0533 – 1944 (2015)

spacetime coordinates:  Estonia 1944

In “1944” Director Elmo Nyuganena portrays the real events on the Eastern Front in Estonia in 1944, from the Battle Of Tannenburg Line, the July fighting on the Sinimäed Hills, until November, when the Sõrve peninsula was already conquered by the Soviet Army. The war is shown through the eyes of participants in the events on both warring sides – the Estonians who fought on the side of the German Army in the 20th Estonian division Waffen-SS, and as part of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the Soviet Army.

The film has been banned in the Russian Federation.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3213684/

0510 – Rocks in My Pockets (2014)

Rocks in My Pockets (Latvian: Akmeņi manās kabatās) is a 2014  2D / 3D animated film written, produced, directed and animated by Signe Baumane. It was originally created in English and a Latvian version was thereafter translated and produced. The film is based on true events about five women of the filmmaker’s family, including herself, and their battles with depression and suicide. For the entire film, approximately 30,000 drawings were created.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2961890/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocks_in_My_Pockets

501

Excerpt from Examined Life, 2008. (imdb)

Slavoj Zizek investigates the surprising ethical implications of charitable giving.

Slavoj Žižek on CBC radio

Political Correctness Is a More Dangerous Form of Totalitarianism

498 – The Death of Stalin (2017)

spacetime coordinates:  1953 Moscow

The Death of Stalin is a 2017 political satire film directed and co-written by Armando Iannucci. Based on the French graphic novel La mort de Staline, it depicts the Soviet power struggles following the death of dictator Joseph Stalin in 1953.

A number of academics commented on the historical accuracy of The Death of Stalin. Historian Richard Overy noted in The Guardian that the film “is littered with historical errors”, which can be “viewed as cinematic licence“, but was most critical that the film did not appropriately honour Stalin’s victims. Director Iannucci stated that he “chose to tone down real-life absurdity” to make the work more believable.  Samuel Goff, at the Department of Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge, cited several justifiable historical inaccuracies with the ranks and roles of Stalin’s inner circle, but thought the film missed the overall point and was unable to locate any of the inherent humour contained in Stalinism.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/

0489 – Ikitie / The Eternal Road (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 1930’s Finland // Kolkhoz  in East Karelia, Soviet Union

The Eternal Road (Finnish: Ikitie) is a 2017 Finnish drama film based on a novel by Antti Tuuri  set against the backdrop of the untold story about 10,000 people who voluntarily moved from North America to the Soviet Union to build a worker’s paradise, but who eventually learned the true face of Stalin’s U.S.S.R. (based on true events)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4173170/

0446 – Child 44 (2015)

spacetime coordinates: 1953 > Moscow > Volsk > Rostov-on-Don >

Child 44 is a 2015 mystery drama film directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by Richard Price, and based on Tom Rob Smith‘s 2008 novel of the same name. The film stars an ensemble cast featuring Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, and Vincent Cassel. Both the novel and the film are very loosely based on the case of Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, who had been portrayed in the earlier film Citizen X.

Ban of the film in Russia

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1014763/

0409 – First They Killed My Father (2017)

spacetime coordinates: 1975 – 1979  Cambodia

First They Killed My Father (Khmer: មុនដំបូងខ្មែរក្រហមសម្លាប់ប៉ារបស់ខ្ញុំ Moun dambaung Khmer Krahm samleab ba robsa khnhom) is a 2017 biographical historical thriller film directed by Angelina Jolie and written by Jolie and Loung Ung, based on Ung’s memoir of the same name. Set in 1975, the film depicts 7-year-old Ung who is forced to be trained as a child soldier while her siblings are sent to labor camps during the Socialist Khmer Rouge regime.

Cambodian genocide   //   Khmer Rouge Killing Fields

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4882376/