On Christmas Eve 1770, a young African warrior, who three years prior had been captured and sold into slavery in America, leads a desperate group of runaway slaves as they attempt to reach freedom in the North.
The epic story of the Russian Civil War (1918-21): the White Terror, the counterrevolutionary uprisings, the guerrilla war, the Kolchak front, the Wrangel front and the Kronstadt rebellion. Chaos and violence, devastation and death.
The lives of several Japanese families are shattered as the USA and the USSR move toward war, Japan finds itself caught in the middle, and Tokyo is ultimately evacuated as the two superpowers invoke the 'nuclear option'.
Fighter pilot Nikolai Muravyov is experiencing a personal drama: his wife and son left for the mainland - they are tired of life beyond the Arctic Circle. Colonel Belyy, thinking that his wife will return to her husband if he serves on the mainland, sends Nikolai on a business trip. In the new unit, Muravyov meets his fellow student Yevgeni Shelest. Friends have to fly in pairs.
Two brothers, separated by time and prison bars, reestablish contact. Inspired by James Baldwin's short story, 'Sonny's Blues.'
In the cramped cockpit of the boat, of which Ivan Burlakov has long been the captain and where Elenka, not jokingly called his wife, works as a sailor, a new employee appears - the captain's assistant Sergei. Outwardly energetic and open, he quickly achieves Elenka’s love. And just as quickly - Ivan’s dismissal.
After a long night out two lonely people awake in unfamiliar places on opposite ends of the same city. Their eventual meeting in a city park can only be described as good fortune.
The story of what daily life was like in Poland under communism: private conversations, cruel interrogations, recruitment attempts, recorded and filmed with hidden devices; of how the secret services spied on every activity of ordinary citizens: nothing escaped the brutal system of control developed by the Soviets in the name of freedom.
January 1953: On the eve of his death Stalin finds himself yet another imaginary enemy: Jewish doctors. He organizes the most violent anti-Semitic campaign ever launched in the USSR, by fabricating the "Doctors' Plot," whereby doctors are charged with conspiring to murder the highest dignitaries of the Soviet Regime. Still unknown and untold, this conspiracy underlines the climax of a political scheme successfully masterminded by Stalin to turn the Jews into the new enemies of the people. It reveals his extreme paranoia and his compulsion to manipulate those around him. The children and friends of the main victims recount for the first time their experience and their distress related to these nightmarish events.
A young and ambitious engineer comes into conflict with old-fashioned structures that don't acknowledge his honesty.
An aspiring dancer moves to New York City and becomes caught up in a whirlwind of flighty fair-weather friends, diminishing fortunes and career setbacks.
A copying error by a military scribe turns the Russian words "the lieutenants, however" into what looks like "lieutenant Kizhe". The Tsar reads the error, and wants to meet this (non-existent) lieutenant. The courtiers, eager to avoid the wrath of the temperamental Tsar, create a Kizhe to serve as their royal scapegoat.
A young night watchman at the Anton Chekhov museum in Yalta encounters a mysterious, weary intruder who appears to be the playwright himself, returned from the dead. Over the course of a single night, the two share a series of quiet, existential interactions within the preserved rooms of the estate.
A little girl Assol met a wizard and it has been foretold: "... it will be a fine sunny day when a beautiful ship under scarlet sail comes and the noble prince will take you away from here. He'll take you to the world of your dreams, where you will be loved and happy." The neighbours told jokes about her, children teased her, but she waited for her prince. She trusted in the miracles and waited. Arthur Gray's rule was "if you can make a miracle, do it!". And he made a miracle for the wonderful romantic girl.
Due to suspicion of BSE (mad cow disease), a herd of cows from a small farmstead is sentenced to be killed. The animals' revolt and try to escape. People try to hunt them down but the herd, led by Bella, manages to protect itself. Further failures of people increase their aggressiveness. The escalating battle has little in common with the original veterinary prevention. However, there are also people who try to help the cows, who desire nothing more than free life in the great outdoors, even if they are also forced to learn how to live and survive without anybody to feed them, milk them or fill them up with medicine. They learn all about hunger, cold, deprivation and pain. And the loss of loved ones...
The story of Lyudmila Pavlichenko, the most successful female sniper in history.
Dedicated to the development of the oil industry of Soviet Azerbaijan in the background of the first half of the twentieth century, including their selfless work in strengthening the economic and military might of the USSR.
A metaphorical love story about the dream of peace, freedom and solidarity in Europe, with the reality of right-wing politics and terror trying to destroy it.
Katya, a young librarian, believes in love, but her ideals are crushed by reality. After a string of disappointing affairs, Katya finally finds tenderness and understanding in the arms of her colleague, a journalist called Tanya. But then the First Department interferes: the state security services see this relationship as unacceptable for a Soviet woman.
The 1905 law proclaiming the separation of church and state is 120 years old. This law affirms freedom of conscience and religious freedom. It is considered the founding text of secularism. Secularism is the subject of endless controversy and debate.