Although the British Empire collapsed in the mid-20th century, many still believe that British imperialism is alive and well. Around fifteen countries — including Canada and Australia — continue to recognize the British monarch as their nominal head of state. In recent years, as relations between Russia and the West have sharply deteriorated, Britain has been portrayed as Russia’s principal arch-enemy, with imperialist thinking often cited as the root cause. In our new in-depth episode, we explore the history of the British Empire and ask whether it truly belongs to the past. We travel to London, to India — once the “jewel in the crown” — and to other countries that still have unresolved questions for the Empire and are demanding the repayment of historical debts.

A documentary about the life, work, studies, films of the young director Alexandra Lomize.

Every autumn, Russia hosts a congress of the country's most massive political party. The best people of a huge power come to the congress.

This is the story of the woman who returns from war. Talking to psychologists, battling her PTSD and panic attacks, she tries hard to get back to normal life. The documentary shows her path from the beginning of her rehabilitation till her going back to work. Today in Ukraine we are facing the global problem. Hundreds of Ukrainian warriors come back from the war and they don't get psychological help to avoid post traumatic stress disorder. They stay alone with their heavy and suicidal thoughts.

The Siberian permafrost is melting. Ancient bones rise up from the ground and wild animals seem to have disappeared. Three Yakutians venture into the vast wilderness on different quests. Villager Roman and city boy Kyym hunt for a rare reindeer while not so far away, scientist Semyon scourges the permafrost for a viable cell of the mammoth, which he needs to clone the extinct animal. In the midst of an ongoing mass-extinction of fauna and flora, of a Siberian Ivory Rush, and at the dawn of de-extinction, a contemporary myth unfolds. While Roman, Kyym and Semyon close in on their goals, both the frozen earth that they walk on and reality itself melt into another state. HOLGUT boldly combines elements of fiction and documentary and manoeuvrers effortlessly from captivating reality to visual poetry. Down the mammoth-hole, science fiction seems to become reality and reality seems to become myth.

Ded Moroz in exile wishes a Happy New Year to the adults and children who had to leave their homes in 2022 to understand what has happened to all of us.

Two twin brothers. Bright and charismatic. One paints temples, the other writes musicals. And for three years they do not communicate and live in different cities. What got them apart? Different views on life and work or love for one girl?

A film about the Russian Doukhobor community that has been living in the village of Gorelovka in Georgia since the 19th century. The few members of the community remaining in Gorelovka will conduct rituals, prayers and psalms through their closed world.

As five-year-old Stesha learns about colors and shapes, she begins to create, inventing her own ideal fairytale reality. Her drawings and stories are a beautiful reflection of children's boundless imagination, offering a glimpse into her first ethical judgments about the world.

Rosa, Yulia, and Sonya are students at the St. Dimitry School of Mercy Sisters. Alongside their medical classes, the girls attend services and lessons on charity, immersing themselves in a conservative Orthodox life. Balancing the life of a secular teenager with that of a student in a religious school proves challenging. Rosa falls in love with an atheist rock guitarist, Yulia navigates her parents’ divorce as the child of a priest, and Sonya struggles to meet her parents’ expectations. Easter is approaching. They will have to discern what is sinful, what is righteous, and what love truly means. Unfortunately, sometimes only death can separate black from white.

Jacob Janzen was arrested in 1938 and his family never saw him since. 80 years later his great-granddaughter Maria Lotsmanova comes to the Federal Security Service (FSB) archive to find out his fate.

A documentary study of the relationship between an adult daughter and her mother with dementia, in which the author seeks answers to eternal questions about the inevitability of old age and loneliness along the way.

The documentary film explores a top-secret Russian government experiment involving the recruitment and deployment of prisoners to the war in Ukraine. This investigation vividly exposes the brutal cruelty of the Russian military machine and the Kremlin’s disregard for legality and human rights. The film reveals previously unknown details of one of the most ruthless and cynical military projects of the 21st century, based on the analysis of several hundred Ministry of Defense documents, as well as testimonies from the soldiers themselves, their relatives, and publicly available data.

The film is about the effort of a person to do what is hard for him, about the creation of beauty and harmony from the chaos of life, about trying to find oneself and helping others, about the desire to create, no matter what. And this desire cannot be stopped. Because if you do not believe in yourself and do not make an effort, then who will do it for you?

On August 25, 1968, 7 people gathered near the Execution Ground in Moscow to protest against the entry of troops of the Warsaw Pact countries into Czechoslovakia. 5 minutes of freedom on the main square of the Soviet Union cost them years of prisons, exiles and camps. In the film, we meet three participants in the legendary "demonstration of the seven" and young fighters for human rights in contemporary Russia. Who are the dissenters of our time? What are they willing to sacrifice to live in a democratic society?

The protests in Belarus had been going on for the 12th day, but people started to think that the protests began to stall, and Lukashenko slowly set about to regain control. Is it so? Will people get tired? And will they go home, giving Lukashenko another five years of power?

Anastasia, a 19-year-old escort, finds herself falling in love when a new man enters her life, prompting her to quit her job. However, she isn't certain she can stay away from the work she both enjoys and is well-paid for.

The Hamas terror attack of 7 October 2023 has had profound consequences in Israel, Gaza and beyond. This film asks how those in Tel Aviv have reacted to the subsequent war. We accompany several people into their personal spaces as they show us how their individual, day-to-day lives have changed. The documentary lays these contrasts bare by juxtaposing present-day scenes with those filmed before October 7th, back when Tel Aviv was the "capital of cool" — a world-famous party city with the Middle East’s largest spaces devoted to queer life and culture. Now, the city and the country are in shock. These stories and others provide personal insights into a traumatized society. The film is a contemporary document that, despite deep sadness, also offers hope for a time after the war.

Lyudmila Anatolievna is the ex-wife of an officer. She is over 50 years old. She used to be very beautiful and now it is difficult for her to get used to being overweight and having wrinkles on her face. Her inner age remained the same as in the photograph, which hangs in a frame in the hall, she is just a girl there. Lyudmila Anatolievna sits at home all day long and chats on the Internet with a fairytale prince from America. Lyudmila Anatolievna is not just "a lonely woman who wants to get to know each other." She is a typical representative of all single women who have not been able to adapt to the realities of today's life. Most of their life was spent in the Soviet Union, and it is very difficult for them to go beyond the boundaries of the formed stereotypes.

"The Chinese had a terrible curse that you should live in times of change!" one of the six protagonists are the same age, all come from Moscow, all live in European cities, in Moscow, Paris and Amsterdam. Rhythm, style and way of life have nothing in common. The film, consisting of six female portraits, is a kind of political and psychological portrait of the female part of the perestroika generation.