When the Spirit Soars in Flight

Breathtaking sets and costumes are designed by Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino in this exceptional production, recorded at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Direction and choreography in this fully restored version of Marius Petipa's original ballet are by Rudolf Nureyev. Live performance recorded in 1994.

The radiant Alla Sizova stars as Princess Aurora in this artful film version of Tchaikovsky's timeless classic from the world-renowned Kirov Ballet, a production based on the highly acclaimed, original choreography by Marius Petipa. The legendary troupe's majesty and skill are on full display as they perform one of the world's most beloved ballets with supporting performances from Natalia Dudinskaya, Yuri Solovyov and Valeri Panov.

Harris Glenn Milstead, aka Divine (1945-1988) was the ultimate outsider turned underground hero. Spitting in the face of the status quos of body image, gender identity, sexuality, and preconceived notions of beauty, Divine succeeded in becoming an internationally recognized icon, recording artist, and character actor of stage and screen. Glenn went from the often-mocked, schoolyard fat kid to underdog royalty, standing up for millions of gay men and women, drag queens and punk rockers, and countless other socially ostracized misfits and freaks. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality, and revolutionized pop culture.

The Paris Opera Ballet's 1988 revised version of Rudolf Nureyev's 1963 production of The Nutcracker.

The Bolshoi Ballet star in Sergei Prokofiev's Cinderella.

The history of the Soviet space program and the flight of the world's first manned spacecraft "Vostok" piloted by Yuri Gagarin.

"In order to preserve all our achievements for posterity it is necessary to resort to the aid of the motion picture, which will be a great contribution to the immortalization of our art. The years are passing by, and we hope that our achievements, registered on film, will aid future generations to learn and perfect themselves. In the not too distant future our first experience in this field will be shown to a wide public: pictures of the methodology of classical ballet at the Moscow and Leningrad Ballet Schools. This film will be a scientific aid in outlying districts as well." - Agrippina Vaganova

Aleksandr Pokryshkin

A rare Soviet documentary film from 1951, directed by Pavel Klushantsev. It explores the history of humanity’s study of the universe, from ancient astronomy to modern understandings of the solar system, examining the structure of the cosmos, the planets, and advances in scientific space research.

This film consists of three parts. The first dramatizes the life of the founder of Soviet astronautics, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky; the second describes the development of rocket technology; and the third visualizes the future with enactments of the first manned spaceflight, spacewalk, space station construction and humans on the moon.

In 1988, Ekaterina Maximova and Vladimir Vasiliev form the most prestigious couple in Soviet ballet, both at home and on stage. In this feature-length documentary they can be seen rehearsing, teaching, visit and heard sharing their memories and talking about the status of the artist under the Soviet regime.

A documentary about the reopening of Moscow's GUM, the largest department store in the Soviet Union.

The brightest stars of Soviet cinema and pop music on New Year's Eve 1966 for reasons beyond their control found themselves in the forest. The actors do not suspect that they are trapped, they are being hunted and traps are set.

Film-ballet written by composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The authors of the movie tell the story of the ballet's creation, as well as about various stage productions with the participation of outstanding performers of the role of Odette-Odile. The movie includes fragments of the ballet staged by choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.

The untimely death of silent screen star Rudolph Valentino prompts the many women in his past to reminisce about his troubled rise to superstardom.

A Russian war correspondent is drafted into the war and finds himself in the middle of battle. When he loses his party card, however, he is treated as a deserter until he finds help from a kind man.

Reminiscing the 1917 Russian October Revolution, a time when the films' director was 14 years old.

Wisconsin farm girl Elizabeth Carlson leaves family and her English teacher lover behind and escapes to New York. There she soon makes a career for herself as a fashion model. During a vernissage she's approached by a mysterious man whose motives are unclear...

In 1957 French student Pierre Durand comes to Moscow to do an internship at Moscow State University. Here he meets ballerina Kira Galkina and photographer Valera Uspenskiy. With them he discovers the cultural side of Moscow — not just the traditional one, but the underground one as well. During his year in Russia’s capital Pierre lives an entirely different life than what he’s used to. But the internship and the experience of the Soviet people’s way of life are not the only things Pierre is after. He’s searching for his father, White officer Tatishchev, who was arrested in the 1930s.

The film's protagonists are speed skaters. The competition scenes feature champions and medalists of the USSR, World, European, and Olympic championships: Ants Antson, Irina Egorova, Viktor Kosichkin, and Valentina Stenina.