Russia Archives

War is war

Nick Holdsworth / February 20, 2019

The little-seen world of Russian volunteers fighting in Ukrainian rebel provinces.

AK47, BARS Battalion, DNR, Donetsk, Donetsk People’s Republic, Eastern Ukraine, Elena Volichine, Elena Volochine, IDFA, James Keogh, Kalash, Kremlin, Little Big Story Productions, Oleg Doubinine, Oleg's Choice, Red Cross, Russia, Russian, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Ukrainian civil war, Valerie Montmartin, victims, Viktor Yanukovych

Werner Herzog: «Facts do not constitute the truth»

Sevara Pan / February 10, 2019

Acclaimed German film director Werner Herzog talks about his most recent film Meeting Gorbachev, while also warning against trying to articulate the truth in precise terms.

Andre Singer, Arms Reduction Treaty, black humour, Brazil, China, Cinema Vérité, demonisation, digitalisation, DOK Leipzig, Ecstatic Truths, Gorbachev, Gulf War, India, Kristina Jaspers, Kuwait, Leonid Brezhnev, Lessons of Darkness, Meeting Gorbachev, Pakistan, post-Gulf, post-Gulf War, Ramin Bahrani, Russia, USSR, WernAcular, Werner Herzog

The Cuban veteran for whom the Revolution lives on

Bianca-Olivia Nita / November 17, 2018

As his country slowly moves past its communist decades, a Cuban veteran is stuck in the past.

Angola, Berlin, combat, communist, comrades, Cuba, Cuban veteran, East Germany, el comandante, ex-communist bloc, Fidel Castro, Francisco Marise, Good Bye Lenin!, Havana, IDFA, Nicaragua, nostalgia, revolution, Russia, San-Sebastian, soldier, To War, totalitarian, war

Day-to-day life amongst a pro-Russian battalion in Ukraine

Carmen Gray / November 12, 2018

Their Own Republic by Russian director Aliona Polunina caused quite a fury at this year‘s Doclisboa due to its pro-Russian stance. The documentary nonetheless offers an interesting insight into the side of the Ukrainian conflict rarely portrayed in western media.

activists, Aliona Polunina, armenia, Belarusian, Cíntia Gil, civil war, conflict, corrupt, Davide Oberto, depoliticisation, desire, dialogue, Doclisboa, Docudays, Donetsk, embassy, enemies, experiment, explore, genocide, ideas, inspection, Kurds, machismo, Maidan, moscow, National Bolshevik Party, occupation, open-minded, partisan, pride, pro-Russian, Putin, Russia, Russian-Ukrainian conflict, separatist, separatists, Sergei Loznitsa, Sergey Loznitsa, Social media, soldier, The Revolution That Wasn’t, Their Own Republic, troops, Turkish, Turkish embassy, Ukraine, Ukrainian, Varya, war, weapons, Yasynuvata

Walls of fear

Astra Zoldnere / November 10, 2018

The Border Fence draws out the anxieties and fears of a community in the grip of a shifting political landscape, provoking unavoidable parallels with an increasingly divisive Europe.

Abendland, absurd, Alpine, Alps, Austrian–Italian, Before the Law, border, Brenner Pass, Bulgaria, bureaucracy, bureaucratic, Catholic, Catholic Church, climate, conference, CPH:DOX, D is for Division, Davis Simanis, European Union, fences, franz kafka, Geyrhalter, God, grotesque, Hungary, IDFA, Italian, Jungian, Macedonia, Markus Glaser, mechanisms, Michael Kitzberger, micro cosmos, modern society, Nikolaus Geyrhalter, police, police officers, policemen, politicians, populism, Russia, Schengen, Senegal, Slovenia, techniques, The Border Fence, tragic, TV, Tyrol, Wolfgang Widerhofer

One of the greatest leaders of the 20th century

Nick Holdsworth / October 29, 2018

RUSSIA: Meeting Gorbachev is an intimate and engaging portrait of the man who unwittingly prompted the collapse of the Soviet Union.

al-Nusra, al-Qaida, Amsterdam, Andre Singer, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Berlin, Chernobyl, Christopher Nolan, Cinéma du réel, Cold War, copenhagen, CPH:DOX, digital revolution, DOK Leipzig, donald trump, East German, eyelet, famine, George Bush, Gorbachev, History, Hungary, ideology, industry, Iron Curtain, isis, Konstantin Chernenko, law, Leonid Brezhnev, Lucki Stipetić, MakeDox, Martin Scorsese, Meeting Gorbachev, Mikhail Lermontov, Miklos Nemeth, Millenium Docs Against Gravity, Pavel Palazhchenko, president, Russia, Soviet Union, Steven Spielberg, Svetlana Palmer, taliban, The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, vladimir putin, war, Werner Herzog, Yuri Andropov

Down the fake news rabbit hole

Carmen Gray / October 25, 2018

A new documentary examines the Trump campaign and the breadth of the influence of «fake news» exclusively through the eyes of Russian media sources.

Charlotte Cook, donald trump, Hillary Clinton, Joe Bender, Maxim Pozdorovkin, Our new president, pussy riot, Russia, The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, USA, vladimir putin

No more heroes

Nick Holdsworth / September 18, 2018

Electing Russia reflects a depressing picture of Kremlin opposition.

Alexander Navalny, Alexander Rastorguev, Electing Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, moscow, Putin's parade, Russia, Sobchak, vladimir putin

Foreign political shadow play

Ketil Fred Hansen / September 3, 2018

GEOPOLITICS: Laurent Larcher calls for openness, value proposition and debate on French foreign policy. The author claims that France’s power elite conceal their real agenda behind meaningless statements and secrecy.

Al Qaeda, Burundi, Democracy, François Hollande, geopolitics, Houthi, human rights, humanism, idealism, Idriss Déby, Islamic State, Kai Eide, Mali, Montaigne, realpolitik, Russia, saudi arabia, UN, USA, yemen

Odessa: From writers’ muse to political pawn

Tina Poglajen / August 25, 2018

Once «The Pearl of the Black Sea», the political power struggles that have been characterising the East-West relationship since 2014 have left the major tourist centre in an inconvenient position. Needless to say, this year’s Odessa International Film Festival couldn’t avoid politics.

alexander pushkin, Alisa Kovalenko, Delta, Gennady Kofman, Home Games, Kirill Krasovski, Kirill Krasovski/Maxym Vasyanovych, LGBT, Maxym Vasyanovych, Neo-Nazis, Oleksandr Techynskyi, Oleksandr Techynskyi/Alisa Kovalenko, Orthodox, Russia, Ukrainian, Yulia Serdyukova

From protégée to dictator

Nick Holdsworth / August 20, 2018

RUSSIA: A glimpse into Vladimir Putin‘s rise to power – from his early promises of media freedom to the flagrant disregard of democratic norms.

Alexander Litvinenko, Anatoly Chubais, Andrei Nekrasov, Assad, autocratic, autocratic state, bombings, Boris Nemtsov, Boris Yeltsin, Chechen, Chechen terrorists, Cinéma du réel, Crimea, Crystal Globe, Czech Republic, DA Films, dissident, DOK Leipzig, DOK.fest München, explosions, Gleb Pavlovsky, Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Kremlin, Latvia, Liberalism, Mikhail Kasyanov, Mikhail Lesin, Millenium Docs Against Gravity, moscow, Natalia Manskaya, national anthem, New Year's Eve, Nikita Mikhalkov, Olympics, optimism, Potemkin, presidency, protégé, Putin, Putin's Witnesses, Russia, Sergei Mikhalkov, Soviet, Soviet-era, statesman, strongman, Syria, terrorist, The Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, Valentin Yumashev, Vitaly Mansky, vladimir putin, Vladislav Surkov, Washington DC, World Cup, Yeltsin, Yumashev

The ‘high times’ of the Brezhnev years

Nick Holdsworth / June 21, 2018

USSR: Vivid memories of home-made psychedelic drugs and Soviet revolutionary times are brought to life in Soviet Hippies.

Brezhnev, communist, dissidence, estonia, Europe, Hippie, Hippies, Iron Curtain, Liis Lepik, marijuana, moscow, protests, psychedelic drugs, Putin, Russia, Russians, Soviet Hippies, Soviet Union, Tallin, Terje Toomistu, USSR, Vietnam, war