
Vitaly Mansky
Directing
Biography
Vitaly Vsevolodovich Mansky (Russian: Вита́лий Все́володович Ма́нский, Ukrainian: Віталій Всеволодович Манський; born 2 December 1963 in Lviv, Ukrainian SSR, USSR) is a film and documentary maker of Jewish Ukrainian origin. His films have been screened at film festivals worldwide and he has received over 100 international awards. In 2007, he founded the International Festival of Creative Documentary Films Artdocfest. In 2014, he emigrated to Latvia. He is still being persecuted by Russian authorities for expressing his stance on civil rights. Mansky is the president of the IDFF Artdocfest/Riga and a member of the American Film Academy (Oscars).
Known For

Russian Federation, December 31, 1999. After President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin becomes acting president of the country. From that day and for a year, Vitaly Mansky's camera documented Putin's rise to power. The story of a privileged witness. The harsh explanation of the reason why politics is the art of possibility of achieving the best with the support of many, but also of giving the worst in return.
Putin's Witnesses

Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il's birthday) celebration. While North Korean government wanted a propaganda film, the director kept on filming between the scripted scenes. The ritualized explosions of color and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal.
Under the Sun
"Open up, the Police" is the first Russian documentary series about the police. This is a cycle of 26 films about the "harsh working days" of real policemen, employees of the Moscow Department of Internal Affairs "Airport". They perform operational and investigative actions, which are immediately removed by the film group. Among the heroes are a district inspector, an operational officer, an investigator, an inspector for minors and the head of the Department of Internal Affairs. Each episode is dedicated to one crime. The viewer sees with his own eyes how operas work - starting from a call to the police station, ending with the detention of a criminal and his interrogations. The Laurels Award nominees were three series - "Trunk", "Step from the roof", "Snow was falling Quietly".
Open Up, Police!
A chronicle project about children born on the eve of 2000. 12 episodes of 44 minutes. "In 1999, the world was preparing for the new millennium. So, to the change of epochs, generations. Many considered the change of three nines to three zeros a radical scrapping of the times. It was then, on the scrap, that the foundation of our television project was laid," says Vitaly Mansky. - Then, in 1999, we chose almost at random several dozen women living in Russia at that time and at that time preparing to become mothers. Then everyone was eager to find out what their life would be like in the new millennium, how the history of their country, city, and, of course, their families, their future children would develop. Children who today, in 2006, became the heroes of our television chronicle of the new time... "
Generation

Award-winning filmmaker Vitalij Manskij followed Mikhail Gorbachev, Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin during the course of a year. The result is both an insider’s account of politics in Russia and an intimate portrait of the three ‘Red Tsars’.
Red Tsars. Presidents of Russia
The history of the formation of modern Russia.
Russia. The Begining

Podnebesnaya was a musical production company organized by producer Ivan Shapovalov. The project for Podnebensaya, with the same title, began in 2003 in Moscow, Russia. The main purpose of the production was to produce t.A.T.u.'s second studio album, however after a falling-out with Ivan, such production was ended. Shapovalov continued to work with other Russian artists including 7B, Helya, Ledokol, FlyDream and n.A.T.o.. A CD was released of this project in 2004, after t.A.T.u. split from Shapovalov. The CD was titled Podnebesnaya No. 1, and only featured one song by t.A.T.u., although the release capatalized on the fact that it was made during the reality show.
T.A.T.U. In Underheaven

A documentary film about the life and early death of Russian singer and songwriter Aleksandr Bashlachev through the eyes of his friends, family members and other representatives of rock music scene.
Bashlachev. The Flight of Death
A documentary series filmed in the mode of a reality show and aired on the STS TV channel in 2004. The goal of the creators is to convey the real atmosphere within the group and show the life of the Tattoo group in all its manifestations.
t.A.T.u. in the Middle Kingdom
"We propose to look at the history and the present day of the Kremlin through the eyes of people who have been serving the Kremlin for years... The film consists of five episodes. The first is the preparation of the Kremlin for the New Year, the second is dedicated to the Kremlin as a presidential residence, then - the Arsenal and military history, the fourth - symbols, the fifth - the Kremlin as a museum.
Open Kremlin
Today, a series of hockey matches in 1972 between the national teams of Canada and the USSR is remembered only with the prefix super. They call it a milestone in the history of the development of world hockey, and not only hockey. The meeting of Soviet hockey players with Canadian professionals has become the main topic of world news. One Canadian journalist promised to eat the newspaper in which it is printed if the Russians win. The Russians won. And the journalist Dick Beddoes had to fulfill his promise and eat a report in the newspaper with borscht. What happened then, 30 years ago in the USSR, Canada, how the games were held in Canada and Moscow, the intensity of the political confrontation around hockey, life before and after the super series - about all this in five episodes.
USSR - Canada. More Than Hockey

The true, detailed lives of the girls of the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. as they break through in their promotional tour in America.
Anatomy of t.A.T.u.

An immersion into the intimacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. The architect of perestroika and glasnost, who was praised in the West but reviled in his own country, still combative despite his advanced age, loneliness and illness, offers his personal and political testament.
Gorbachev. Heaven

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.
Eastern Front

Three young women, who each have a sought-after commodity - their virginity. Kristina, Karina and Katya each try to make their way in a world ruled by fame, popularity and money.
Virginity

The Leningrad period of V. Putin's life.
Unknown Putin

Vitaly Mansky’s intimate and insightful new documentary finds him crisscrossing Ukraine in the wake of the Maidan uprising, which has left his relatives scattered on both sides of a highly charged and dizzyingly complex political situation.
Close Relations
Refugees from the Caucasian republics, Armenians, Azerbaijanis and Russians, meet on the shore of the Black Sea: they work as shop keepers, life guards, karaoke singers, or just enjoy their holidays. It all happens at a place called Broadway, which is no-where to be found on a map, not even the most detailed ones. The temporary inhabitants of Broadway construct a whole world en miniature, consisting of small carts, tents or booths parked in close, haphazard rows. The scenery, which is put up for a few weeks during the summer, bubbles with life – and in no way corresponds with ordinary daily life in Russia.
Broadway. Black Sea

The action takes place against the backdrop of the meager life of a decaying Russian village, where several women and an elderly alcoholic man remain. Two old women live here, the youngest of whom, Praskovya, devoted her whole life to her older sister Maria, who stopped growing in her early childhood. The only young woman in the village is expecting a child: everyone believes that from an angel.
Bliss

Not far from Grozny, on an alternate railroad track, there is an old steam locomotive with several wagons attached to it. The steam engine gives steam — hot water is in the boilers, and a bathhouse is equipped in the cars, where soldiers and officers wash, laundry is washed ... A washing on wheels — at the same time a soldier’s bivouac, a piece of peaceful life, and the beginning of a new road. To this locomotive, these cars come - platooned, in batches and one at a time - tired, tired, unshaven, angry Russian guys. They scrape dirt off themselves. Soak from stubborn soot, warm with souls. They put on clean underwear. They drink vodka. They smoke. They talk about love, remember loved ones and native places. Cry. They sing. And around - the landscape after the battle. It's not over yet ... An accidental explosion. Stray bullet. And our guys washed into the unknown. Clean. Hoping to survive.