Burnt By The Sun
(1994) [M]

The year is 1936 and Colonel Kotov, his wife Maroussia and their young daughter Nadia are leading a happy life in their country home. That is, until Dimitri, a man on an evil mission, enters their lives. Russian dialogue with subtitles.  More

October 1917 (Ten Days That Shook the World)
(1927) [PG]

Borrowing its title from a book by American journalist John Reed (of Reds fame), Sergei Eisenstein's Ten Days That Shook the World reenacts the crucial week-and-a-half in October, 1918, when the Russian Kerensky regime was toppled by the Bolsheviks. While Eisenstein takes certain liberties in...  More

Kolya
(1996) [PG]

Franta Louka is a concert cellist in Soviet-occupied Czechoslovakia, a confirmed bachelor and a lady's man. Having lost his place in the state orchestra, he must make ends meet by playing at funerals and painting tombstones. But he has run up a large debt, and when his friend, the grave-digger...  More

Solaris (2 Disc Set)
(1972) [M]

Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris centers on widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donata Banionis), who is sent to a space station orbiting a water-dominated planet called Solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number...  More

Andrei Rublev (2 Disc Set)
(1966) [M]

Widely regarded as Tarkovsky's finest film Andrei Rublev charts the life of the great icon painter through a turbulent period of 15th century Russian history, which was marked by endless fighting between rival Princess and Tatar invasions. Made on an epic sacle, it does not flinch from portraying...  More

The Thief
(1997) [M]

A boy and his mother try to get by in the Soviet Union of the 1950s in this tragedy written and directed by Pavel Chukrai. The joint Russian-French production opens with a woman falling down in the snow and mud to give birth to a child in 1946. The boy's father is a soldier who died in the war....  More

Russian Ark
(2002) [G]

A groundbreaking feat of filmmaking, Alexander Sokurov's amazing journey through 300 years of Russian art and history is the first ever feature to be shot in a single, unedited take - the ultimate director's cut. Magically transported to St Petersburg's Hermitage museum in the early 1700s, a...  More

Lilya 4 Ever
(2002) [MA]

Luke Moodyson's eagerly awaited third feature, following his hugely successful hit Together and his moving debut Show Me Love, is a touching and tender insight into the life of Lilya who lives in a poor suburb somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Lilya's mother has emigrated to the States, and...  More

The Stroll (Progulka)
(2003) [M]

Olya steps out of a luxurious car and begins a stroll through the streets of St Petersburg, striking up an acquaintance with Alyosha and, later, best friend Petya. Whilst feeding them increasingly fanciful stories, she plays them against one another as they traverse and explore the beautiful and...  More

The Return (Vozvrashcheniye)
(2003) [M]

In contemporary Russia young brothers Vanya (Ivan Dobronravov) and Andrey (Vladimir Garin) have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Running home after a fight with neighbourhood kids the boys are shocked to discover their father (Konstantin Lavronenko)...  More