Is It Easy to be Young?
The Most Important Art: a late Soviet cinema playlist from Ian Christie
•
1h 18m
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 at the tail end of Soviet rule in Latvia. Chernobyl, the Soviet-Afghan War, and punk music all collide in this cross-section of perestroika that caused a sensation both domestically and internationally upon its release.
IS IT EASY TO BE YOUNG? • VAI VIEGLI BŪT JAUNAM?
Directed by Juris Podnieks
Written by Ābrams Kleckins, Jevgēnijs Margolins, Juris Podnieks
Cinematography by Kalvis Zalmancis
Music by Mārtiņš Brauns
In Latvian with English subtitles
Winner of the Best Film Award at the International Documentary Awards, 1987
Up Next in The Most Important Art: a late Soviet cinema playlist from Ian Christie
-
Some Interviews on Personal Matters
Directed by Lana Gogoberidze • 1978 • USSR/Georgia
A pioneering work of feminist filmmaking from the legendary Lana Gogoberidze, Some Interviews on Personal Matters is one of the most vital films produced in Soviet Georgia. The iconic Sofiko Chiaureli (The Colour of Pomegranates
-
Commissar
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...
-
Days of Eclipse
Directed by Aleksandr Sokurov • 1988 • USSR/Turkmenistan
In the dying days of the Soviet experiment, a young doctor finds himself posted to a remote Turkmen town. Attempting to research the relationship between religious faith and medicine, he finds his efforts confounded by a series of mysterio...
