Presenting a double bill from one of Russian cinema’s greatest poets, Aleksandr Sokurov.

Perhaps the last living embodiment of the classic Russian arthouse, Sokurov’s career stretches back to Tarkovsky and forward to contemporary festival favourites. Since the seventies, his dreamlike films have investigated the surreal heart of family relationships, artistic inspiration, and political power. They also reveal a complex relationship with Russian military and imperial history. Our double bill features two of Sokurov’s most enduring works. Days of Eclipse (1988) is his uncanny adaptation of Soviet sci-fi icons Strugatsky Brothers, drawing on his childhood in Central Asia; while his most celebrated work, the revolutionary period drama Russian Ark (2002), unfolds in a single unbroken take, transporting the viewer through three centuries of history as contained within St Petersburg’s famous Hermitage Museum.