Alexander Urzhanov

Last bastion of freedom of expression or playground for extremists and criminals? Opinions are divided on the messaging service Telegram. Just like on its mysterious founder, tech billionaire Pavel Durov. Is this man an uncompromising advocate of radical freedom or an accomplice of criminals of all kinds? Author Aleksandr Urzhanov searches for answers.

A portrait of Alexei Navalny (1976), the staunchest opponent of Russian President Vladimir Putin, severely poisoned in 2020, arrested in 2021 and died on February 16, 2024 in a Siberian prison camp under unclear circumstances.

The documentary is dedicated to the Strugatsky brothers, iconic Soviet writers who are still incredibly popular and relevant in Russia. There were queues for Strugatsky's books in the USSR, magazines with their stories were resold on the black market. The brothers were not dissidents: they began their writing career as convinced communists; the world of the future they described is the world of a communist utopia. It is all the more surprising that their entire creative biography is a fierce struggle against censorship. Which they lost.

A story about the work of the elite segment of the sex industry in modern Russia on behalf of the representatives of the illegal business themselves.

The film, written by Roman Super and Ivan Proskuryakov, tells about the only circus in the world where difficult teenagers learn circus art and become real artists. Using its example, the Uppsala Circus project shows how creativity can give children the opportunity to live more interesting and successful lives. The film makes it clear to teenagers that there are places where they will be welcomed, and people who are ready to understand and help.

“Just One: The True Story of Patient Zero” tells the story of the person commonly referred to as “patient zero” — the first Soviet citizen diagnosed with HIV. The official history of the epidemic in the USSR begins with this 1987 case, a crisis that has since affected millions in Russia: those living with the virus and those who have died from AIDS. Yet almost nothing is known about this individual. The few existing facts have long dissolved into myths, propaganda, and misinformation. No photographs, no footage — nothing. The biography of “patient zero” had to be reconstructed from scratch, turning the film into a historical investigation.

Igor S. Kon was a prominent Soviet and Russian sociologist, psychologist, and educator. He pioneered sex education in the USSR, worked extensively with teenagers and queer people, and supported those affected by the HIV epidemic. Despite living through times of repression and censorship, Igor S. Kon never gave up his scientific and educational work, and defended the ideas of individual freedom, equality, and tolerance until his final days.

He gave us an unforgettable and unique childhood. What was the great Russian storyteller really like? A documentary film about Eduard Uspensky.

Biography of Soviet/Russian dissident and liberal politician Valeriya Novodvorskaya, an attempt to rethink her heritage in the light of the historical events of recent years.

The author of the film, Evgenia Zobnina, tells in detail about the life and career of Tamara Morshakova, a legendary Russian lawyer, retired judge of the Constitutional Court and a former member of the Human Rights Council.

Minsk, Belarus, August 9, 2020, presidential election day. The day of the start of the most massive protests in the history of the country. There are two people in the square. They could have been good neighbors or acquaintances, but they found themselves opposite each other, in the role of victim and aggressor. It seemed like they couldn't do anything. But both proved that this is not so. That there is a path between desperate feat and inhuman indifference.

Avenue, university and even an asteroid bear his name. Academician Sakharov is known all over the world: someone as the creator of the hydrogen bomb, someone as an outstanding public figure and human rights activist. All his life Andrei Sakharov lived between two fires - science and humanism - and this dualism formed the basis of the film. The picture will show the scientist as he saw himself, through his dialogues with the Conscience.

“The True Biography of Nikita Mikhalkov” is the story of one of the most famous Russian directors (and one of the most adored actors by the public), told unbiasedly - that is, not from the words of Mikhalkov himself.

A biographical film about the popular rap artist Detsl, whose real name is Kirill Tolmatskiy. The rap artist passed away at the age of 35 in 2019.

The film tells the story of Roman Abramovich, the world's most famous Russian businessman, and after February 24, 2022, one of the key participants in Russian-Ukrainian negotiations. Despite the fact that the international press constantly writes about Abramovich, we still lack a deep understanding of his biography.

In recent years, Viktor Pelevin has been releasing a novel every year, each with a circulation of about 100 thousand copies - this is one of the best results in the country. At the same time, he has not given interviews for almost 20 years, does not appear in public and, according to rumors, does not live in Russia. Film director Rodion Chepel makes an attempt to combat hoaxes. To do this, he studied the archives, the early works of Viktor Pelevin and interviewed people who knew him.

A film about Pavel Kushnir — a musician who refused to compromise, in art or in conscience. A “great little man,” as his friends describe him, Pavel played sublime music for two elderly women in an empty community hall with the same devotion he would have brought to Carnegie Hall. He wrote extraordinary novels and dared to protest, fully aware of the consequences. In 2024, Pavel Kushnir died in a prison in Birobidzhan.

The plot of the film is based on the second stage of the expedition "North is nearby." In the spring of 2019, daredevils on three all-terrain vehicles over 29 days covered more than 6,000 km along the northeastern coast of Russia from Novy Urengoy to Anadyr. They chose directions, and powerful Arctic vehicles carried them directly.

With the assassination in 1948 of the head of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Solomon Mikhoels, by the state security, new times begin in the relationship between the Soviet government and the Jews.

Investigation of the causes of death of Vladislav Listyev. 25 years passed, but the perpetrators of the highest-profile contract murder in Russia in the 1990s were not found. Or didn’t you want to? Or found, but silent? Rodion decided to conduct his investigation. He wants to know the name of the customer. Six months of work, dozens of interviews with colleagues, friends and relatives of Listyev, investigators who conducted the case. And everyone answers the main question: who killed Vlad Listyev?

The history of Jewish people in Russia up until the 1917 revolution.

In 1959, nine hikers had disappeared in Ural Mountains of Soviet Union. Even after 60 years, the mystery of their death remains unsolved. On February 2nd, 1959, nine hikers had disappeared in the Ural Mountains of Soviet Union. What the rescue mission saw was hard to believe: the tracks of barefoot prints were heading away from the cut open tent. During the period of several months the bodies had been located in 4 kilometers radius, some frozen to death wearing nothing but underwear or just one sock, others had their head or chest broken, eyes popped out or the tongue torn out. The mystery of Dyatlov group death remains unsolved for over 60 years. The official investigation hit the dead-end while dozens of private investigators and researchers around the world are proposing new versions of what had actually happened ranging from runaway prisoners’ attack to yeti involvement, from secret military tests to aliens. One of them is mountaineer and traveler Teodora Hadjiyska.

A new crisis in a few days rewrote all plans, canceled business, destroyed dreams. How have we changed and our ideas about the world? What will happen next? Will it happen again? There are two views on the situation here: from April and August 2020. And the five key topics are work, family, medicine, debts, and the second wave of the epidemic. Journalists Alexander Urzhanov and Igor Makarov, together with experts, entrepreneurs and ordinary people, understand the new reality.

Gangster capitalism, a shaky state, predatory privatization — and in the midst of all this, suddenly there appears a savior who promises prosperity and justice for all. His name is Sergey Mavrodi, he is a mathematician in a tracksuit. The country is amazed: he's doing it! When the authorities destroy the pyramid, it turns out that Mavrodi himself has not made a personal profit from his global adventure. He just loves building pyramids, and after seven years behind bars, he's starting to do it all over the world.