Stalingrad (Fyodor Bondarchuk; 2013)

Samantha Berkhead, Moscow Times editor and bad movie enthusiast, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this extremely ill-judged pre-teen fish-out-of-water/time-travel comedy which features the doomed Romanov princess as its main character.  Listeners in the UK can support the show by picking up a book via our online affiliate bookshop. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops! Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! If you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate us on Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/russophilesunitemoviepodcast Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: ko-fi.com/russophilesunite The show's intro music is Cold by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ or on Spotify. If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Find Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

6 Joulu 20201h 6min

Caroline Ridler, academic and musician, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this musical/drama/biopic which follows the growth of the Leningrad rock scene in the early 1980s, with a particular focus on one of its most famous members, Kino frontman Viktor Tsoi. Listeners in the UK can buy Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More by Alexei Yurchak from Princeton University Press via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops! Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! Expect SPOILERS from about 32 minutes in until the end. Leto stars Teo Yoo, Roman Bilyk, and Irina Starshenbaum. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate us on Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/russophilesunitemoviepodcast Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Check out Caroline's bass covers of Kino songs over at her YouTube channel. The show's intro music is Cold by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ or on Spotify. If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Find Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

22 Marras 20201h 38min

Bianca Garner, film critic and editor and founder of In Their Own League, a website focusing on female filmmakers, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this 1960s romantic drama co-starring legendary Soviet bard Vladimir Vysotsky. Listeners in the UK can buy Kira Muratova by Jane Taubman from Bloomsbury Books via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops! Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! Expect SPOILERS from 41 minutes in until the end. Brief Encounters also stars Kira Muratova and Nina Ruslanova. Read Bianca's article on Kira Muratova here: intheirownleague.com/2020/06/15/in-their-own-league-hall-of-fame-kira-muratova/ You can watch the film with English subtitles at Russian Film Hub: https://russianfilmhub.com/movies/brief-encounters-1967/ Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite The show's intro music is Cold by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ Or: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cXWmfhuDWyfKfsYADk96F If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Find Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

2 Marras 20201h 25min

Dr Sarah Ifft Decker, professional historian and host of Media-eval: A Medieval Pop Culture Podcast, joins Ally Pitts to discuss an epic drama/war movie based on the early career of one of the most (in)famous military leaders in history. CONTENT WARNING: a character in the film is raped off-screen, there is also several violent battle scenes. This episode also contains some discussion of historical atrocities. Expect SPOILERS from about 48 minutes in until the end. Mongol stars Tanobu Asano, Sun Honglei, and Khulan Chuluun. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate us on Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/russophilesunitemoviepodcast You can listen to the episode of Media-eval: A Medieval Pop Culture Podcast that Ally guested on here: www.podchaser.com/podcasts/media-eval-a-medieval-pop-cult-754405/episodes/vikings-season-1-47983231 If you like talking about medieval stuff, you may want to pay a visit to the Media-eval Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/1117991018383250  The show's intro music is Cold by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ Or: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cXWmfhuDWyfKfsYADk96F If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Find Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

1 Marras 20202h 55min

Jonny Tickle, Moscow resident and YouTuber, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this meandering, mysterious walk through Russian history and Saint Petersberg's Hermitage Museum, filmed in a single continuous take. Listeners in the UK can buy Alexander Sokurov: Russian Ark by Birgit Beumers via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops. Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! Expect SPOILERS from about 38 minutes in until the end. Russian Ark stars Sergei Dreiden. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow and rate us on Podchaser: www.podchaser.com/russophilesunitemoviepodcast Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Find Jonny Tickle on Twitter at: @jonnytickle Visit Jonny's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKvzrcnSazCp5gYNbEaFHyg Aleksandr Sokurov, Russian Ark by Birgit Beumers: hwww.intellectbooks.com/aleksandr-sokurov  Publish with Intellect Books: www.intellectbooks.com/why-publish-with-us The show's intro music is Cold by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ Or: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cXWmfhuDWyfKfsYADk96F If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/   Find Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

2 Huhti 20201h 29min

Carrie joins Ally once again, this time to discuss a fantastical rom-com in which Sasha (Anna Starshenbaum), a student, meets Serafim (Artur Smolyaninov), a celestial visitor in Moscow on New Year's Eve. CONTENT WARNING: As we discuss in this episode, this film contains extreme racial insensitivity and also outright racism. Expect SPOILERS from about 17 minutes until the end. My Boyfriend is an Angel also stars Olga Popova, Nikita Efremov, Sergey Puskepalis, Ivan Makarevich,  The show's intro music is by Sasha Ilyukevich and the Highly Skilled Migrants. You can find more of their music at: https://thehighlyskilledmigrants.bandcamp.com/ Or: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1cXWmfhuDWyfKfsYADk96F If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Listen to Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

13 Helmi 20201h 9min

Michele Berdy, Moscow Times columnist, translator, and The Word's Worth podcast host, joins Ally to discuss this Brezhnev-era rom-com starring Alisa Freyndlikh and Andrei Myagkov. Listeners in the UK can buy The Russian Word's Worth by Michele Berdy via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the running costs of the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops. Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! Expect SPOILERS from about 42 minutes in until the end. Office Romance also stars Oleg Basilashvili, Svetlana Nemolyaeva, and Liya Akhedzhakova. Listen to Michele Berdy's The Word's Worth at: http://wordsworth.themoscowtimes.com/  If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Listen to Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

9 Tammi 20201h 32min

Martin Kessler, filmmaker and Flixwise: Canada host, returns to discuss this Russian Civil War set proto-action film. It has the dubious distinction of being one of Joseph Stalin's favourite movies, and it stars Boris Babochkin as the eponymous Red Army commander. Listeners in the UK can buy Chapaev by Julian Graffy from Bloomsbury Books, via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link. 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll also be helping out independent bookshops! Visit our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store here! CONTENT WARNING: The film briefly depicts a sexual assault (it is not framed as such, but certainly reads that way to modern audiences). Ally and Martin didn't actually discuss this scene in the episode, however. Expect SPOILERS from about 39 minutes in until the end. Hear more of Martin on Flixwise: Canada: http://flixwise.com/category/episodes/flixwise-canada/ If you'd like to get in touch and tell us what you thought of the film and/or the podcast episode, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter: @RussophilesU Email: russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagram: www.instagram.com/russophiles_unite/ Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/Ally_Pitts/ Support the show/fund Ally's caffeine habit at: https://ko-fi.com/russophilesunite Listen to Ally's other podcast appearances at: https://www.podchaser.com/creators/alistair-pitts-107ZzmUqmI

5 Joulu 20191h 35min