The House on Trubnaya

An ignorant and prejudiced American’s visit of Soviet Russia goes off the rails after his luggage is stolen and he is separated from his bodyguard.

A satiric comedy which dissects the iconography of the 'Soviet Hero'. Original footage of a propaganda film from 1941 is the starting point for this parody of the ideological cliches of Soviet cinema. It follows the story of a Russian crew across the North Pole.

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

The story of Stalin and the Soviet people.

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre. The film had an incredible impact on the development of cinema and is a masterful example of montage editing.

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

Made on the occasion of March 8, it presents a series of brief portraits of women, from various professional fields, of different ages and even of different ethnicities, pointing out the benefits that the communist organization had brought to their daily lives. A special emphasis is placed on their status as mothers and on the role of nurseries and socialist kindergartens not only in making their lives easier, but also in giving them the time they need to build a career. Another concern of the filmmaker, starting from the concrete case of one of the protagonists, is to highlight the differences between the happy present and the not-too-distant past in which someone with her social status should have dedicated herself exclusively to raising children, in hygienic and extremely difficult lives.

Shortly before the outbreak of WWI, a peasant from rural Russia arrives in St. Petersburg to find work.

The film tells about the Decembrists’ revolt in the south of Russia. Right before the Decembrist Revolt 1825 a chevalier of fortune decides that it's time for a game. But on whom to make a bet? He asks the cards. But he's not the only one who makes the choice.

This documentary promoting the joys of life in a Soviet village centers on the activities of the Young Pioneers. These children are constantly busy, pasting propaganda posters on walls, distributing hand bills, exhorting all to "buy from the cooperative" as opposed to the Public Sector, promoting temperance, and helping poor widows. Experimental portions of the film, projected in reverse, feature the un-slaughtering of a bull and the un-baking of bread.

Typically of the heady days of early Soviet cinema, this is constructed according to the fast, sharp editing principles advocated by Eisenstein, complete with symbolic inserts; but in terms of subject matter, it's much less explicitly political than most movies emerging from Russia in the '20s. Chronicling a young sailor's descent into a murky, treacherous underworld of pimps and thieves, after having encountered a Louise Brooks lookalike at a fairground and missed his departing boat, it's a lively moral fable that delights in vivid visual effects and quirky characterisations. If the plot occasionally reveals gaping holes, and the tacked-on ending urging the clearance of the Leningrad slums seems to be rather gratuitous, there's enough going on to keep one attentive and amused.

Alistair Barrie (MC), Iain Stirling, Kerry Godliman, Terry Alderton, Geoff Norcott, Ria Lina, Marcel Lucont

Every Monday evening Alan and Bob sit at Kelly's bar embellishing on their secret unhappy lives, while flirting with the stunning bartender, Cheryl. The diluted dreamers struggle to save face when a high profile attorney enters their sanctuary, armed with an eye for detail and a dose of reality.

Hosted by Leroy Brito, featuring Caryl Burke, Low Effort Sketches (Andy Bucks and Alice Wickersham), Melina Fiol, Roman Harris, and Shalaka Kurup.

Comedy Heaven is back, this time with a twist celebrating a very special birthday. Join Leicester Comedy Festival on the final night of 2023’s mammoth event to celebrate 30 of years of the festival. Guests include Nish Kumar (The Mash Report), Arthur Smith (QI, Have I Got News for You), multi award-winner Laura Lexx, and more.

The live final, hosted by Sikisa, took place on 25th February at The Y Theatre in Leicester as part of the city's annual comedy festival.

Working-class comedian Tom Mayhew returns with a show about dreams and endless hope. But it's mainly jokes about how weird and annoying capitalism is.