The cinema of the Soviet Union includes films produced by the constituent republics of the Soviet Union reflecting elements of their pre-Soviet culture, language and history, albeit they were all regulated by the central government in Moscow. Most prolific in their republican films, after the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, and, to a lesser degree, Lithuania, Belarus and Moldavia. At the same time, the nation's film industry, which was fully nationalized throughout most of the country's history, was guided by philosophies and laws propounded by the monopoly Soviet Communist Party which introduced a new view on the cinema, socialist realism, which was different from the one before or after the existence of the Soviet Union.
Threads is a 1984 British-Australian apocalyptic war drama television film jointly produced by the BBC, Nine Network and Western-World Television Inc. Written by Barry Hines and directed and produced by Mick Jackson, it is a dramatic account of nuclear war and its effects in Britain, specifically on the city of Sheffield in Northern England. The plot centres on two families as a confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union erupts. As the nuclear exchange between NATO and the Warsaw Pact begins, the film depicts the medical, economic, social and environmental consequences of nuclear war.
Victoria Wood was an English comedian, actress, lyricist, singer, composer, pianist, screenwriter, producer and director. Wood wrote and starred in dozens of sketches, plays, musicals, films and sitcoms over several decades and her live comedy act was interspersed with her own compositions which she performed at the piano. Much of her humour was grounded in everyday life and included references to activities, attitudes and products that are considered to exemplify Britain. She was noted for her skills in observational comedy and in satirising aspects of social class.
Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was a Soviet and Russian cosmonaut, Air Force major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first person to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds. He was also selected to be the first Soviet person to land on the Moon although the project was cancelled.
The Up series of documentary films follows the lives of ten males and four females in England beginning in 1964, when they were seven years old. The first film was titled Seven Up!, with later films adjusting the number in the title to match the age of the subjects at the time of filming. The documentary has had nine episodes—one every seven years—thus spanning 56 years. The series has been produced by Granada Television for ITV, which has broadcast all of them except 42 Up (1998), which was broadcast on BBC One. Individual films and the series as a whole have received numerous accolades; in 1991, the then-latest installment, 28 Up, was chosen for Roger Ebert's list of the ten greatest films of all time.
Michael David Apted was an English television and film director and producer.
Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev, also spelled as Qara Qarayev or Kara Karayev, was a prominent Soviet Azerbaijani composer. Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces, including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs, and marches, and rose to prominence not only in Azerbaijan SSR, but also in the rest of the Soviet Union and worldwide.
Elem Germanovich Klimov was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker. He studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko. Klimov is best known for his final film, 1985's Come and See, which follows a teenage boy in German-occupied Byelorussia during the Great Patriotic War and is often considered one of the greatest films ever made. His work also notably includes black comedies, children's movies, and period dramas.
Tengiz Abuladze was a Georgian film director, screenwriter, theatre teacher and People's Artist of the USSR. He is regarded as one of the best Soviet directors.
Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov, PAR is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a feature film, Russian Ark (2002), filmed in a single unedited shot, and Faust (2011), which was honoured with the Golden Lion, the highest prize for the best film at the Venice Film Festival.
Eldar Aleksandrovich Ryazanov was a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, poet, actor and pedagogue whose popular comedies, satirizing the daily life of the Soviet Union and Russia, are celebrated throughout the former Soviet Union and former Warsaw Pact countries.
Pavel Vladimirovich Klushantsev was a Russian cameraman of higher category (1939), film director, producer, screenwriter and author who worked during the Soviet Era. He was a Meritorious Artist of Russia (1970).
Hamlet is a 1964 film adaptation in Russian of William Shakespeare's play of the same title, based on a translation by Boris Pasternak. It was directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Iosif Shapiro, and stars Innokenty Smoktunovsky as Prince Hamlet.
Rolan Antonovich Bykov was a Soviet and Russian stage and film actor, director, screenwriter and pedagogue. People's Artist of the USSR (1990).
Moscow Strikes Back is a Soviet war documentary about the Battle of Moscow made during the battle in October 1941 – January 1942, directed by Ilya Kopalin and Leonid Varlamov. It was one of four films that won a 1942 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Cinema of Azerbaijan dates back to the 19th century. Azerbaijan is one of the first countries in the world involved in cinematography. The first Azerbaijani film was a thirty second long silent film called The Oil Gush Fire in Bibiheybat, which was recorded using the cinematograph.
Bridge (Мост) is a musical film, the first USA/USSR student co-production.
The Central Television of the USSR was the state television broadcaster of the Soviet Union.
D. Matt Geller has been a veteran independent producer specializing in scripted development, film financing, project packaging, and physical production. He currently serves as president of Josephson Entertainment. He is a member of the P.G.A.
John Walsh is an English filmmaker and author. He is the founder of the film company Walsh Bros. Ltd. His film work on subjects such as social mobility and social justice has received two BAFTA nominations.
