Directed by Yuri Norstein • 1979 • Russia

The undisputed masterpiece from the reclusive Yuri Norstein, Tale of Tales is widely regarded as one of the finest animations of all time. In only 29 minutes, Norstein traverses personal and national history in almost abstract sequences that mimic the wo...

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,...

Directed by Igor Maslennikov • 1979 • USSR/Russia

Super-sleuth Sherlock Holmes and his partner Doctor Watson return to tackle the mysterious death of an American in London in the second installment of the classic Soviet adaptation. A series of murders unfolds, each marked by a macabre clue: the ...

Directed by Boris Barnet • 1927 • USSR/Russia

One of Soviet film’s most under-appreciated maestros, Boris Barnet brings his sparkling wit and lyricism to bear on this silent comedy about a milliner and a student forced into a marriage of convenience. Barnet’s keen eye for the absurdities of post...

Directed by Aleksandr Askoldov • 1967 • USSR/Russia

When a Red Army officer is forced to shelter with a Jewish family while seeing her unwanted pregnancy to term, she finds her fierce communist values at odds with their sprawling generosity. Over time, these two worlds are brought closer togethe...

Directed by Andrei Zvyagintsev • 2011 • Russia

Andrei Zvyagintsev’s third feature, nominated for over 45 awards, follows the eponymous Elena – at once the docile housewife to successful businessman Vladimir and the humble matriarch to her son’s impoverished family, living in a decrepit suburb on...

Directed by Sergei Livnev • 1994 • Russia

A dizzying exercise in postmodern parody, this nineties cult gem from Sergei Livnev delves into the dark heart of Stalinist cultural production. The tale of a simple female tractor driver who undergoes an experimental gender reassignment procedure before...

Directed by Ivan Aksenchuk • 1968 • USSR/Russia

This exquisite Soviet animated adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale tells the story of a water-dwelling maiden, Rusalochka, who trades her voice for legs after falling in love with a human prince. The story transitions between th...

Directed by Angelina Nikonova • 2011 • Russia

Marina (co-writer Olga Dykhovichnaya) lives a stable, prosperous, and somewhat boring life with a husband and a job as a social worker. Everything changes, however, when a violent sexual assault turns her life on its head, transforming her into a “tw...

Directed by Aleksei German • 1984 • USSR/Russia

Russian auteur Aleksei German’s masterpiece journeys into the past, as an elderly man reflects on his childhood in a communal apartment in a mid-thirties provincial town. As a nine-year-old boy, he is witness to the lives of those around him – chie...

Directed by Boris Barnet • 1933 • USSR/Russia

Set in a provincial backwater on the eve of the First World War, this reflective drama from one of Soviet cinema’s most underrated directors is a milestone in Russian-language film history. One of the first notable Russian films to be shot with sound...

Directed by Lev Atamanov • 1952 • USSR/Russia

The Scarlet Flower is a 1952 Soviet adaptation of fairy tale classic Beauty and the Beast from master animator Lev Atamanov. Before embarking on an overseas journey, a merchant father asks his three daughters what they would like him to bring back fo...