Mila Kudryashova

When Lyudmila Ivanova made her infamous claim during a US-Soviet TV programme in 1986 that ‘There is no sex in the USSR!’, her comment – although roundly mocked at the time – revealed a certain truth about Soviet attitudes towards sex and the ways in which it was controlled by the regime, rendering it largely invisible. With this documentary, the director takes us through 70 years of Soviet history to highlight the interplay between sex, politics and society and the changing meanings attached to sex and sexuality under different General Secretaries.

The action in the film takes place in the Far East, on an uninhabited island called Rikord in the Peter the Great Gulf of the Sea of Japan. The lead character, called Fatei after his father, and his family have their own marine farm where they harvest delicacies from the sea. In amazing images of the underwater world and land-scapes of the Primorsky (Maritime) Territory of the Russian Far East, the film Fatei and the Sea tells the story of a little man whose life is inseparable from the big world around him.

We met Nastya, the main character, in 2003, when she was serving her time in the correctional colony for under-age girls. Obviously, she felt guilty and had a dream about freedom. She believed in a chance of new happy life. Every girl in colony had the same feelings and was sure in those beliefs. Ten years have passed since then. Unfortunately, Nastya’s hopes were shattered. Life outside prison was even more difficult. The young girl has to deal with a huge count of troubles and tragedies by herself. Anyone could break down, but Nastya. She goes on finding inspiration and efforts to pursuit of happiness. Especially trying for the happiness of her small daughter. Nastya is an amazingly strong person. She ought to be happy.

A group of scientists led by Pavel Skuchas of St. Petersburg State University goes on a risky expedition to Yakutia to find traces of the Arctic dinosaurs. Little did they know about how it would change their perception of their own ancestry.

A year in the life of Valentina Romanova, whose fate, as she herself says, is like a mystical thriller and an ancient tragedy.

200 to 300 thousand years ago the banks of the river now called Kama were inhabited by mammoth’s and elephant’s ancestors. Presently fishermen have found the fossils of these in the steep banks of Kama. All of it started from there… In the film, you can see how the discovery of the trogonterii mammoth’s fossils became the center of the social initiative for people from the nearest villages and even the Krai’s administrative capital.

"The Female Voice of the Arctic" is a documentary about bright and successful modern women, representatives of ethnic groups of the Sakha Republic.

Sergey Potapov is one of the founders of the "wave of Yakut cinema". Serge is a man of legend, some consider him a genius of the Arctic ethnomodern, others attribute to him the scandalous fame of the "Yakut Tarantino". Potapov becomes a guide for St. Petersburg residents through the "inner country of Sakha" inhabited by the spirits of the Olonkho epic. At the end of June, the Sakha Republic celebrates the national holiday Ysyakh — Yakut New Year, a symbol of rebirth and abundance. The ancient ritual coincides with the birthday of the main character — and this is just one of the keys to unraveling the Yakut master, who saddles the currents of reality.