Kenan Aliev

Eastern Front

On February 24, 2022, Yevhen, together with his friends, volunteered to join the first aid squad on the front line. They provided life-saving support and evacuation of the wounded. This film reveals the experiences of these young men for six months full of drama, despair, fear, hatred, bitterness, love, and, most importantly, faith in victory.

Warriors of Buryatia

What is stronger: the death of a loved one or a state propaganda? The war between Russia and Ukraine goes. Among the all Russian republics, Buryatia almost immediately found itself as a region with the highest number of dead military. Funerals and zinc coffins have been coming to Buryatia almost every day since February 24, 2022. The government of Buryatia is counting the heroes, posthumously. This is a reflection film from the stories and thoughts of loved ones of the new "war heroes", supplemented by the reality of their life in one of the most depressing regions of Russia. This is scary, but worth to know.

Broken Ties

The film Broken Ties, by independent Russian filmmaker Andrei Loshak, is an unflinching portrayal of families divided by war. It features seven different pairings, whose members speak periodically with Loshak, one-to-one, to explain their points of view. Their conversations extend over the war's first three months, during which time their opinions evidence no change. The film makes no attempt at dialogue -- on the contrary, it is a testimony to the absence of dialogue amidst an unfolding war, and an unsentimental diagnosis of the sickness of a society in which official propaganda proves stronger than even the most intimate family ties.

Sakharovo

In the winter of 2021 rallies were held in Russia in support of Alexei Navalny. People protested against the arrest of the politician. The number of those detained at the rallies exceeded 17,000 people, many of whom received administrative punishment in the form of arrest. There were not enough places for detention in Moscow, and therefore the detainees were sent to the Center for the temporary detention of foreign citizens in Sakharovo near Moscow. As a result, an unusual group of people gathered in the special detention center - almost a thousand young men and women who were close in spirit. This film is their memories of their days behind bars.

Belarus: Recalculating Route

On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The results, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won, were not recognized by 14 countries. Protests and mass detentions of protesters have been taking place in the country for more than two months. Documentary director Maxim Shved, in order to capture the mood of people and their political views, installed cameras in the cars of two taxi drivers, Pavel and Anna. They talk to passengers, and inevitably their dialogues come down to politics.

I Am Svetlana Tikhanovskaya

The presidential campaign in Belarus in 2020 did not bode well for surprises. The permanent (since 1994) head of state Alexander Lukashenko went to his sixth term. During this time, an authoritarian political regime was established in the country. None of the real applicants were registered as presidential candidates: some were arrested, others left the country. As a result, the only competitor of the incumbent president was the housewife, the wife of one of the political prisoners, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.

Parajanov. A Ticket to Eternity

Documentary about the life of Sergei Parajanov, a prominent Soviet-era filmmaker who was active in Ukraine, Georgia and Armenia and was persecuted by the communist government for his views on the pretext of his homosexuality, which was a crime in the USSR. The centerpiece of this documentary is Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, a 1965 movie directed by Parajanov, that awakened the Ukrainian national consciousness which had been suppressed by decades of Soviet rule.