Sorin Apostol

The story of a woman who literally changes her life before our eyes. With a prison behind her and a life in a dysfunctional environment, she is trying to become an actress. She plays in the theater, she is filmed by Loznitsa and Serebrennikov, but she has nowhere to live, and there is no money even for cigarettes. The new life is difficult, and the old one pulls back. And the prison is still nearby, because she finds herself at the very center of the Moscow protests.

After twenty years abroad, Natalya returns to her homeland and tries to change life in her native village - to repair roads, remove garbage and build a first-aid post. Will the Western experience take root in its native soil?

As Russian writer Boris Pasternak (1890-1960) thinks it is impossible that his novel Doctor Zhivago is published in the Soviet Union, because it supposedly shows a critical view of the October Revolution, he decides to smuggle several copies of the manuscript out of the country. It is first published in 1957 in Italia and the author receives the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1958, which has consequences.

Spitak. Thirty years ago a terrible earthquake happened here. Tens of thousands died, and the survivors seemed forever frozen in time. The father and son of Manukyan live in front of the huge Spitak cemetery - and it seems that some unknown force does not allow them to escape from hopelessness and poverty.

'Novaya Gazeta'. One of the first independent editions of post-Soviet Russia. One of the last remaining today.

'Novaya Gazeta'. One of the first independent editions of post-Soviet Russia. One of the last remaining today.

Uncle Sasha lives on an island in a “dead” village, surrounded by water. He dreams of the restoration of the monarchy and reviving the true wisdom of the Russian way of life, forgotten and trampled by modernisation and European influence. Every spring he builds a bridge, and every winter it is destroyed by ice. Uncle Sasha is now building his thirteenth bridge.

After years adrift, Diego returns to his hometown in Sicily. His dream of becoming a musician did not come true. He doesn't have a job, he has no plans for the future and has just been given up by his girlfriend. Looking at the rusty skeletons of the ships in the Harbour, he is kidnapped by an hypnotic sound: an ancient musical instrument, the Jew's harp, seems to indicate a way. Thus begins a journey of redemption, from the torrid coasts of Sicily to the frozen plains of Yakutia in Siberia, where the Jew's harp is a spiritual instrument and national symbol.

American psychologist of Russian descent Alex comes to Tuva to open his third eye and learn shamanic practices. Chochagar Kes-Kam becomes his “teacher of shamanism”. Together, the master and the student visit the famous Tuvan shamans and travel around Tuva. But their relationship is being seriously tested.

August 2015, a courtroom in Rostov-on-Don. A man is peering through the bars of his cage, his eyes reveal that his nerves are about to snap. Today he will be handed down a sentence to which he must submit: 20 years’ imprisonment in Siberia for terrorism. The man is Oleg Sentsov, a film director and Maidan activist born in Simferopol in the Ukraine. He is charged with leading an anti-Russian terrorist movement and having planned attacks on bridges, power lines and a monument of Lenin. Sentsov defends himself, courageously and without flinching. He responds to the verdict with an emphatic denial of his crimes and instead accuses the accusers themselves ...

Many men in the world in order to support their families have to leave families. Our characters go J the North as shift w3ockers and produce gas. Dimity is ambitious engineer in the middle of his career. Alex is a plumber. He does not pump gas, he pinups feces, but he's old polar wolf. Andrew3, young guy, comes to the North for the first time. Each of our protagonists has his challenges and problems and family story lines. Each of them makes his mean's choice and pay for it. Their stories develop in front of our eyes.

In 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin passed a bill forbidding the “promotion of nontraditional sexual relations to minors.” LGBT youth, now defenseless against insults and intimidation under this “gay propaganda” law, are considered sick, sinful and abnormal. Psychologists, teachers and even parents can be fined or imprisoned for supporting them. Forty-five Russian teens and tweens share their stories through anonymous interviews and video diaries. They detail their humiliations and discriminations, as well as their courageous stands against bullies. Their testimonies are collected online as the Children 404 project, named after the common “error 404 - page not found” web message. The support group’s founder struggles within the system to bring public attention and empathy to the victims of this government-endorsed hate, while activist Pasha decides he must leave his homeland altogether if he hopes to find a boyfriend and lead a normal life. Has a new Stone Age arrived in Russia?

Clay animation based on the eponymous folktale Nenets. Caring mother and her three unruly children live in the tundra. After the rescue, one of his sons who had fallen into the river, a mother is sick. Enervated woman appeals to kids asking to bring her water, but children continue to frolic and play, unaware of the approaching disaster ...

About ten years ago Sean Quirk, being a student at the College of Music in Chicago, heard for the first time in his hometown of Milwaukee the audio recording of the group "Hung-Hurtuu" - the world famous performers of Tuvan throat singing. And the life of Sean Patrick has changed dramatically. He moved to the capital of Tuva, the city of Kyzyl, married the Tuvinka Svetlana Sunduy, they had three children. Sean became Honored Artist of the Republic of Tuva, soloist of the National Orchestra of the Republic of Tuva, participant and manager of the folklore group "Alash", nominees at the Grammy in the field of World music. He received land as a gift from the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan in the suburb of Kyzyl and began to build his house.

Far from civilization, where there still have no gap between human and natural world, one can feel the true breath of the earth, the unity of living and nonliving matters. The picture directs towards the world of ones sensory experience, induces to try breathing with the tundra, adding video and audio series with their own feelings, experiences and associations. This is an experimental film also, trying to find new ways of cinematic language.