Childhood by the River

What is a human brain? Is it just a part of central nervous system, super computer or master who controls human's life? Modern neuroscience researches will help us answer this questions.

In the land where, after the closure of the state farms, arable land has already become overgrown with birch forests, the farmer Valery Kravtsov is developing his small farm. Struggles for the harvest with bad weather, weeds and out-of-order technology. He gets up at 4 am to be at his "hacienda" at 5 already. He brings up his son, hoping that he will leave the farm for him. And gives the inhabitants of the deserted villages work and hope.

Alexey Trantsev and Alexey Mutin lost their hands as a result of an electrical injury. Years later, they mastered bionic prostheses and live like ordinary people. Only they sorely lack the ability to feel with their hands — to feel warmth, cold, water, or touch their beloved girlfriend. Meanwhile, scientists are developing a system for sensing hand prostheses.

2011-2012. Swamp area. Protesting moods. The 22-year-old Dasha goes to the polls - to the municipal deputies of the Brateevo district of Moscow. She is not a member of any party, and her electoral fund is 15,000 rubles, given by her mother. This is how Dasha begins his political career. Two years passed. Career is shaping up. What can not you tell about personal life: it seems that the family and political success for the girl are incompatible things ...

1080 meters - the depth of the mine "Komsomolskaya", where the heroes of the film descend daily. Around - tundra and abandoned villages. Around Vorkuta there are five mines. After the explosion on the "North" - four. The city lives. Pasha and Roma drive cars around the city, telling us about their lives and finding themselves in various places.

Anthropomorphic robots are increasingly being introduced into our lives: they meet us at the reception, educate children and even live in families as partners. Scientists are trying to make robots as human-like as possible. In the late 80s, scientists studying the emotional reaction of people to robots discovered the "uncanny valley effect": the most humanoid robots caused dislike and even fear in people. But what will happen when they become indistinguishable from a person? And will they?

Physicist Vladimir Kalyaev's measured life changed dramatically after the December 2024 sinking of tankers carrying fuel oil in the Kerch Strait. Having quickly left his Skoltech laboratory, he volunteered in Anapa to test experimental methods for removing the fuel oil. A group of volunteers quickly gathered around Vladimir, with his energy and enthusiasm. The experimental project was named "KB Kalyaev" (Kalyaev Design Bureau). After the New Year holidays, Skoltech arranged a business trip for the scientist, and now Vladimir is perfecting the cleanup technology in the face of storms, winds, polluted coastlines, and toxic oil products.

Oil is a primary energy source in the world. Global oil consumption reached approximately 95 million barrels per day but oil fields' quality is constantly declining. A team of Russian scientists came up with more accurate, cheaper, and faster technology that can increase the oil production rate. After all, modern civilization is built in the way that 'to live well' means 'consume more oil'

The film is based on five cases of people with implants in the head. Against the backdrop of the growing popularity of the topic of “chipping” and fear of being controlled by artificial intelligence, filmmakers find five dramatic stories where the “chip in the head” is a vital necessity. With the help of implants, doctors cure deafness, remove tremor from patients with parkinsonism, stop epilepsy attacks and treat dystonia. Where can the scientific discoveries of the recent years lead us? Is it possible to control people with the help of technology and what neuroethical issues are encountered in its use?

In the film, we look into the future. How does scientific knowledge change our worldview, culture and environment? On the one hand, the development of technology expands our boundaries of freedom - we live longer, learned to establish communication with paralyzed people, etc. But the more scientists learn about the brain, the more questions arise. Back in the 1980s, Benjamin Libet conducted experiments that, according to many scientists, proved that man does not have free will. Neuroscientists say that our behavior and decisions depend only on the activity of neurons.

The film tells about Aleksandr Khanzhonkov - the first Russian cinema producer and famous film maker of pre-revolutionary Russia.

The film is about volleyball coach Nikolay Karpole.

The film is about the life of Russian paramedics in rural areas.

They go out with slogans on streets, climb with flash-lights on the roofs, they want to be noticed. Why? They are 18-20 years old, they are in motion. What for?

He went through the war from Leningrad to Germany. He was awarded two medals of valor and the Order of The Patriotic War of the 2-nd Class. Vladimir lives in a small village of the Irkutsk region. Sometimes he goes to the city to his son, grandson and great-grandchildren by the train. But sometimes there are the moments of silence to sit and remember all the living and the dead. And the more silence, the more the memories, the ghosts of war.