In 1903 St. Petersburg, Kseniya and Stesha are forced into prostitution. Trapped by their controller, they find solace in their inner strength and yearning for freedom, which may help them escape their dire circumstances.
St. Petersburg, 1903. A world of luxury and leisure for men, a world of fear and submission for women. Ksenia and Stesha work in an underground brothel under the control of a handsome and ruthless lady. Girls sell men their bodies, feelings, flirting and the illusion of love. It seems that they have nothing but beauty. In fact, they have access to a secret power — the purity of the soul and the desire for freedom. And with this power, they can change everything.
An ambitious professor of psychiatry, Viktor Meshchersky, conducts a dangerous psychological experiment in which, under false pretenses, he locks victims and their abusers in the basement, hiding his true goals. The subsequent investigation will reveal the real motives of the professor, and will tie together the confusing stories of all participants in the cruel experiment.
The documentary series tells about the history of the new Russian cinema in the context of events that changed Russia forever. The narrative is built in chronological order: from 1992, when the first film was released, where "Russia" was listed in the output data instead of "USSR", to the present. Directors, actors and producers will share their memories of the path in Russian cinema. Among them are Fyodor Bondarchuk, Gosha Kutsenko, Evgeny Tsyganov, Zhora Gooseberry, Pyotr Buslov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Khotinenko, Valeria Guy Germanika, Sergey Selyanov, Egor Konchalovsky and many others.
The film is inspired by the record-breaking solo trip around the globe in a hot-air balloon made by the world-famous Russian explorer Fedor Konyukhov in July of 2016. Throughout his remarkable life, Konyukhov has proven time and time again that willpower, perseverance and faith can help overcome fear and doubt, and lead a person to triumph.
In modern-day Moscow, disaffected former journalism student Roman follows a cryptic invitation to join “the elite” and finds himself forcibly transformed into a vampire. But not your typical creature of the night. Thanks to a parasitical worm known as the Tongue, Roman (now called Rama) has become part of a ruling class of vampires who exercise an “anonymous dictatorship” over humans based not on a thirst for blood but the hunger for money. As various instructors school him in the ways of their elite breed, and Rama explores his new supernatural abilities, he begins a tentative relationship with another newly turned vampire, Hera. His desire for more knowledge about this intoxicating new world also leads him into potentially deadly conflict with Mithra, his mentor who becomes his nemesis.
In modern-day Moscow, disaffected former journalism student Roman follows a cryptic invitation to join “the elite” and finds himself forcibly transformed into a vampire. But not your typical creature of the night. Thanks to a parasitical worm known as the Tongue, Roman (now called Rama) has become part of a ruling class of vampires who exercise an “anonymous dictatorship” over humans based not on a thirst for blood but the hunger for money. As various instructors school him in the ways of their elite breed, and Rama explores his new supernatural abilities, he begins a tentative relationship with another newly turned vampire, Hera. His desire for more knowledge about this intoxicating new world also leads him into potentially deadly conflict with Mithra, his mentor who becomes his nemesis.
In the past, Soviet prima ballerina and now world-renowned choreographer Ruta Myers returns to the country after almost 40 years to stage a performance at the country's main ballet theater. Ruta is forced to rebuild relationships with friends and enemies, who have become key people in the Russian ballet over the past time, but most importantly — with the artistic director of the theater Andrei Pronin and his family. They were once a couple, and now old feelings and old resentments flare up with renewed vigor. A lot of money, ambitions, and a career are at stake — Ruta, despite all her efforts, finds herself in the epicenter of passions and intrigues very far from the world of art.
A lecturer at a provincial institute, PhD in Economics, is desperately trying to put his theoretical knowledge into practice. However, "reliable" business schemes constantly fail, and it does not work to change worn-out trousers from the GDR to brand-new jeans from America. And then there's the son, caught stealing at school, forcing him to go to extreme measures and seek help from bandits. As a result, the main character finds himself embroiled in a murky scheme with dangerous creditors and obscene goods that he will have to sell just to stay alive. After all, now he is the owner of the first sex shop in his hometown, and he urgently needs to make sure that such outlandish products for the local population as "Aladdin's Cave" and "Banana Bully" are properly sold so that his son does not end up in a juvenile colony, and his wife is a "model" at the men's club.
A lecturer at a provincial institute, PhD in Economics, is desperately trying to put his theoretical knowledge into practice. However, "reliable" business schemes constantly fail, and it does not work to change worn-out trousers from the GDR to brand-new jeans from America. And then there's the son, caught stealing at school, forcing him to go to extreme measures and seek help from bandits. As a result, the main character finds himself embroiled in a murky scheme with dangerous creditors and obscene goods that he will have to sell just to stay alive. After all, now he is the owner of the first sex shop in his hometown, and he urgently needs to make sure that such outlandish products for the local population as "Aladdin's Cave" and "Banana Bully" are properly sold so that his son does not end up in a juvenile colony, and his wife is a "model" at the men's club.
Fyodor Sergeyevich Bondarchuk (born 9 May 1967) is a Russian film director and actor. He is the director of the acclaimed film The 9th Company, and producer of the 2006 film Heat, where he starred as himself with his mother Irina Skobtseva. He is the son of director Sergei Bondarchuk (who co-starred with him in Boris Godunov) and Irina Skobtseva, half-brother of Natalya Bondarchuk, and brother to Alyona Bondarchuk. He is married to television presenter Svetlana, and has one son. He presents several programmes on the STS network. His first full-scale film was The 9th Company about the Soviet war in Afghanistan, which is sometimes referred to as a Russian Platoon or Apocalypse Now. He also directed The Inhabited Island, a 2008-9 film based on the Strugatsky brothers' novel Prisoners of Power. Currently, he is filming the movie Stalingrad, which tells a fictional story about several soldiers and civilians fortified in a house during the infamous battle, inspired by the defence of Pavlov's house. Description above from the Wikipedia article Fyodor Bondarchuk, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.