Directed by Mikhail Kalatozov • 1930 • USSR/Georgia

The directorial debut of Mikhail Kalatozov – who would go on to electrify Soviet cinema with his Palme d’Or-winning The Cranes are Flying – Salt for Svanetia is a groundbreaking work of radical ethnographic documentary. Capturing the lives of t...

Directed by Hamo Bek-Nazaryan • 1928 • USSR/Armenia/Azerbaijan

To celebrate the centenary of Armenian film, we present a new restoration of this neglected silent classic by Hamo Bek-Nazaryan, the founding father of the nation’s cinema. A co-production of the Armenian and Azerbaijani national stu...

Directed by Kote Mikaberidze • 1929 • USSR/Georgia

This explosive, wildly inventive, and criminally under-seen gem from Kote Mikaberidze burst out of Georgia in 1929. An absurdist satire of bureaucracy, the film follows the hapless Georgiy and his struggle to overcome a cruel administrative syst...

Directed by Yakov Protazanov • 1924 • USSR/Russia

“Anta Odeli Uta”. This cryptic wireless message, broadcast around the world, is the spark for interplanetary romance and revolution in Yakov Protazanov’s sci-fi classic. Tormented by the notion that the signal is coming from Mars, engineer Los em...

Directed by Sergei Eisenstein • 1926 • USSR/Russia

A founding masterpiece of silent cinema, studied the world over for its radical montage techniques and still shocking today, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin was originally conceived as part of a cycle of films commemorating the revolutio...

Directed by Oleksandr Dovzhenko • 1930 • USSR/Ukraine

Widely regarded as Dovzhenko’s masterpiece and one of the finest silent films ever made, Earth is fiercely poetic and politically radical. Narrating the collectivisation of agriculture in the Ukrainian countryside, Dovzhenko employs avant-gar...

Directed by Lev Kuleshov • 1924 • USSR/Russia

John West, a YMCA president from Ohio, goes to Russia on official business, accompanied by his cowboy bodyguard, Jeddie. Nothing goes right from the start: Mr West’s suitcase goes missing, he and Jeddie get separated, and the hapless protagonist is k...

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 Yevgeni Bauer • 1916 • Russia

The godfather of pre-revolutionary Russian film, Yevgeni Bauer, brought all his powers to bear on this haunting melodrama. Documenting a love triangle between two sisters and a dashing prince, Life for a Life demonstrates Bauer’s mastery of production de...

Directed by Oleksandr Dovzhenko • 1926 • USSR/Ukraine

A barber is shocked when his girlfriend leaves their baby in his arms. Taking care of this child was not at all in his plans – so the reluctant father tries to get rid of it. This burlesque comedy short with minimal plot, an early Soviet come...