Where Are We Headed?

Celebrated Russian theatre director Anatoly Vasiliev's Asino (Italian for donkey) is an epic ode to this beast of burden. The donkey has a long cultural history dating back to Greek mythology and the Bible: Jesus rode into Jerusalem on one; Sancho Panza had a loyal donkey; Winnie the Pooh was friends with the dejected Eeyore. Donkeys stand for stupidity, stubbornness and humility.

This is the story of one day in the life of a Georgian family. A fisherman's family celebrates Christmas day.

In defiance of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ laws, a queer, 21-year-old artist risks her life performing in surreal costumes throughout Moscow. Jenna Marvin’s radical public performances blend artistry and activism in this SXSW documentary.

Sigur Rós have given a dozen film makers the same modest budget and asked them to create whatever comes into their head when they listen to songs from the band's album Valtari. The idea is to bypass the usual artistic approval process and allow people utmost creative freedom. These 16 films are the result. Sad, funny, beautiful and, occasionally, plain bewildering, they represent just some of the available emotional responses to this most contemplative album.

For generations, the Salamanca community of Mennonites has been living in the same modest and rigidly organized way. Modern-day scenes are accompanied by a voice-over narrating a man’s recollections of his youth. “As soon as I close my eyes,” he explains, “I go back to the past, to the moment when I made the choice that shaped my entire life.” Speaking in the Plautdietsch language, he talks calmly of the strong curiosity he felt as a young boy about the world beyond Salamanca and the Mennonite faith – a curiosity for which he paid dearly.

In the frigid waters off of Russia’s Bering Strait, Inuit and Chukchi hunters today still seek out the giant sea mammals that have provided their people with food since time immemorial. It is known, that the whale hunting today is controversial and subject to international criticism and regulations. But the Inuit and Chukchi hunt is permitted by international law because of the whaling is the foundation of their culture and their life. The contemporary story of elders Aleksandr and Aleksei blends seamlessly with that of “the woman who gave birth to a whale” and other ancient myths, told here in vivid animation, in this ongoing struggle for survival and preservation of a traditional lifestyle in one of the most remote places on earth.

The plot of the film is based on the large-scale reconstruction of the historical building of the HPP-2 power plant on Bolotnaya Embankment under the direction of architect Renzo Piano and the transformation of the power plant into a cultural institution and a cultural house of the V-A-C foundation, founded by Leonid Mikhelson. For five years, the process of fixing this reincarnation was carried out. The basis of the shooting method was the desire to show big events through the prism of the interaction of art and life of the construction site and the V-A-C foundation, through small details, through the people who are doing it all.

Documentary film by Ruslan Fedotov

Five star players, five world-class pros with fabulous fees. They are 20 years old, they already know what it means to win. This is the NaVi esports team. The filmmakers talk about a difficult time in their life associated with a major defeat and loss of champion status. Ahead of the guys is the final of the 2020 championship in Poland, which can once again raise them to the top.

Rui lives alone on the outskirts of Lisbon, making a living from illegal fishing. He sells his crabs door to door by the kilo. Using dazzling chiaroscuro effects with an impressionist touch, Ruslan Fedotow gradually reveals the daily life of a man struggling with drug addiction, and his fight to stay in touch with his son who is being kept away from him.

A heartbreaking portrait of 16-year-old Ukrainian refugees Andrey and Alisa, who help out at a school for refugee children in Budapest. Andrey asks the children to draw pictures of something from back home in Ukraine. What beautiful things can they recall? He offers the example of his own grandfather’s cherry orchard. The children use confrontational, adult vocabulary to describe their experiences of war. A young boy earnestly goes through a number of battle strategies, and a girl provides a vivid account of a rocket attack.

The story of a Moscow based electronic musician Moa Pillar traveling to Nalchik, a small town located at Caucasus in the South of Russia, in order to meet Bulat Khalilov, a local music enthusiast who has started a field recording label that documents traditional Circassian music. Bulat connects Moa Pillar to the local music community, so that Moa can collaborate with folk musicians who represent the tradition deeply rooted in the history of the country and its inner struggles. The collaboration experiment reveals a clash between century-old traditions and modern culture of millennials and makes both heroes doubt the possibility of a dialogue between two worlds they represent.

A girl — or a woman — in a bright red scarf, with a soft toy mouse in her arms. To look at her, you wouldn’t guess that she’s 50 and has been homeless for three years. Her incredible passion to live prevents her from freezing on the cold streets of Moscow.

They create relevant music, whose performers fly to the top of the music charts, set trends and make full use of viral marketing. Alexander Gudkov, Yuri Bardash, Bahh Tee and other trendsetters of Russian musical culture — in the series of documentaries "Stream".