Directed by Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan • 2022 • Armenia

A group portrait that captures the hybrid nature of modern-day Armenia, Vahagn Khachatryan and Aren Malakyan’s dreamlike documentary explores the gaps between fantasy and reality in the lives of four characters. Karen is a farmer ...

Directed by Rachid Nougmanov • 1988 • USSR/Kazakhstan

Part Pulp Fiction, part Betty Blue, Rachid Nougmanov’s cult punk film portrays the attempt of an enigmatic drifter (Soviet rock legend Viktor Tsoi) to free his ex-girlfriend from the clutches of a morphine-peddling surgeon. Contrasting the sh...

Directed by Kateryna Gornostai • 2021 • Ukraine
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A stunning addition to the canon of coming-of-age dramas, Kateryna Gornostai’s debut film is a tender and authentic portrait of teenagers in contemporary Ukraine, produced shortly bef...

Directed by Marlen Khutsiev • 1965 • USSR/Russia

Three lifelong friends see their aspirations juxtaposed against everyday life in 1960s Moscow, reflecting on their possible futures and their place in society. At the heart of the film is Sergei, returning from military service and grappling with ...

Directed by Ilya Povolotsky • 2023 • Russia

An unnamed father and daughter traverse the empty roads of provincial Russia in a battered old van, eking out a living selling pirated DVDs at the impromptu screenings they mount with an onboard mobile cinema. Ilya Povolotsky’s compellingly strange deb...

Directed by Alisa Kovalenko • 2023 • Ukraine

Alisa Kovalenko’s collective portrait of teenagers in the Donbas just prior to the full-scale invasion is a moving tribute to a world of opportunity now lost to military aggression. Andriy, Illia, Lera, Liza, and Ruslan have come of age in a world whe...

Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski • 2013 • Poland

Paweł Pawlikowski’s Oscar-winning period road movie excavates the sins of Poland’s twentieth-century history. It is 1962, and Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), an orphan given up to a convent during the war, is on the verge of taking her monastic vows. But...

Directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski • 1988 • Poland
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Expanded from an episode of Kieślowski’s epic television serial Dekalog, A Short Film about Love represents the Polish master at his most sensitive and daring. By day, 19-year-old To...

Directed by Arūnas Žebriūnas • 1969 • USSR/Lithuania

A poignant portrait of innocence and experience, Arūnas Žebriūnas’ exquisite drama captures the inner world of childhood with unusual clarity. Six-year-old Inga (Inga Mickytė) lives with her devoted but melancholy single mother (Lilija Žadeiky...

Directed by Jiří Menzel • 1966 • Czechoslovakia
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The film that announced the Czech New Wave to the world, Jiří Menzel’s beloved debut is a humanist comedy of errors and a minor-key ode to rebellion. Adapted from Bohumil Hrabal’s nov...

Directed by Eliza Petkova • 2016 • Bulgaria

Eliza Petkova’s Berlin-award-winning debut explores the tension between duty and individuality in a picturesque Bulgarian village. Lora (Anna Manolova) is a 17-year-old out of step with the traditions and rhythms of her rural home. When her father dies...

Directed by Damian Kocur • 2022 • Poland

Damian Kocur’s feature debut confirms his reputation as one of Poland’s most promising filmmakers. Talented pianist Tymek (Tymoteusz Bies) returns to his provincial hometown during his vacation from the Warsaw Academy of Music, and quickly falls back in w...

Directed by Maya Vitkova • 2014 • Bulgaria

In 1979, Boryana’s dreams of escaping communist Bulgaria are undone by the miraculous birth, without an umbilical cord, of her daughter Viktoria. Symbolically proclaimed “baby of the decade” by the state, Viktoria lives a pampered life until the eventua...

Directed by Kirill Serebrennikov • 2016 • Russia

Released a year before the politically-motivated house arrest that ultimately saw him leave Russia for good, Kirill Serebrennikov’s fierce drama of spiritual fervour now seems grimly prescient. Venya (Pyotr Skvortstov) seems like a typical maladju...

Directed by Lauri Randla • 2020 • Estonia

Described by director Lauri Randla as “the Soviet Amélie”, this popular coming-of-age story captures the absurdity and the poignancy of late Soviet life. Set in Leningrad 3, a small Estonian town complete with a secret nuclear facility, the film follows ...

Directed by Juris Podnieks • 1986 • USSR/Latvia

Hailed as “the first bird of perestroika” by Mikhail Gorbachev, Juris Podnieks’ cult classic documentary is a vital document of a society on the brink of change. Podnieks shoots with compassion and anger, giving voice to a generation coming of age ...

Directed by Kira Muratova • 1971 • USSR/Ukraine

Ukrainian auteur Kira Muratova’s sophomore directorial effort, The Long Farewell was shelved by censors until 1987, then heralded as a lost masterpiece. This simple tale of maternal jealousy and filial rebellion is transformed by Muratova into a th...

Directed by Vasili Pichul • 1988 • USSR/Russia

A scandal upon release, this hugely influential eighties cult film captures the anguished cynicism of the “last Soviet generation”. Vera (the name means “faith” in Russian, hence the pun of the title) is a teenager in a provincial port town whose da...

Directed by Revaz Chkheidze • 1969 • USSR/Georgia

It is the summer of 1941, and a group of idealistic Georgian students are graduating. Their hopes for the future, however, are scuppered by the impending war. Dreams are swapped for soldiers’ overcoats as they are dispatched to the front line, wh...

Directed by Vitaliy Melnikov • 1970 • USSR/Russia

A tender family drama about the close but pained relationship between a mother and her adolescent son. Divorcee Zinaida has for years been singlehandedly raising Boris, an intelligent but highly selfish young man. When Viktor enters Zinaida’s lif...

Directed by Antonio Lukich • 2019 • Ukraine

Twenty-five-year-old Vadym (Andriy Lidahovskiy) is a sound recordist and musician dreaming of leaving Kyiv for distant Canada. He seems to have found his route out of Ukraine when he is tasked with capturing the call of a rare duck native to the Carpat...

Directed by Uldis Brauns • 1975 • USSR/Latvia

When Māris receives a motorbike for his eighteenth birthday, he hits the road with his friends. When he meets unhappy bride-to-be Inese and her thoughtless fiancé, a whirlwind romance blooms that soon sees the pair riding the roads of Soviet Latvia. ...

Directed by Miklós Jancsó • 1965 • Hungary

In the final days of the Second World War, a young Hungarian soldier, Jóska, makes his way home through a landscape riddled with debris and destruction. After he is captured by the occupying Red Army, he forms a bond with the Russian soldier Kolya, desp...

Directed by Gleb Panfilov • 1967 • USSR/Russia

The debut feature from Gleb Panfilov, marking his first collaboration with his future wife and muse Inna Churikova, No Path Through Fire is a classic of sixties cinema. Set during the Russian Civil War and following the fate of military nurse Tanya,...