This Is Russia!

In 1944 Crimean Tatars has suffered a long road in exile. It was accompanied by famine, illness and loss. In the first years of exile, almost half of deported Crimean Tatars died. But those, who survived, dreamed of only one thing - to return to Crimea. The documentary 1944 tells about the tragedy of all Crimean Tatars through several separate life stories. They are cherished by each Crimean Tatar family and must be remembered by all generations to come.

The Great Wall: The Making of China

Mothers and doctors speak out about the grim reality of life in the five years following the Chernobyl disaster. In children, doctors witnessed a massive increase of recurrent infections, baldness, as well as leukaemia and other cancers.

This documentary follows the election campaigns of a journalist, a local crime boss, a formerly exiled oligarch, and a local access TV host as they compete for a spot in the Moscow Central Constituency, in Russia's first free elections since 1917

Charlie Marx and the Chocolate Factory started as an investigation of the link between politics and chocolate, at the Karl Marx Confectionary Factory in Kiev, Ukraine. Since access to the factory was denied, the project had to be re-considered, re-invented or re-enacted. Mostly made of archival footage and re-enacted performances based on the company's website, the film merges what was left of the initial idea with what has been collected and realized instead. It borrows from the genres of video art, 'Man on the street' interview, direct address, corporate film, essay, and music video, without legitimately belonging to any of them. The film unravels as a reflection on its own failure, and yet keeps on investigating what has always been at stake: the shift from public to private property (and from analog to digital technology), dialectics of permanence and change, language as a mirror of ideology, and post-Soviet oligarchy culture.

This is a rare look at one of the worst horror stories in the long infamous history of warfare. This series features captured German and Russian film footage, much of which has never been seen before. For decades the Cold War prevented us from looking closely at what really happened between the Russians and the Germans on the Eastern Front during World War II. More than a struggle between nations, it pitted maniacal tyrant against maniacal tyrant, evil ideology against evil ideology. The lives of tens of millions of human beings were consumed by its raging hatreds and appalling indignities. One in every ten Russians died. One in every four Poles died. Whole divisions of Italians, Romanians, Hungarians disappeared with barely a trace. An average of 17,800 people died on every single day and this, the war on the Russian German Front, lasted for 1,400 days. This series features captured German and Russian film footage, much of which has never been seen before.

An account of the life and work of Russian filmmaker Andrey Tarkovsky (1932-86) in his own words: his memories, his vision of art and his reflections on the fate of the artist and the meaning of human existence; through extremely rare audio recordings that allow a complete understanding of his inner life and the mysterious world existing behind his complex cinematic imagery.

Endless beaches, dunes, heath and the Wadden Sea characterize the landscape of Sylt. Germany's largest North Sea island is also a paradise for numerous animal and plant species. Around half of its area is under landscape or nature protection. In spring and autumn, thousands of migratory birds stop here on their way between Siberia and East Africa. Sheep graze on the dike meadows, female seals give birth to their young off Sylt. And the Sylt Wadden Sea is one of the last large wilderness areas in Europe. But in winter storms hit the island. If the “Blanke Hans”, as the storm on Sylt is called, causes the North Sea to rage, it hits the island with tremendous force. Only a few places on the German North Sea coast are as exposed to the force of the sea as the west coast of Sylt. The documentary shows Sylt's nature in fascinating images. People who are particularly connected to the island and its nature are accompanied in their everyday lives.

Rügen is the largest island of Germany. Located off the Baltic Sea coast of Western Pomerania, two thirds of its area is protected. The green beech forests of the Jasmund National Park are considered an original virgin forest that is unique in Europe and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage. The white chalk cliffs, which can be seen from afar, are the island's distinctive symbol and were immortalized in the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich more than 200 years ago. On the small island of Vilm, which belongs to Rügen, there is another core area of nature conservation with a 500-year-old, untouched beech forest. Within sight of this refuge, organic farmers are trying to bring more diversity back to the fields. Small-scale agriculture with a great diversity of species has emerged between hedges, tree islands and biotopes. The documentary shows Rügen's natural treasures and introduces different people who have found their home here and are fighting to preserve nature.

Java, l'âme de l'Indonésie

2019 marks the 30th year since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of the Cold War. Rich Hall examines the relationship between the West and the USSR in his inimitable fashion.

In the 1930’s, the workers of the underground, headed by brigades of writers, are in charge to write in real time "the history of the Moscow Metro". Based on their narratives, partially unpublished, the film recounts the first lines construction of the most beautifiul underground in the world, in the light of this "big literary Utopia", stoped by the purges of 1937-38.

President Mikhail Gorbachev recounts the end of the Cold War and the reduction of nuclear arms.

The fascinating landscape formations of Iceland in the North Atlantic bear witness to the beauty and primal power of nature. They were created through the interaction of powerful volcanic, geological and biological processes that have been changing the face of the earth for billions of years. This is what the Earth might have looked like four billion years ago. Iceland is the realm of ice and fire. Nowhere else is there such a high density of volcanoes. The landscapes, which are continually reshaped by eruptions, make the island a natural laboratory full of clues about the formation and development of the earth. The documentary follows a group of scientists through the most active areas of Iceland, along a mountain range that has emerged from the ocean. On the slopes of the volcanoes, in the fog of the fumaroles and on streams and rivers, the three researchers explore how the first forms of life populated the earth's surface and in what evolutionary steps they took over the earth.

Documentary movie about testing of the largest nuclear weapon in history, the Tsar Bomba. Declassified and made available to the public in 2020.

Wes Hurley's autobiographical tale of growing up gay in Soviet Union Russia, only to escape with his mother, a mail order bride, to Seattle to face a whole new oppression in his new Christian fundamentalist American dad.

“There’s a bus stop I want to photograph.” This may sound like a parody of an esoteric festival film, but Canadian Christopher Herwig’s photography project is entirely in earnest, and likely you will be won over by his passion for this unusual subject within the first five minutes. Soviet architecture of the 1960s and 70s was by and large utilitarian, regimented, and mass-produced. Yet the bus stops Herwig discovers on his journeys criss-crossing the vast former Soviet Bloc are something else entirely: whimsical, eccentric, flamboyantly artistic, audacious, colourful. They speak of individualism and locality, concepts anathema to the Communist doctrine. Herwig wants to know how this came to pass and tracks down some of the original unsung designers, but above all he wants to capture these exceptional roadside way stations on film before they disappear.

Documentary examining Stalin's Gulag. Between the October Revolution and Stalin's death in 1953, millions of people died in the camps. The film explores the Gulag legacy, hearing from victims and perpetrators of the system.

A story to honor actor-singer-activist Paul Robeson and his contributions to today's social climate and inspire new generations to engage in the ongoing fight for justice and equality.

The Moscow Case is a 52 minute documentary with never-before-seen footage of Michael Jackson in Moscow during the "Dangerous" tour. This film tells the behind the scenes story of Jackson's ill fated concert in September 1993. It includes unique archival footage showing Michael close up and personal while meeting fans and playing with orphan children.