KKMS (980 kHz "The Mission") is a commercial AM radio station licensed to Richfield, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul radio market.  It is owned by the Salem Media Group and broadcasts a Christian talk and teaching radio format.  The transmitter and radio studios are on Cliff Road near Minnesota State Highway 77 in Eagan.

The station uses a brokered programming system, where national and local religious leaders buy time on the station and may use their programs to seek donations to their ministries.  Some national hosts on KKMS include John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, David Jeremiah, J. Vernon McGee, June Hunt and Jim Daly.  Several Salem Radio Network conservative talk hosts are also heard on the station, Eric Metaxas, Jay Sekulow and Charlie Kirk. The station produces a local afternoon show, "Crosswalk with Lee Michaels."

History

WPBC
The People's Broadcasting Company, founded by former WCCO announcer Bill Stewart and his wife Becky Ann, obtained a construction permit for a new radio station at 980 kHz in Minneapolis on May 18, 1949.  It signed on five months later on October 18. An independent station, WPBC played a variety of middle-of-the-road pop music and standards, and was even considered an innovator in the concept of singing jingles.  To protect other stations on 980 AM from interference, WPBC was a daytimer, required to go off the air at night.

The Stewarts took a rather conservative approach in programming the station. They shied away from performers such as Elvis Presley and most early rock and roll music, which they described as "junky music with morally degrading lyrics." Their philosophy extended to commercials as well, to the point that they rejected advertising from beer and tobacco companies. Allegedly, the Stewarts would go so far as to use the sharp end of a compass to scratch away the grooves of tracks on albums that didn't meet their standards of "nice" music, in order to prevent rebellious DJs from playing them.

The daytime-only station expanded to FM when WPBC-FM 101.3 began simulcasting 980 AM on July 18, 1960.  The FM station was able to continue WPBC's programming into the night while the AM stations was silent. Four years later, the Stewarts were approved to move both stations from Minneapolis to Richfield, increase the AM's power to 5 kW, and begin broadcasting at night using a directional antenna.

In 1969, the AM and FM stopped simulcasting.  The FM retained the "good music" format, while the AM shifted even further to adult standards.

WYOO
The Stewarts, citing increased competition from larger companies, sold WPBC-AM-FM in 1972 to Fairchild Industries for $1.5 million. Fairchild subsequently dismissed the entire staff and overhauled both stations. On November 3, 1972, WPBC became WYOO, airing an oldies format, while WPBC-FM went off the air for technical adjustments, to emerge as album-oriented rock station WRAH. One unusual program feature was newscasts that consisted of four and a half minutes of sports and a handful of news headlines—the opposite of most radio newscasts.

After debuting to middling ratings that later declined, WYOO went in a new direction in April 1974, spearheaded by new general manager Mike Sigelman, the former sales manager of Top 40 outlet KDWB. A shift to an adult contemporary format was met with even lower ratings.  Management saw a gap for a Top 40 station on FM, so both stations flipped on August 26, 1974.  The change occurred during the Minnesota State Fair.  The programmers wanted to call the station "Y100", but WHYI in Miami, which also used the "Y100" moniker, sent the station a cease and desist order. As a result, WYOO became "U100", and quickly turned into a competitive station in the market.

WAYL and the Entercom years

In early 1976, Fairchild Industries decided to put both stations up for sale, and the pair were broken up. In February, the owners of KDWB (630 AM) purchased the FM facility for $850,000. The AM station was then sold for $625,000 to Entertainment Communications, Inc. (which later became Entercom, now Audacy), owners of beautiful music/easy listening outlet WAYL (93.7 FM). It was WAYL's interest in the AM frequency—sewn up first, but announced second—that led to a search for a buyer for the FM facility. WYOO-FM became KDWB-FM on September 16, 1976, and WYOO (AM) became WAYL on September 20.

WAYL (whose mascot was a whale) simulcasted easy listening music on both 93.7 FM and 980 AM until March 1982, when the AM broke off and flipped to adult contemporary as KKSS. The format change caused the cancellation of a talk show, heard only on the AM frequency, and hosted by Bob Allard.  Allard committed suicide in late May. In August 1984, the station changed formats again, this time to adult standards, as KMFY.  Low ratings in the station's final months prompted Entercom to return the AM to a simulcast of WAYL in 1987 and lay off its nine separate staff.

Hard rock
As the 1980s progressed, the easy listening format was fading in popularity. While it had long been a strong ratings draw across the country, advertisers began to shun the older demographics of its listeners. In July 1988, WAYL-FM finally dropped easy listening and switched to classic hits as KLXK. WAYL's call letters and easy listening format initially remained on 980 AM.  The AM station also became the new radio home of Minnesota North Stars hockey.  Before long, the AM also gave up on easy listening and switched to a simulcast of the FM station.

In December 1990, the AM station branched off from its FM sister again when the station picked up the satellite-delivered Z-Rock network, which previously aired on KZOW (950 AM). The new call letters became KMZZ and it began airing hard rock and heavy metal. As the Z-Rock network itself later shifted to a more mainstream rock presentation, KMZZ dropped it on January 1, 1993, and began programming an in-house automated hard rock format as "Mega Rock". Mega Rock did not last long, and the following May, 980 AM returned to simulcasting the FM sister station, now active rock KRXX ("93X").

When Entercom sold KRXX-FM to Capital Cities/ABC in 1994, the AM station was not part of the deal. As a buyer was being sought, 980 was still owned by Entercom, though programmed by local ABC station KQRS-FM through a local marketing agreement (LMA).  It continued to simulcast 93.7 FM until a buyer could be found. Upon taking control of the two stations in February, ABC immediately changed the format of KRXX-FM to modern rock as KEGE ("The Edge"). AM 980's call letters remained KRXX until finally picking up the KEGE call letters later that year.

Sale to Salem
After more than two years on the market, the AM station was finally sold in December 1996 to the Salem Media Group, America's largest Christian radio broadcaster.  It adopted a Christian talk and teaching format. The call letters switched to KKMS on December 6, 1996. Today, Salem currently owns three other AM stations in the Twin Cities market.  They are based at the same Eagan studios that have housed 980 AM and its broadcast facilities through its many incarnations.

On January 18, 2015, KKMS rebranded as "The Mission".  Salem's Christian talk and teaching station in New York City, WMCA 570 AM, also calls itself "The Mission."

See also
KDWB-FM
KXXR

Previous logo

References

External links

Right on Super U! Recalling U100
Rob Sherwood's reflections of U100
Radiotapes.com, featuring historic airchecks of WPBC, WYOO and other Twin Cities stations
Pavek Museum of Broadcasting page on WPBC

Christian radio stations in Minnesota
Talk radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1949
1949 establishments in Minnesota
Salem Media Group properties

KKMS (AM)


Onegin stanza (Russian: онегинская строфа oneginskaya strofa), sometimes "Pushkin sonnet", refers to the verse form popularized (or invented) by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin through his 1825–1832 novel in verse Eugene Onegin. The work was mostly written in verses of iambic tetrameter with the rhyme scheme , where the lowercase letters represent feminine rhymes (stressed on the penultimate syllable) and the uppercase representing masculine rhymes (stressed on the ultimate syllable). For example, here is the first stanza of Onegin as rendered into English by Charles Johnston:
     My uncle—high ideals inspire him;
     but when past joking he fell sick,
     he really forced one to admire him—
     and never played a shrewder trick.
     Let others learn from his example!
     But God, how deadly dull to sample
     sickroom attendance night and day
     and never stir a foot away!
     And the sly baseness, fit to throttle,
     of entertaining the half-dead:
     one smoothes the pillows down in bed,
     and glumly serves the medicine bottle,
     and sighs, and asks oneself all through:
     "When will the devil come for you?"
Like the Shakespearean sonnet, the Onegin stanza may be divided into three quatrains and a closing couplet (normally without stanza breaks or indentations), and it has a total of seven rhymes, rather than the four or five rhymes of the Petrarchan sonnet. Because the second quatrain (lines 5–8) consists of two independent couplets, the poet may introduce a strong thematic break after line 6, which is not feasible in Petrarchan or Shakespearean sonnets.

In Russian poetry following Pushkin, the form has been utilized by authors as diverse as Mikhail Lermontov, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Jurgis Baltrušaitis and Valery Pereleshin, in genres ranging from one-stanza lyrical piece to voluminous autobiography. Nevertheless, the Onegin stanza, being easily recognisable, is strongly identified as belonging to its creator, and its use in œuvres of any kind implicitly triggers a reading of the particular text against the backdrop of Pushkin's imagery and worldview.

John Fuller's 1980 "The Illusionists" and Jon Stallworthy's 1987 "The Nutcracker" used this stanza form, and Vikram Seth's 1986 novel The Golden Gate is written wholly in Onegin stanzas.

The Onegin stanza is also used in the verse novel Equinox by Australian writer Matthew Rubinstein, serialized daily in the Sydney Morning Herald and currently awaiting publication; in the biography in verse Richard Burgin by Diana Burgin; in the verse novel Jack the Lady Killer by HRF Keating (title borrowed from a line in Golden Gate in Onegin stanza rhymes but not always preserving the metric pattern); in several poems by Australian poet Gwen Harwood, for instance the first part of "Class of 1927" and "Sea Eagle" (the first employs a humorous Byronic tone, but the second adapts the stanza to a spare lyrical mood, which is good evidence of the form's versatility); and in the verse novel "Unholyland" by Aidan Andrew Dun. The British writer Andy Croft has written two novels in Onegin stanzas, Ghost Writer and 1948. In addition, Brad Walker used the form for his 2019 novella Adam and Rosamond, a parody of Victorian fiction.

Some stanzaic forms, written in iambic tetrameter in the poetry of Vladimír Holan, especially in the poems "První testament" and "Cesta mraku", were surely inspired by Onegin stanza.

References

External links
Tetrameter.com A website featuring work written in tetrameter by various poets
On Translating Eugene Onegin A poem by Vladimir Nabokov written in Onegin Stanzas
Selections from The Golden Gate

Stanzaic form
Russian poetry
Sonnet studies
Alexander Pushkin

ja:ソネット#オネーギン・スタンザ

Onegin stanza


The cinema of Russia began in the Russian Empire, widely developed in the Soviet Union and in the years following its dissolution. The Russian film industry would remain internationally recognized. In the 21st century, Russian cinema has become known internationally with films such as Hardcore Henry (2015), Leviathan (2014), Night Watch (2004) and Brother (1997). The Moscow International Film Festival began in Moscow in 1935. The Nika Award is the main annual national film award in Russia.

Cinema of the Russian Empire

The first films seen in the Russian Empire were brought in by the Lumière brothers, who exhibited films in Moscow and St. Petersburg in May 1896. That same month, Lumière cameraman Camille Cerf made the first film in Russia, recording the coronation of Nicholas II at the Kremlin.

Aleksandr Drankov produced the first Russian narrative film Stenka Razin (1908), based on events told in a folk song and directed by Vladimir Romashkov. Among the notable Russian filmmakers of the era were Aleksandr Khanzhonkov and Ivan Mozzhukhin, who made Defence of Sevastopol in 1912. Yakov Protazanov made Departure of a Grand Old Man (1912), a biographical film about Lev Tolstoy.

Animation pioneer Ladislas Starevich made the first Russian animated film (and the first stop motion puppet film with a story) in 1910 – Lucanus Cervus. His other stop-motion shorts The Beautiful Leukanida (1912) and The Cameraman's Revenge (1912), produced for Aleksandr Khanzhonkov, are also among the first animated films. In the following years, Starevich made shorts based on fables such as The Grasshopper and the Ant (1913), as well as World War I propaganda films.

Olga Preobrazhenskaya was the first woman director of Russia. In 1916 she made her directorial debut Miss Peasant. However, the film has been lost. In the Soviet era she directed Women of Ryazan (1927).

During World War I, imports dropped drastically, and Russian filmmakers turned out anti-German, nationalistic films. In 1916, 499 films were made in Russia, more than three times the number of three years earlier.

Before the October Revolution, Russia did not have a highly developed film industry due to the general populace being too poor to support a native industry. The Russian Revolution brought more change, with a number of films with anti-Tsarist themes. The last significant film of the era, made in 1917, was Father Sergius by Yakov Protazanov and Alexandre Volkoff. It would become the first new film release of the Soviet era.

Cinema of the Soviet Union

Early Soviet cinema (1917–1953)

Vladimir Lenin was the first political leader of the twentieth century to recognize the importance of film. He saw film as a way to unite the nation over which the Bolsheviks, then a minority party of some 200,000 members, had assumed leadership.  His government gave top priority to the rapid development of the Soviet film industry, which was nationalized in August 1919 and put under the direct authority of Lenin's wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya.

One of the first acts of the Cinema Committee was to create a professional film school in Moscow to train directors, technicians, and actors for the cinema. The All Union State Institute of Cinematography was the first such school in the world. Lev Kuleshov, who taught at the school, formulated the groundbreaking editing process called montage, which he conceived of as an expressive process whereby dissimilar images could be linked together to create non-literal or symbolic meaning. His work has been referred to as the Kuleshov effect. Two of Kuleshov's most famous students were Sergey Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.

Although Russian was the dominant language in films during the Soviet era, the cinema of the Soviet Union encompassed films of the Armenian SSR, Georgian SSR, Ukrainian SSR, and, to a lesser degree, Lithuanian SSR, Byelorussian SSR, and Moldavian SSR.  For much of the Soviet Union's history, with notable exceptions in the 1920s and the late 1980s, film content was heavily circumscribed and subject to censorship and bureaucratic state control.

The development of the soviet film industry was innovative and linked with the Constructivist art movement. In 1922–3, Kino-Fot became the first Soviet cinema magazine and reflected the constructivist views of its editor, Aleksei Gan.

As with much Soviet art during the 1920s, films addressed major social and political events of the time.  An important film of this period was Sergei Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, not only because of its depiction of events leading up to the 1905 Revolution, but also because of innovative cinematic techniques, such as the use of jump-cuts to achieve political ends. To this day, Battleship Potemkin is considered one of the greatest films of all time.

Vsevolod Pudovkin developed a new theory of montage based on cognitive linkage rather than dialectical collision. Pudovkin's Mother (1926) was internationally acclaimed for its montage, as well as for its emotional qualities. Later Pudovkin was publicly charged with formalism for his experimental sound film A Simple Case (1932), which he was forced to release without its sound track.

Two other key filmmakers of the Soviet silent era were Aleksandr Dovzhenko and Dziga Vertov. Dovzhenko's best known work is his Ukraine Trilogy, and more specifically the film Earth (1930). Vertov is well known for his film Man with a Movie Camera (1929) and the Kino-Eye theory – that the camera, like the human eye, is best used to explore real life, which had a huge impact on documentary filmmaking.

However, with the consolidation of Stalinist power in the Soviet Union, and the emergence of Socialist realism as state policy, which carried over from painting and sculpture into filmmaking, Soviet film became subject to almost total state control.

Films released in the 1930s include the popular musicals Jolly Fellows (1934), Circus (1936) and Volga-Volga (1938) directed by the longtime collaborator of Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Aleksandrov. These films starred leading actress of the time Lyubov Orlova, who was also Aleksandrov's wife.

The New Gulliver (1935) by Aleksandr Ptushko is a landmark in stop-motion animation.

In the 1930s and the 1940s Eisenstein directed two historical epics – Aleksandr Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944). Both films were scored by composer Sergei Prokofiev.

Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet color films such as The Stone Flower (1947) by Aleksandr Ptushko, Ballad of Siberia (1947), and Cossacks of the Kuban (1949), both by director Ivan Pyryev, were released.

Soviet cinema went into rapid decline after the World War II: film production fell from 19 features in 1945 to 5 in 1952. The situation did not improve until the late 1950s when Soviet films achieved critical success partly as a result, similar to the cinema of other Eastern Bloc countries, for reflecting the tension between independent creativity and state-directed outcomes.

Late Soviet cinema (1953–1990)

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Soviet film-makers were given a less constricted environment, and while censorship remained, films emerged which began to be recognised outside the Soviet bloc such as Ballad of a Soldier by Grigory Chukhray which won the 1961 BAFTA Award for Best Film and the 1958 Palme d'Or winning The Cranes Are Flying by Mikhail Kalatozov. The Height (1957) by Aleksander Zarkhi is considered to be one of the best films of the 1950s (it also became the foundation of the Bard movement). Yet, some films did not receive a wide release; The Story of Asya Klyachina (1966) by Andrei Konchalovsky, Commissar (1967) by Aleksandr Askoldov,  Brief Encounters (1967) by Kira Muratova and Trial on the Road (1971) by Aleksei German.

The most critically acclaimed Russian director of the 1960s and 1970s was Andrei Tarkovsky, who directed the groundbreaking art-house films Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror and Stalker. His films won awards at Cannes and Venice Film Festival. His debut film Ivan's Childhood won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival in 1962. Tarkovsky's film Andrei Rublev (1966) won the FIPRESCI prize at the 1969 Cannes Festival. For Stalker (1979), Tarkovsky won the Ecumenical Jury Prize in Cannes in 1980. He also won the Special Grand Prize for Solaris in 1972 and for Sacrifice at Cannes in 1986.

Other notable Soviet directors include Sergei Bondarchuk, Sergey Paradzhanov, Larisa Shepitko, Kira Muratova, Marlen Khutsiev, Mikhail Kalatozov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Vladimir Menshov and Gleb Panfilov.

The Seventh Companion (1967) marked the debut of film director Aleksei German. Due to Soviet censorship, his film Trial on the Road (1971) was shelved for 15 years. His son Aleksei is also a director.

Sergei Bondarchuk initially came to prominence as an actor. His directorial debut was Fate of a Man which was released in 1959. Bondarchuk is best known for directing and starring in the Academy Award-winning adaptation War and Peace (1967). His son Fyodor Bondarchuk is also a film director and producer.

Among other critically acclaimed literary adaptations from the 1960s was Grigory Kozintsev's Hamlet (1964), winner of the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

Russian actor Nikita Mikhalkov had his feature directorial debut in 1974 with At Home Among Strangers. His brother, Andrey Konchalovsky, is also an award-winning director. Konchalovsky had his directorial debut with The First Teacher in 1965, which won an award at the Venice Film Festival (Best Actress – Natalya Arinbasarova).

Film director Kira Muratova faced censorship during the Soviet era and only started to receive public recognition and first awards during Perestroyka. Her film Among Grey Stones (1983) was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival.

Comedy genre was always the most popular one in Russia and the Soviet union with the highest number of box-office successes. Most popular Soviet comedies of the era were directed by Leonid Gaidai, Eldar Ryazanov and Georgiy Daneliya, such as Carnival Night (1956), The Irony of Fate (1976), Kidnapping, Caucasian Style (1967), Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965), The Twelve Chairs (1976), Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964), Gentlemen of Fortune (1971).

Soviet filmmakers also produced historical adventure films, such as D'Artagnan and Three Musketeers (1978) and Gardes-Marines, Ahead! (1988). Among those, "osterns", the Soviet take on the westerns, became also popular. Examples of the Ostern include White Sun of the Desert (1970), The Headless Horseman (1972), Armed and Dangerous (1977), A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines (1987). On TV, mystery and spy miniseries were prevalent, such as Seventeen Moments of Spring, The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, Investigation Held by ZnaToKi and a faithful adaptation of Sherlock Holmes stories starring Vasily Livanov as Holmes.

A respective amount of World War II dramas made in the 1970s and the 1980s were acclaimed internationally, some of which are Liberation (1971) by Yuri Ozerov, The Dawns Here Are Quiet (1972) by Stanislav Rostotsky, They Fought for Their Country (1975) by Sergei Bondarchuk, The Ascent (1977) by Larisa Shepitko and Come and See (1985) by Elem Klimov.

Co-production between Soviet Union and Japan, Dersu Uzala, adapted from Vladimir Arsenyev's book, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring  Maxim Munzuk and Yuri Solomin, won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Picture in 1976. The film was a box-office success and ended up reviving Kurosawa's career.

Yuri Norstein is perhaps the most famous Russian animator of the Soviet period; his animated shorts Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales gained worldwide recognition and have served as inspiration for many filmmakers.

Larisa Shepitko's film The Ascent was the first Soviet movie to win the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival in 1977.

Romantic drama Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears by Vladimir Menshov won the Best Foreign Picture award at the 1981 Academy Awards and it was very popular at the Soviet box-office with over 93 million viewers.

Come and See by Elem Klimov received the FIPRESCI prize at the 1985 Moscow Film Festival.

Science fiction film Dead Man's Letters (1986), directorial debut of Konstantin Lopushansky, was screened at the International Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival in 1987
and received the FIPRESCI prize at the 35th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg. His follow-up film A Visitor to a Museum (1989) was entered into the Moscow Film Festival where it won the Silver St. George and the Prix of Ecumenical Jury.

In the 1980s Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky was the first filmmaker to find success in Hollywood. In America he directed Maria's Lovers (1984), Runaway Train (1985) and Tango & Cash (1989).

With the onset of Perestroika and Glasnost in the mid-1980s, Soviet films emerged which began to address formerly censored topics, such as drug addiction, The Needle (1988) by Rashid Nugmanov, which starred rock singer Viktor Tsoi, and sexuality and alienation in Soviet society, Little Vera (1988) by Vasili Pichul. However, the industry suffered from drastically reduced state subsidies and the state-controlled film distribution system also collapsed, leading to the dominance of western films in Russia's theatres.

Several Soviet films have received Oscars; War and Peace, Dersu Uzala, Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears.

New Russian cinema

1990s

In the 1990s there were much fewer films being made as the cinema industry was experiencing big changes and the economy was uncertain. From 300 in 1990 the number fell to 213 in 1991, 172 in 1992, 152 in 1993, to 68 in 1994, 46 in 1995 and 28 in 1996.

In 1990 censorship was abolished on an official level: the state could no longer interfere in the production and distribution of films, except in cases of war propaganda, disclosure of state secrets, and pornography. As part of the abolition of all central Soviet administrative units, the Cinema Committee of the USSR was dissolved in 1991.

Russian cinema of the 90s acquired new features and themes, with the Chechen war also affecting filmmakers. Many films of that time dealt with war and Stalinism.

Kinotavr was first held in 1990 in Podolsk, and then in 1991 in Sochi, where it has been held ever since. The Nika Award, which is distributed by the Russian Film Academy, was founded in 1998.

The Asthenic Syndrome is a 1989 drama film directed by Kira Muratova. The film was entered into the 40th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize.

Freeze Die Come to Life is 1989 drama film directed by Vitali Kanevsky. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Caméra d'Or. Another Kanevsky's film, An Independent Life, win the Jury Prize, the third most prestigious award of the event, at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival and also nominated for the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1990 Pavel Lungin won the Best Director Award for Taxi Blues, which starred rock musician Pyotr Mamonov in the lead role, at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. Subsequent Lungin films, Luna Park and The Wedding, were  screened at 1992 Cannes Film Festival and 2000 Cannes Film Festival  in competition. Tsar was  screened at 2009 Cannes Film Festival in  Un Certain Regard section.

The Guard is a 1990 drama film  directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin. It was entered into the 40th Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Alfred Bauer Prize.

Satan is a 1991 thriller film directed by Viktor Aristov. It was entered into the 41st Berlin International Film Festival where it won the Silver Bear – Special Jury Prize.

The Assassin of the Tsar by Karen Shakhnazarov and Anna Karamazoff by Rustam Khamdamov was entered into the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. Comrade Chkalov Crosses the North Pole by Maksim Pezhemsky was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the same year.

Nikita Mikhalkov won the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice International Film Festival for Close to Eden and European Film Award for Best Film in 1991 and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and a Golden Globe for  Best Foreign Language Film.

The Inner Circle is a 1991 drama film by Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky, telling the story of Joseph Stalin's private projectionist and KGB officer Ivan Sanchin (real name Alex Ganchin) between 1939 and 1953, the year Stalin died was nominated for awards at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival

The Chekist directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin was a drama set in the period of Red Terror and told the story of a Cheka leader who gradually becomes unhinged. Happy Days directed by Aleksei Balabanov was his feature film debut. Both film were screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1992 Cannes Film Festival.

The Sentimental Policeman is a 1992 Russian-language Ukrainian (Ukrainian-French production) comedy film written and directed by Kira Muratova. It entered the competition at the 49th Venice International Film Festival and won the Special Jury Prize at Kinotavr.

Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov won a Silver Lion at the 50th Venice International Film Festival for his film Kosh ba kosh.

The drama Burnt by the Sun (1994) by Nikita Mikhalkov is set in a small countryside community in the time when Stalinism starts to disrupt their idyllic retreat and alter their characters and fates. The film received an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Grand Prix du Jury at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. The sequel, Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus  was entered in the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. Another sequel,  Burnt by the Sun 3: The Citadel, released on May 5, 2011.

Assia and the Hen with the Golden Eggs by Andrei Konchalovsky is a satirical sequel to Konchalovsky's 1966 Soviet film, The Story of Asya Klyachina, taking the characters of the original and placing them in a post-Soviet context. This film was entered into the 1994 Cannes Film Festival.

Passions is a 1994 romantic comedy by Ukrainian director Kira Muratova based on the novellas of Boris Dedyukhin.
It was screened at the Locarno Festival in 1994.
It received two Nika Awards, for Best Picture and Best Director (Muratova). The picture also won the Special Jury Prize of the Kinotavr film festival.

The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin directed by Jiří Menzel, international co-production between Russia, Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, France and Italy, was entered the competition at the 51st Venice International Film Festival, in which it won the President of the Italian Senate's Gold Medal.

A Moslem is a 1995 Russian drama film directed by Vladimir Khotinenko won Special Grand Prix of the jury for "Best film of the year" at 1995 Montreal World Film Festival.

Peculiarities of the National Hunt directed by Aleksandr Rogozhkin was screened in Window on Images sectiom at the 52nd Venice International Film Festival and nominated on Crystal Globe at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 1996 Sergey Bodrov was screened the war drama film Prisoner of the Mountains based on the 1872 Caucasian War-era short story "The Prisoner in the Caucasus" by the classic Russian writer Leo Tolstoy on 1996 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and won a Crystal Globe. Latef film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (Russia) and a Golden Globe Award for  Best Foreign Language Film (Russia).

Three Stories is a 1997 Russian-Ukrainian comedy film directed by Kira Muratova. It was entered into the 47th Berlin International Film Festival. The picture won the Special Jury Prize at Kinotavr.

In the context of the Russian World War II history Pavel Chukhrai filmed The Thief (1997), a movie about a mother who becomes romantically involved with a criminal who impersonates an officer. The film was awarded with 6 national prizes Nika, got a special prize in 54th Venice International Film Festival and was nominated on European Film Award for Best Film, Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

One of the first commercially successful post-Soviet films was the crime drama Brother directed by Aleksei Balabanov. It was screened as part of the Un Certain Regard section at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. He also directed the sequel Brother 2 in 2000.

Valery Todorovsky's The Country of the Deaf (1998), a comedy film based on the screenplay by Renata Litvinova parodied Russia of the 90s. It described the journey of two female friends caught in the fight of two clans – the deaf and the hearing. It was entered in the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

In 1997 Aleksandr Sokurov had his international breakthrough with the arthouse drama Mother and Son, the first part of family relationships dilogy. It won the Special Silver St. George at the 20th Moscow International Film Festival in 1997.  The second part, Father and Son, Russian drama film that was entered into feature film competition at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

1998 film Khrustalyov, My Car! directed by Aleksei German described the last days of Stalinist Russia. It was entered in the 1998 Cannes Film Festival.

Nikita Mikhalkov's international co-production The Barber of Siberia was screened out of competition at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. The film featured English and Russian actors. It was the first post-Soviet big budget feature film; the film cost 35 million dollars.

Moloch, the first part of tetrology of power directed by Alexander Sokurov portrays Adolf Hitler living life in an unassuming manner during an abrupt journey to the Bavarian Alps, was entered into the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and won the  Best Screenplay Award. The second part portraying Vladimir Lenin, Taurus, was entered into the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. The third part The Sun depicting Japanese Emperor Shōwa (Hirohito) during the final days of World War II, was entered in the 55th Berlin International Film Festival.

Internationally co-produced film East/West (1999) starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Catherine Deneuve told the story of an emigre family living in Stalinist USSR. The film was nominated as  Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film, National Board of Review, and received four nominations at the César Awards.

The satiric melodrama of Dmitry Meskhiev, Women's Property (1999) describes a love affair between a young student and an older actress who is incurably ill. Her death leads the protagonist to face bitter loneliness. The film starred Yelena Safonova and featured actor Konstantin Khabensky in an early lead role.

Cult crime comedy 8 ½ $ (1999), directorial debut of Grigori Konstantinopolsky, starring Ivan Okhlobystin and Fyodor Bondarchuk was a satiric take on 1990s Russia. It told the story of a television advertisement director who becomes romantically involved with a gangster's girlfriend.

Svetlana Baskova directed the low-budget independently made exploitation shock-horror film The Green Elephant in 1999. Baskova noted that the film was conceived as a protest against the Chechen war. In 2022 the film has been banned in Russia.

2000s

The film His Wife's Diary (2000) by Aleksei Uchitel won awards at both Kinotavr and Nika Award. The biographical film was about the last love affair of writer Ivan Bunin. Uchitel's 2005 film Dreaming of Space won the Golden George at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival.

Roman Kachanov directed the absurdist comedies Demobbed (2000) and Down House (2001), which were both co-written with actor Ivan Okhlobystin who also starred in the films. Both are considered to be cult films in Russia. FIPRESCI awarded a special mention to the film Demobbed at the 2000 Kinotavr.

The Romanovs: An Imperial Family is a 2000 Russian historical drama film about the last days of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The film premiered at the 22nd annual Moscow Film Festival.

Karen Shakhnazarov's 2001 film
Poisons or the World History of Poisoning was awarded the Grand Prix at the Kinotavr film festival in Sochi. At the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival the picture was nominated for the Crystal Globe  and was screened at the 51st Berlin International Film Festival. Another Shakhnazarov films, Vanished Empire and Ward Number 6, released in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

The Cuckoo by Aleksandr Rogozhkin won multiple awards at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival. The WWII set film starred Finnish actor Ville Haapasalo as a stranded Finnish sniper.

House of Fools is a 2002 Russian film by Andrei Konchalovsky about psychiatric patients and combatants during the First Chechen War. The film was screened in the competition at the 59th Venice International Film Festival and  won Grand Special Jury Prize and UNICEF Award.

Egor Konchalovsky directed Antikiller (2002) starring Gosha Kutsenko as a police officer turned vigilante proved to be a success among Russian audiences.

In 2002 Pavel Lungin directed the film Tycoon about a Russian oligarch. Vladimir Mashkov played the Boris Berezovsky inspired lead character.

Chekhov's Motifs is a 2002 Russian-Ukrainian comedy film directed by Kira Muratova. It was entered into the 24th Moscow International Film Festival.

2002 comedy-drama film In Motion was the directorial debut of Filipp Yankovsky.

Feature film debut by Aleksei German Jr. The Last Train (2003) won the Best Picture and International Film Critics' Awards at Thessaloniki and honorable mention for Little Golden Lion award at the 60th Venice International Film Festival . His second film, Garpastum, was screened in the competition at the 62nd Venice International Film Festival. For his film Paper Soldier, Aleksei German Jr. received the Silver Lion and Golden Osella for Best Cinematography from the 65th Venice International Film Festival.

Andrey Zvyagintsev's The Return (2003), a Golden Lion award  from the 60th Venice International Film Festival recipient and Golden Globe Best Foreign Language Film and César Award for Best Foreign Film nominie, shows two brothers' test of life when their father suddenly returns that reaches a deep almost-mystic pitch. Russian Ark (2003) by Alexander Sokurov, was filmed in a single 96-minute shot in the Russian Hermitage Museum is a dream-like narration that tells about classic Russian culture sailing in the Ark. It was screened at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.

The Tuner is a 2004 Ukraine/Russia mix film of art house grotesque and a sting comedy. At the heart of Kira Muratova's film is her characteristic and enduring love of predation—predation for its own sake. The film offers a complex assessment of the human subject, civilization, and the creative act. It premiered out of competition at the 61st Venice International Film Festival

Night Watch (2004) by Timur Bekmambetov was one of the first blockbusters made after the collapse of the Soviet film industry. The supernatural thriller starred Konstantin Khabensky and was based on the eponymous book by Sergei Lukyanenko. It was followed by the sequel Day Watch (2006), that nominated on  Saturn Award for Best International Film.

Russian actress Renata Litvinova debuted as director in 2004 with the film Goddess: How I fell in Love.

The Italian is a 2005 Russian drama film directed by Andrei Kravchuk inspired by a true story, focuses on a young boy's determined search for his Mother. The film won the Grand Prix of the Deutsches Kinderhilfswerk from the International Jury at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival, and a Special Mention from their Children's Jury.

First on the Moon by Aleksei Fedorchenko is a 2005 Russian mockumentary science fiction film about a fictional 1930s Soviet landing on the Moon and was directorial debut of Fedorchenko. It was screened at 62nd Venice International Film Festival in Horrizons section and won Best Film Award.

The 9th Company is a 2005 Russian war film directed by Fedor Bondarchuk and set during the Soviet–Afghan War. The film is loosely based on a real-life battle that took place at Elevation 3234 in early 1988, during Operation Magistral, the last large-scale Soviet military operation in Afghanistan.

The serialised novels by Boris Akunin set in pre-Revolutionary Russia evolve around fictional Erast Fandorin adventures in three popular movies: The Azazel (2002) by Aleksandr Adabashyan, The Turkish Gambit (2005) by Dzhanik Fayziev and The State Counsellor (2005) by Filipp Yankovsky.

The film 977 by Nikolay Khomeriki was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Three years later his film Tale in the Darkness competed in the same section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

Euphoria is a 2006 Russian drama romance film directed by dramatist and director Ivan Vyrypaev. The film was nominated on Golden Lion at 63rd Venice International Film Festival and won Little Golden Lion.

Life of the Orthodox Monastery and their Christian miracles are described in the film The Island (2006) by Pavel Lungin. The film was screened out of the competition at the 63rd Venice International Film Festival and received the Golden Eagle and Nika awards.

Konstantin Lopushansky directed the science-fiction film The Ugly Swans in 2006, based on the 1967 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The film received the Best Score award at Kinotavr.

Psychological drama The Banishment by Andrey Zvyagintsev and war drama Alexandra by Alexander Sokurov was selected in competition section at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival where The Banishment won the Best Actor Award.

12 is a Russian-language remake of 12 Angry Men directed by Nikita Mikhalkov, was screened in the competition at the 64th Venice International Film Festival there won the Special Lion for Mikhalkov and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Kazakh-Russian co-production epic film Mongol directed by Sergey Bodrov also received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

Cargo 200 is a Russian neo-noir thriller directed by Aleksei Balabanov
won Best Director Award on
Gijón International Film Festival.

One of Russia's all-time biggest box-office hits was Timur Bekmambetov's romantic-comedy The Irony of Fate 2, directed in 2007 as a sequel to the 1976 film. 2008 musical film Hipsters,  directed by Valery Todorovsky about the youth lifestyle in the 1950s Soviet Union was a success at the box office. It received the Golden Eagle and Nika awards for best picture.

Valeriya Gai Germanika received the "Special Mention" of the jury of the Camera d'Or competition at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival for her feature debut Everybody Dies but Me.

At the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Anna Melikian won the award for best Dramatic Directing for her film Mermaid.

In 2008 was released Admiral, biopic  about Alexander Kolchak, a vice admiral in the Imperial Russian Navy and leader of the anti-communist White movement during the Russian Civil War directed by Andrei Kravchuk. Later Kravchuk directed two another films based on  the historic events: Viking and Union of Salvation, released in 2016 and 2019 respectively.

Sci-fi picture Dark Planet (2008–2009) based on the book by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk, was one of the most expensive Russian films of the 2000s, with its budget of $36.6 million.

Room and a Half is a 2009 Russian biographical film directed by Andrei Khrzhanovsky about life of Russian poet Joseph Brodsky. This film received the Best Film award in the East of the West section at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2009 Tambourine, Drum by Aleksey Mizgirev won Special Jury Prize, Best Direction Prize and the special prize from the youth jury at 2009 Locarno Film Festival.

2010s

In 2014 censorship of cinematic works was officially introduced with a new and stricter revision of the "screening certificate" () act, without which public film screenings are not allowed and are punishable by law. Curse words in films were banned. The concept of a "screening certificate" first appeared in Russian laws in 1993, when Viktor Chernomyrdin signed the decree "On the registration of films and videos", the main purpose of which was to combat the spread of pirated content.  For a decade and a half, the document was more or less a formality.

In 2010 the comedy anthology film Yolki produced by Timur Bekmambetov was released. It spawned seven sequels, one prequel and one spin-off. How I Ended This Summer by Alexei Popogrebski, a film shot in remote Chukotka, won Silver Bear for Best Actor in 60th Berlin International Film Festival. The same year arthouse film Silent Souls by Aleksey Fedorchenko won the Golden Osella for Best Cinematography and a FIPRESCI Award at the 67th Venice Film Festival.

In 2010 Jolly Fellows  directed by Felix Mikhailov was screened at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival, and also was the first Russian picture to be chosen as the opening film of the Panorama section at the festival.

Fortress of War  is a 2010 Russian-Belarusian war film directed by Alexander Kott recounting the June 1941 defense of Brest Fortress against invading Wehrmacht forces in the opening stages of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II. The film received universal acclaim from Russian critics and auditory.

The Edge by Alexei Uchitel was nominated for the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Yury Bykov debuted as a director with the film To Live in 2010. His film The Major screened at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. His film The Fool won the Best Actor Award at the 2014 Locarno Film Festival. His film The Factory  screened at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.

Drama films Elena by Andrey Zvyagintsev and The Hunter  by Baku Bakuradze was selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where Elena won the Special Jury Prize.

Faust, the last part of tetralogy by Aleksandr Sokurov, won the Golden Lion at the 68th Venice International Film Festival . His follow-up film Francofonia received the Mimmo Rotella Award at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival .

2011 romantic comedy Lucky Trouble directed by Levan Gabriadze and produced by Timur Bekmambetov, starred Hollywood actress Milla Jovovich who played the female lead opposite Konstantin Khabensky.

Generation P (2011) by Victor Ginzburg was an independently produced satiric comedy about advertisement business set in the 1990s. The film was based on Victor Pelevin's 1999 novel of the same name. The film won Special Jury Mention at the 2011 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Betrayal by Kirill Serebrennikov was selected in competition on 69th Venice International Film Festival.

White Tiger is a 2012 Russian war film, directed by Karen Shakhnazarov and co-written with Aleksandr Borodyansky based on the novel Tankist, ili "Belyy tigr" (The Tankman, or The White Tiger) by Russian novelist Ilya Boyashov. The film is about a badly wounded Soviet tank commander on the Eastern Front of World War II who becomes obsessed with tracking down and destroying a mysterious, invincible Nazi tank, which the Soviet troops call the "White Tiger". The Soviets design a new, more powerful T-34 tank and assign the tank commander the job of destroying the White Tiger.

Aleksey Adrianov directed the high-budget Boris Akunin adaptation Spy in 2012.

A Russian filmmaker who continued to make a name for himself in Hollywood was Timur Bekmambetov, a producer and director of blockbuster films. In the United States he directed Wanted (2008), Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) and Ben-Hur (2016).

Starting from 2003 Russia's animation industry began to manufacture films which are profitable domestically and abroad. Some of the pictures included Voronezh Animation Studio projects: The Snow Queen 1, 2, 3, 4, Sheep and Wolves 1, 2, Secret Magic Control Agency; Melnitsa Animation Studio projects: Little Longnose, The Three Bogatyrs series (including Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych and Horse Julius and Big Horse Racing), Luntik, The Tale of Soldier Fedot, The Daring Fellow, Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf 1, 2, 3, Fantastic Journey to OZ; projects of other studios: Prince Vladimir, Kikoriki, Space Dogs and Space Dogs: Return to Earth, Masha and the Bear, A Warrior's Tail, Hoffmaniada.

War epic Stalingrad directed by Fyodor Bondarchuk in 2013 set new box-office records in Russia and abroad. After Stalingrad's success at the box-office, increasingly more films started to be made in Russia about WWII. Other WWII films that were made in Russia included The Dawns Here Are Quiet (2015), Battle for Sevastopol (2015) Panfilov's 28 Men (2016), Sobibor (2018), Tankers (2018), T-34 (2019), Saving Leningrad (2019), The Last Frontier (2020), AK-47 (2020), A Siege Diary (2020), V2. Escape from Hell (2021), The Pilot. A Battle for Survival (2021), The Red Ghost (2021) and First Oscar (2022).

2013 comedy Kiss Them All!  by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, produced by Timur Bekmambetov, is the most profitable domestic film in the history of Russian box office, having managed to earn more than 27.3 million dollars on a comparatively modest budget of $1.5 million. The film was followed by Kiss Them All! 2, which became the most profitable film of 2014 in Russia.

Hard to Be a God is a 2013 Russian epic medieval science fiction film directed by Aleksei German who co-wrote the screenplay with Svetlana Karmalita. It was his last film and it is based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky.

Chagall — Malevich is a 2014 Russian biographical drama film directed by Alexander Mitta about the Vitebsk period in the life of the artist Marc Chagall and his relationship with fellow artist Kazimir Malevich. It also showed at the 2014 Busan International Film Festival.

Film by Alexander Veledinsky, The Geographer Drank His Globe Away, based on the novel of the same name by Alexei Ivanov, was awarded the main prize at Kinotavr 2013.

In 2014, Andrey Zvyagintsev's Leviathan was entered in the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where won Best Screenplay Award and nominated on four European Film Awards, including Best Film,  BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 87th Academy Awards. It won the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. After the film got leaked online and was downloaded by 1.5 million users, domestic distributors decided to make a wide release of the controversial film which was negatively viewed by the Russian authorities due to its gloomy and critical view of Russia.

Sunstroke is a 2014 Russian drama film directed, produced and written by Nikita Mikhalkov, starring Martinsh Kalita and Viktoriya Solovyova. It is set after the collapse of the Russian Empire during the Red Terror in 1920, with flashbacks to 1907, and is loosely based on the story "Sunstroke" and the book Cursed Days by Nobel Prize-winning Russian writer Ivan Bunin.

Two Women is a 2014 Russian drama film directed by Vera Glagoleva, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sylvie Testud. It is based on Ivan Turgenev's 1872 play A Month in the Country (originally written as Two Women in 1855). The film won the Best Feature Film award at the 3rd Hanoi International Film Festival.

Under the Sun  is a 2015 Russian documentary film directed by Vitaly Mansky won  Best Director Award at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. The film follows a year in the life of a family in Pyongyang, North Korea as their daughter Zin-mi prepares to join the Korean Children's Union on the Day of the Shining Star (Kim Jong-il's birthday). North Korea permitted only Mansky, cinematographer Alexandra Ivanova, and a sound assistant to visit the country. North Korean authorities objected to the film's screening after discovering that the film crew had smuggled unapproved footage.

Under Electric Clouds by Aleksei German won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival. His follow-up film Dovlatov (2018) about writer Sergei Dovlatov, was awarded a Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution for costume and production design 68th Berlin International Film Festival .

Battalion is a 2015 Russian war film directed by Dmitry Meskhiev that relates the story of the First Battalion of Death, a women-only Russian combat unit that fought in the First World War. Actress Mariya Aronova plays the role of real-life heroine Maria Bochkareva. Battalion was the biggest winner at the 2015 Golden Eagle Awards, winning four awards out of nine nominations.

In 2015 Ilya Naishuller debuted with the film Hardcore Henry which was screened at the Toronto Film Festival. He later directed Nobody (2021) in Hollywood.

Andrei Konchalovsky received the Silver Lion at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival for his black and white Holocaust drama Paradise in 2016. He previously received the Silver Lion for The Postman's White Nights at the 71st Venice International Film Festival.

2016 one-man thriller film Collector by Aleksei Krasovsky starring Konstantin Khabensky won an award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2016 The Duelist directed by Aleksey Mizgirev was screened at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival.

Disaster film Flight Crew, directed by Nikolai Lebedev with actor Danila Kozlovsky was a success at the box-office in 2016.

The Student by Kirill Serebrennikov won the François Chalais Prize at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival . Leto, Russian musical film also directed by Kirill Serebrennikov that depicts the Leningrad underground rock scene of the early 1980s, was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Cannes Soundtrack Award.

2016 film Zoology by Ivan I. Tverdovsky won the Special Jury Award at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2017, Andrey Zvyagintsev's Loveless was entered in the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where won Jury Prize and nominated on BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language, Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards, and five nominations,including Best Film, and won two European Film Awards, including Best Cinematographer for Krichman, as well as the César Award for Best Foreign Film.

2017 science fiction action film  Attraction directed and produced by Fyodor Bondarchuk became a box office hit, grossing more than 1 billion rubles and becoming the highest-grossing Russian sci-fi movie. A sequel, Invasion, premiered on New Year's Day 2020, grossed less than predecessor.

The 2017 sports drama Going Vertical by Anton Megerdichev is the highest grossing domestic film of the 2010s. It also became the highest-grossing Russian film in China, where it grossed  () which brought the film's worldwide gross to $66.3 million.

Walt Disney produced Slavic fantasy film Last Knight directed by Dmitry Dyachenko was a success at the box-office in 2017, earning $30 million. The film was followed by two sequels in 2021; The Last Warrior: Root of Evil and The Last Warrior: A Messenger of Darkness.

Arrhythmia by director Boris Khlebnikov received the Best Actor Award at the 2017 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

Matilda by Aleksei Uchitel about the relationship between ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II caused controversy amongst monarchist and Orthodox authorities and public in 2017.

Maryus Vaysberg is a film director mainly working in the comedy genre. He is one of the most commercially successful directors of Russia. His 2017 film Naughty Grandma was a box office success and the most successful Russian film in 2017. Many of his films starred future president of the Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Anna's War by  Aleksey Fedorchenko  premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2018. The film won the Golden Eagle Award in the Best Film category. Fedorchenko won the award for Best Director.

Jumpman is a 2018 drama film directed and written by Ivan I. Tverdovskiy won the Special Jury Mention at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

In 2018 The Man Who Surprised Everyone directed by Aleksey Chupov and Natasha Merkulova won Best Actress Award the Horizons (Orizzonti) section of the 75th Venice International Film Festival.

Ice is a 2018 Russian musical romantic drama sports film directed by Oleg Trofim and produced by Fyodor Bondarchuk, is the most profitable domestic film in 2018 and one of the most profitable domestic film in the history of Russian box office, having managed to earn more than 26.4 million dollars on a comparatively modest budget of $2 million. A sequel, Ice 2, directed by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, like its predecessor, became a blockbuster, grossed 193.7 million rubles on opening day, making it the highest-grossing Russian film on opening Day and grossed over 1.4 billion rubles in total and was nominated on Golden Rooster Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2019 Acid, directed by Alexander Gorchilin was screened in Panorama section at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival.

Drama film Beanpole by Kantemir Balagov and drama film Once in Trubchevsk by Larissa Sadilova selected in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival where Beanpole won the Best Director Award and FIPRESCI Prize. The previous Balagov's film Closeness also selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and won the FIPRESCI Prize.

Sin is a Russian-Italian biographical drama film about the life of the famous sculptor and painter of the Renaissance, Michelangelo Buonarroti of Florence, in the early 16th century, written and directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, released in October 2019.

Why Don't You Just Die! is a 2018 Russian dark comedy thriller film directed by Kirill Sokolov and starring Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Vitaly Khaev, Yevgenia Kregzhde and Yelena Shevchenko.

2019 comedy film Serf directed by Klim Shipenko and starring Miloš Biković set new domestic box-office records. It grossed $42.4 million against a budget of $2.6 million. The same year Shipenko directed the psychological thriller Text starring Alexander Petrov, which was also a success at the box-office and received a Nika and multiple Golden Eagle awards.

In the following years many Russian films have gotten wide releases in China, and there has been an increased number of planned Russo-Chinese co-productions. A few of the films produced by Russia and China are Viy, Viy 2: Journey to China starring Jackie Chan and Arnold Schwarzenegger, The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice and Quackerz.

2020s
Dau, the first film of the controversial DAU project by director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, which was initially conceived as a biopic of Soviet scientist Lev Landau, premiered in 2019 in Paris. DAU. Natasha and DAU.Degeneration premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival there first won the Silver Bear for an Outstanding Artistic Contribution for Cinematography. The rest of the films were released on VOD through the official DAU website in 2020.

War drama Persian Lessons by Vadim Perelman premiered at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival .

In 2020 Conference directed by Ivan Tverdovskiy and The Whaler Boy directed by Philipp Yuryev was screened at the Giornate degli Autori section at the 77th Venice International Film Festival, where last won Best Film Award of this section.

At the 77th Venice International Film Festival, Dear Comrades! directed by Andrei Konchalovsky telling the story of the Novocherkassk massacre, won the Special Jury Prize. The film also received a nomination for BAFTA Award for Best Film Not in the English Language.

Sputnik is a 2020 Russian science-fiction horror film directed by Egor Abramenko in his feature directorial debut. It stars Oksana Akinshina as a young doctor who is recruited by the Soviet military to assess a cosmonaut who survived a mysterious space accident and returned to Earth with a dangerous organism living inside him. Alongside Akinshina, the film's cast includes Pyotr Fyodorov and Fyodor Bondarchuk. The film was nominated on Saturn Award for Best International Film.

Historic romance film The Silver Skates, by Michael Lockshin in his directorial debut, was chosen as the opening film of the 42nd Moscow International Film Festival, where it premiered on October 1, 2020. The rights to the film were acquired by Netflix on June 16, 2021. The Silver Skates is the first Russian film to be released on the platform in the Netflix Originals category.

Yakut language drama Scarecrow by Dmitry Davydov won the main prize at the 2020 Kinotavr film festival . Yakut films, also nicknamed "Sakhawood", have been steadily gaining popularity in Russia.

Comedy drama House Arrest by Aleksey German Jr. and Ossetian language drama Unclenching the Fists by Kira Kovalenko was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival there Unclenching the Fists won Un Certain Regard Award.

The Last Darling Bulgaria by Aleksey Fedorchenko premiered at the 2021 Moscow International Film Festival.

Historical war drama film Ivan Denisovich by veteran director Gleb Panfilov premiered at the 2021 Locarno Film Festival . The film based on the novel by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn starred Filipp Yankovsky in the main role.

In 2021 WWII action film The Red Ghost by Andrei Bogatyrev was released in Russian cinemas.

2021 film Gerda about a young striptease dancer by director Natalya Kudryashova premiered at the 74th Locarno Film Festival where it received the Best Actress Award and the special prize from the youth jury of the festival.

Natalya Merkulova and Aleksey Chupov's film Captain Volkonogov Escaped (2021), set during the Great Purge, was screened at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Mama, I'm Home directed by Vladimir Bitokov was included into the Orizzonti Extra program at the same Festival.

Surrealistic satire Petrov's Flu by Kirill Serebrennikov were screened at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, there won Vulcan Award for cinematography.  Finnish-Russian co-production Compartment No. 6 by Juho Kuosmanen was also part of the program and it won the Grand Prix of the festival.

Apocalyptic drama Quarantine by Diana Ringo, co-produced by Finland and Russia, was an official non-English language Golden Globes 2022 entry.

The Execution is a 2021 Russian mystery thriller film and directorial debut by Lado Kvataniya. It premiered at the 2021 Fantastic Fest and theatrically released in Russia on April 21, 2022.

Tchaikovsky's Wife by Kirill Serebrennikov was included in the competition program of 2022 Cannes Film Festival.

Convenience Store by Mikhail Borodin, about Uzbeki immigrants working illegally in Moscow, premiered at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Fairytale is a 2022 experimental adult animated fantasy film directed by Alexander Sokurov premiered at the 75th Locarno Film Festival.

The Cage is Looking for a Bird directed by Malika Musaeva was screened on Encountes section at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival.

Live-action/computer-animated children's film Cheburashka set the record as the highest-grossing Russian film of all time in 2023. The film grossed $94.5 million at the box-office.

In 2023 the first movie shot in space was released, The Challenge directed by Klim Shipenko, starring Yulia Peresild. The film was a box-office success, grossing $21.5 million at the Russian box-office.

2022 boycott
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has impacted Russian cinema.  The Russian Association of Theater Owners said that there is a "high probability of the liquidation of the entire film screening industry"; ticket sales in March 2022 were half of what they had been in March 2021. The Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, and the Toronto Film Festival banned official Russian delegations. The Stockholm Film Festival banned all Russian projects funded by the government. The European Film Awards and Emmys banned Russian films outright. FIAPF (Fédération Internationale des Associations de Producteurs de Films, translated as the International Federation of Film Producers Associations) paused the accreditation of the Moscow International Film Festival and Message to Man until further notice. MIPTV in France won't allow "any Russian film and TV outfits" in 2022, and Russia has also been banned from the Banff World Media Festival and NATPE. Several major international film distributors, including The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Paramount, and Warner Bros stopped screening films in Russia; prior to the invasion, movies produced in the United States made up 70% of the Russian film market. FIPRESCI announced that it will not participate in festivals and other events organized by the Russian government and its offices, and canceled a colloquium in St. Petersburg, that was to make it familiar with new Russian films.

Ukrainian film director Sergei Loznitsa spoke out against banning Russian films. He said: "Among Russian filmmakers, there are people who have condemned the war, who oppose the regime and openly expressed their condemnation. And in a way they're victims of this whole conflict like the rest of us." And: "We must not judge people based on their passports. We can judge them on their acts." Dissident Russian film director Kirill Serebrennikov also spoke out against the boycott.

Russian film production
There are around 400 private production companies. They do not have their own facilities for creating films, and therefore must rent out spaces and equipment from their qualified partners. There are 35 film studios (9 of them are governmental) that are the major service for renting space. The studios have 107 shooting pavilions. There are 23 private companies on the Russian market that rent their equipment of all kinds to the production teams.

Leading production companies on the market
The list is composed by the Cinema Foundation of Russia. It allows companies get governmental financial support. In 2017 the number of market leaders was increased up to 10 companies.
 Bazelevs Company run by Timur Bekmambetov
 Art Pictures Studio run by Fyodor Bondarchuk and Dmitri Rudovsky
 СТВ run by Sergey Selyanov
 Trite run by Nikita Mikhalkov
 Enjoy Movies run by Andreasyan brothers and Georgy Malkov
 Non-Stop Production run by Alexander Rodnyansky, Sergey Melkumov
 Central Partnership part of Gazprom holding
 Film Direction run by Anatoly Maksimov
 Profit run by Igor Tolstunov
 VBD Group

List of highest-grossing films

According to Kinopoisk.ru, highest-grossing Russian films, as of August 2023, are the following: List of highest-grossing Russian films

Below are the highest-grossing movies in Russia.

Note: This list does not include earlier Soviet films, which are listed separately on the list of highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union.

Film distribution
There are 600 companies that release films all around Russia that includes 105 chain cinema theatres and 495 independent theatres. Chain companies consist of 29 federal, 19 regional and 57 local theatres. According to Neva Research, as of 1 July 2016 there were 1,227 cinemas with 4,067 screens in Russia. Ten major cinema companies hold 346 theatres with 1,772 screens, which corresponds to 43.6% of the whole amount.

In 2015 all the cinemas were finally digitalized. In the beginning of 2016 Russia has 33 theatres with 4D technology, 80 theatres with premium sound system, 43 theatres with 3D IMAX effect.

However, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, western countries such as the United States have imposed sanctions on Russia. Because of this, no more western films have been released in Russia since then.

Awards
 Nika Award
 Golden Eagle Award
 Russian Guild of Film Critics
 TEFI

Festivals
There are many film festivals in Russia. They include:

Artdocfest (Moscow and other cities)
Ekaterinburg Jewish Film Festival (Ekaterinburg)
Faces of Love Film Festival (Sochi)
Festival of Festivals, St. Petersburg
Kazan International Festival of Muslim Cinema (Kazan)
Kinoshock (in Anapa)
 Kinotavr (Sochi)
KROK International Animated Films Festival (in cities along the Volga or Dnieper rivers)
Message to Man International Film Festival (St Petersburg)
 Moscow International Film Festival
Moscow Jewish Film Festival
Open Russian Festival of Animated Film (Suzdal)
 Pacific Meridian (in Vladivostok)
 Saint Petersburg International Film Festival
Side by Side Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival (St Petersburg)
Sozvezdie (various locations)
Stalker International Film Festival on Human Rights (Moscow and regional cities)

VOD platforms
Notable Video on Demand platforms include Okko, Wink, more.tv,  Amediateka, SMOTRIM, MegaFon TV, Start, Kinopoisk HD, Premier, Ivi.ru, KION.

However online content platforms also face censorship in Russia.

Cinematography schools
 Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (claimed to be the oldest film school in the world)
 New York Film Academy, Moscow campus
 Moscow International Film School
Russian State Institute of Performing Arts, formerly Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music, and Cinema (LGITMiK)

See also
 Nika Award – the main national film award in Russia
 Cinema of the world
 History of Russian animation
 List of Russian films
 Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation

References

External links
Russian film titles  at the IMDb
Russian Film Hub

Cinema of Russia


Shabbat candles () are candles lit on Friday evening before sunset to usher in the Jewish Sabbath. Lighting Shabbat candles is a rabbinically mandated law. Candle-lighting is traditionally done by the woman of the household but, in the absence of a woman, it is done by a man. After lighting the candles, the lighter covers their eyes and recites a blessing.

In Yiddish, lighting the candles is known as licht bentschen ("light-blessing") or licht tsinden ("light-kindling").

History

According to Tobiah ben Eliezer, the custom is one "which Israel adopted from the time of Moses", while Genesis Rabbah relates that "For all the days that Sarah lived, the Sabbath lamp stayed lit until the next Sabbath eve, and for Rebecca it did the same . . ." According to Leopold Landsberg, the Jews adopted this custom from the Persians. Jacob Zallel Lauterbach disagrees, arguing that it was instituted by the Pharisees to protest against superstition, or perhaps against (some predecessor of) the Karaitic refusal to have any light on Sabbath Eve, even were it lit before the Sabbath. According to standard halakhic literature, the purpose of lighting of Shabbat candles is to dignify the Sabbath; before the advent of electric lighting, when the alternative was to eat in the dark, it was necessary to light lamps to create an appropriate environment. One early-modern Yiddish prayer asks for the candles to "burn bright and clear to drive away the evil spirits, demons, and all that come from Lilith".

The practice of lighting an oil lamp before Shabbat is first recorded in the second chapter of m. Shabbat, which already presupposes it as an old and undisputed practice. Persius (d. 62 CE) describes it in Satire V:At cum Herodis venere dies unctaque fenestra dispositae pinguem nebulam vomuere lucaernae portantes violas . . . labra moves tacitus recutitaque sabbata palles.

But when the day of Herod comes round, when the lamps wreathed with violets and ranged round the greasy window-sills have spat forth their thick clouds of smoke . . . you silently twitch your lips, turning pale at the sabbath of the circumcised. (trans. Menachem Stern)As do Seneca and Josephus.

Blessing
The blessing is never described by Talmudic sources, but was introduced by Geonim to emphasize rejection of the early Karaitic belief that lights could not be lit before the Sabbath. It is attested in a fragment in the St. Petersburg national library (Antonin B, 122, 2); it also appears in a plethora of Gaonic material, including the Seder of Amram Gaon, the responsa of Natronai Gaon, the responsa of Sherira Gaon, and others. Every source quotes it with identical language, exactly correspondent to the modern liturgy.

Ritual

Who lights
The lighting is preferably done by a woman. Talmudic sources (y. Shabbat 2:6, Gen. Rabb. 17:8, TanhBub Noah 1:1) explain that "the First Man was the world's lamp, but Eve extinguished him. Therefore they gave the commandment of the lamp to the woman". Solomon b. Isaac (b. Shabbat 32a s.v. hareni) adds an additional rationale, "and moreover, she is responsible for household needs." Moses b. Maimon, who rejects Talmudic rationales based on superstition, writes only: "And women are more obligated in this matter than men, because they are found at home and involved in housework."

Number of candles
Today, most Jews light at least two candles. Authorities up to and including Joseph Karo, who wrote that "there are those who employ two wicks, one corresponding to "Remember" and one corresponding to "Keep" (perhaps two wicks in one lamp, reflecting the Talmudic teaching "'Remember' and 'Keep' in a single statement"), advised a maximum of two lamps, with other lamps necessary for other purposes kept carefully at a distance to preserve the tableau. However, Moses Isserles added "and it's possible to add and light three or four lamps, and such is our custom", and Yisrael Meir Kagan added, "and there are those who light seven candles corresponding to the seven days of the week (Lurianics), or ten corresponding to the Ten Commandments". Starting with Yaakov Levi Moelin, rabbinic authorities have required women who forgot to light one week to add an additional lamp to her regular number for the rest of her life.

A recent custom reinterprets the two candles as husband and wife and adds a new candle for every child born; apparently the first to hear of it was Israel Hayyim Friedman, though his essay was not published until 1965, followed by Jacob Zallel Lauterbach, who mentions it in an undated essay published posthumously in 1951. Menachem Mendel Schneerson mentioned it in a 1975 letter. Mordechai Leifer supposedly said, "The women light two candles before children but after their first child they light five, corresponding to the Five Books Of Moses . . . and so it is forever, irrespective of how many children" but this teaching was not published until 1988. Menashe Klein offers two interpretations: either it is based on Moelin's rule and women who miss a week because they were giving birth are not exempted (though all other authorities assume they are exempted) or it is based on comparison with Hanukkah candles, which some medieval authorities recommended be lit one per member of the household.

Hand waving
In the Ashkenazic rite, after the candles are lit, a blessing is said (whereas, in the Sephardic rite, the blessing is said before the lighting). In order to avoid benefiting from the light of the candles before uttering the blessing, Ashkenazic authorities recommend that the lighter cover her eyes for the intervening period. Today, many Jewish women make an exaggerated motion, waving their hands in the air, when covering their eyes; there is no specific source for this in traditional texts.

The Sefer haAsuppot, attributed to the 13th-century scholar Elijah b. Isaac of Carcassonne, records that "I heard that [Rashi's granddaughter] Rabbanit Hannah, the sister of Rabbi Jacob, would  warn the women not to begin the blessing until the second candle was lit, lest the women accept the Sabbath and then continue lighting candles."

Time
The candles must be lit before the official starting time of Shabbat, which varies from place to place, but is generally 18 or 20 minutes before sunset. In some places the customary time is earlier: 30 minutes before sunset in Haifa and 40 minutes in Jerusalem, perhaps because the mountains in those cities obstructed the horizon and once made it difficult to know if sunset had arrived.

Blessing

In the late 20th century, some apparently began to add the word kodesh ("holy") at the end of the blessing, making "... the lamp of holy Shabbat", a practice with no historical antecedent. At least two earlier sources include this version, the Givat Shaul of Saul Abdullah Joseph (Hong Kong, 1906) and the Yafeh laLev of Rahamim Nissim Palacci (Turkey, 1906) but authorities in the major Orthodox traditions were solicited for responsa only in the late 1960s, and each acknowledges it only as a new and alternative practice. Menachem Mendel Schneerson and Moshe Sternbuch endorsed the innovation but most authorities, including Yitzhak Yosef, ruled that it is forbidden, though it does not nullify the blessing if already performed. Almog Levi attributes this addition to misinformed baalot teshuva. It has never been a widespread custom but its popularity, especially within Chabad, continues to grow.

References

Further reading
B.M. Lewin, The History of the Sabbath Candles, in Essays and Studies in Memory of Linda A. Miller, I. Davidson (ed), New York, 1938, pp.55-68.

Shabbat
Laws of Shabbat
Jewish blessings
Jewish ritual objects
Candles

Shabbat candles


François Rude (4 January 1784 – 3 November 1855) was a French sculptor, best known for the Departure of the Volunteers, also known as La Marseillaise on the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. (1835–36). His work often expressed patriotic themes, as well as the transition from neo-classicism to romanticism.

Early life
François Rude was born 4 January 1784 on rue Petite-Poissonnerie (rue François Rude) in Dijon. His father was a blacksmith and locksmith, who taught Rude the trade of forging iron, so he could take over the family business. In 1799, at the age of fifteen, despite his father's resistance, he began taking courses at the School of Fine Arts in Dijon, located within the Palace of the Dukes of Burgundy, while continuing to work in the family business. His teacher was the deputy curator of the Dijon museum, Louis Fremiet. Rude learned both drawing and sculpture, using classical models. Fremiet helped protect Rude from being drafted into Napoleon's army, and, in 1808, sent him to Paris to continue his studies.

Rude began his studies at the Imperial Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris in August 1808 under Pierre Cartellier, a devotee of classical sculpture. His fellow students included several sculptors who later became prominent, including David d'Angers, James Pradier and the celebrated animalist Antoine-Louis Barye. While studying, he gained practical experience as an assistant to Edme Gaulle, who was making part of the sculptural frieze of the column being made for Place Vendôme to celebrate the victories of Napoleon. In 1809 he competed in the academy's prestigious annual competition, and took second place with the purely classical Marius meditating upon the ruins of Carthage. In 1812, he won two competitions, one for the most expressive bust, with a work called attention combined with fear; and a second, Aristotle deploring the loss of his bees.. The latter work won the Grand Prize of the academy, Prix de Rome, and the opportunity to study at the French Academy in Rome. Unfortunately for Rude, the academy in Rome was having financial difficulties, and the departure of the winners was postponed. He was preparing again to depart for Rome in early 1815 when Napoleon returned from his exile in Elba and the war began again. After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo and the second restoration of the French monarchy, Rude decided to go into self-imposed exile in Brussels. At the request of his teacher from Dijon, Louis Fremiet, he agreed to take with him to Brussels and look after Fremiet's mother-in-law, aunt, and two daughters, including Sophie, who in 1821 became Rude's wife.

Exile in Brussels
Rude lived in Brussels from 1817 until 1826. where he found many other self-imposed exiles, the most famous of whom was the painter Jacques-Louis David. Rude's wife, a painter, became David's pupil and then his copyist. In Brussels he made a bust of David, neoclassical in style, but realistically portraying the deformation of David's mouth caused by a nervous malady.

In Brussels he received his first major commission; he was asked by the Belgian royal architect Charles Vander Straeten to design decorative relief sculptures for the hunting lodge of the Belgian crown prince at Tervuren. The work was a frieze around the rotunda of the Hall of Honor. Among the other artists selected to work on the frieze was Sophie Fremiet, also a painter, who became Rude's wife. The friezes by Rude represented a classical hunting scene, The Hunt of Meleager for the entry portico and a series of eight reliefs for the rotunda, illustrating the life of Achilles. The work required representing dozens of figures, both in action scenes and scenes of pathos and drama. Rude based his work on the models of classical sculpture, but gave them exceptional naturalism and dynamism. The original work was destroyed by a fire in the lodge in 1879, but plaster copies made from the original moldings and illustrations survive.

Return to Paris – classicism to romanticism
Brussels did not offer enough opportunities or challenges, and in 1827 Rude returned to Paris with Sophie and entered a work in the Paris Salon. The work was shown only a short time before the Salon closed, and it attracted little attention, but it illustrated the evolution of his style. The statue, Mercury fastening his sandals after slaying Argus (now in the Louvre) was neoclassical in theme, but showed a striking energy and realism.

Rude decided to move permanently to Paris in 1828. He found a client in the French state, which commissioned him, along with several others sculptors, to work on a frieze for the Arc de Triomphe; he refined his technique and style. In 1833 he presented a new work, A young Neopolitan fisherman playing with tortoise a fusion of classicism and romanticism, vividly expressing emotion. This work won a cross of the Legion of Honor, sculpture.

The Arc de Triomphe and Départ des Volontaires de 1792
The Arc de Triomphe had been begun in 1806 by Napoleon to celebrate his victory at the battle of Austerlitz. It had only reached a height of nine meters when Napoleon was overthrown, and it was abandoned for years. During Bourbon Restoration, Charles X of France had begun to work on it again, to make it a monument to celebrate the defeat of Spanish revolutionaries by a French royal expeditionary force. When Rude first arrived in Paris in 1828, based on his experience with the friezes in Tervuren, he became one of the sculptors working on the friezes, depicting the exploits of the royalist army in Spain.

The July Revolution of 1830 overthrew the royal government of the Charles X and put on the throne Louis Philippe. The new government decided to complete the construction of the Arc de Triomphe on a very different theme. Rude's work at the Salon of 1833 had come to the attention of Adolphe Thiers, the new Minister of the Interior, who had taken office in 1832. Thiers was an art collector, and was familiar with Rude's work at the 1828 salon. The royalist architect of the Arch was replaced, and Thiers put a new architect, Guillaume-Abel Blouet, who had political opinions closer to those of Rude, in charge of the project, with Rude to assist him. Rude was given the commission to make portions of the frieze depicting the departure of volunteers from Paris in 1792 to fight against the anti-revolutionary armies, as well as a frieze commemorating the triumphal returns to France of Napoleon's expeditions to Egypt and Italy.

The Départ des volontaires de 1792 (Departure of the Volunteers of 1792), also known as La Marseillaise completed in 1836, became Rude's most famous work. It depicted the departure of a French revolutionary army to fight against a coalition of royalist forces at the Battle of Valmy in 1792. Sophie Fremiet, Rude's wife, posed for the principal figure, the Génie de la Guerre (Genius of the War), a woman with a sword shouting to urge others on to battle. The pose of this figure resembled the central figure of the painting by Delacroix, Liberty leading the People, which had been purchased by the French government at the 1831 Salon, and shown briefly at the Luxembourg Museum until 1833. The fierce shouting expression had been used earlier by Rude as a student at the academy, in the competition for best facial expressions, which he won in 1812. The soldiers wore the costumes of warriors of ancient Gaul. The Depart des Volontaires de 1792 immediately became famous for its vitality and energy, and as a celebration of the French revolutionary spirit. Auguste Rodin took up the same theme, with a similar shouting figure, in his La Defense (1879).

Patriotic and historical statuary
The critical and popular acclaim for the frieze on the Arc de Triomphe led to more commissions for Rude. King Louis-Philippe encouraged patriotic monuments, to bridge the deep political divide between monarchists and republicans. In 1832, Louis-Philippe commissioned Rude to make a statue of the Roman statesman Cato the Elder. In 1837, Louis-Philppe opened a museum within the largely-abandoned Palace of Versailles to honor the heroes of French history, and, as he declared, "all the glories of France." Rude was commissioned in 1836, before the opening of the museum, to make a statue of a German-born French military hero from the 18th century, the Maurice de Saxe. This statue followed the traditions of heroic sculpture, presenting him a triumphal pose, holding his marshal's baton. He also had patrons in the nobility; in 1843, he created a statue in silver of the adolescent Louis XIII, for the Duc de Luynes, whose family had been ennobled by Lous XIII. It was later recast in bronze. In 1845, Rude completed another statue devoted to French history; Joan of Arc, portrayed with her hand up, listing to the mystical voice calling her to fight for the liberty of France against the English invaders. Her hair has already been cut to prepare her for battle, and her armor is by her side.

Louis-Philippe was driven into exile in 1848, and the new and brief Second French Republic came to power. It commissioned Rude to make an heroic statue of Michel Ney, one of Napoleon's most famous marshals, who had been shot for treason by the restored royalist government which replaced Napoleon. The earliest wax model made by Rude depicted Ney at his execution, as he opened his coat and urged the firing squad to "aim for the heart." This pose was judged as too politically provocative, so Rude made a different version, depicting Ney, sword upraised, ordering his soldiers forward. This work, like his earlier Departure of the Volunteers, broke with academic tradition by showing Ney with his mouth open, shouting at his soldiers to follow. This work was completed in 1853, after the fall of the Second Republic and the rise of Napoleon III. It is found in the square in front of the Paris Observatory.

An unusual work in his period of patriotic sculptures was his tomb of Éléonore-Louis Godefroi Cavaignac, one of the leaders of the republican opposition to the monarchy, who had died in 1845. The sepulcher designed by Rude recalled those of the Middle Ages made for the Kings of France, particularly the tomb of Henry II of France sculpted by Germain Pilon. The figure of Cavaignac was depicted with great realism; the body was depicted under a plain sheet, and body was emaciated from his imprisonment by royal government. The sepulcher served a model for those of later opponents of the monarchy.

Another notable example of his patriotic work was Napoleon Awakening to Immortality (1845). The statue was made for Claude Noisot, who a former captain in Napoleon's imperial guard and an officer of the Legion of Honor, who had accompanied Napoleon into exile on Elba, and at the Battle of Waterloo. He was unable to pursue a military career after Napoleon's downfall, but with the help of a wealthy wife purchased vineyards and an estate at Fixin in Burgundy. At the time that the statue was conceived, the political climate in Paris was still hostile to Napoleon, and there were no monuments to him in the city. Therefore, Noisot and Rude planned for the sculpture of the Emperor to be placed on Noisot's estate in Burgundy. The statue shows the Emperor, eyes closed, wearing a crown of laurel, under a military cloak, atop a rocky pedestal. An eagle, his symbol, is chained to the stone, and is crying out to awaken him, while the chains that held the Emperor have been broken. For years, elderly veterans of Napoleon's army made pilgrimages to Fixin to honor Rude's statue.

Late works and death
Late works by Rude included a Calvary in bronze for the high altar of St Vincent de Paul (1852). Late in his life, he was commissioned by the Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon to make a work on a subject of his choosing; he chose a mythological work, Hebe and the Eagle of Jupiter (1852). Other late works included Love Triumphant (1855–57; and Head of Christ (1852). After his death, the two unfinished works were completed by his student and nephew, Paul Cabet, and they were shown at the Paris Salon of 1857.

Rude received a medal for his lifetime work at the Paris International Exposition of 1855. Shortly afterwards, on 3 November 1855, Rude died at his Paris residence at rue d'Enfer 3. He was buried at Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris.

Toward the end of his life, Rude made several notable religious sculptures, including the sculptural decoration of a pulpit for the Church of St. Etienne in Lille. His major religious works include a Baptism of Christ now in the Church of the Madeleine, and a smaller bust of Christ on the Cross finished in 1855, not long before his death, and now in the Louvre. The statue Love, dominator of the world, was one of his last works, commissioned by the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts. He died before it was completed. It was finished by his pupil and stepson Paul Cabet, and was shown in the Paris Salon of 1857.

The Dijon Museum of Fine Arts, the Musée d'Orsay and the Louvre have notable collections of his works.

Pupils
Rude's pupil Charles-Auguste Lebourg became famous for the Wallace fountains in Paris. Another important pupil of Rude was Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux, who subsequently executed his own interpretation of a Neapolitan Fisher Boy, a popular subject at the time.

Musée Rude
The Musée Rude in Dijon, inaugurated in 1947, is devoted to plaster casts of his works that were acquired by the city of Dijon, between 1887 and 1910; it is housed in the transept of the 11th-century church of Saint-Etienne in rue Vaillant.

Bibliography

See also
 List of works by François Rude
 French sculpture

Notes and citations

External links

 Louvre Database (French language) – Works by Rude (and some others)
 More views of the Neapolitan Fisherboy
 Views of the Arc de Triomphe
 Art on-line: François Rude
 French language site listing works by Rude, with access to large images (it may be necessary to close an advertising banner to view this page)

1784 births
1855 deaths
Artists from Dijon
19th-century French sculptors
French male sculptors
Prix de Rome for sculpture
Knights of the Legion of Honour
Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery
19th-century French male artists

François Rude


George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, actor, and music producer. Strait is referred to as the "King of Country," and critics call Strait a living legend. He is known for his unique style of western swing music, bar-room ballads, honky-tonk style, and fresh yet traditional Country music. George Strait holds the world record for more number-one hit singles than any other artist in the history of music on any chart or in any genre, having recorded 59 number-one hit singles as of 2012.

Discography

Strait has been recording with MCA Records for 30 years. He has had 60 No. 1 songs on all country charts (including Mediabase 24/7, the former Radio & Records chart, and the Gavin Report chart), and has more No. 1 hits than any other artist in any genre. His 44 Billboard magazine country No. 1's are a record, four more than Conway Twitty's total that includes several duets with Loretta Lynn. Strait is also the first artist in the history of Billboard magazine to have at least one single enter the Top 10 of a Billboard chart for 30 consecutive years. The first was in 1981 when his first single "Unwound" reached No. 6 on the Hot Country Singles chart. All of his Top 10 singles have been on that chart. Strait has sold more than 68 million albums in the United States and 13 multi-platinum, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums.

Studio albums
 Strait Country (1981)
 Strait from the Heart (1982)
 Right or Wrong (1983)
 Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind (1984)
 Something Special (1985)
 #7 (1986)
 Ocean Front Property (1987)
 If You Ain't Lovin' You Ain't Livin'  (1988)
 Beyond the Blue Neon (1989)
 Livin' It Up (1990)
 Chill of an Early Fall (1991)
 Holding My Own (1992)
 Pure Country (1992)
 Easy Come, Easy Go (1993)
 Lead On (1994)
 Blue Clear Sky (1996)
 Carrying Your Love with Me (1997)
 One Step at a Time (1998)
 Always Never the Same (1999)
 George Strait (2000)
 The Road Less Traveled (2001)
 Honkytonkville (2003)
 Somewhere Down in Texas (2005)
 It Just Comes Natural (2006)
 Troubadour (2008)
 Twang (2009)
 Here for a Good Time (2011)
 Love Is Everything (2013)
 Cold Beer Conversation (2015)

Singles
"I Just Can't Go On Dying Like This" (1976)
"I Hate Everything" (2004)

Sources

1952 births
Country musicians from Texas
Living people

George Strait


La Fierté des nôtres is the third album by French rapper Rohff, released in 2004 by the EMI label.

To date, it has sold 225,000 copies in France alone.

Track listing

Disc one
"La Fierté Des Nôtres (Intro)" (Produced by JR Rotem)
"Nouveau Rap"
"Le Milieu"
"La Vie Continue"
"Ca Fait Plaisir" (Produced by JR Rotem)
Featuring Intouchable
"Dur D'Être Peace" (Produced by DJ Khalil)
Featuring Janice
"Pleure Pas"
"Pétrole" (Produced by JR Rotem)
Featuring Kayna Samet
"Trop D'Energie"
Featuring Mohamed Lamine
"Message A La Racaille"
"Le Cœur D'Un Homme"
"Souvenir"
"Charisme" (Produced by JR Rotem)
Featuring Wallen
"Le Son Qui Tue" (Produced by Don Silver)
Featuring Nathy
"Le Son De La Hagra"
Featuring Expression Direkt
"Mal Aimé"
Featuring Kery James

Disc two
"Fils A Pap"
"T'Es Pas Comme Moi" (Produced by Don Silver)
"Bling Bling" (Produced by JR Rotem)
Featuring Admiral T
"Apparences Trompeuses" (Produced by JR Rotem)
"Sincère" (Produced by Don Silver)
"Toujours Ton Enfant"
"Fiston"
Featuring J Mi Sissoko
"Pervertie"
"Bollywood Style" (Produced by Don Silver)
"Zone Internationale"
Featuring Roldán (Orishas)
"94" (Produced by Mr. Porter)
"Le Mot D'Ordre"
"Code 187" (Produced by Don Silver)
Featuring Kamelancien, Alibi Montana & Sefyu
"J'Rappe Mieux Que Toi (Outro)"

Video clips
"Le Son Qui Tue"
Featuring Nathy
"Zone Internationale"
Featuring Roldan G. Rivero (Orishas)
"94"

2004 albums
EMI Records albums
Rohff albums

La Fierté des Nôtres


The Castril palace (also House of Castril) is a Renaissance style palace located in Sacromonte, a district of the Spanish city of Granada. Nowadays it hosts the Archaeological Museum of Granada.

The house is nailed in the Race of the Darro, in the old Arab district of Ajsaris, seat of 16th century's granadine nobility. The palace is one of the best Renaissance palaces of Granada and belonged to the family of Hernando de Zafra, secretary of Catholic monarchs who participated actively in reconquering it from the Muslim hands during the Reconquista.

At the top of the facade the date of its foundation is recorded: 1539. This work has been attributed to Sebastián de Alcántara, one of the most outstanding disciples of Diego de Siloé. In 1917, the Castril palace was acquired by arabist and orientalist Leopoldo Eguílaz y Yanguas to make it a definitive location of the Archaeological Museum of Granada.

References and notes

Much of the content of this article comes from the equivalent Spanish-language Wikipedia article, accessed December 1, 2006.

Houses completed in 1539
Buildings and structures in Granada
Plateresque architecture in Andalusia
Palaces in Andalusia
1539 establishments in Spain

Castril Palace