The Glasnost Film Festival is a 12 DVD collection featuring 22 documentary films produced or released in the beginning of the "Glasnost Era" in the Soviet Union -- 1986-1988. These independent films definitively document the historic cultural and political shifts that led to greater openness and the eventual demise of the Soviet Union in 1991. All were produced originally on 35mm film and are subtitled in English.
Against the Current, 27 min.
A film about ecological crime and how the residents of Kirishi protested a local chemical plant.
The Wood Goblin, 18 min.
For 15 years a former WWII tank commander lived alone in the woods after a smear campaign removed him from his Communist party position.
A strikingly beautiful film about the 1000th anniversary of Christianity in Russia and the role of religion in Soviet society.
A sobering look at the spiritual void and disillusionment of middle-aged Soviet adults, many of whom became aged before their time.
Early on Sunday, 16 min.
A wonderful portrait of old village women, whose unpretentious observations about life, love and perestroika evoke laughter and compassion.
Chernobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks, 54 min.
The first film made following the nuclear accident focuses on the immediate aftermath of the disaster and the cleanup effort.
The Bam Zone , 19 min.
Scenes at a Fountain , 28 min.
Dramatically portrays the bold, yet primitive efforts to cap the world's largest natural gas fire on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
A horrifying look at the personal catastrophe of alcoholism on the lives of a number of people young and old.
And the Past Seems But a Dream, 87 min.
A 50-year reunion of former residents of Igarka reveals a time that was a painful nightmare and the complicated attitudes of people towards Stalin.
Without any narration or interviews, this film presents the images and sounds of a hunger strike staged over the Nagorno-Karabahk dispute.
The story of Russia's artistic avant-garde from the 1950's to the 1970's, when their works were condemned or destroyed.
A bacchanal of rock-jazz and new wave music erupts in an abandoned Leningrad palace, a demonstration of freer musical expression.
This is How We Live, 30 min.
A shocking look at young homegrown fascists and self-styled "punks," revealing the growing alienation among young people.
In words reminiscent of Vietnam veterans, Soviet veterans of the Afghan War describe their anguish upon their return from the battlefield.
Marshall Blucher: A Portrait Against the Backdrop of an Epoch, 70 min.
A sweeping look at the excesses of the Stalin era through the story of a top Red Army commander, who in 1938 was declared an "enemy of the people" and perished in Stalin's torture chambers.
A collective meditation on the past and future of the Soviet Union, including a testament from the wife of Nikolai Bukharin.
A "judas" goat serenely leads a herd of animals to the slaughterhouse in this short parable which was banned for 9 years.
An intense personal examination of the motivations of a young man sentenced to death for killing two people.
The Evening Sacrifice, 18 min.
An experimental film that attempts to capture the spirit of a crowd.
Are You Going to the Ball?, 28 min.
An unprecedented look at the hardships young girls, including Olga Korbut, endured to be a part of the famous Soviet Olympic gymnastics team.
Tomorrow Is a Holiday, 19 min.
Young women workers reveal their alienation over poor working and living conditions, along with their inner strength.
"A remarkable portrait of the 'state of the art' at a critical period in Soviet cultural history. These films are equally important as historical documents themselves -- an invaluable visual record of the cultural and political ferment in the nation and the film community at the beginning of the Glasnost era. The collection should be considered essential to libraries at institutions where Soviet studies are taught."
"The films record and reflect upon that rare moment when the transition from oppression to freedom has gone beyond the stage of dream into a strange and difficult - but thoroughly exhilarating - arena of reality."
"There is probably no better forum for examining the radical changes on the Soviet Union and its people. Passionately personal works...the Glasnost Film Festival suggests that more than a fresh breeze of freedom of expression is blowing through Russia. A strong wind is more like it. "
"In content, the films, made or released between 1986 and 1988, reflect some of the struggles - environmental, national, generational - now besetting Soviet society. In form, some of them reflect the filmmakers' desire to explore new worlds of technique now permissible."
"Documents the nuclear disaster with candor and honesty."
"Chernobyl: Chronicle of Difficult Weeks... epitomized the Gorbachev policy inaugurated in the mid-1980's -- glasnost, or openness. Years earlier the Soviet Union would have gone to great lengths to deny or conceal any nuclear catastrophe. This time Soviet cameramen were quickly at work. Gorbachev's television announcement of the disaster became the opening of the film."
"Dialogues is expertly edited to convey the emotional variation from one musician's style to another. Dialogues begins slowly and builds to a crescendo...Black Square and Dialogues are mesmerizing programs for anyone interested in art, music, or the Soviet Union."
"Black Square, a thoughtful provocative survey of Soviet avant-garde artists, who have endured decades of oppression and obscurity for daring to defy the official calendar art style glorifying communist progress. This comprehensive and painful study makes clear that although these artists can now sell their work abroad they have yet to achieve real recognition at home."
"The young veterans, returning from Afghanistan, in Homecoming sound exactly like their American counterparts back from Vietnam. They are filled with anger and fear of rejection for having fought in a losing war"
"Balanced and reminiscent of American documentaries about Vietnam veterans. It intersperses interviews with both pro- and antiwar veterans with documentary footage of the war."
"The first Soviet film to give voice to the disillusionment of the soldiers who fought in Afghanistan."
"Final Verdict is one of the most evocative of the 22 films that make up the Glasnost Film Festival...an eloquent statement against the death penalty, and presents American viewers with what was once an anomaly: an official Soviet film attacking official Soviet policy."
"Sympathetic portrait of a young Russian black markteer who murdered another speculator in a robbery."
"Are You Going to the Ball? looks at a young girls' gymnastics program and poignantly touches one of Soviet society's most delicate issues: what it will do to its children - to their futures, to their minds, to their bodies - to make them champions."
"Scathing portrayal of the Soviet gymnastics program, alternating sequences depicting the psychologically and physically brutal training of young female [athletes]."
"A poignant expose of Soviet gymnastics. Girls too young to make informed choices about their lives are shown being pushed by parents and coaches into training that damages their bodies and neglects their minds."
"Disturbing... a study of how a group of very young girls is being trained to become gymnasts under strict conditions and with little apparent regard to the physical toll exacted of their bodies and to their lack of opportunity for a real education. Providing a by-and-large grim perspective on these children are such former champion athletes as Olga Korbut and Lyudmila Turischeva."