Sergei Loznitsa - Polustanok aka Train Stop (2000)

Trains travel through the night without stopping. The clatter of the carriages quickly disappears, along with the wail of the locomotive. The people at the station are all asleep. But why are they so exhausted ? And what are they waiting for?

Sergei Loznitsa - Zhizn, osin AKA Life, Autumn (1999)

Quote:
What first appear to be photographs of elderly Russian peasants and farmers, becomes an evocative meditation on old Russia and new, a snapshot of a disappearing way of life. As they stand in their work clothes, often with tools by their side, looking into the camera, this remarkable film with poetic rigor, captures a people, a world, that is quickly vanishing.

Quote:
So wird aus alltäglichem eine ergreifende Wirkung erzielt, teilt sich der Lebensrhythmus, die Geschichte eines Volkes mit Wärme. Lakonie und Humor mit 'Leben, Herbst' schafft es in einer Kürze alle großen Fragen des menschlichen Lebens zu thematisieren und findet damit, Kulturen übergreifend, einen gemeinsamen Nenner. [MDR Kultur]

Sergei Loznitsa - Fabrika AKA Factory (2004)

The filmmaker shows how a pure form of cinematography can indeed be created within the nitty-gritty of an archaic metal factory.

Semyon Aranovich & Aleksandr Sokurov- Altovaya sonata. Dmitriy Shostakovich aka Sonata for viola (1981)

Quote:

A deeply moving and reverent biopic of Soviet composer and pianist Dmitri Shostakovich. It's co-directed by Aleksandr Sokurov ("The Russian Ark") and veteran filmmaker Semyon Aranovich. Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg in 1906 and died in Moscow in 1975. The understated black-and-white biopic follows Shostakovich as a frail young man as seen through photographs and traces his life through personal documents, recorded appearances, and concert performances of his work set against archival footage of daily life in the Soviet Union. It shows him during his glory days of early critical acclaim until his disfavor under Stalin because of his political views and struggle for creative freedom. He was honored in 1958, five years after Stalin's death, by his country, as he was awarded the second Order of Lenin after graciously not accepting it a year earlier in order for the first Order of Lenin to be posthumously awarded to Sergei Prokofiev. He was recognized for his genius in composing the 7th Symphony during the Second World War, which was an uplifting reminder of the war. It opens with the scene set in a besieged Leningrad. Shostakovich's dream was to bring his music to the masses and give his people an appreciation for their rich culture. The title comes about because Shostakovich's "Sonata for Violin" was the only work he composed that he never heard performed. The film, made in 1981, was discovered after it was buried to hide it from the KGB, who at an earlier date banned it.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Chitayem Blokadnuyu Knigu AKA Reading Book Of Blockade (2009)

The lengthy siege of Leningrad during World War II cost a million civilian lives. In Alexander Sokurov's documentary, various people - actors, journalists, students, soldiers - read eyewitness accounts about this 'historic and cultural disaster', to use Sokurovr's words.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Zhertva vechernyaya AKA The Evening Sacrifice (1987)

Sokurov shows the official manifestation and fireworks on the 1st of May, one of the ritual celebrations of Soviet times, as a gathering of tired participants of a mass scene falling into pieces without the director’s orders and without any aims. Outbursts of joy without reason, mixed here and there with equally unmotivated signs of anxiety are given in brief sketches of a restless and pitiful crowd. A part instead of the whole, individual instead of common, a symbol growing up from details are the postulates of Eisenstein’s representation of the “people’s masses,” both the chorus and the protagonist of the Soviet official culture. Sokurov revises these postulates in the context of our time when the chorus has gone out of action, both in the aesthetic and in the social sense, and the protagonist is absent. However, both chorus and soloist are introduced into the picture of the festivity by the hand of the author: Sokurov puts a church canticle into the soundtrack of the film. It is an evening Orthodox prayer of repentance: “let my prayer be like incense before Thou, like my hands uplifted, an evening sacrifice.”

Sergei Parajanov - I am Sergei Parajanov! (1990)

Synopsis:
I am Sergei Parajanov! shot a few months after Parajanov's death. Features archive photographs, his collages, the clips from Sayat-Nova (1968), Ashik Kerib (1988), the making of The Legend of the Surami Fortress (1984) and a few views of the house he lived.

Ron Holloway - Paradjanov: A Requiem (1994)

The film shows the unique world of artist Sergei Parajanov, whose brilliant images in films and collages aroused the suspicion of Soviet authorities. Unexpectedly, this last all-embracing interview, given at the 1988 München Film Festival, has become a film legacy.

Sergei Parajanov was born an Armenian in Georgia. He studied at the Moscow Film School and worked as a director in the Ukraine. His stylistic vitality and “plasticism” - a term he used to describe his films - enabled him to creative universal images.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Samye Zemnye Zaboty aka Le Piú Terrene Occupazione (1974)

A documentary film about the agricultural development in the region of Gorky: the everyday life in a sovkhoz, the building of a reservoir and of a greenhouse.

Aleksandr Sokurov - Pozyvnye R1NN AKA Prefisso R1NN AKA Calls R1NN (1975)

Plot (source IMDB): In the 20's an enthusiast radio amateur, Fyodor Lbov, experiments one of the first short-waves radio in the city of Gorky.

N.V. Solovyev - Red Army 1945 Victory Parade (1945)

Internet Link
http://www.ihffilm.com/22919.html

"At the zenith of its power, the USSR celebrated the victory over Nazi Germany with a spectacular armed forces parade in the Kremlin's Red Square on June 24, 1945.

Participating combat veterans and army musicians rehearsed for weeks to present an unforgettable demonstration of Soviet martial precision.Comprising troop contingents selected by Stalin, the review bore witness to the pomp and grandeur of a waning era of military romanticism soon displaced by the austere realities of the Cold War. The Soviet cinematic record shows troops hurling seized German flags before the Lenin Mausoleum, parade footage, and close-ups of Red Army soldiers and gaudily decorated officers attending the opening ceremony. The Soviet dictator, with prominent public officials and field marshals, observe events from the elevated concrete platform of the mausoleum. Inordinately praiseworthy of Stalin, the feature was ultimately consigned to Moscow's film archives. Through IHF's initiative, it was recently rediscovered and authorized for contemporary distribution. Transferred from an original 35mm negative and digitally restored for optimal quality."

Sergei M. Eisenstein - La Destrucción de Oaxaca (1931)

Description: Footage of the aftermath of the January 14 1931 Earthquake in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Sergei Yutkevich & Lev Oskarovic Arnstam - Ankara - serdtse Turtsii aka Ankara: The heart of Turkey (1934)

Ankara - serdtse Turtsii aka Ankara-The heart of Turkey is a Soviet documentary made for the 10th anniversary of the new Turkish Republic in the year 1934.

The story starts over a pastoral view of Turkey, we see some country people going to the new capital : Ankara. Same time, there is Soviet ships passing thru Bosphorus, Istanbul. Soviet military and diplomatic people reach Ankara by train as young turks and scooters. We watch the city by the air... Some archeological views... The new city, the young people, some folkloric plays, modern buildings, gymnasium, modern art school, university studies and finally 10th anniversary stadium ceremony...

Elem Klimov - Sport, sport, sport aka Спорт, спорт, спорт (1970)

From allmovie.com

What makes an athlete compete? How can he be made to endure the gruelling training most sports require? In this image-rich combination documentary and poetic drama, participants in sports including foot-racing, wrestling, speed-skating, swimming and gymnastics are seen in their daily lives and in all stages of training and competition. Their regimens are contrasted with the efforts of ordinary people to train some life into their limbs as they exercise to lose weight, or, as aging people, in order to stay active. In one episode, a marathon runner competing on a hot summer day in Philadelphia literally runs himself to death, and in a later dramatic re-enactment, medieval warriors hold a competitive joust. As one image piles upon another in this unique film, answers to questions about competition begin to suggest themselves.

Dziga Vertov - Entuziazm: Simfoniya Donbassa AKA Энтузиазм: Симфония Донбасса (1931)

Vertov and his Kino group produced this lyrical documentary on the lives of Coal miners in the Donbas who are struggling to meet their production quotas under the five year plan. Enthusiasm is most noteworthy for it's creative use of the new sound medium. Vertov liberated the recording equipment from the studio and shot sound on location. He also used common everyday sounds and wove them into what can only be described as a symphony. In fact, after seeing the film Charlie Chaplin wrote: "Never had I known that these mechanical sounds could be arranged to sound so beautiful. I regard it as one of the most exhilarating symphonies I have heard. Mr. Dziga Vertov is a musician.”

Dziga Vertov - Kazakhstan - Frontu! (Тебе Фронт! ) AKA Tebe Front! (1942)

The film was shot in 1942 in Kazakhstan. Unfortunately the image and sound quality is not so good.

Aleksandr Sokurov - The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (1999)

This is a two-part video portrait of the outstanding Russian writer, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of famous novels about the Russian revolution and the acclaimed study of the Soviet concentration camps, "The Gulag Archipelago". Solzhenitsyn is of more interest to the filmmaker for his attitudes, thoughts and present life, than for his legendary past. Rather than interviewing some important person, Sokurov creates a monumental image before our eyes.

This remarkable portrait shows us the inner world of this great author whilst his outer world is seen merely through several visual landscapes: park, study, library, and the room in which the writer’s wife work.

Sergei Loznitsa - Blokada (Блокада) AKA Blockade (2006)

Icarus Films PR about the movie:
The longest siege during World War II was that of Leningrad, which lasted for 900 days, from September 1941 to January 1944, when Hitler attempted to starve the Soviet city of three million people into submission. Estimates of the number of residents who died from starvation, disease or cold range from 641,000 to 800,000.

Comprised solely of rarely-seen footage found in Soviet film archives by director Sergei Losnitsa, BLOCKADE vividly re-creates those momentous events, featuring a meticulously reconstructed, state-of-the-art soundtrack added to the original black-and-white silent footage. The result gives viewers the eerie impression of being not just an observer but virtually a participant in the events as they unfold on the streets of Leningrad.

Andrei Tarkovsky & Tonino Guerra - Tempo di viaggio aka Voyage in Time aka Travelling Time (1983)

Plot Summary :
Tarkovsky’s documentary explores the creation of the screenplay for his penultimate film ‘Nostalgia’. It shows his wide-ranging discussions with his Italian co-writer Tonino Guerra (Antonioni’s regular collaborator) and the hunt for suitable locations that might embody his vision of the film.

Leonid Varlamov - Red Army Parade 1941 (1941)

Quote:
On November 7th a traditional parade of the Red Army on the occasion of 24th anniversary of the October Revolution took place on Red Square in Moscow. Army units were leaving for the Western front right from the parade.