Funt
Russian Empire, 1919. By a twist of fate, young idealist Osip Zadunaisky meets an infamous con artist and self-proclaimed Turkish subject Ibrahim Bender. A man of pure thought and aristocratic upbringing, Osip would never have associated with a cunning and unscrupulous swindler, but Bender comes up with an offer Osip cannot refuse. A precious royal relic, a diamond-encrusted golden scepter is hidden somewhere in town; Bender needs a partner on his mission to find it, and offers Osip a share of the profit from selling the treasure. And so begins their joint venture, wrought with comical and dangerous twists and turns, where they have to outsmart and outmaneuver officers of the White Guard as well as the local mafia, who also have their eyes on the scepter. As their quest unfolds, Osip is compelled to learn Bender’s tricks of the trade: charming flattery, delicate deception, soft intimidation... as well as brute force.
This is a story about the Ukrainian Cinderella. Since childhood, Vera "Verka" Serduchka dreams of becoming a famous artist. To fulfill her dream, the girl, after finishing school, goes to the capital, where her adventures begin...
In the remote Ukrainian village of Dikanka, handsome but poor Vakula loves the beautiful Oxana, but she's holding out for a wealthy prince, and her father doesn't think much of him either. On Christmas Eve she sends him on a ridiculous quest for dancing shoes that takes him all the way to the imperial palace in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the help of some odd characters from the village and the Devil himself.
Abram Lvov
Based on a novel by Ivan Bahryanyi. About the terrible years of repression in Ukraine in the 1930s.
