Mezhrabpomfilm

From his early silent works, the great Russian film director, Herr Yakov Protazanov, made literary adaptations from equally great Russian writers, as is the case with "Chiny I Lyudi" ( Ranks And People ) (1929) in which three short stories by Chekhov, "Anna On The Neck", "Death Of A Petty Official" and "Chameleon" were assembled for the silent screen.

The central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha.

The commander of the cruiser Zarya, nobleman Bersenev, sympathizes with the Bolsheviks, encouraged in part by Artem Godun, chairman of the ship’s committee. His eldest daughter, Tatyana, follows in her father’s footsteps. Her husband, von Staube, is involved in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy.

About the fate of a former prisoner of war, who returns to his homeland, to the Soviet Union.

Igor Savchenko's Accordion (Garmon', 1934) was adapted from a poem by A. Zharov. This film sheds light on the reasons why the mass song came into being. In it, the country boy Timosha stops playing the accordion after being chosen leader of the local Komsomol. When he understands that he must compete with the sad kulak songs played by Tlskliby ("Mournful"), he recognizes his mistake in abandoning his accordion, and in the end he gathers the other youths around him with his lively and merry songs.

A young man travels to Mars in a rocket ship, where he leads a popular uprising against the ruling group with the support of Queen Aelita, who has fallen in love with him after watching him through a telescope.

The film addresses issues of racism in the Jim Crow American South. Themes of racial injustice, racial violence, working-class solidarity dominate the film. It depicts black men working in a field, walking in chains, sitting behind bars, and being executed in an electric chair. In most scenes, a white authority figure is seen whipping or guarding the men.

The tale of the formidable king Durandai, who decided to marry the beautiful Queen Tetyokha, about the blacksmith Sila and the blind girl Talani

The film is based on real events and reveals the tragic episodes from the life of the Austrian biologist scientist-materialist Paul Kammerer (1880-1926), hunted by regressive scientists and Catholic reactionaries who committed suicide.

An animated film about a hard-working ant and a lazy dragonfly. While the ant was transporting building materials to a multi-level anthill in a truck, the dragonfly was basking in the sun in its manger.

The first Russian talking picture which won a prize at the 1st Venice IFF. The action is set in 1923. The USSR is struggling with hunger and economic ruin. It is a story of homeless teenagers for whom a work commune is set up with the idea of uniting and reforming them.

A supposedly ordinary woman’s personal triumph and tragedy is explored in Igor Savchenko’s 1936 Sluchainaya Vstrecha (Accidental Meeting). Irina – the best shock worker in a provincial children’s factory – develops a relationship with the newly arrived and charming physical culture instructor named Grisha. Soon we learn that Irina is pregnant. Disappointed and angry on hearing her news, Grisha asks her about what will now happen to all their dreams.

History of theft and double crossing when two thieves fall out over the theft of the money of the proceeds of the sale of a house by a banker to a religious community.

The secret police agent finds that factory director wife is counterrevolutionary but dies from the heart attack. The director reads the diary of an agent and turns his wife to police.

After visiting the zoo and reading Chukovsky's book, pioneer Senya falls asleep. In a dream, he flies to Africa with Crocodile Crocodilovich.

Staged scenes of life in all strata of the Russian population before the October Revolution. Restoration of the national economy after the Civil War. Construction of new factories: Rostselmash, the Stalingrad Tractor Factory, and the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant. Kuznetskstroy. Creation of new state farms. Training of personnel for the national economy. Elimination of illiteracy among the population in all regions of the country. Development of the rationalization movement among workers. Physical culture and mass sports activities among the population.

The priests, stock market officials, and police conspire to squeeze income out of pilgrims come to see relics of a Christ like figure. A pair of con men try to pass of a resurrected saint.

A group of Ukrainian women are forced to work in the mine under the supervision of cruel enemy soldiers. When the soldiers are forced to retreat and decide to blow up the mine, the women organize a guerrilla action to stop them.

A squad of rebels attacks a peaceful caravan, and the old guide Sho-Murad and his granddaughter Pery find themselves in captivity of the bandits. Border guards and a sheepdog Dzhulbars repulse prisoners and neutralize enemies.

Working with children led Barskaya to create superb direct sound and an inspired style of shooting. Don’t look for conventional cinematic syntax here. The film is chaotic in the way that Soviet films still knew how to be, and Langlois couldn’t help but be seduced by its rebellious spirit, its anarchy and love of children, comparable to Vigo’s Zero de conduite. As well as being a film made with and for children, it offers a complex take on Western society. Pre-Nazi Germany is not named as such but is carefully reconstructed, possibly under advice from Karl Radek, and children offer a playful reflection of class struggle – doubly excluded, as proletarians and as minors. “They play in the same way that they live”, one intertitle says. The interaction between their comical games and the yet more ludicrous ones played by adults is developed on several levels.