Come Back Free

Apatity, a far-north industrial town in Russia, first came into being as a USSR concentration camp. Although its environment is at the brink of ecological disaster, the people here still believe in the state’s promise of immortality that can be gained through sacrificial service to the fatherland. This is how the elite in a totalitarian state buy a person’s will, strength, talent and, indeed, life, turning the human being into another resource that is as faceless as a grey lump of ore. ‘I cannot fight big corporations or state structures with a film. But I hope that there is someone in the darkness of the cinema whose heart will get a bit warmer after seeing it,’ says the director. The larger part of the film was shot during the polar night.

Brothers Tarmo and Toomas Urb are musicians whose phenomenon in 1980s Estonia is hard to overestimate. Performing romantic ballads accompanied by guitar, they were able to bring a full house to any concert hall. Some songs like "Imeline laas" or "Musta pori näkku" have become folklore. The brothers were compared to the duo Simon & Garfunkel.

A film about Pavel Klushantsev (1910–1999), an outstanding Soviet director at the Lennauchfilm studio and creator of popular science films about space, who foresaw advancements in space exploration decades ahead. Drawing on unique documentary footage, the film traces Klushantsev’s life story. He endured revolutions, wars, professional triumphs, and dismissal from his beloved work, yet never lost faith in humanity’s boundless potential to build a better world.

The remote, abandoned, snow-swept Belarusian village of Lute. The last resident of this village, Valentina Kirillovna Shpakova, is celebrating the New Year.

In ancient times, wizards fought each other for ancient artifacts that gave them power over the world. Many of them died in battle. And one of them, the Wizard, spent many centuries searching for the relics. In our days, schoolgirl Sonya accidentally discovers the artifacts, not knowing about their magical power. Without wanting it, the girl becomes a sorceress, not yet guessing what danger awaits her.