Lyudmila Stanukinas

Alisa Freyndlikh in a rush — there isn't a single calm, free minute. Rehearsals, discussions of roles with Igor Vladimirov, her daughter Varya's birthday, daytime and evening performances, meetings with the audience...

The following guests take part in the music concert-documentary: Rosa Rymbaeva, Dmitry Pokrovsky folklore Ensemble, Elena Kamburova, Alla Pugacheva, Bulat Okudzhava and the Nergebi children's vocal ensemble from Georgia.

This poetic core in youngsters is also touched in Stanukina's less known Your very personal poetry (Свои, совсем особые стихи, 1982), a wonderful film about a poetry class. It is here that one recalls Kogan's admiration of Lyalya's emotional documentary skills. And it is here that one recalls Kosakovsky's depiction of Lyalya as a person of extraordinarily prosperous feelings, sensitive and energetic, childish and female, shrill and quiet. The young poets are marvellously sneaky, respectfully adoring and creatively playing with - maybe even deconstructing - "Aleksandr Sergeevich", Mr. Pushkin, Russia's exclusive trade mark of high culture and literature.

The whole world knows the immortal feat of the residents of besieged Leningrad, accomplished during the Great Patriotic War. The tragic story of the blockade, which lasted for nine hundred days and ended with the defeat of the fascists at the gates of the unconquered city, will forever remain in the history of humanity as the most vivid example of courage and patriotism.

This is a story about how a family with many children moves into a new apartment in a newly constructed apartment building. The film “Moving Day” won a Silver Dragon Award at the 7th Krakow Film Festival. The jury’s decision stated: “For the warm and soulful relationship between the director and subjects of the film, expressed in a laconic form.”

“Like the right and left hand Your soul is close to my soul We are sealed shut, blissfully and warmly, Like the right and left wing…” The life and art of Pavel Kogan and Lyudmila Stanukinas, two famous Leningrad documentary filmmakers, can best be expressed by the Tsvetaeva stanza cited above. They are the main characters of this film, which their student Viktor Kossakovsky shot during Pavel Kogan’s final months. For Lyudmila Stanukinas, Lyalya, as those close to her called her, her husband was her only reason for existence. She was with him until the end and held onto his extinguishing life as much as she could.

The film observes and records the people travelling, adding to this very simple but effective visual set a pure (and magic) pot pourri of designed and recorded voices and sounds. Hereby not only the people become human beings alive, but also the city awakens.

A film portrait of 12-year-old violin prodigy Vadik Repin, winner of numerous international music competitions.