The Devil's Wheel

The End of St. Petersburg(ru)

Shortly before the outbreak of WWI, a peasant from rural Russia arrives in St. Petersburg to find work.

The House on Trubnaya(ru)

Life is short and full of oppression, but that doesn't mean Parasha can't find love and laughter when she leaves her country home to take a job as a maid in the overcrowded, overworked, and underpaid world in the big city.

Battleship Potemkin(ru)

A dramatized account of a great Russian naval mutiny and a resultant public demonstration, showing support, which brought on a police massacre.

October (Ten Days that Shook the World)(ru)

Sergei M. Eisenstein's docu-drama about the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Made ten years after the events and edited in Eisenstein's 'Soviet Montage' style, it re-enacts in celebratory terms several key scenes from the revolution.

Man with a Movie Camera(ru)

A cameraman wanders around with a camera slung over his shoulder, documenting urban life with dazzling inventiveness.

The Extraordinary Adventures of Mr. West in the Land of the Bolsheviks(ru)

An ignorant and prejudiced American’s visit of Soviet Russia goes off the rails after his luggage is stolen and he is separated from his bodyguard.

The Vow(ru)

The story of Stalin and the Soviet people.

Kino Eye(ru)

This documentary promoting the joys of life in a Soviet village centers on the activities of the Young Pioneers. These children are constantly busy, pasting propaganda posters on walls, distributing hand bills, exhorting all to "buy from the cooperative" as opposed to the Public Sector, promoting temperance, and helping poor widows. Experimental portions of the film, projected in reverse, feature the un-slaughtering of a bull and the un-baking of bread.

Comrade Chkalov Crosses the North Pole(ru)

A satiric comedy which dissects the iconography of the 'Soviet Hero'. Original footage of a propaganda film from 1941 is the starting point for this parody of the ideological cliches of Soviet cinema. It follows the story of a Russian crew across the North Pole.

The Club of the Big Deed(ru)

The film tells about the Decembrists’ revolt in the south of Russia. Right before the Decembrist Revolt 1825 a chevalier of fortune decides that it's time for a game. But on whom to make a bet? He asks the cards. But he's not the only one who makes the choice.

Women of Today(ro)

Made on the occasion of March 8, it presents a series of brief portraits of women, from various professional fields, of different ages and even of different ethnicities, pointing out the benefits that the communist organization had brought to their daily lives. A special emphasis is placed on their status as mothers and on the role of nurseries and socialist kindergartens not only in making their lives easier, but also in giving them the time they need to build a career. Another concern of the filmmaker, starting from the concrete case of one of the protagonists, is to highlight the differences between the happy present and the not-too-distant past in which someone with her social status should have dedicated herself exclusively to raising children, in hygienic and extremely difficult lives.

A Soldier's Story 2: Return from the Dead(en)

Regina asks her friend, Zaya to look after her younger brother while she travels with her fiancée, Major Egan to Nigeria. Healing from the recent war, Zaya and the other villagers try to begin the process of healing when an American company takes them over for a new crude oil strike! In Nigeria, Regina and Major Egan escape an assassination attempt and must race back to home to rescue their friends and family before war consumes them all. The conspiracy is much deeper than they thought and they find themselves in a complicated mission to survive. This is a soldier’s story.

Late Night Shopper(en)

A shoplifter thinks all his dreams have come true when he enters a seemingly deserted supermarket. However, he soon discovers he is not alone and getting out becomes a matter of life and death.

The Dig(en)

A man helps a woman bury a dead body.

River's Edge(ja)

High schooler Haruna befriends loner Yamada, then is drawn into the tangled relationship between him, a model and the girl who loves him unreasonably.

Fist 2 Fist 2: Weapon of Choice(en)

Retired assassin, Jack Lee, walked away from his violent past to raise his dead brother's daughter, Jaime, as his own. When crime lord Banducci kidnaps Jaime for a payback, Jack brings his gifted skills of extermination out of retirement and the streets of San Francisco become a battleground for a one man killing machine and ruthless, united mob bosses.

Lie with Me(en)

Roselyn Tyler awakens in her London flat with no memory of the previous night. She discovers that she was drugged and sexually assaulted -- and her roommate is dead. When investigating cop Will Tomlinson can't make the charges stick against the prime suspect, he and Roselyn scheme to put him behind bars. But she soon learns that lies have hazardous consequences.

Full House(fr)

Anthology film with three shorts each featuring a famous detective: Monsieur Wens, Lemmy Caution and Maigret.

The Waiter(en)

A man travels through corporate corruption and his own sin to find his soul.

Augenzeugen müssen blind sein(de)

The System(en)

When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.

The Hero(ru)

An alumni of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service who is settled in Europe gets a call from his father who was considered dead and he sets on a mission to find him with the help of his first love.

The Enforcer(en)

A noir thriller set in Miami, the film follows an enforcer who discovers his femme fatale boss has branched out into cyber sex trafficking, putting a young runaway he’s befriended at risk. He sacrifices everything to save the young girl from the deadly organization he’s spent his life building.

The Protector(en)

Billy Wong is a New York City cop whose partner is gunned down during a robbery. Billy and his new partner, Danny Garoni, are working security at a fashion show when a wealthy man's daughter, Laura Shapiro, is kidnapped. The Federal authorities suspect that Laura's father is involved with Mr. Ko, a Hong Kong drug kingpin, so the NYC police commissioner sends the two cops to Hong Kong to investigate.

God Is a Bullet(en)

Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.

There's Good Weather in Deribasovskaya, Or It's Raining Again in Brighton Beach(ru)

When mysterious Russian bandit named Artist came in USA, brave Russian special agent Fyodor Sokolov runs to States for defeat evil master.

Bimmer(ru)

A black BMW, a symbol of luxury, is racing along the night streets of Moscow in the 90s. Bad luck turns four friends into criminals and they have no way back. Only the black “bimmer” is reliable in this life without rules, taking the friends farther and farther from Moscow, into the crazy and ruthless wilderness of Russian roads… None of them wanted to kill. None of them wanted to die. But they will have to face their destiny in the end.

Absolution(en)

An aging ex-boxer gangster working as muscle for a Boston crime boss receives an upsetting diagnosis. Despite a faltering memory, he attempts to rectify the sins of his past and reconnect with his estranged children. He is determined to leave a positive legacy for his grandson, but the criminal underworld isn’t done with him and won’t loosen their grip willingly.

The Island(en)

When his brother is killed, LAPD officer Mark leaves the city to return to the island he grew up on. Seeking answers and ultimately vengeance, he soon finds himself in a bloody battle with the corrupt tycoon who's taken over the island paradise.

Fast Charlie(en)

When his aging mob boss is whacked, Charlie Swift, a loyal friend and hired gun, will stop at nothing to destroy the upcoming crew that took him out.

Wire Room(en)

New recruit Justin Rosa must monitor arms-smuggling cartel member Eddie Flynn — and keep him alive at all costs. When a SWAT team descends on Flynn’s home, Rosa breaks protocol and contacts the gangster directly to save his life. As gunmen break into the Wire Room and chaos erupts, Mueller and Rosa make a final, desperate stand against the corrupt agents and officials who seek to destroy evidence and kill them both.

Bastards(ru)

A "Hitlerjugend" kind of story, set in the Soviet Union during the Second World War, based on a fictitious story from the eponymous book by Vladimir Kunin.

The Major(ru)

On a cold winter’s day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he’s driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk, who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience and calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and when Sobolev finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, it’s already too late…

Brother 2(ru)

Arriving in Moscow, Chechen War veteran Danila meets Konstantin, an old friend who tells him that his twin brother has been forced into signing a crooked contract with a US ice hockey team. Soon after this meeting, Danila discovers Konstantin dead and he sets out to avenge his death; a journey that leads him to Chicago and a whole new experience.

The End of St. Petersburg(ru)

Shortly before the outbreak of WWI, a peasant from rural Russia arrives in St. Petersburg to find work.

At Home Among Strangers, a Stranger Among His Own(ru)

Following the Russian Civil War, a loyal Red, Shilov, must prove he is at home among strangers as he attempts to recapture a shipment of gold that he was supposed to deliver to Moscow. Needed as a means of buying food for the people, the gold Shilov was entrusted with is stolen, initially by a group of assassins and then by a group of bandits. In tracking the gold’s whereabouts, Shilov’s motives are questioned and he is suspected of treason, in part because his brother was a devoted White. In an effort to clear his name, Shilov locates the gold, but he also discovers rampant greed and corruption.

An Unfinished Piece for Player Piano(ru)

On a summer day in late 19th century Russia, a group of bourgeois friends and acquaintances gather at a dilapidated country estate.

Piranha Hunt(ru)

Agent of special department "Piranha" Kirill Mazur and his colleague Olga go to the far north with the assignment to liquidate an underwater secret weapon lab in the guise of a mutual vacation. All of a sudden, they find themselves in the world where civilization laws are forgotten, and this deadly weapons are kept by gangsters who are controlled by a new "master of taiga" Prohor, whose leisure time is spent hunting at humans. Mazur didn't know that he would have to trade his familiar gun for a hand-made bone knife, and save his companion and himself instead of saving the world. For them, this safari in northern forests would be no less dangerous as for the live targets.

Red Right Hand(en)

Cash is trying to live a quiet, honest life in a small Appalachian town. When a vicious crime boss forces him back into her services, he soon learns he's capable of anything -- even killing -- to protect his family and his home.

Al Capone(en)

In this unusually accurate biography, small-time hood Al Capone comes to Chicago at the dawn of Prohibition to be the bodyguard of racketeer Johnny Torrio. Capone's rise in Chicago gangdom is followed through murder, extortion, and political fraud. He becomes head of Chicago's biggest "business," but moves inexorably toward his downfall and ignominious end.