EASTERN EUROPE CALLING

Premieres, Previews & New Releases

Booking Ref

Fri 12 Aug 14:00 – Pic Palace Wed 17 Aug 18:00 – Studio Estonia – New release FIREBIRD

‘Firebird’ follows a handsome, soulful, young soldier who embarks on a clandestine sexual affair with a charismatic fighter pilot at the height of 1970’s Communist rule. Based on a true story during the Cold War, this is a passionate love story set against the backdrop of a Soviet Air Force base. Sergey (Tom Prior), a young soldier who dreams of becoming an actor in Moscow, is counting the days until his military service ends. His life turns upside down when he locks eyes with Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii), a sexy, enigmatic ace fighter pilot newly assigned to his base. Driven by their undeniable attraction, Sergey and Roman navigate the precarious line between love and friendship at a time when Soviet men in uniform caught having a sexual affair was met with the severest punishment. As their friendship grows into love, the men risk their freedom and their lives to be together in the face of an allseeing Soviet regime. (In English) ESTONIA/UK 2021 PEETER REBANE 107M

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Fri 12 Aug 18:30 – Studio Fri 19 Aug 18:00 – Pic Palace

Mon 15 Aug 20:45 – Studio Tue 16 Aug 13:45 – Pic Palace

Russia IN LIMBO

Sasha and Danny, both 15, have sex. Sasha’s stepfather, a policeman, confines her to home, before she escapes and goes on the run with Danny. On the face of it, this is a conventional story with ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ resonances, an outstanding, darkly humorous study of two disaffected teenagers who become trapped in a spiral of self-destruction. It is based on a 2016 incident when two youngsters, armed with guns, barricaded themselves in a house. When police stormed the building, the consequences were fatal. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2021 ALEXANDER HANT 103M

Estonia – Preview DAWN OF WAR

O2 A spy thriller in the John Le Carré mode, about an Estonian intelligence officer, who has to track down a mysterious Soviet double agent on the eve of WWII. The tensions across Europe just before World War II are finely captured by director Margus Paju in this splendid thriller. In 1939, Estonia had only known independence for a relatively short time when it was caught between the hostile political machinations of Germany and the Soviet Union. When the head of Estonia’s counter-Soviet intelligence unit is found dead, former spy Feliks (Priit Võigemast) is called back to find the mole and prevent a Russian takeover. Suspicion spreads everywhere and no one can afford a quiet moment—especially when Feliks learns that the Soviets’ secret code book may be up for grabs. As the pace of events quickens, the film travels back and forth in time to see Feliks fall in love with Polish art historian Maria (Agnese Cirule) and discover the many secrets hiding everywhere. ‘Dawn of War’ remains gripping to the very last moment. (Subtitles) ESTONIA 2020 MARGUS PAJU 100M Our thanks to Kaleidoscope Pictures for this screening.

Booking Ref

Sat 13 Aug 20:15 – Studio Mon 22 Aug 13:45 – Pic Palace

Booking Ref

Sun 14 Aug 20:45 – Studio

Russia FIRST SNOW

Four lives – those of a mother and daughter, their neighbour and a lonely 11-year-old girl – intersect in the autumn, at a time when everyone is waiting for the first snow. Nathalia Konchalovsky’s feature debut is a quiet, subtly-acted study of the search for fulfilment in a Moscow where the millennial young are confronted by the same complexities as their counterparts in any other of the world’s big cities: achieving a work-life balance in the digital world, the perils of social stigma and the need, or otherwise, for a stable relationship. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2021 NATHALIA KONCHALOVSKY 83M

Russia THE RIOT

In the depths of winter in the Urals, the father of a 12-year-old boy is murdered, but the killer is free to walk the streets. An athletics coach offers to help. This low-key revenge thriller was shot against stunning landscapes, the beauty of which is in stark counterpoint to the hardscrabble lives of the villagers and their grim personal dramas. Loosely based on his own experience, ‘The Riot’ is an impressive feature debut by an accomplished documentarymaker who believes that in the modern world it is becoming increasingly difficult to forgive and be merciful. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2022 EVGENY GRIGOREV 108M

Booking Ref

Mon 15 Aug 16:00 – Studio

Russia LIKE A MAN

Gleb, 35, is the model of a successful businessman, with a beautiful wife and a new house. Beyond its gates, however, are people with whom he has little in common. When a bag of rubbish is hurled over his fence by a drunk and his wife challenges the miscreant, Gleb’s comfortable life is turned upside down, proving how a relatively minor case of anti-social behaviour can have unimagined consequences. Thanks to shrewd direction, excellent performances by the key players and genuine suspense, a formulaic plot is lifted onto a higher plane. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2022 MAXIM KULAGIN 102M

Fri 19 Aug 20:30 – Studio Sun 21Aug 16:00 – Studio

Russia 100 MINUTES

Ivan Denisovich Among those who fought the Nazis, thousands of Russian soldiers who were caught and imprisoned met with harsh justice on their return home: many years’ hard labour. One of them was Ivan Denisovich Shukhov. More than half a century after Ronald Harwood adapted Solzhenitsyn’s great novel for Caspar Wrede’s movie starring Tom Courtenay, the veteran director Gleb Panfilov has filmed his own treatment, to stunning effect. It is notable for its introductory action sequence, its subsequent intimacy and its punctuation by ravishing landscapes. Not to be missed. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2021 GLEB PANFILOV 104M

Fri 19 Aug 11:00 – Studio

Tue 23 Aug 17:45 – Studio Wed 24 Aug 13:45 – Pic Palace

Romania CLOUDS OF CHERNOBYL

1986 The Lost Year After the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, people living in the northeast of Romania were exposed to high levels of radiation. Many children were born with deformities. Irina is faced with a hideous dilemma: to have the abortion demanded by her mother-in-law and risk imprisonment, or to risk giving birth to a malformed baby who would be taken away by the state and allowed to die. Ligia Ciornei’s gruelling drama, shot in extended takes, is not for the faint-hearted but carries a strong message and is dedicated to the victims of Chernobyl as well as to those of ‘communism and fear’. (Subtitles) ROMANIA 2021 LIGIA CIORNEI 77M

Russia WHITE WHALE

A middle-aged lawyer who has become rich on the proceeds of defending the patently guilty, must use his skills to retain his adoptive children. In today’s Russia, children are returned to orphanages – even after long periods with foster families – and replaced ‘like defective goods or unwanted puppies’. This subversive insight into life at a certain level of society, where the wealthy and empowered can circumvent the law and violate with ease universally accepted social mores, also takes aim at the medical profession and the judiciary. The amazing final five minutes has echoes of the end of ‘Oh What a Lovely War’. (Subtitles) RUSSIA 2021 TATYANA FEDOROVSKAYA 125M