Valeri Zalotukha

Almanac of five short stories commissioned by ROSKOMKINO to celebrate the 100th anniversary of cinema.

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A Russian soldier who spent ten years in captivity in Afghanistan, returns to his home village and shocks all its inhabitants because of his conversion to Islam. During his absence, his father hanged himself, his brother served a prison term and his former fiancée has become a woman of very low morals. The village is the scene of endless drinking while the local boss is selling off the land for dollars to new-rich Russians. Our hero turns out as the only sober and hard-working member of the community. However, his attachment to his new faith soon provokes the hatred and rejection of everyone else, including his own family.

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"Makarov" both a popular Russian name, and also slang for the word "gun," serves as a metaphor for the brutal reality of life in a post-totalitarian society. The story's protagonist, Makarov, embodies this struggle as he becomes more mechanical and less spiritual upon acquiring a gun.

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On a visit to the "new Russian", the father of a thirteen-year-old boy, guests come to the dacha on New Year's Eve. One of them is a killer.

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A girl tries to rescue her father from a mysterious curse by returning a scarlet flower to its rightful owner.

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In July 1941 during the retreat of Soviet troops Sgt. Mamin tries to rescue his Soviet heavy tank KV-2, which has fallen into a river. He gathers a motley crew of soldiers and civilians and readies the tank for battle.

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The story of the Siberian Zavarzin family, which has long lived by bee trade. After an incomprehensible virus entered the hives one day, accusations between two neighboring farms reached the intensity of a real war. After all, if there are no bees, then there is no life, and you have to go to the city. The village began to empty before our eyes. The disintegration also occurs within the Zavarzin family: the eldest son gets drunk, the middle one is going to emigrate, the younger one goes crazy, the uncle rages with fat, not knowing where to put his money. And nothing can unite the once strong family anymore.

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After living half of his life, the protagonist remembers that somewhere in a provincial town lives his ex-wife and his grown-up son. He goes to a place where he is neither expected nor remembered.

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Early postwar years in a small mining town near Tula. While the adults, who are mostly women, are busy with work, the youngsters are left to fend for themselves and fight their own battles.

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The story of a hero who grew an apple orchard for people.

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A group of eighthgraders from Armenia meet the Estonian girl during their school vacation an the sea coast - and all the boys suddenly fall in love...

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A young poet Ivan is experiencing a lot of funny and tragic adventures during the years of Civil War in Russia.

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The action takes place during the Great Patriotic War in Belarus. The village in which the boy Kastus lived was located in the partisan zone. He soon made friends with the partisans, who became close people to him. The loss of his older friends was unexpected and difficult for Kastus...

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