Early films from the then Soviet Union had a shaky start due to the First World War and the October Revolution in 1917, but Lenin himself and later Stalin recognised the propaganda uses of the medium. At first, with the infrastructure in tatters and virtually no cinemas in which to screen films, shorts expounding communism were carried from place to place often accompanying live speakers. Once Moscow's first cinema was opened at the end of 1921, newsreels became common. But in 1924 Sergei Eisenstein's 'Strike' became the first true Soviet feature. The following year his 'Battleship Potemkin' was launched to great acclaim, highly propagandistic and towing the party line. Tight restrictions on content continued up until Stalin's death in 1953 and it wasn't until the '60s and '70s that seminal Russian film makers like Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergo Paradjanov and Nikita Mikhalkov began to find their own voice. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the largely state-funded film industry all but disappeared and is only now beginning to find its feet once more. A few gems found their way to Alice's shelves from this period, such as 'Burnt By The Sun' (1994), 'Prisoner of the Mountains' (1996), and our one and only Estonian film is to be found in this section, for want of a better home, the darkly humourous 'Darkness in Tallinn' (1993). 2002 saw the release of 'Russian Ark' (pictured), shot in one take, it is the longest unedited film ever made.
The Ukrainian film Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors won almost every, award in sight on the 1964 film festival circuit. But its become even more impo... Read more
AKA 'My Name is Ivan'. Tarkovsky's debut feature was awarded 15 international prizes and is the haunting tale of a young boy caught up in the horrors... Read more
The story of a man (Andrey Sokolov) whose life was ruthlessly crippled by World War II. Sergei Bondarchuk directs and acts in this screen adaptation o... Read more
Aloysha is a frightened young soldier fighting the Germans when, more by good luck than good management, he disables two enemy tanks. As a reward he... Read more
Veronica and Boris are blissfully in love, until the eruption of World War II tears them apart. Boris is sent to the front lines... and then communica... Read more
A.k.a. 'The Boyars' Plot'. The continuation of this complex story, full of intrigue, high level political in-fighting, family resentment and suspicion... Read more
Before his birth in 1530, many omens were observed and many prophecies made about the child to be born to the second wife of Vasily III as he was to b... Read more
Sergei Eisenstein's magnificent battle-epic stars Nikolai Cherkassov as Prince Alexander, the leader of the people of Novogorod, defending Russia agai... Read more
Director Vsevolod Pudovkin's epic is set on the Soviet Asian frontier and tells of a rebellious young Mongol trapper who is set up as a "puppet leader... Read more
Aka 'Ten Days That Shook The World'. Eisenstein's famous recreation of the October Revolution during which the Bolsheviks overthrew the Kerensky gover... Read more