Russia 1917: Countdown to Revolution

Putin's Games

December 2013 •English

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia will be the first ever to be held in a subtropical resort. The most expensive games ever break all records when it comes to corruption and megalomania. Putin's administration has everyone at its beck and call, from oligarchs down to the ordinary people who have to pay the Olympic bill. Both the powerful and the weak speak out in this investigative documentary, which unveils the hidden story behind Putin's games. Government critic Garry Kasparov says that Putin's Olympic propaganda is really all about speeding up the privatization of land in Sochi. Many inhabitants have had to make way for hotels, ski jumps and a large harbor, which were subsequently swept away by storms and landslides – the Olympic village was built on a swamp in the hottest region of Russia. To a large extent, the story of these environmentally unfriendly Olympic Games is one of threats and enormous misappropriations of money.

Battleship Potemkin

December 1925 •Russian

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.

The Last Emperor

October 1987 •English

A dramatic history of Pu Yi, the last of the Emperors of China, from his lofty birth and brief reign in the Forbidden City, the object of worship by half a billion people; through his abdication, his decline and dissolute lifestyle; his exploitation by the invading Japanese, and finally to his obscure existence as just another peasant worker in the People's Republic.

Living the Utopia

November 1997 •Spanish

A retrospective look at the anarcho-syndicalist and anarcho-communist experience in Spain from 1930 until the end of the Civil War in 1939.

Mayerling

April 2010 •English

Edward Watson takes the role of Crown Prince Rudolf in Kenneth MacMillan's compelling ballet which lives out the final eight years of Rudolf's life with its relentless downward spiral of political intrigue, drugs and murder. It culminates with the suicide pact at the hunting lodge - known as Mayerling - between Rudolf and his 17-year-old mistress, Mary Vetsera (Mara Galeazzi). Filmed in high definition and recorded in true surround sound.

A Secret in the Box

September 2017 •Spanish

The life and works of Ecuadorian writer Marcelo Chiriboga, a key figure of the Latin American literature and member of the “boom” generation. Through interviews, visits to different cities, archival footage and his most important book, a puzzle is woven that blurs the boundaries between reality and fiction.

Grand Illusion

June 1937 •French

A group of French soldiers, including the patrician Captain de Boeldieu and the working-class Lieutenant Maréchal, grapple with their own class differences after being captured and held in a World War I German prison camp. When the men are transferred to a high-security fortress, they must concoct a plan to escape beneath the watchful eye of aristocratic German officer von Rauffenstein, who has formed an unexpected bond with de Boeldieu.

Enemy at the Gates

February 2001 •English

A Russian and a German sniper play a game of cat-and-mouse during the Battle of Stalingrad in WWII.

The Rifleman

November 2019 •Latvian

The love story of sixteen-year-old Arturs is interrupted by the First World War. After losing his mother and his home, he finds some consolation in joining the army, because this is the first time national battalions are allowed in the Russian Empire. But war is nothing like Arturs imagined – no glory, no fairness. It is brutal and painful. Arturs is now completely alone as war takes the lives of his father and brother. Also, no progress is made in the promised quick resolution of the war and timely return home. Within the notion that only he alone cares about returning home and that his homeland is just a playground for other nations, Arturs finds strength for the final battle and eventually returns home to start everything from scratch, just like his newly born country.

Veterans

Invalid date •Hebrew

'Veterans', focuses on WW2 veterans, once fighters in the Red Army and now uprooted immigrants, fighting for their place in society. These people, who experienced the twentieth century's bloodiest war as Soviet soldiers, immigrated to Israel after the collapse of the Soviet Union and found themselves in a society that is totally indifferent to their glorious past. The film offers a close and compassionate look at the veterans' lives, fueled by complexity, pain, and an almost silent insult, alongside joy and self-deprecating humor. The feeling of living on borrowed time drives the veterans to embark on what may be their last adventure.

Artemisia Gentileschi, Warrior Painter

September 2020 •Italian

An account of the life of the Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), the first female artist to get international acclaim, recognized as a modern icon, due to her personality and her unyielding defense of her professional integrity.

The Last Days of the USSR

December 2011 •French

From 1989 to 1991 a string of unpredictable events happened that brought to light the rivalry between two men: Gorbachev, hindered by the economic results of his perestroika, and Yeltsin, embodying the hopes of the Russian people. Illustrated with interviews of top protagonists such as Mikhail Gobachev himself, the documentary recounts the critical last two years of the former USSR.

The Grand Design

January 1969 •English

A lecture by G. Edward Griffin, given in the late '60s, exposes the hidden plan that shapes U.S. foreign policy and that the ultimate objective of that policy is the same then as it is now — disarmament and world government.

Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence

May 1983 •Japanese

Island of Java, 1942, during World War II. British Major Jack Celliers arrives at a Japanese prison camp, run by the strict Captain Yonoi. Colonel John Lawrence, who has a profound knowledge of Japanese culture, and Sergeant Hara, brutal and simpleton, will witness the struggle of wills between two men from very different backgrounds who are tragically destined to clash.

What Happened to East Detroit?

December 2021 •English

A documentary by Justin Arment that explores the 1991 rename of Michigan city 'East Detroit' to 'Eastpointe', and the racially motivated reasonings behind it.

Art As A Voice

October 2017 •English

Art As A Voice is a feature-length documentary examining how five female artists use their artwork to effect change. Exploring their history, challenges, art form, influences and experiences that led them to activism, the documentary will provide an understanding of the realities of life as a survivor of domestic abuse and sexual assault. Though the film will tell each story honestly, mixing visuals of the artist at work, voiceover interviews describing events and dramatic actor re-enactments, the overall message will highlight how each artist has turned something so ugly into something beautiful that inspires hope.

Kino-Pravda No. 6

July 1922 •

Dziga Vertov-directed Soviet newsreel covering: Streetcar collision / Arms manufacturing plant resumes operation / Assembling an automobile / Bicycle and motorcycle races / A parade of Red Army armored units and an attack exercise.

Like Stone Lions in the Gateway into Night

April 2012 •French

Between 1947 and 1951, more than 80 000 Greek men, women and children were deported to the isle of Makronissos (Greece) in reeducation camps created to ‘fight the spread of Communism’. Among those exiles were a number of writers and poets, including Yannis Ritsos and Tassos Livaditis. Despite the deprivation and torture, they managed to write poems which describe the struggle for survival in this world of internment. These texts, some of them buried in the camps, were later found. «Like Lions of stone at the gateway of night» blends these poetic writings with the reeducation propaganda speeches constantly piped through the camps’ loudspeakers. Long tracking shots take us on a trance-like journey through the camp ruins, interrupted along the way by segments from photographic archives. A cinematic essay, which revives the memory of forgotten ruins and a battle lost.

Suffragette

October 2015 •English

Based on true events about the foot soldiers of the early feminist movement, women who were forced underground to pursue a dangerous game of cat and mouse with an increasingly brutal State.

Le Fils

January 2024 •French