The dark continent
Psychiatry: How inaccessible – or open – is the human mind to others?
Russia
ANDREI KURKOV: «With its 26 minorities, Ukraine is already cosmopolitan»
We are talking with Andrei Kurkow about the deeper national soul in Ukraine, about the significance of literature, about pluralism, and the relations between Russians and Ukrainians. Modern Times met the country’s most well-known author, Andrey Kurkov.
On making a covenant with Putin
Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to nine years in a POW (prisoner of war) camp in 2003, and received an additional six years in 2010. Yukos, his oil company was expropriated by the State.
A concise look at the Russian soul
The magnificent images of snow covered coastal landscapes, endless birch forests, ice, frosty smoke and gloomy nights provide an insight into the harsh conditions many Russians live in, and their resilience.
The documentary maker who learnt his lesson
A revealing documentary about Kadyrov’s Chechnya, or a propaganda film in favour of Putin’s Russia? The latter, says our reviewer.
Mustafa Dzhemilev: Russian nuclear weapons in Crimea?
Former political prisoner and dissident Mustafa Dzhemilev speaks to Modern Times about the occupation of Crimea, his relationship with Russia and why he received the Nansen Medal. Today, he is the political leader for the ethnic group of 280,000 Crimean Tatars.
Sonia’s search for beauty
Losing Sonia is a portrait of a nun, of the church in Ivanovo, and of contemporary Russia, all in one.
FOCUS ON RUSSIA
Russia was one of the main themes at the Movies That Matter Festival this spring. Entitled ‘Russian Spring’, the program dedicated to this complex country combined documentaries, debates and music and it was part of the Netherlands-Russia 2013 Year.
A journey of a gas line Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod
Three crosses in the snow – not Christian ones, different ones.
Two approaches to war
From San Francisco International Film Festival: Andrei Nekrasov and Olga Konskaya captured the immediate aftermath of the bombing, shooting, and looting during the intense 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia. Two other filmmakers focus on the everyday life of a single US army platoon stationed in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan – showing just how easy it was for the Taliban to defend their positions in the mountainous terrain.
Disaster capitalism
Is all the talk about ‘national priorities’ in the aftermath of hurricanes, coups, and wars, usually just a cover for the imposition of the of-the-shelf policies of neoliberal economics? And is the US response to Haiti following this same form?
Soft power
A documentary from the time when American films portrayed Soviet commissionaires changing sides to betray communist ideals, and Soviet television showed CIA agents gunning down innocent comrades.