More than 50 years after the death of Joseph Stalin, Russia is still divided. Was Stalin a great leader who made Russia into a superpower? Or was he a ruthless dictator, responsible for the deaths of millions of innocent people? Virtually no family has been left untouched by the consequences of Stalin's regime, and in every corner of the country, victims' families are struggling with history. The Red Soul shows how the past lives on in present-day Russia, and thus makes its mark on the future.

THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS is set in Eastern Ukraine on the frontline of the war. Oleg lives with his beloved grandmother, Alexandra, in the small village of Hnutove. Having no other place to go, Oleg and Alexandra stay and watch as others leave the village. Life becomes increasingly difficult with each passing day, and the war offers no end in sight. In this now half-deserted village where Oleg and Alexandra are the only true constants in each others' lives, the film shows just how fragile, but crucial, close relationships are for survival.

A political hireling working for Putin's party, "United Russia, " explains the cold inner mechanics of the system. The film portrays rural Russia, affected by government propaganda. Somehow, democratic life in this town appears to be a theatre.

Leninland is a vérité documentary that brilliantly captures the absurdities, contradictions, and surreal moments that come with trying to maintain a shrine to the father of a political system few want to see return.

A biography of Vladimir V. Putin, a former KGB agent who rapidly rose from a minor political figure in St. Petersburg to become president of the Russian Federation in the late 1990s. Argues that his ascendancy was "the result of a power struggle between factions of the country's ruling oligarchs and a behind-the-scenes political deal" brokered by Boris Yeltsin.

• Part 1. The city of dreams
• pt.
• 2. The city of tears
• pt.
• 3. The city of hope.

Three stories about Russia, situated in three different cities. Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the country's far east, the city of dreams; the metropolis Moscow, the city of sorrow; and the Siberian Khanty-Mansiysk, the city of hope. Respectively speaking, these cities are symbols of the country's past, present and future. The elderly pioneers who cheerfully built the warplane factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the 1930s reflect on an eventful history. The assassination of journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow indicates the deplorable state of the freedom of speech in today's Russia. The Siberian oil town of Khanty-Mansiysk boasts a new biathlon stadium, the highest birth rate in the country and a low crime rate; here, the hope for a better future pervades.

Reveals the psychological devastation the Chechen conflict has inflicted on children. Focuses on three rooms: a military academy near St. Petersburg; Crozny, Chechnya where families struggle to survive in barely habitable buildings; and, the nearby republic of Ingushetia where refugee camps are set up. Using minimal dialogue and evocative music, the film depicts the emotional state of children affected by war.