All films are in English or have English Subtitles.

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AMERICA'S IMPACT ON RUSSIA  1998  30 min.  (VHS) 
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies. When the USSR fell apart in 1991 there was a honeymoon in US-Russia relations. But what has been the impact of America on Russian in recent years? How do Russians feel about the U.S. now? Produced by the Center for Defense Information.

ANDREI TARKOVSKY: THE GENIUS, THE MAN, THE LEGEND  1988  101 min.  (VHS)

Director: Michael Leszcylowski
Leszcylowski was editor for Tarkovsky's last film, Sacrifice. He made this film as an homage that presents the brooding as well as the more playful side of genius. 

ANNA  1994  99 min.  (VHS)  
Director:  Nikita Mikhalkov
After filming his daughter Anna over the course of 13 years, Russian film director Mikhalkov incorporated that footage with news reports and propaganda films that charted the collapse of the Soviet Union.  The result is this intimate, emotionally charged documentary that shows how personal and political life are intertwined.

ARCHIVAL REVOLUTION IN RUSSIA  Parts 1 & 2:  2000  120 min. each  (VHS)  
Taped lectures at UI given by Vladimir Kozlov, Deputy Director of the State Archives of the Russian Federation (GARF) in Moscow, at the Research Workshop held in conjunction with the REEEC's annual Summer Research Laboratory. 

THE ARTS AND GLASNOST: ARTISTS  1987  55 min.   (VHS)

THE ARTS AND GLASNOST: CINEMA  1987  55 min.   (VHS)

THE ARTS AND GLASNOST: LITERATURE  1987  55 min.  (VHS)

THE AVANT-GARDE IN RUSSIA  1993  89 min.  (VHS)

Through painting, architecture, sculpture, theater, film, and fashion, the avant-garde of the arts in Russia explored primitivism, cubo-futurism, and productivism.  The optimism and vitality of Russia's artists were quickly crushed by Social Realism, the offical style of Soviet Message Art.  This program presents exampls of art produced before and after the controls and restrictions were placed on creative artists, and explores the effects and impact of state-controlled art.

BABS:  RUSSIAN WOMEN IN PRISON  60 min.  (VHS) 

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

In freezing conditions this film about Russian female prisoners shows the arrival of a truckload of new inmates.  The arrival process and daily routines are documented in this harsh environment.  All these women are in prison for murder.  Most women interviewed said they were defending themselves against abuse from their spouses.  While the standard sentence is 8-10 years, freezing and illness take their toll on these women.

THE BALLAD OF BERING STRAIT  2003  144 min.  (DVD)  -  NEW

Director:  Nina Gilden Seavey

The Ballad of Bering Strait follows a group of young classically-trained Russian musicians on their pursuit of country music stardom.  Emmy Award-winning director Nina Gilden Seavey follows the unique and remarkable course of the young band and captures an insider's view as they leave their homes in Obninsk, Russia for an uncertain future in Nashville, Tennessee.  Feeling so close to achieving success, the band records their self-titled debut album and soon embarks on a tumultuous three-year journey littered with record deals gone awry, unexpected personal sacrifice, hard-to-win audiences and a re-thinking of the American dream. Shot on location in Russia and the United States, The Ballad of Bering Strait debunks the myth of the overnight sensation and engrosses audiences in what it means to cross boundaries and fuse cultures while never losing sight of your passion.

BALTIC STATES/ VIDEO VISITS  1991  54 min.  (VHS)    
Travelogue of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.  Scenes of historic buildings and natural landscapes.

BATTLE FOR THE SOUL OF RUSSIA  51 min.  (VHS)  

The video discusses the Soviet history of religious persecution, the new role of the church since the collapse of the Soviet Union, an the wide-ranging religious expressions and missionary outreaches that are competing for the spiritual allegiance of the Russian people.

BEHIND KREMLIN WALLS  60 min.  (VHS)

ABC News production.  The video examines the history of the Kremlin from the fortified city to the seat of the Soviet government. A nice tour of the Kremlin.

THE BELOVS  1992  60 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Victor Kossakovsky 
The Director captures the day to day life of the Belov family in a small Russian village. 

THE BETRAYED  1995  78 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Clive Gordon 
This documentary captures the horrors of the Chechen war.  It follows the struggle of a group of distraught mothers, who are determined to find out what happened to their sons, who were sent in to attack the Chechen capital of Grozny on New Year's Eve 1994. 

THE BLACK TULIP  1998  27 min.  (VHS)    

Black Tulip was what the 'Afgantsi' - the Soviet soldiers who fought in Afghanistan - called the plane that carried the bodies back to the Soviet Union. Opening at a Soviet army base in Kabul, the film visits an attack helicopter squadron, a firebase outside Kabul, and a guard post near Kandahar. Then the film moves to the monument to the war dead of WWII beside the Kremlin wall, to a Moscow cemetery filled with dead from the Afghan war, and finally, to the heartbreak of a mother of one of the dead soldiers. Filmed in 1987, in collaboration with Novosti Press Agency, The Black Tulip was widely distributed in the underground video market in the USSR and East Europe, where it played a very small part in the collapse of the Soviet system.

BORIS YELTSIN  1998  50 min.  (VHS)

From the A&E Biography series.  Insight into Yeltsin's life and rule comes from his bodyguard of 11 years, political allies, opponents, and ordinary citizens who have endured the transformation of the former superpower.

BOUGHT AND SOLD  1997  42min.  (VHS)

This is a documentary on human trafficing in Russia.  This documentary is in Russian and English with Russian subtitles. 

THE BRATSK SEA  50 min.  (VHS)

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

In the early 1960's, the Soviet Union's Communist planners decided a power plant needed to be built.  They determined that the best location meant the city of Balagansk and farms comprising over thirty-two thousand acres would be flooded by the project.  In order to help with the selling of the relocation to residents of Balagansk, the newspaper was given the assignment of printing positive articles about the relocation. In the end, the dream couldn't measure up to the reality.

BREAKING FREE OF THE EARTH: KAZIMIR MALEVICH, 1878-1935  1989  54 min.  (VHS)
The first major retrospective of Malevich's work since his death took place in 1989 at the Stedelik Museum in Amsterdam, after showings in Leningrad and Moscow. This program documents the exhibition and uses the words of Malevich and the music of Scriabin to illuminate the art. 

CAN AMERICA WORK WITH RUSSIA?  1999  30 min.  (VHS) 
Kosovo is but one of many flashpoints for deadly conflict that lie close to the border of the former Soviet Union. Russia itself is a political and ethnic tinderbox that stretches across eight time zones. Yet U.S. efforts to work with Russia to avoid conflicts have been generally bungled. Are there advantages to a new more cooperative relationship with Russia? Produced by the Center for Defense Information.

CARPATI: 50 MILES, 50 YEARS  1996  80 min.  (VHS)   

Written and Directed by Yale Strom

In 1931 the Carpathian Mountains of the Ukraine were the home of over a quarter of a million Jews.  Sixty-five years later, emigration, the Holocaust and political turmoil  have left less than 1,500.  Director Yale Strom affectionately chronicles the decay of a beautiful culture preserved by the faith and fate of one it's survivors, Zev Godinger.

CENTRAL ASIA: KIRGHIZSTAN AND UZBEKISTAN  1996  56 min.  (VHS)
A Lonely Planet Guidebook production.  Follow a young British host with an MTV attitude as he travels through two former Soviet republics.

CHASING SHADOWS  1990  52 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Naomi Gryn
The film follows the first return since 1945 of Hugo Gryn (the director's father) to his hometown of Berehovo at the edge of the Carpathian mountains. It is a glimpse of a time when half the town was Jewish and evokes the vibrant world of Hugo's childhood. But that world has all but vanished, leaving only ghosts and shadows.

CHASTIE (PARADISE)  1995  23 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Sergey Dvortsevoy 
This is a short, lyrical film which simply records the life of a nomadic shepherd and his family in the Southern Kazakhstan mountains. 

CHERNOBYL HEART   2004  (DVD) -  NEW

Director:  Maryann De Leo

On April 26, 1986, the worst nuclear accident in history occurred when a reactor exploded at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Sixteen years later, award-winning filmmaker Maryann De Leo took her camera to follow the devastating trail this radiation left behind in hospitals, orphanages, mental asylums and evacuated villages. Winner of the Academy Award ® for Best Documentary Short.

CHERNOBYL: THE TASTE OF WORMWOOD  1987  52 min.   (VHS)  

Chernobyl has come to mean "disaster" and "cover-up." Actually, in Russian it means "wormwood." This program, the result of meticulous investigative work by a team of Japanese reporters, provides on-site photography of the blast site, of people and areas affected, a look at ongoing effects, and projected long-term consequences.

CHILDREN OF PERESTROIKA  1993  35 min.  (DVD)

Children too have to deal with the consequences of the political upheaval in the former Soviet Union.  This sad and charming documentary, which features children from the Siberian city of Kemerovo, shows how perestroika and glasnost have affected the children:  the Pioneers, which used to have so much influence on their lives, has been disbanded; much of what they were taught has turned out to be untrue; scarcity and inflation have affected everyone.  Even some of the children are nostalgic for the past.

COMMUNISM & SOCIALISM  2001  38 min.  (VHS & DVD) 

Produced by Teacher's Video Company: A School Specialty Company - Isms series

The Isms series examines basic socio-political philosophies in theory and practice.  At the height of the Industrial Revolution, living and working conditions in industrialized nations generated desire for economic and political equality.  The ideology soon split into two branches: revolutionary Communists and evolutionary Socialists.  This program traces the spread of communism and socialism from its European founders to its implementation in Russia, Europe, and Asia.  Students will learn how America's responce and attention to anti-capitalist nations had shaped history.

CONQUERORS: PETER THE GREAT  1997  30 min.  (VHS)  

Discovery Channel School video.  Reenactment of Peter the Great's life and reign.  Comes with 4-page Teacher's guide.

THE CRIMEAN WAR: A CLASH OF EMPIRES  1996  180 min.  (VHS)  

A scrupulously researched, vibrant chronicle of this devastating conflict, detailing the long-held antagonisms that presaged wars to follow.  More than 1,600 illustrations, paintings and etchings from the period, bring to life this past conflict.

CURRENT AFFAIRS FORUM: PUTIN'S RUSSIA: NEW FRIEND OR OLD FOE?  Parts 1 & 2:  2001  120 min   (VHS) 

This forum took place at the University of Illinois Law Auditorium on October 13, 2001.  The speakers discussed relations between the U.S., EU and Russia as well as debate in Russia on the U.S. missile defense program. The keynote speaker was General William Odom, senior fellow and director of National Security Studies at the Hudson Institute, former director of the National Security Agency from 1985-1988. Speakers on the panel were: David Holloway, director of the Institute for International Studies, Raymond Spruance professor in international history in political science and history at Stanford University, William Smirnov, head of the Department of Political Science, Institute of State and Law, Russian Academy of Sciences and vice-chairman of the Commission on Human Rights of the President of Russia, and Jonathan Davidson, chief political officer, Washington Delegation of the European Commission.

CURRICULUM WORKSHOP ON RUSSIAN POLITICS AND THE 2000 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION  2000  105 min.  (VHS) 
This program, originally aired on the Illinois Satellite Network, provides information about the Russian government structure and the election process for the State Duma and presidency (using the 1999 and 2000 elections as points of reference), and offers suggestions for incorporating such material into secondary and post-secondary instruction.  Presenters are Lynda Park (REEEC Assistant Director), Professor Carol Leff (Political Science, University of Illinois), and a taped lecture by Professor Michael McFaul (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Political Science, Stanford University). 

DEADLOCK:  RUSSIA'S FORGOTTEN WAR  2002  40 min.  (VHS)

Michael Gordon, former Moscow Bureau Chief for The New York Times, teamed up with Russian filmmakers to produce a compelling documentary that takes viewers deep inside the brutal, decade-long struggle in Russia's breakaway repbulic of Chechnya.

DISCOVER RUSSIA  1990  30 min.  (VHS)

Travelogue film from the National Geographic Society.  

EAST SIDE STORY  In German:  1997  78 min.  (VHS)

Director: Dana Ranga
A fun documentary that unveils a part of film history little known in the West: Soviet and Eastern bloc communist musicals.  Featuring hearty peasants and workers singing and dancing their way through fields and factories, these Hollywood-style musicals interpret American escapism through socialist terms.  This video also includes newsreels, commercials, and outtakes from press and censorship files.

EMPIRE OF THE RED BEAR  1992  60 min. each  (VHS)   
This Discovery Channel series of three videos reveals the natural history of Russia's once-isolated territories.

1.  Land of the White Fox

Explore the Russian taiga, the largest forest on earth, where three months of winter darkness creates a harsh, frozen habitat which is home to the arctic fox, the snowy owl, and the Nentsy people, native reindeer herders.

2.  Song of the Volga

Visit the Astrakhan nature reserve, created by Lenin along the banks of the Caspian Sea.  These wetlands are home to countless species of birds currently threatened by industrial and agricultural pollutants.  Travel to the untouched southern landscape where the extraordinary Saiga antelope graze and flourish.

3.  Ring of Fire

Meet the magnificent Siberian tiger who reigns supreme in the eastern forests above Vladivostok.  See the great brown bear, who roams the volcano-spotted Kamchatka peninsula.

EXTREME OIL: THE PIPELINE  2004  57min.  (VHS)

This ambitious documentary follows the circuitous route of the 1,100-mile BTC Pipeline, a string of 150,000 steel pipes that links the cities of Baku, Azerbaijan; Tbilisi, in Georgia; and Ceyhan, in Turkey.  The pipeline will transport the rich, previously untapped energy reserves of the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean, from where it will flow into the global market, but its route makes many detours around areas of regional conflict and territorial dispute.

THE FACE OF RUSSIA  1998  60 min. each  (VHS)  
This series, hosted by James H. Billington, the Librarian of Congress, looks at the political upheaval and outside forces that have shaped Russia's culture in the last millennium.

1.  The Face on the Firewood 

Reveals the spiritual ideas that have animated Russia for 1,000 years, in particular icon painting and recent restorations of churches and monasteries from Kiev to the Kremlin.

2.  The Facade of Power 

Examines Russian architecture, from the Eastern-inspired onion domes on churches to Western-type palaces of unparalleled splendor.  This program also looks at the writings of Nikolai Gogol.

3.  Facing the Future 

Explores the advance of Russian music and cinema, in particular the work of the composer Musorgsky and the director Eisenstein.  Also looks at how new media forms are shaping Russia during its currents time of change. 

THE FALL OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY  1927  90 min. (VHS)

Director: Esther Shub

A daring and innovative document portraying the fall of the Czarist regime and the rise of communist rule.  Director Esther Shub searched all over the Soviet Union for thousands of films (including many rarities from the Czar's own cameramen) to bring to life an exciting historical drama of the events from 1912 to 1917 that shook the Twentieth Century.

FEAR AND THE MUSE: THE STORY OF ANNA AKHMATOVA  1991  60 min.  (VHS)
Interviews with friends of Akhmatova, including Brodsky and Naiman, as well as with American scholars, who have studied her poetry, are interspersed with documentary footage.

FROM CHECHNYA TO CHERNOBYL  1997  45 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Slawomir Grunberg
Documents the flight of hundreds of thousands of refugees from wars and political turmoil in Chechnya, Tajikistan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan in order to find peace in the radioactive pastures surrounding Chernobyl. 

FROM CZAR TO STALIN  1987  93 min.  (VHS)

Documentary on the Fall of the Romanov's, the Russian Revolution and the transformation of the Russian Empire to the USSR of the mid-1900's.

FRONTLINE:  THE CRASH  1999  60 min.  (VHS)     

Examines the dynamics of the global economy.  Ten days after Russia devalued its ruble and defaulted on its debts, the world's major markets tumbled and American investors saw the worth of their savings and retirement funds plummet. Fear spread that the global economy was unraveling and arguments arose over who was to blame.

FRONTLINE: MAFIA POWERPLAY  1999  60 min.  (VHS)   
This video investigates how the tentacles of Russian organized crime have penetrated the National Hockey League. The report exposes how major Russian crime figures are extorting Russian-born players and using their hockey connections to establish a beachhead in the U.S. and Canada. Over the course of a ten-month investigation, Frontline conducted dozens of interviews with sources in the Russian underworld, professional hockey representatives and law enforcement agencies in Russia, the U.S., and Canada.

FRONTLINE: RETURN OF THE CZAR  1999  60 min.  (VHS)     

An in-depth look at what Russia has become and why after a decade of reforms.

GENEROUS MANAS  1995  30 min.  (VHS)
1995 was the 1000th anniversary of the unprecedented folk epic "Manas". Filmed in the mountainous land of Kyrgyzstan, this video tells the story of the Kyrgyz people through their ancient hero Manas.

GENGHIS BLUES  1999  90 min.  (DVD) 

Director:  Roko Belic

Producers:  Roko and Adrian Belic

The story of blind blues musician, Paul Pena, and his  triumphant trek to the forgotten land of Tuva and the mysterious art of  Khoomei, or throat-singing, a form of singing that produces multiple vocal tones simultaneously.  

THE GLASNOST FILM FESTIVAL  (VHS)

12-volume collection representing the first Soviet documentaries released in the "glasnost era"  REEEC owns vols. 2, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12.

Vol 2: The Temple  1987  64  min.   
Director: Vladimir Dyakonov
Shown on Soviet television 11 June 1988, this film includes newsreel shots of the destruction of churches, scenes from the everyday family life of an Orthodox parish priest, the everyday work of monks and nuns, an extract from the service for Thursday in Holy Week and the funeral service for Anna Akhmatova.

Vol 6: And the Past Seems But a Dream  1987  75 min. 
Director: Sergei Miroshnichenko
In 1937 a group of children whose families had been exiled to Igarka, a town on the Yenisei River not far from the Arctic Circle, wrote a book that idealized their lives.  In 1987 the authors, now white-haired elders, take a ship up the Yenisei and recall the harsh as well as the good memories. It is a powerful film.

Theatre Square  1988  30 min. 

Director: Grigor Arutunyan

The film portrays, without commentary or interviews, a hunger strike in 1988 on Yerevan's Theatre Square over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region.

Vol. 8:  This is How We Live  1987  30 min. 

Director:  Vladimir Oseledchik

A shocking look at the alienation of many Soviet young people.  The ugliest of them are homegrown fascists who happily introduce us to their program for reconstructing society through sterilization.

Homecoming  1987  17 min.

Director:  Tatyana Chubakova

Veterans of the Soviet involvement in Afghanistan return home with unresolved feelings about a demoralizing  and unpopular war.  The first Soviet film to document the human impact of the Afghan war.

Vol. 9: Marshall Blucher  1988  75 min. 
Director: Vladimir Eisner
Marshal Blucher was one of the best Red Army commanders, yet, in 1938 he was declared an "enemy of the people."  Rare archival footage illustrates the excesses of the Stalin era.

 

Vol. 10: The Trial-II  1988  55 min. 
Directors: Igor Belyayev and Alexander Tsank
The Stalinist trials of the thirties are now on trial as Soviet citizens begin to cope with the blank spots in their history.  Included in the film is footage of Bukharin's trial and an interview with his widow.

Adonis XIV  1977, 1986  9 min.

Director: Bako Sadykov

Its horns ornamented with little bells, a "Judas" goat leads a herd of animals to the slaughterhouse. Banned for 9 years.

Vol. 12: Are You Going to the Ball  1987  28 min. 

Director: Nadezhda Khvorova
The viewer observes the training of the Soviet women's top gymnasts, beginning with a boarding school for youngsters, and former gymnasts are interviewed. The physical and emotional sacrifices are not glossed over.

Tomorrow is a Holiday  1987  19 min. 
Director: Sergei Bukovsky
A bleak picture of women working in a chicken factory and living with their families in abominable conditions.  Just as they look forward to a holiday, the director announces that they will celebrate the day by marching in a parade in a nearby town.

GREAT NAMES OF RUSSIA: PUSHKIN  English Voiceover:  30 min.  (VHS)

GREAT RUSSIAN WRITERS  30 min. each  (VHS)   
Series of eight videos. Each one offers biographical details and footage from places where the authors lived and worked.

1.  Alexander Pushkin

2.  Leo Tolstoy

3.  Anton Chekhov

4.  Fyodor Dostoyevsky

5.  Alexander Blok

6.  Maxim Gorky

7.  Vladimir Mayakovsky

8.  Boris Pasternak

THE GREAT WAR AND THE SHAPING OF THE 20TH CENTURY / Episode 7:  Hatred and Hunger  1996  57 min.  (VHS) 

Volume 7 of the eight-part documentary series from PBS, this episode focuses on the months immediately preceding and following the ceasefire that ended WWI.  Helps to put the 1917 Revolution in context of WWI 

GREAT WRITERS:  ALEXANDER SOLZHENITSYN  45 min.  (VHS)

A documentary on the life and writings of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the 1970 winner of the Nobel Prize in literature.

GREETINGS FROM GROZNY  57 min.  (VHS)

A Wide Angle production.  Documentary on the Chechen conflit.

GROWING OLD IN RUSSIA  50 min.  (VHS) 

Director: Tatiana Homutova

A documentary about the lives of senior citizens in the Lake Baikal region.  The youthful photographs of the elderly make each of their homes seem like a museum of memories.  With limited government assistance these seniors keep active during the year with constant chores that need doing.

GYPSIES  50 min.  (VHS)  

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

The Russian government has passed a law requiring gypsies to have an address.  As a result of the new law, many gypsies have

purchased homes.  This film deals with the changes that take place once the gypsies become homeowners.

GYPSIES FORTUNE  50 min.  (VHS)   

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

A documentary about an extended family of Russian gypsies living in the Irkutsk region.  

HARVEST OF DESPAIR  1984  55 min.  (VHS)
A documentary about the Ukrainian famine of 1932-33. Uses interviews with survivors and scholars to supplement rare photographic evidence.

THE HEART OF RUSSIA  two 60 min documentaries on the Kremlin  (DVD)

In Russian and English, no subtitles

Includes:

An hour in the Moscow Kremlin  1994  57 min.

Moscow. The Kremlin. XX Century  1995 57 min.

HERE COMES THE EIGHTH DAY  50 min.  (VHS)  

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

A fascinating look at Russia after the fall of communism.  While many people can agree that there are problems with the government and the economy, many cannot agree on finding solutions to these problems.

THE HERMITAGE: A RUSSIAN ODYSSEY  1994  (VHS) 

1. Catherine the Great: A Lust for Art  54 min. 
   Catherine the Great, with her insatiable appetite for art, purchased massive art collections from Europe's monarchs with which she created the Hermitage  Museum in the Winter Palace.  In less than 40 years, she acquired more  masterpieces than the Louvre had amassed in four centuries. 

2. Tyrants and Heroes: The Nineteenth Century  53  min. 
   This program depicts both the violence of the 19th century and the resplendent art that Russian royalty collected during the turbulent era. 

3. From Czars to Commissars: A Museum Survives  55 min. 
   This final program in the series follows the great museum's struggles through the dramatic events of this century: the Russian Revolution, World War II and  Stalin's regime, the collapse of Communism. 

HIBEL'S RUSSIAN PALETTE Parts 1 & 2:  1996  60 min.  (VHS)
Edna Hibel, an American artist, interviews ordinary Russian and Ukrainian citizens against the backdrop of Russian visual, architectural, dance and musical arts.

A HISTORY OF RUSSIA: FROM PETER THE GREAT TO GORBACHEV  30min./lecture   (DVD) 

Part I:  Discs 1 & 2  Lectures 1-12

Part II: Discs 3 & 4  Lectures 13-24

Part III: Discs 5 & 6  Lectures 25-36

Examines more than 300 years of Russian history through the eyes of its people. This compelling and unique new course is taught by UI professor Mark Steinberg.  Historical themes are made clear not by discussing treaties or war declarations, or economic statistics, but by examining the lives of the men and women who, in fact, were Russia. 

HOMAGE TO CHAGALL  1970  90 min.  (VHS)  

Director: Harry Rasky

Narrated by James Mason and Joseph Wiseman.  

A celebration and sensitive portrait of the Russian painter Marc Chagall and his devotion to art, Jewish history, and love.  Over 300 of Chagall's painting's, murals, and stained glass windows are beautifully photographed in vivid color. These images are intercut with an extensive interview with the artist and his wife.

AN HOUR IN THE MOSCOW KREMLIN  1994  57 min.  (DVD)

Please see:  The Heart of Russia for this presentation.  For the first time you will see Royal and Patriarchal chambers and home churches of Russina Grand Princes and Czars.  For the first time you will see coronation in the Dormition Cathedral and a sumptuous feast in the Chamber of Facets.  YOu will have a look of the Kremlin gardens and admire the city panorama from the top of the Kremlin walls -  the belltower of Ivan the Great. ( in Russian and English, no subtitles) 

I WAS STALIN'S BODYGUARD  1990  73 min.  (VHS)

This film weaves together unprecedented, first-hand testimony with rare film footage, including Stalin's home movies.  What emerges is a singular portrait of a violent and complex era during which Stalin consolidated his power through brutal repression, and yet lead the Soviet Union to victory in World War II.

INSIDE RUSSIA  1941  75 min.  (VHS)  
This film offers rare pre-World War II footage of life and locales in Russia, from Moscow to St. Petersburg and down the Volga.  While the narration is jingoistic, the images offer a unique glimpse at life in Russia during the 1940s.

IS IT EASY TO BE YOUNG?  1986   85 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Yuri Podnieks
An early perestroika look at the youth culture, punk rock subculture and Afghan vets in Latvia.

IVAN THE TERRIBLE:  MIGHT and MADNESS  (DVD) 

A&E BIOGRAPHY production.  ***Please see "Russia:  Land of the Tsars"***

JOSEPH BRODSKY: A MADDENING SPACE  60 min.  (VHS)
Produced by New York Center for Visual History, this portrait of the Nobel Prize poet includes an overview of his troubled life in the Soviet Union, his emigration to the U.S. and conversations with fellow poet Derek Wolcott.

JOSEPH STALIN: RED TERROR  1996  50 min.  (VHS)

Part of the A&E Biograpy Series.  This documentary explores the life of Joseph Stalin from his childhood in Georgia to the ruthless purges that lef only those too weak to challenge his iron rule.  Victims recallhis reign of terror, his interpreter offers insight into the dictator's motivations and former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev reflects on the legacy of his notorious predecessor.

KOLYMA  45 min.  (VHS)       
This film documents the atrocities of the Siberian prison labor camp that was in existence for 40 years. Winner of both the Berlin and the Amsterdam documentary film festivals.

THE LAST BOLSHEVIK  1993  120 min.  (VHS)  

Director:  Chris Marker

Twenty years after he "discovered" the forgotten Soviet filmmaker Alexander Medvedkin, Chris Marker reflects on a life that paralleled the rise and fall of the Soviet state and the course of our century.  The result is a moving and timely essay on the legacy of Soviet Communism and an invitation to consider how we conceive history today in a world dominated by images.

LIVING IN RUSSIA TODAY  1998  25 min.  (VHS) 
Personal interviews with Russians and Americans living in Petersburg today.  The photography of the city's architecture is excellent.  The video should be a successful tool for teachers to spark students' interest in Russia and empathy for the Russian people. It is accompanied by a lesson guide, parts of which are problematic. 

THE MAKING OF RUSSIA, 1480-1860  26 min.  (VHS)  

Part of the World-A Television History video series based on the Times Atlas of World History.  A broad overview of Russian history, the video covers the Ruriks, rise of Muscovy, conquest of Siberia, Peter the Great and the founding of St. Petersburg, Catherine the Great, and peasant unrest.

MOSCOW. THE KREMLIN. XX CENTURY  1995  57 min.  (DVD) 

Please see:  The Heart of Russia for this presentation.  Continue the unique journey stated in "An Hour in the Moscow Kremlin."  This video film ia about changes in the architectural and artistic image of the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square in the twentieth century.  It includes rare documentary sequences.  (In Russian and English, no subtitles)

MOSCOW TREASURES AND TRADITIONS  1990  48 min.  (VHS) 
This video shows more than 200 national works of Russian art displayed at the Moscow: Treasures and Traditions exhibition in 1990.  The art works include icons, paintings, engravings, fine gold and silver metalwork, porcelains, and historic costumes and armor. 

MUSSORGSKY: PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION  1991  96 min.  (VHS)
In Part I, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Christopher Nupen examine the background to the music. 
Part II contains a complete performance of the orchestral version by the Finnish composer, 
Part III Ashkenazy gives a complete performance of Mussorgsky's original work for piano. 

NBC WHITE PAPERS:  THE BIRTH OF THE COLD WAR, THE DEATH OF STALIN  1997  50 min.  (VHS)

When Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953, his nation was plunged into chaos.  It would be five years before another man fully captured the power that Stalin had held for so long.  This contemporary film features remarkable interviews with reporters and diplomats who had extensive access to top-secret events.  Footage from Red Square captures the massive state funeral and reaction of the Soviet citizens to the death of the man known as "Uncle Joe."  And the details of the failed coup attempt by notorious KGB leader Lavrenti Beria (the first round of the epic power struggle) are revealed.

NBC WHITE PAPERS:  THE BIRTH OF THE COLD WAR, THE RISE OF KHRUSHCHEV  1997  50 min.  (VHS)  -  NEW

This classic program details the tortuous, five-year path to power taken by former Communist Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev.  Rare footage filmed inside Soviet Russia chronicles events such as Khrushchev's 1954 meetings with President Eisenhower.  Extensive firsthand accounts from journalists and noted Kremlinologists reveal how he distanced himself from the legacy of Stalin and was finally able to consolidate his power by manipulating the fallout from the failed Hungarian Revolt of 1956.

NATIONS OF THE WORLD SERIES: SOVIET UNION  1987  (VHS)
A National Geographic Production.

THE NEW IRON CURTAIN  1996  29 min.  (VHS)
Using Estonia as a case study, this film examines volatile issues such as citizenship and language policy.

ONE WORD OF TRUTH  1993  29 min.  (VHS)

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Nobel Prize acceptance speech is the text for this program, which exorts viewers to shoulder their responsibilities as citizens -- to fight untruth, injustice, and repression wherever they arise and before they become too powerful to overcome.

PARADJANOV: A REQUIEM  1994   57 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Ron Holloway
An affectionate and insightful look at the tumultuous career of the late Sergei Padjanov, the documentary charts the Armenian director's early years as a protégé of silent film legends Dovzhenko and Eisenstein to his creation of brilliant, hallucinatory film fantasies of Ukrainian poetry and folk legends and subsequent imprisonment.  Features interviews, clips from Paradjanov's films, drawings, and photographs.

PERSONAL FILE OF ANNA AKHMATOVA  1990  63 min.  (VHS)
Based on excerpts from her biography and memoirs by Lidia Chukovskaya, this film includes archival footage of Soviet leaders as well as of her literary counterparts, Blok, Gumilev, Mandelstam, Tsvetaeva, Pasternak, and Solzhenitsyn.  Directed by Semen Aranovich. 

PETER THE GREAT: THE TYRANT REFORMER  (DVD) 

A&E BIOGRAPHY production.  ***Please see "Russia: Land of the Tsars"***

PORTRAIT OF THE SOVIET UNION  Volumes 1-7:  1988  25 min. each  (VHS) 
This was the Soviet Union presented through rose color glasses. However, some individual segments are still valid for use with a younger audience for cultural enrichment and geography lessons.

PUTIN: A BITTER DECISION  2002  49 min.  (VHS)

In the mind of Vladimir Putin, 9/11/01 marked the day that triggered a chain of events that ended with Russia's  acceptance into the ranks of the West--but at a terrible cost to national pride adn the balance of nuclear power.  This program narrates the circumstances leading to President Putin's bitter decision to trade U.S. approval of the war in Chechnya for what had proved to be a diminished role in world politics.  Footage of Putin, George W. Bush, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Security Council Secretary Vladimir Rushailo, and Djuma Namangani, military commander of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, is featured, along with gripping images of New York's Ground Zero and Central Asian Islamist extremists in action.

PUTIN: STAIRWAY TO POWER  2002  49 min.  (VHS)

This program tracks the career of Vladimir Putin from KGB spymaster for the U.S.S.R. to president of the Russian Federataion.  Footage of landmark events--the fall of the Berlin Wall, the election and re-election of Boris Yeltsin, the war against Chechnya, terrorist attacks on Moscow--are featured, as well as archival interviews with former Stasi official Horst Jemlich, former Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov, oligarchs Boris Berezovsky and Vladimir Gusinsky, al Qaeda-trained Chechen army commander Omar ibn al-Khattab, the IMF's Michel Camdessus, former Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, and Putin himself.

RASPUTIN: THE MAD MONK  (DVD)

A&E BIOGRAPHY production.  ***Please see "Russia: Land of the Tsars"***

RECOGNITION OF RUSSIA: A CLIMATE OF MUTUAL  DISTRUST  1996  30 min.  (VHS)                                    

Examines the wave of working class militancy that swept the world after the boom decade of the 1920s, and the Roosevelt's administration's official recognition of the U.S.S.R. in the first detente of 1933.

RED FILES: SECRETS OF THE RUSSIAN ARCHIVES REVEALED  2 tapes:  1999  120 min. each  (VHS) 
A four-part PBS series which tells compelling stories of personal and political intrigue that were hidden behind the Iron Curtain for generations. Episode titles: "Secret Victories of the KGB," "Soviet Sports Wars," "Secret Soviet Moon Mission,"  and "Soviet Propaganda Machine."

THE RED STUFF:  THE TRUE STORY OF THE RUSSIAN RACE FOR SPACE & STARMAN  100 min.  (DVD) 

The Red Stuff is a film about the first heroes of the cosmos from those early years of Russian space travel.

Starman is the difinitive story of Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in history to leave the confines of our planet.

REPORT FROM THE EDGE  50 min.  (VHS)     

An ecological documentary on living conditions in the city of Bratsk, located in Siberia.  Report Form the Edge is a historical record of the effects of the 'industrial growth at any cost' approach to the environment in Bratsk for the sake of increased industrial output.  With money for increased production and not increased environmental protection, the people of Bratsk pay dearly for their new found prosperity.

RICHES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE  1997  56 min.  (VHS)
A look at the riches, personalities, and treasures of the Golden Age of Russian, from the personal jewelry of Catherine the Great to ancient Scythian artifacts and buried mummies, all reflecting the glory of Russian history and the lives of a mighty nation's rulers.  

RISE AND FALL OF THE SOVIET EMPIRE  1995  17 min. each  (VHS)  

The New York Times Live from the Past lesson plans. 4 modules. Each modules comes with a teacher's guide, articles from the NYT, and a poster reproduction of the NYT front page from the time.

Module 1: The Russian Revolutions and the Bolshevik Victory, 1917  

Module 2: Stalin's Crimes Revealed, 1936 and 1956

Module 3: The End of Communism in Poland, 1980-1990

Module 4: The Demise of Communism and the Soviet Empire, 1991

RURAL RUSSIA  1998  50 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Mikhail Mikheev
Away from the major metropolitan areas, Russia is still a land of people living in the manner of frontier life, and residents of the small villages in northeast Russia depend upon the closeness of family and friends, hard work, and pride.  This rich documentary captures a world where the land still looms larger than technology.

RUSSIA  2004  60 min.  (DVD) 

Pilot Guides Presents "Globe Trekker":  A travel guide DVD.  Traveler Ian Wright begins his journey in the capital Moscow, home of the Kremlin, and sear of the Russian government.  He then takes the train to Torzhok and historic St. Petersburg, before flying to the Arctic Circle and the port of Murmansk.

RUSSIA  Two tapes;  30 min. each  (VHS) 

After countless rulers, revolutions and seven tumultuous decade of Communist domination, Russia remains a land of ancient tradition and rapid change.  Lose your hear to Russia with its turbulent history and remarkable endurance of the human spirit.

RUSSIA: FACING THE FUTURE  2001  57 min.  (VHS)  

Carnegie Corporation of New York Russia Initiative production.  The video and the accompanying scholarly report provide a portrait of Russian society today - its economic, political, military and social upheaval as well as anxieties about national security, fueled by the West's sometimes warm, sometimes cold welcome. http://www.carnegie.org/

RUSSIA: LAND OF THE TSARS  Volumes 1 & 2:  2003  (DVD)

Volume 1  200 min.

History of Russia from medieval times to Nicholas II

Volume 2  150 min.

Three programs from the A&E Biography series on Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Rasputin.

RUSSIA THEN & NOW  1994  90 min.  (VHS)

Clay Fransisco, a frequent National Geographic lecturer, documented Soviet/Russian society for 30 years and has produced this video report contrasting life before and after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

RUSSIA'S LAST TSAR  1994  60 min.  (VHS) 
National Geographic production.  Story of Nicholas II and the Romanov family, featuring photographs and film footage.

RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR WARRIORS  2001  60 min.  (VHS) 

NOVA and Vladimir Pozner, a leading Russian journalist adn Kremlin insider for decades, secured unprecedented access to Russia's top military officers and defense facilities.  The show includes the first footage filmed inside the country's nuclear command adn control center and its biggest missile base.  A NOVA production.

RUSSIA'S TIME OF TROUBLES  1994  29 min.  (VHS)  
Produced by America's Defense Monitor, the program features interviews with Abraham Brumberg, Susan Eisenhower, and Greg Guroff. These are interspersed with scenes from Russia.  The commentators argue that faith in Yeltsin has been misplaced and too much aid has benefited American consultants who often have been condescending in their approach to Russian recipients of aid because they have little understanding of the country.  

RUSSIA'S WAR: BLOOD UPON THE SNOW  PBS Production:   1995  120 min. each  (VHS) 

1. The Darkness Descends / The Hour Before Midnight    
   Stalin's rise to power, his assault on the peasantry and his disastrous purge of the Red Army on the eve of war/ Hitler becomes more aggressive while purges in the Soviet Union reaches a crescendo; Hitler and Stalin do an about-face and become allies, leading to the invasion of Poland. 

2. The Goths Ride East / Between Life and Death   
   Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union; Stalin's retreat; the Wehrmacht at the gates of Moscow / The Siege of Leningrad; the Red Army's counterattack on the Moscow front 

3. The Fight From Within / The Cauldron Boils    
   Partisan resistance against the Germans begins. / The Wehrmacht thrusts southward to the oil fields of the Caucasus; The formation of the infamous Penal Battalions begins; the battle of Stalingrad begins.

4. The Citadel / False Dawn   
   The Soviet war production increases dramatically; Germans and Soviets fight on the battlefield of Kursk, the greatest tank battle in the history of warfare. / 1944 is the year of victories ­ Leningrad is finally liberated; the Red Army pushes westward; Stalin again has plans for the people who suffer under the occupation. 

5. The Fall of the Swastika / The Cult of Personality 
   Hitler and Berlin fall; Stalin again turns to the control of his people. / Stalin is praised by his people for the victory he alone claims; With obsessive paranoia, he continues to persecute his people; the Cold War sets in; Stalin dies 1953.

RUSSIA'S WONDER CHILDREN  2000  60 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Irene Langemann
The program follows three gifted children of varying ages all concentrating on piano at the Moscow Central Music School.  Besides the poignant stories of the children, viewers also learn about the music school, its history, and its current financial difficulties.

THE RUSSIAN NEWSPAPER MURDERS  2004  57 min.  (VHS)

A Wide Angle production.  A documentary about the murders of two newspaper editors.

RUSSIAN PRISON N-240  1997  56 min.  (VHS)
Prison N-240 is considered to hold the most dangerous prisoners in Russia that were not sentenced to die for their crimes.  Interviews with prison guards and their wives will give the viewer an in-depth look at Russia's prison system and its most notorious prison.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS: THE HEAVY HAND OF CORRUPTION  2000  71 min.  (VHS) 

In segment one of this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel and correspondent John Donvan investigate the endemic nature of corruption in Russia, where bribery is commonplace and paying protection money is considered a business expense.  In segment two, Koppel and billionaire Boris Berezovsky, identified as the unseen force behind Vladimir Putin's rise to power, discuss Berezovsky's recent foray into politics.  And in segment three, after providing detailed background on Putin, Koppel interviews the man himself, touching upon his plans to fight corruption, his KGB affiliations, and his suprising sense of humor.

RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS: SEX, LIES, AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS  2000  61 min.  (VHS)

In segment one of this program, ABC News anchor Ted Koppel reports on issues related to the new openness in Russia surrounding sexuality, including the growth of prostitution, resistance to contraception, and the spread of AIDS.  In segment two, Koppel and correspondent John Donvan examine the ongoing controversy revolving around the political sellout of the independent Russian media.  And in segment three, Koppel and Donvan analyze the impoverished and demoralized state of Russia's soldiery, tasked with fighting the Chechens and presiding over one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world.

RUSSIAN TRINITY  2001  84 min.  (VHS) 

WGBH Boston, PBS Home Video.  Rich with first hand witness, archival footage, and eye-opening documents Russian Trinity charts the course of Stalin's Russia by weaving portraits of three of Russia's most important institutions:  The Kremlin, the Lubyanka, and the Bolshoi Theater.

RUSSIANS DEPRIVED OF RUSSIA  2003  Seven Part Documentary  (DVD)  -  NEW

Director: Elena Chavchavadze

Narrarator: Nikita Mikhalkov

The documentary follows the lives of Russian Civil War emigres of the First Wave. It seeks to disclose their motives for leaving, to reveal their lives beyond the borders of their native land, to explore their contribution to the Russian and world cultures. The authors take an inquisitive look at the lives of White Army generals Vrangel, Denikin.

SERGEI EISENSTEIN: AUTOBIOGRAPHY  1996  86 min.  (VHS) 
Director:  Oleg Kovalov
A glimpse into the inner world of one of film's true geniuses, this documentary is the first screen version of Eisenstein's memoirs.  Includes rare footage of the director as well as clips from his films.

SERGEI KHRUSHCHEV on "COLD WARRIORS: EISENHOWER, KENNEDY, KHRUSHCHEV"  April 2002  (VHS)

CAS/MillerComm lecture by Sergei Khrushchev at the University of Illinois, April 8, 2002.

THE SHATTERED MIRROR  1992  58 min.  (VHS)
Russian  Director: Marina Goldovskaya
An intimate view of Goldovskaya and her acquaintances in 1991.

THE SILK ROAD: AN ANCIENT WORLD OF ADVENTURE  2000  (DVD)                         

Volume 1:  episodes 1-4  220 min.

1:  Glories of Ancient Chang-An  

2:  A Thousand Kilometers Beyond the Yellow River

3:  The Art of Gallery in the Desert

4:  The Dark Castle

Volume 2:  episodes 5-8  210 min.

5:  In Search of the Kingdom of Lou-Lan

6:  Across the Taklamakan Desert7:  Khotan - Oasis of Silk and Jade

8:  A heat Wave Called Turfan

Volume 3:  episodes 9-12  200 min.

9:  Through the Tian Shan Mountains by Rail

10: Journey Into Music - South Through the Tian Shan Mountains

11: Where Horses Fly Like the Wind

12: Two Roads to the Pamirs

SOVIET CIRCUS  1988  60 min.  (VHS)
A National Geographic Production. 

SOVIET TELEVISION:  FACT AND FICTION  1986   110 min.  (VHS) 
A BBC produced program in two parts.  Soviet Television: Fact focuses on news coverage; Soviet Television: Fiction, on entertainment programs.  Well chosen selections from Soviet television programs are clearly subtitled. 

SOVIET TELEVISION TONIGHT: LENIN--LESSONS OF YALTA  58 min.  (VHS)

SOVIET UNION  Five-Part Series:  1989  20 min. each  (VHS) 
This BBC-TV 5-part series consists of Socialist City (Moscow), Collective Farm (Fergana Valley), Siberian Riches (Ust-Ilimsk), Steel Town (Novokuznetsk), and Villages in the Clouds (remote Georgian village life). The first program on Moscow is hopelessly out of date; others have some useful commentaries on environmental problems, hazardous workplaces and housing shortages.  The problems, however, tend to fade into the background because apparently thriving two-parent families (not representative of the whole population) are featured.  

ST. PETERSBURG SCHOOL OF RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY  26 min.  (VHS)

Director:  Igor Shadkhan

STALIN IN LOVE  (VHS)

A documentary on Stalin and his wife Nadezhda.  Hosted by Olga Kuchkina

STALIN IS WITH US?  1989  75 min.  (VHS)  
Director: Tofik Shakhverdiev
The director weaves together interviews with contemporary Stalinists and chilling newsreels of Stalin, Hitler and Mao.

STARMAN  ***Please see "The Red Stuff"***  (DVD)

Starman is the difinitive story of Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in history to leave the confines of our planet.

THE STARS' CARAVAN  2001  60 min.  (DVD)

Director:  Arto Halomen

When Kyrgyzstan was granted its independence, its cinema program lost their funding and the people lost their beloved movies. The Stars' Caravan is the story of a projectionist, who has continued to deliver the wonder of cinema to his people.

STATE OF WEIGHTLESSNESS  52 min.  (VHS) 
Director: Maciej J. Drygas 
Often humorous, sometimes shocking, this documentary answers questions about life in space that official organizations simply will not address. 

THE STORY OF THE KIROV BALLET  1997  52 min.  (VHS) 
A visual history of the famous ballet company, featuring profiles and performance footage of legendary stars Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, and Mikhail Baryshnikov.

SUBMARINES, SECRETS & SPIES  1999  60 min.  (VHS)

For 40 years, submarine crews lived on the front lines of the Cold War, but until recently few knew the hidden history of their tragedies and triumphs.  Through candid interviews with Soviet and US miltary personnel, shocking underwater footage, and recently de-classified film adn documents, NOVA lifts the veil on deadly, mysterious submarine accidents and high-risk spy missions.  A NOVA production.

SUPER CITIES:  ST. PETERSBURG  30 min.  (VHS)

Explore elegant St. Petersburg, built in the early 18th century as Russia's proud new capital.  Conceived by Tsar Peter the Great as a grandiose version of his favorite European city, Amsterdam, the architecture of St. Petersburg reflects a range of European influences.  Its beautiful palaces and quiet elegance belie its troubled history - yet as you explore the city you'll find clues to the political turmoil that give St. Petersburg its haunting character.

SUPERSONIC SPIES  1998  60 min.  (VHS)

A true tale of cold war espionage that has all the makings of world-class intrigue:  A frantic battle for supremacy in the skies.  Secret blueprints smuggled out on train in toothpase tubes.  A fatal, fiery crach, witnessed by 200,000 awestruck spectators.  A mysteriously "destroyed" black box -- and alarming allegations of a dual-government cover-up, whose details are only now coming to light.  A NOVA production.

TEENS  30 min.  (VHS)  

Director:  Tatiana Homutova

A documentary on the causes of the increase in teenage lawlessness. 

THE TREASURE OF GEORGIA  (DVD)

A cognitive film about the history and culter of Georgia.  Produced by A. Gvakharia

TRANS-SIBERIA  1995  55 min.  (VHS) 
Directors: Francois Gall and Bernard d'Abrigeon
Filmed by a French production company during perestroika, it portrays an idealized image of a train ride across Siberia from Moscow to the city of Nakhodka.  Many errors.

TREASURES OF THE CZARS  1995  27 min.  (VHS)
Prepared for the exhibit held in Topeka, KS in 1995.  Video is narrated by Yakov Smirnoff who makes inane jokes but the scenes photographed in the Kremlin are excellent.

TRIUMPH OF FAITH  56 min.  (VHS) 
This video documents the beauty and pageantry of the annual pilgrimage of Russian Orthodox Christians.  It is a testimony of enduring faith even in the face of Communist oppression and political upheaval. 

UKRAINE/ VIDEO VISITS  1993  55 min.  (VHS)  

A video travelogue of Ukraine. Featured sites include the cathedral of St. Sophia, the Pechersk Monastery, and the Shevchenko Monument in Kiev; medieval castles; the Crimea; and the city of Lviv.

UNDER THE SPELL OF YOUTH  1997  30 min.  (VHS)
An intimate look at the power of love through the voices of Russian teens. 

U.S.-SOVIET RELATIONS: END OF THE COLD WAR?  1989  20 min.  (VHS)

Newsweek production. 2 copies

VLADIMIR LENIN: VOICE OF REVOLUTION  1996  50 min.  (VHS) 

A&E Biography on Lenin.

VLADIMER PUTIN  2004  50 min.  (VHS)  -  NEW

A&E Biography Series.  He was a spy in the old USSR who had become the leader of modern Russia.  While his leadership had helped stabilize the nation, there are many who say his is stirring up echoes of its communist past.  Soviet-era archives, insights from diplomats and rare interviews with people who know him personally tell Putin's remarkable story.  Learn little-known facts about his childhood and private life, and explore the shadowy details of his 17 years in espionage.  Grades 7 and up.

VOICES OF LENINGRAD  (VHS) 
A National Geographic Production.

THE WEEK THAT SHOOK THE WORLD  1991  65 min.  (VHS) 
Chronicle of ABC News coverage of the coup in the Soviet Union in August, 1991.  Includes the first special report broadcast after midnight on August 19th and Diane Sawyer's exclusive interview with Boris Yeltsin.

WHERE THE EAGLES FLY: PORTRAITS OF WOMEN OF POWER  1997  30 min. each  (VHS) 
Three documentaries on post-Soviet religion

1. Habiba: A Sufi Saint from Uzbekistan
Habiba is a Tabib, a Muslim healer. She belongs to the Sufi "Chain of Mystic Transmission, " a lineage of   teachers whose main representative is a great master, Bahaudin Nacksband. An interesting documentary of religious life in post-socialist Uzbekistan. 

2.  Moon Heart: The Magical World of Tuvinian Shamans
Moon Heart is a shaman from Tuva, a very powerful healer who speaks to the stars. Tuva is a very ancient country of shamans and throat singers. It lies between the Siberian forests and the Central Asian desert. The high Sayan mountains protect Tuva, keeping it wild and pure. Tuvinian people live in harmony with nature, fearing the rage of the powerful spirits of the mountains. 

3.  Savoniha: A Siberian Old Believer
Savoniha belongs to the "Old Believers," a sect of the Russian Orthodox Church that was exiled to Siberia many centuries ago. 95 years old, she witnessed Stalin's anti-religious campaign, losing her father--one of the main spiritual representatives of the Siberian Old Believers. 

WORLD RELIGIONS: RUSSIAN ORTHODOX  19 min.  (VHS)  

Cambridge Educational  Channel Four video on the Russian Orthodox Church focusing on a personal story of a family.  Filmed in Moscow.  Comes with a short study guide.

YANKS FOR STALIN  1999  50 min.  (VHS)  
In the 1930s, when the US was wracked by the Great Depression, several prominent Americans played crucial roles in helping Stalin industrialize the Soviet Union.  This film looks at the little known contributions of Armand Hammer, John Scott, Henry Ford, and Victor and Walter Reuther to help found the Russian car and steel industries.

7UP IN THE SOVIET UNION  1993   68 min.  (VHS)
Based on the format of the British 7-Up documentary series, this documentary consists of interviews with seven-year old children living in various parts of the Soviet Union during the perestroika era. 

20TH CENTURY WITH MIKE WALLACE:  YELTSIN'S RUSSIA  1999   50 min.  (VHS)

A History Channel production.

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