Mikhail Pakhomenko

Made for the Venice Film Festival's 70th anniversary, seventy filmmakers made a short film between 60 and 90 seconds long on their interpretation of the future of cinema.

The bureaucratic epos on the dialogues and plots of Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin "The History of a Town". In a metaphorical and grotesque form, the film conveys the history of Russia from the calling of the Varangians until the end of the 20th century. The film traces the change of the “chiefs” of the county town of Glupov, which differ in varying degrees of tyranny and the corresponding total number of “killed” city residents. The heads of the city easily guess the former heads of the Russian state and the USSR.

This visually evocative drama, directed by the legendary Marlen Khutsiev and completed after his death, is inspired by the real-life encounters between Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy. Through a series of intimate conversations, the two literary giants confront the fundamental questions of existence—life, death, faith, and immortality. In doing so, they reveal profoundly different worldviews, yet ones rooted in a shared cultural tradition and bound by mutual respect. In 2026, the film was finished at the initiative of Marlen Khutsiev’s friends and colleagues.

A story about two old people living in the abandoned faraway village.

In the house of goldmaker Tikhon Kondratievich Molokov, carnival is celebrated noisily, on a grand scale, with gypsies. Everyone drank pretty, and when the mayor tried to “seduce” the owner’s daughter Anisya, the girl’s father broke his nose. Frightened by the consequences of this incident, Tikhon Kondratievich decided to flee the city.

Two detectives are fighting a criminal gang which is steeling goods from the abandoned radioactive area.

50 year old journalist Kovalev finally gets the chance to become the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. Not wanting to tempt fate, the hero turns to the party organizer for support. And then something unexpected happens, Kovalev's ankle is bitten by a dog, and he becomes a werewolf. Turning into a terrible dog at night, Kovalev has been prowling the city ever since and instilling fear in his readers. Policeman Vasily, the son of an unfortunate journalist, is entrusted to find and neutralize the beast.

Yakov Deryabin returns from prison, where he ended up thanks to his wife, and suffers in search of work and housing. No one takes part in the fate of a kind and unfortunate man. And while he sleeps in the entrance of an apartment building under the stairs...