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The secret battle between Russia and the West
RUSSIA: Russian President Vladimir Putin blames the West for the war in Ukraine, but as Putin's Playground shows, the Kremlin has been subverting the west to suit its own agenda for years.
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Victory Day
RUSSIA: Victory Day in Russia in 2022 – barely six weeks after Putin's invasion of Ukraine – plays out the same tired old themes of the Red Army's victory over Nazism in 1945, with those celebrating eagerly taking up the new propaganda of victory.
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The solitary path
SPIRITUALITY: The transformation from renowned HIV researcher to Buddhist monk unveils complexities of solitude, mental health, and familial reconciliation.
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The law and the lost
IMMIGRATION: Borders are all in the mind, Loretta van Horst's powerful film about US border patrol officers trying to stop people smuggling from Mexico, The Border Crossed Us, shows.
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Of Caravans and the Dogs
RUSSIA: Askold Kurov's compelling documentary Of Caravan and the Dogs details the final destruction of independent voices in Putin's Russia that oppose his war on Ukraine.
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The impermanence of concrete
ARCHITECTURE: Victor Kossakovsky's high art meditation on the failure of modern architecture, Architecton is a beautiful vision of how stone has shaped humanity.
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The meaning of war
UKRAINE: Abel Ferrara's idiosyncratic take on the war in Ukraine melds poetic performances by Patti Smith with the experience of people at war.
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Reimagining Russia
RUSSIA: Mikhail Khodorkovsky discusses Russia's future post-Putin, advocating for revolution, democracy, and equitable resource distribution.
