Naum Kleiman

An exploration of 20th century Russia, following the fusing of the Party and the state after the Russian Civil War, which opened the doors to corruption, resulting in the exiling of the left and right opposition. Described using a combination of historical settings, biographies and masterpieces from Russian avant-garde artists, composers and writers from this period in history.

Travelogue of two film historians Nikolay Izvolov and Sergey Kapterev who visit world film archives around the globe in search of a lost sound version of one famous Soviet cartoon. It's "The Post" made by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky in 1929 and based on a poem by Samuil Marshak. At first "The Post" has been released in a silent form and later Tsekhanovsky remade it with experimental music and narration by Daniil Kharms. At that moment it was the first Soviet sound cartoon and it was a success all over the world. Russian film studies consider "The Post" to be of great importance and artistic value but unfortunately it's still lost. Only the silent version and the 1964 remake are still known and available.

A reconstruction of the uncut prologue of Eisenstein's Ivan the Terrible, the scene with the gunners Foma and Erema and a fragment from the unfinished part 3 featuring the German knight Heinrich von Staden. In between stills and newsreel footage. Over a commentary written and spoken by Naum Kleiman. The Criterion DVD extra ends at 33 min, the longer version has added fragments of parts 1 and 2 at the end.

A documentary biography of Russia's greatest filmmaker.