Vladimir Raevsky

The popular writer Roman Strakhov has to hand over another masterpiece to the publishing house in two weeks. But, as luck would have it, he has a creative crisis. For inspiration, Fears goes to the Investigative Committee. In order to study the material, the writer has to share heroic everyday life with the staff of the investigative department. Strict and very cute investigator Zhenya Ogareva becomes the main character not only of Strakhov's plots, but also of his whole life. Zhenya inspires the writer to a new novel. Both literally and figuratively…

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Helsinki seems to rise organically from the restrained and even austere nature that surrounds it. Across these waterways, forests, and rocky landscapes, thousands of former subjects of the Russian Empire fled to the city after 1917, escaping the revolution, civil war, and Bolshevik repressions—both aristocrats and ordinary people alike. Many chose Helsinki because of its proximity to Saint Petersburg, but émigrés also arrived from Ukraine, the Baltic states, and the Caucasus, seeking refuge from persecution and striving to preserve their culture and language. For many, the move was seen as a temporary measure, in the hope that the situation in Russia would soon stabilize. However, Finland, which gained independence in 1917, became a permanent home for many. Over the years, Helsinki hosted notable figures such as Alexander Kuprin, Ilya Repin, Igor Severyanin, Sofia Kovalevskaya, and others.

Who promised Muscovites that the war of 1812 would not affect them? How was it punished for retelling news to friends in the XIX century? How did Napoleon and the French behave in captured Moscow? And the main question is: who really burned Moscow?

Traveling to a totalitarian, authoritarian — or simply unfree — country is easy today. The real question is what such a journey allows one to see, and more importantly, to truly notice. Most travelers return with conventional impressions: restaurants, cafés, exhibitions, theaters. Yet distance often sharpens perception. With this in mind, the filmmakers travel to Nazi Berlin of 1936, seeking to understand what impressions and observations they might have brought back from this dazzling, remarkable, and deeply unsettling city.