The Solovki special camp, was set up in 1923 on the Solovetsky Islands in the White Sea as a remote and inaccessible place of detention, primarily intended for socialist opponents of Soviet Russia's new Bolshevik regime.
Chinghiz Torekulovich Aitmatov was a Kyrgyz author who wrote mainly in Russian, but also in Kyrgyz. He is one of the best known figures in Kyrgyzstan's literature.
Frank Paul Beyer was a German film director. In East Germany he was one of the most important film directors, working for the state film monopoly DEFA and directed films that dealt mostly with the Nazi era and contemporary East Germany. His film Trace of Stones was banned for 20 years in 1966 by the ruling SED. His 1975 film Jacob the Liar was the only East German film ever nominated for an Academy Award. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 until his death he mostly directed television films.
Angel Raymond Wagenstein was a Bulgarian screenwriter and author. Wagenstein was born in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, but spent his childhood in France where his Jewish family emigrated for political reasons due to their leftist politics.
Konrad Wolf was an East German film director. He was the son of writer, doctor and diplomat Friedrich Wolf, and the younger brother of Stasi spymaster Markus Wolf. "Koni" was his nickname.
The cinema of Russia, popularly known as Mollywood, refers to the film industry in Russia, engaged in production of motion pictures in Russian language. The popular term Mollywood is a portmanteau of "Moscow" and "Hollywood".
Under Western Eyes (1911) is a novel by Joseph Conrad. The novel takes place in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Geneva, Switzerland, and is viewed as Conrad's response to the themes explored in Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment; Conrad was reputed to have detested Dostoevsky. It has also been interpreted as Conrad's response to his own early life; his father was a Polish independence activist and would-be revolutionary imprisoned by the Russians, but, instead of following in his father's footsteps, at the age of sixteen Conrad left his native land, only to return briefly decades later. Indeed, while writing Under Western Eyes, Conrad suffered a weeks-long breakdown during which he conversed with the novel's characters in Polish.
The Company is a three-part serial about the activities of the CIA during the Cold War. It was based on the best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Robert Littell. The teleplay adaptation was written by Ken Nolan, who received a Writers Guild of America Award for Television: Long Form – Adapted.
David is a 1979 West German film by director Peter Lilienthal. It tells the story of a rabbi's son in Germany during the Holocaust, who tries to raise money to escape to Mandate Palestine.
The Gadfly is a 1955 Soviet historical action film based on the novel by Ethel Lilian Voynich and directed by Aleksandr Faintsimmer. In 1955 the film was third in attendance in the Soviet Union, collecting 39.16 million ticket sales.
Romanoff and Juliet is a 1961 American Technicolor romantic comedy film adaptation of the play Romanoff and Juliet, which was itself loosely based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, released by Universal Pictures. Peter Ustinov wrote the screenplay, directed, and starred in the film. It co-starred John Gavin as Igor and Sandra Dee as Juliet. The film was shot in Italy.
Wolfgang Kohlhaase was a German screenwriter, film director, and writer. He was considered "one of the most important screenwriters in German film history", and was one of the GDR's most well-known and prolific film screenwriters. Kohlhaase was awarded the Honorary Golden Bear at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.
Dick Turpin is a 1925 American silent historical adventure film directed by John G. Blystone produced and distributed by Fox Film Corporation and starring western hero Tom Mix. Mix departs from his usual western roles to play a British historical figure, the highwayman Dick Turpin (1705–1739). A young Carole Lombard was filmed in several scenes which mostly ended up on the cutting room floor.
Fire at Sea is a 2016 Italian documentary film directed by Gianfranco Rosi. It won the Golden Bear at the 66th Berlin International Film Festival. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 89th Academy Awards. It was also selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the awards but it was not nominated in that category.
Hostages is a 2017 drama film directed and written by Rezo Gigineishvili and co-written by Lasha Bugadze. It was screened in the Panorama section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival.
Freedom Is Paradise is a 1989 Soviet Union film directed by Sergei Bodrov. It won the Grand Prix des Amériques, the main prize at the Montreal World Film Festival, and brought Bodrov international acclaim.
Mr. Jones is a 2019 Polish-Ukrainian-British thriller biographical film written and co-produced by Andrea Chalupa and directed by Agnieszka Holland. It is based on the true story of the British journalist Gareth Jones, who uncovers the truth of the devastating famine ('Holodomor') in which millions died in Ukrainian Republic, Soviet Union.
I'm Your Man is a 2021 German science fiction romance film inspired by a story of the same name by Emma Braslavsky and directed by Maria Schrader and starring Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens and Sandra Hüller. It premiered at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival in March 2021. It was selected as the German entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 94th Academy Awards and made the shortlist in December 2021.
Thorsten Trimpop is a German-American documentary filmmaker and professor. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2019.
