woman and her guest. The director and the killer try to understand the motivation behind the tragedy. During twenty painful months alone on deathrow, the killer discovers he is no longer the person he once was. Evening sacrifice: The director tries to capture the spirit of a crowd. These are documentaries by one of Russia's most controversial, complex directors today.

Shakhnazarov, K., A. Borodiskii, et al. (1984). My iz dhaza (Jazzman). New York, N.Y., International Film Exchange.

1406VHS. In the Russia of 1928, a young music student forms his own band when the school he is attending condemns jazz as the product of a bourgeois and corrupt society.

Klimov, E. G., A. B. Adamovich, et al. (1985). Idi i smotri (Come and see). New York, Kino Video ; IFEX International Video.

6318VHS. The horrific and harrowing experiences of a young boy coming of age during the brutal German occupation of Byelorussia during the Great Patriotic war.

Bykov, R., V. Zheleznikov, et al. (1985). Chuchelo (Scarecrow). New York, IFEX International Video.

7644VHS. Story of Lena, a 12-year old, who moves to a country town to live with her grandfather. She's teased by her new classmates for being 'different', nicknamed "Scarecrow", and then ostracized when she confesses to a betrayal actually performed by the one boy who'd befriended her.

Paradzhanov, S., D. Abaésiçze, et al. (1985). Legenda Suramskoi kreposti (The legend of Surami fortress). New York, NY, IFEX Films.

6526VHS. The Georgians' repeated eforts at building a fortress against invaders fail until a fortune teller remembers an old prophecy that the son of her erstwhile lover must be bricked up alive in order for the fortress to stand. The young man sacrifices himself to save his country.

Ogorodnikov, V., et al. (1987). Vzlomshchik (The Burgler). New York, IFEX International Video : Kino International Corp.

7642VHS. Senka, the younger brother of a punk rock musician, is left adrift after his mother's death, which has rendered his father an alcoholic philanderer. Senka attempts to become closer to his brother with disastrous results.

Abul'adze, T. E., N. Janeli'ze, et al. (1987). Repentance. Los Angeles, Calif., Media Home Entertainment.

1734VHS. A village woman is put on trial for repeatedly digging up the body of the town's recently deceased ruler, but her trial reveals the truth about the leader's inhumanity.--External container.

Gasimov, G., S. D. Paradzhanov, et al. (1988). Ashik Kerib (The lovelorn minstrel). New York, NY, Kino Video.

5173VHS. Recounts Lermontov's fable of a wandering minstrel trying to earn enough money to marry the woman he loves. Traditional narrative is replaced with cinematic tableaux, intertitles, images of early Russian artwork, and both traditional and contemporary musical forms (Cf. container).

Pichul, V., M. Khemlik, et al. (1988). Little Vera. New York, N.Y., Water Bearer Films Inc.

2323VHS. A woman is torn between her lover and her parents in this highly acclaimed Soviet film.

Bodrov, S., V. Trakhtenberg, et al. (1989). SER (Svoboda--eto rai; Freedom Is Paradise). Hollywood, Calif., Award Films International.

7464VHS. Inspired by true events, this is the tale of an independent 13-year old boy who runs away from reform school and makes his way to a prison camp in the extreme north of Russia in search of the father he's never known.

Kanevski, V., P. Nazarov, et al. (1989). Freeze-die-come to life! New York, Fox Lorber Video.

2540VHS. A story of two children who experience the insanity of growing up in a remote Russian mining community during the period of Communist rule.

1990s

Sokurov, A., et al. (1990). Krug vtoroi (The second circle). New York, N.Y., International Film Circuit.

7022VHS. A young man travels to a frigid Siberian town and tries to come to terms with his father's death and to deal with the mundane details of his burial in a society cut off from spirituality.

Lounguine, P., M. Karmitz, et al. (1990). Taxi blues. New York, N.Y., New Yorker Video.

7465VHS. A hard-working, patriotic Moscow taxi driver starts to go over the edge when he meets up with a flaky, alcoholic, Jewish jazz musician who represents everything the taxi driver despises ... and secretly desires.

Lounguine, P., G. Benayoun, et al. (1991). Luna Park. New York, New Yorker Video.

6420VHS. A leader in a vicious neo-fascist Russian gang that targets Jews, homosexuals and foreigners learns that his father is not a dead hero, but an ailing well-known Jewish composer who seduced and left his mother twenty years earlier. She's bent on revenge, but the son's life is turned around as he gets to know his father.

Rival, P., C. Rosius, et al. (1992). Moscou parade. New York, N.Y., First Run Features.

6987VHS. The post-Soviet Union view of the Stalin era. Set in Moscow in the summer of 1939. Anna, a former aristocrat, is married to one of the chiefs of the secret police. She hates these men who have exterminated her family and who are abusing her now, but she takes advantage of their luxurious life--all the things that are available only to the Soviet elite.

Mamin, I., G. Seligmann, et al. (1993). Window to Paris. Culver City, Calif., Columbia TriStar Home Video.

6985VHS. A teacher/musician discovers a magic window which takes him from his rundown post-Soviet Russian apartment to the streets of Paris.

Mikhalkov, N., S. Miroshnichenko, et al. (1993). Anna ot 6 do 18 (Anna from 6 to 18). New York, NY, New Yorker Video.

8301VHS. Juxtaposing macrocosm and microcosm, the film sets the collapse of the Soviet Union against the growth of Mikhalkov's daughter Anna over the course of 13 years, beginning in 1980. Every year, starting at age six, Anna is subjected to an interview centering on the same five questions. Her personal evolution is interwoven with archival footage and propaganda films tracing the death throes of the Soviet Empire from the last years of the Brezhnev regime through Gorbachev's perestroika reforms to the first steps toward democracy under Boris Yeltsin.

Frumin, B., E. Volkov, et al. (1993). Viva Castro! Chicago, IL, Facets Video.

8300VHS. A coming of age story which takes place in a small Russian town in 1965.

Mikhalkov, N., R. Ibragimbekov, et al. (1995). Utomlennye solntsem (Burnt by the sun). Culver City, Calif., Columbia TriStar Home Video.

4998VHS. The story of Colonel S. Kotov, a hero of the Revolution, whose summer in the country with his young daughter, his wife and her eccentric family is interrupted by the arrival of his wife's former lover, a secret service operative who destroys the patriot and his family's happiness.

Bodrov, S., B. Giller, et al. (1996). Kavkazskii plennik (Prisoner of the Caucasus; a.k.a. Prisoner of the Mountains). London? S.l., Tartan Video ; Distributed by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.

7354VHS. An anti-war drama set in the Chechen conflict. A Russian unit sent to the remote province is ambushed and two wounded soldiers are taken prisoner by a rebel village elder who hopes to exchange them for his imprisoned son. Bonds form between the captives and their jailers, but when the exchange becomes increasingly unlikely, conflicting pressures complicate the course of events.

Dzhordzhadze, N., I. Kvirikadze, et al. (1996). Les mille et une recettes du cuisinier amoureux (A chef in love). Culver City, CA, Columbia TriStar Home Video.

7568VHS. A sweeping romance about a free-spirited Frenchman whose romantic idyll with a princess in pre-Soviet Georgia is threatened by the barbarism of the Russian revolution.

Chukrai, P., I. B. Tolstunov, et al. (1997). Vor (The Thief). Culver City, Calif., Columbia TriStar Home Video.

7789DVD. A tale of passion, betrayal and innocence lost, as seen through the eyes of an impressionable young boy. Set in post-World War II Russia.

Sokurov, A., et al. (1997). Mat i syn (Mother and Son). New York, NY, WinStar Cinema.

7702VHS. Atmospheric, intimate story of a son caring for his dying mother in their remote mountain home.

Balabanov, A., S., et al. (1997). Brat (Brother). New York, Kino on Video.

7764VHS. Danila returns from army service and looks up his older brother, who's become a contract killer in post-Soviet St. Petersburg. Danila is drawn into the violent underworld culture but retains a kind of honor in his dealings with those he encounters there.

Balabanov, A., S. (1998). Pro yrodov i liudei (Of Freaks and Men). Chatsworth, CA, Image Entertainment.

11396DVD. "... explores the seamy underside of the early 20th century upper classes. The sinister Johann and his wicked assistant photograph the floggings of bare-bottomed women. They maneuver their way into two well-to-do families, involving them in their pornographic schemes ... "--Container.

Wargnier, R., S. Bodrov, et al. (1999). Est-ouest (East-West). Culver City, Calif., Columbia TriStar Home Video.

10037DVD. Follows the plight of a young Russian doctor, his French wife and their child as they choose to go back to the Soviet Union in 1946. A French-Russian co-production, it was directed by a Frenchman, but co-written by veteran Russian director Sergei Bodrov, Sr., father of one of the film's male leads.

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