Russian Souvenir

A documentary on the life of the famous actress, deceased wife of the director Grigoriy Aleksandrov.

In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin revolt against the brutal, tyrannical regime of the vessel's officers. The resulting street demonstration in Odessa brings on a police massacre.

Just before the 1905 Bolshevik Revolution, factory workers strike against their oppressive factory bosses. When a worker is accused of stealing a piece of machinery, he commits suicide, and his colleagues revolt against the overarching Czarist regime. As the strike drags on and government officials grow increasingly desperate to end it, their methods of dealing with the rebellious workers become more and more aggressive.

As the Russian monarchy crumbles, conflicts at Petrograd intensify, with Soviet hero V.I. Lenin leading the rebellion that overthrows the tsar's Winter Palace.

Widely claimed to be Joseph Stalin's favorite movie, this classic musical comedy is a must-see. The action takes place on a steamboat on the iconic Volga River, as two groups of performers travel to Moscow to perform in the Moscow Musical Olympiad.

Having revolutionized film editing through such masterworks of montage as Potemkin and Strike, Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein emigrated West in hopes of testing the capabilities of the American film industry. Quickly ostracized from Hollywood, Eisenstein, Grigory Alexandrov, and photographer Eduard Tisse (at the urging of author Upton Sinclair) wandered south of the border, where they began filming a highly stylized documentary about the people and volatile social climate of Mexico. Unfortunately, a lack of funds prohibited the film's completion, and the famed director was unable to edit the film. In 1979, by referring to Eisenstein's extensive notes and sketches, Alexandrov assembled the most definitive version of the film; as close to Eisenstein's vision as one is ever likely to see.

This film shows contrasting views of women with problematic pregnancies and the outcomes resulting when they seek out a back-alley abortionist, a trained and licensed abortion provider in a clinic, or an obstetrician capable of performing a Caesarian Section. The full film appears to be lost, but shortened versions, including one with dialogue scenes added in Germany in 1935, can be found on the internet. Additionally, Eisenstein's role in making the picture remains unclear: did he direct some or all of it, just edit it, or merely leave it to Alexandrov and Tisse to make? Released in the USA 1930 in a 65 minute (5800 ft.) version with English intertitles and a music track under the title BIRTH.

November 1941. One by one, the men leave, leaving only old men, women and children in the village of Bykovka. Ivan Vybornov, the chairman of the collective farm, is also raring to go to the front, but, obeying party discipline, remains in the village and continues to skillfully and energetically lead the collective farm, mobilizing fellow villagers to send bread for the front and starving cities.

Merry Fellows was the first Soviet musical comedy. Set in Odessa and Moscow in the 1930s. Shepherd Kostya Potekhin is mistaken for an international concert star. He falls in love with Anyuta and plays the "star" for her. In a cascade of comic musical numbers he becomes the leader of a Jazz-Band and gives a hilarious show at the Odessa Music Hall. Now he is destined to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

100.000.000 peasants – illiterate, poor, hungry. There comes a day when one woman decides that she can live the old life no longer. Using ways of new Soviet state and industrial progress, she changes the lives and labours of her village.

An American circus performer finds herself the victim of racism after it is revealed that she's the mother of a mixed-race child. In the midst of the public scandal, she finds happiness, love, and refuge in the USSR.

A drab woman scientist, working on machine to harness solar energy, and a pert concert singer look-alike being courted to play her in a movie swap identities and find personal growth, professional success, love, and happiness.

This literary adaptation was the first Soviet feature length dramatization, as opposed to documentary film, on the momentous Battle of Stalingrad.

An epic presentation of the turbulent days leading to the Russian Revolution. Based on the classic work by John Reed, this important documentary makes use of rare footage and little-known information, stirringly narrated by Orson Welles.

Footage of the aftermath of the January 14 1931 earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico.

The story takes place in Summer 1942, when a small force of Black Sea Fleet sailors was surrounded by German troops but broke out the encirclement.