Dear Yelena Sergeyevna

How Robinson Was Created

The film is based on the feuilleton of the same name by I. Ilf and E. Petrov. A writer named Moldovantsev delivers a thrilling Soviet‐style Robinson Crusoe adventure on deadline, only to have his editor insist on adding a local party chairman, freed ex‐members, an activist collector, a housing committee and even a meeting table, bell and ledger washed ashore. Reluctantly he complies, so far that he jettisons Robinson himself as an unjustified weakling, transforming his novel into an absurd manifesto of bureaucratic excess.

Office Romance

Anatoly Novoseltsev is a mousy single father and office stumblebum working at a statistics bureau in Moscow. In the hopes of being promoted, he is coaxed into charming his disagreeable and seemingly unfeeling boss, Ludmila Kalugina, or "Meany" as she's otherwise known by her subordinates. Helped by his colleagues Olya and Yura, Anatoly attempts to ease the yoke of Ms. Kalugina, and what follows in the wake of his graceless manoeuvres is completely unforeseen, as he awakens a side to her not yet known, even to herself..

Beware of the Car!

An insurance agent who moonlights as a car thief steals cars various crooks and never from the common people. He sells the stolen cars and gives the money to charity. His best friend, a cop, is assigned to bring in this modern Robin Hood.

About Fate

Two strangers believe in love but never seem to be able to find its true meaning. In a wild twist of events, fate puts each in the other's path on one stormy New Year's Eve.

Station for Two

Platon Ryabinin, a pianist, is traveling by train to a distant town of Griboedov to visit his father. He gets off to have lunch during a twenty minute stop at Zastupinsk railway station. He meets Vera, a waitress, after he refuses to pay her for the disgusting food he doesn't even touch and misses his train due to police investigation of the incident. His passport is then accidentally taken away from him by Andrei, Vera's fiancé, and his money is stolen as he waits for the next train to Griboedov. Vera learns that Platon is about to get sentenced and sent to prison in the Far East for a car accident he isn't guilty for. During the few days that Platon has to spend in Zastupinsk he and Vera develop feelings for each other...

Unbelievable Adventures of Italians in Russia

In Italy, a dying woman tells her granddaughter that she hid her treasure many years ago in Russia, in the city of Leningrad. As more people learn about it, they head to Leningrad to find the lion where it is rumoured to be buried.

The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!

A group of old friends have a tradition of going to a public bathing house on New Year's Eve. Occasionally too much vodka and beer makes two of them unconscious. The problem is that one of them (Sasha) has to go to Leningrad but another one (Zhenya) goes. Zhenya wakes up at Leningrad airport. Believing that he is still in Moscow he takes a taxi and goes home. The street name, building and even apartment number, the way an apartment complex looks the same and the key coincide completely - just typical Soviet-type 'economy' architecture. Imagine the surprise of Nadya when she enters her apartment and finds a man without trousers in her bed. What's more - Nadya's fiancé also finds him there...

Ruthless Romance

In the town of Bryakhimov, noble but poor widow Harita Ignatyevna Ogudalova seeks to arrange marriages for her three daughters. She maintains an “open house”, hoping to attract gentlemen well-off enough to marry a dowry-less girl for love.

Old Men: Robbers

An old detective does not want to retire. The only way out is to prove to his boss that he still can catch criminals. The problem is that there were no crimes recently to work on. Together with his retired friend he decides to commit a perfect crime himself and then quickly solve it. Real problems start when a real criminal steals money he has stolen.

Carnival Night

It is the New Year's Eve and the employees of an Economics Institute are ready with their annual New Year's entertainment program. It includes a lot of dancing and singing, jazz band performance and even magic tricks. Suddenly, an announcement is made that a new director has been elected and that he is arriving shortly. Comrade Ogurtsov arrives in time to review and disapprove of the scheduled entertainment. To him, holiday fun has a different meaning. He imagines speakers reading annual reports to show the Institute's progress over the year, and, perhaps, a bit of serious music, something from the Classics, played by the Veterans' Orchestra. Obviously, no one wants to change the program a few hours before the show, much less to replace it with something so boring! Now everyone has to team up in order to prevent Ogurtsov from getting to the stage. As some of them trap Ogurtsov one way or another, others perform their scheduled pieces and celebrate New Year's Eve.

To Remember

Sovershenno seryozno

An interesting voyage through the Soviet television and film industry.

The Prediction

A popular middle-aged writer is warned by a fortuneteller that he will die in exactly 24 hours. He then meets a man, who claims to be him. The writer uses this bizarre situation to change his life and take revenge.

The Man from Nowhere

In a young anthropologist's dream, he brings a member of the imaginary mountain tribe called Tapi to Moscow, in order to save him from being eaten by other tribesmen as well as to prove the tribe's existence to academia. The main character is probably based on Yeti.

Hello, Fools!

Two people meet one another in a multi-million city...

Promised Heaven

In the new Russia, former middle class citizens find themselves out in the dumps. Literally. They build homes, elect their own government, work, beg, scavenge, date and fight all while living in a huge city dump. Some try to beat the odds and return to society, but it seems that there is only one place left for them to go...