Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy

Almanac of five short stories commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.

In Russia, in 1907, a rich lenient husband of a loose unfaithful woman is brutally murdered. She and her two lovers are suspects, but what about the stranger she met just before the murder? With no friends left, she and the stranger bond.

A battle-scarred, has-been Hungarian cop, tormented by his memories of nearly killing an innocent woman in his custody, enters into a Faustian pact in which he trades his soul for a handful of "magic" bullets that always hit the mark. A mysterious and mythical story.

A small family of travelers arrives after a long journey at a village hut, which they claim as home. The family consists of Damian, a mute but skilled hunter, his wife Priscila, and their two children, a mute son named Pablo and a beautiful daughter named Agueda. Before long, Don Rodrigo, the feudal lord of the village, sets his sights on both Priscila and Agueda.

Tallinn, Estonia, days before outbreak of World War II. Hotel detective and Polish writer team up to find Tear of the Prince of Darkness, a legendary ring which can bring Satan’s rule over the world.

Made in wartime and edited in candlelight, Mikhail Vartanov's rarely-seen masterpiece tells about his friendship with the genius Sergei Parajanov who was imprisoned by KGB "at the peak of his artistic power". Vartanov takes us back with the scenes from his censored 1969 film The Color of Armenian Land where Paradjanov is at work on his suppressed chef-d'oeuvre The Color of Pomegranates - widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time - and contrasts it with the shocking request Parajanov sent him in unpublished 1974 letters from the Soviet prisons. Vartanov's camera documents Parajanov's striking last day at work in 1990 during the making of the unfinished Confession. A monumental wordless montage - the entire sixth reel - concludes Vartanov's acclaimed documentary, which, despite the prohibitive conditions it was created in, won the admiration of many of cinema's greatest artists, including Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese.

An animated short film based on the 1877 short story written by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It chronicles the experiences of a man who decides that there is nothing to live for in the world, and is therefore determined to commit suicide. A chance encounter with a young girl changes his mind.

A starship crashed on an uninhabited planet and its crew had to abandon it. Years later the survivors and their children try to return to the ship and send a distress signal. But for that they must go through a very dangerous mountain passage.

The plane of the American pilot Hank Morgan got lost in time. The pilot falls into temporary loop and finds himself at the era of the glorious King Arthur. Here he is destined to meet the legendary knights of the Round Table and the insidious Queen Morgana - the sister of the king, the beautiful Sandy and the wise Wizard. He will find himself in the rags of a slave and in knightly armor, to witness the greatness and death of the kingdom.

Drama film about different lifes of twin brothers.

Drama film about different lifes of twin brothers.

A disturbing psychological thriller based on the classic novel by Agatha Christie. Ten strangers are forced to come face to face with their dark pasts after receiving an anonymous invitation to an isolated island off the coast of England.

The script is based on Borges's story "The Gospel according to St. Mark".

The script is based on Borges's story "The Gospel according to St. Mark".

A Soviet film adaptation of Tolstoy's 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich.'

A Soviet film adaptation of Tolstoy's 'The Death of Ivan Ilyich.'

Bearded contract employee goes on a "giant bouquet of flowers" planet and prefers friendship with the robot because all inhabitants are creepy psychos.

A painter lives with his wife and four children in a studio. Due to creative frustrations and the irritation of admirers and hangers-on he becomes increasingly reclusive, finally sealing himself away in the attic. Based on an Albert Camus story.

A painter lives with his wife and four children in a studio. Due to creative frustrations and the irritation of admirers and hangers-on he becomes increasingly reclusive, finally sealing himself away in the attic. Based on an Albert Camus story.

Soviet film based on Borges' "Garden of Forking Paths." The film tells about the events that occurred on the eve of the British offensive in Saint-Montauban on July 24, 1916. A screen version of the short story of the famous Argentine classic Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986). Course work by Alexander Kaidanovsky, as a director, at the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors at VGIK. "Pavilion" for filming was chosen a room in a communal apartment on Vorovskogo street, where Alexander Kaidanovsky lived.

Pranas, now a celebrity singer, returns to his homeland from a big city. He is greeted at the airport and driven to his native village by a childhood friend Jonas, who works there as a doctor.

Facts is a dramatization of a massacre in a Lithuanian village during World War II when Nazis rounded up over 100 men, women, and children accused of partisan activity and then torched the houses in which they were held. Using Russian interrogations of a few survivors, the testimony of villagers, and some of the Germans responsible for the killing, the film gradually reconstructs the event and its context.

A story about a high school student Asya and her complicated relationship with literature teacher Larikov.

The story of the trial of the trade union boss Jack Rafferty. With great force and astute critical insight, corruption and crime are exposed, accompanying the advancement of Western leaders to power.

Based on a short story by Anton Chekhov, this drama centers around a desire for revenge and the tragedy of a star-crossed love. After a general ruins some men under him in punishment for a rebellion, a friend of the broken men vows revenge. The friend, a naval officer, takes a job as a valet in the general's son's house. While he plots his revenge, the son has an affair with a woman whom the valet begins to love. She is discarded after becoming pregnant, and the valet has his own troubles; he has contracted tuberculosis. Sick and unable to follow through on his plans for vengeance, he leaves for France with the pregnant woman hoping to declare his love and seek a cure for his illness.

A Space travel comes to an end and before the landing the Cosmonaut falls asleep. He does not hear signals from the Earth. The disaster approaches. When the ship flies over the native house of the Cosmonaut, the ring of the alarm clock which the Grandfather winded up sounds and the Cosmonaut wakes up.

Pirx, an experienced pilot, is hired to go on a top-secret mission to evaluate some 'nonlinears' (an experimental model of android) for use as crewmembers on future space flights. Pirx and this intriguing crew are sent out to launch two satellites into the rings of Saturn, but he is determined to find out and identify a hostile unhuman coworker among them.

Near a gray and unnamed city is the Zone, a place guarded by barbed wire and soldiers, and where the normal laws of physics are victim to frequent anomalies. A stalker guides two men into the Zone, specifically to an area in which deep-seated desires are granted.

The newlyweds return to Moscow after a wonderful sea cruise on the Black Sea. It seems that they will have a happy life ahead, their beloved job, but chance rudely cuts off all dreams: Viktor doesn't have time to slow down and knocks down an elderly woman with his Zhiguli. His desire to evade responsibility is replaced by repentance and a decision to accept the burden of guilt upon himself.

The setting is Central Asia during the Russian civil war. In the post-revolutionary twenties, when the power in European Russia was (officially) "fully in the hands of the workers and peasants", but the fight against the Basmachi rebels was in full swing. When a Red Army detachment captures Sultan Mazar, the brains behind the Bazmachi contingent, a decision is made to escort urgently the prisoner to the Bukhara province. The difficult mission is entrusted to a grizzled mountain trapper and conscientious revolutionary called Mirzo. His expertise is essential to traverse the precarious paths and steep mountain ridges along the way, impossible terrain for the inexperienced. A group consisting of Mirzo, his brother Kova, the Sultan, his daughter Zaranghis and slave Saifulla set off on this journey. They are forced to fight on the mountain ridges as well as negotiate the natural dangers and harsh elements.

Soviet animation from Vladimir Tarasov.

The continuation of the story started by adventure movie "The Lost Expedition" set in 1923.

An expedition of a few geologists is going to Siberia in order to found a gold sources during 1918.

In 1921, the Cheka became aware that gold and jewelry were stolen from the treasury of Gokhran, and that a special organization was involved in transporting the stolen to Estonia. Scout Maksim Isayev is sent to this country. He establishes that the cipher of the Soviet embassy Olenetskaya works for the German resident Nolmar, with whom employees of Gokhran Kozlovskaya and an appraiser Yakov Shelekhes are associated. As a result of the provocation, Isayev was arrested. In the prison cell, he finds himself together with the famous Russian writer Nikandrov, who could not find himself in post-revolutionary Russia and went abroad. Released soon by the efforts of his comrades, Isayev continues the struggle for the fate of Nikandrov — for his return to his homeland.

A story of three struggling artists: a painter, a poet, and a composer, living in a bohemian Montmartre district of Paris. They help a poor flower girl, Violette, to find shelter, when she is thrown out by her landlord.

Following the Russian Civil War, a loyal Red, Shilov, must prove he is at home among strangers as he attempts to recapture a shipment of gold that he was supposed to deliver to Moscow. Needed as a means of buying food for the people, the gold Shilov was entrusted with is stolen, initially by a group of assassins and then by a group of bandits. In tracking the gold’s whereabouts, Shilov’s motives are questioned and he is suspected of treason, in part because his brother was a devoted White. In an effort to clear his name, Shilov locates the gold, but he also discovers rampant greed and corruption.

Feature film.

A Russian engineer Petr Garin possesses a unique beam-shooting weapon that can destroy any target. His goal is to achieve world domination with the help of this weapon. Vasily Shelga is out to stop him and also to prevent others getting possession of this weapon.

American journalist gets a sensational material but is afraid to publish it...

This lavish Soviet/Czech co-production is based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky's famous novel, The Gambler, which tells the story of a Russian living in Germany, in a gambling resort. This film is set at the turn of the century, and was filmed in Karlovy Vary (Carlsbad), Czechoslovakia. Played by Nikolai Burlyayev, the gambler succumbs completely to his addiction, using up every resource he has (human, spiritual and financial) in his wagering, finally becoming a rootless drifter.

A mathematician offers to sell his soul to the devil for a proof or disproof of Fermat's Last Theorem. Based on "The Devil and Simon Flagg" by Arthur Porges.

Fifteen years old Sasha is dreaming about adventures, falling in love and doesn't know that WWII is approaching...

As WWII comes to a close, a wounded Soviet soldier and a Kazak woman seek refuge in a church. In this holy place, they take time to rest and appreciate the beauty of their surroundings, as the interior of the building is lined with ornate works of art. A group of Nazi soldiers eventually disrupts this moment of peace, as they enter the church and defile the sacred works within. Undetected, the original occupants witness this atrocity and the proud Russian feels compelled to fight in an effort to preserve his country’s history.

A screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Russian writer Ivan Turgenev. The film portrays the life of Russian landed gentry in the 1840s. After a long travel in Europe, nobleman Lavretsky returns back home. Everything in his estate is so familiar and dear to his heart. On his first visit to his neighbors, the Kalitins, he meets Lisa. He forgets his wife, left in Paris, forgets all his past. He desires only one thing – to always be with Lisa who is so unlike the women he used to know.

The plot of the film is the love of a married woman, Anna Karenina, and a young officer, Aleksei Vronsky. Anna leaves the family in search of happiness to her beloved person. She has to take a very serious step in her life - to part with her son. The attitude of the high society towards her is changing. All this brings a lot of pain and humiliation to the main character. The tragic story of love and betrayal, the fate of a woman, for the sake of passion who decided to change her life irrevocably.

The action takes place in Siberia where a mysterious wall appears from time to time. Scientists are dispatched to study it and some of them believe that the wall is produced by some sort of alien intelligence, "the Martians", as they call them. The scientists attempt to communicate with the Wall, but all they experience in return are hallucinations about their past experiences. In those visions they are faced with some unresolved issues, repressed memories, and absurd dream-like situations. They meet people – messengers – from their past who reveal to them some simple truths about their own lives, which may be hard to accept, so they dismiss those messengers as the Martians and stubbornly continue attempting to "understand" the Mysterious Wall using their rational minds.