This is the first generation of Russian youth to have grown up after the fall of the Soviet Union, and are looking inwards to the Eastern Bloc for inspiration, rather than the wider Western world. With designers like Gosha Rubchinskiy popularising post-Soviet style around the world, we discover what effect the former Soviet Union has had on modern creativity, the impact of this cultural explosion on the rest of the world, and what it is to be young in Russia today.
Troubadours (2014)
Four artists - born in the same city - dig deep to reveal their connection with music. They are modern troubadours. Music is their soul - their lyrics transmit an intimate, sincere and unconventional message. A superb portrait of underground artists.
Twiggy (2025)
Twiggy takes a comprehensive look at the life story of UK model and cultural icon Twiggy, real name Lesley Lawson, whose career kickstarted in the 1960s. It features interviews with Twiggy and her husband Leigh Lawson, as well as commentary from Erin O’Connor, Paul McCartney, Lulu, Poppy Delavigne, Brooke Shields, Pattie Boyd and Zandra Rhodes.
Bill Cunningham New York (2011)
Doubling as a cartography of the ever-changing city, Bill Cunningham New York portrays the secluded pioneer of street fashion with grace and heart.
Haute Couture: The Great Designers (1987)
A documentary which profiles the creative geniuses in the world of international high fashion. The designers focused on are Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent, and Chanel.
The Music of Life (2009)
Eldar Ryazanov reads his poetry. An introspective movie on his multifaceted work.
L'Amour Fou (2010)
This documentary examines the life and work of the late fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent, recounting how a frail prodigy prone to bouts of depression became an icon of the fashion world. Initially appointed head of the House of Dior in 1957 before growing into a globally recognized designer in his own right, Saint-Laurent overcomes his struggles with substance abuse, accumulating a large art collection alongside his lifelong personal and professional partner, Pierre Bergé.
Silent Sun of Russia (2023)
Alyona, Alika and Katya dream of love and friendship, but most of all of leaving Putin’s Russia. When the war against Ukraine breaks out, it becomes harder for the three young women to leave the vast country in the East, but also even more unbearable to stay. So one has left for Georgia, another for Spain, while the third stays behind in Russia. Their generation does not believe that political engagement changes anything. Instead, they show their resistance by living a modern and more Western life, where gender, sexuality, pop music and identity issues are vital. Set at night in cars, apartments and backyards, Sybilla Tuxen’s dark and artistically uncompromising debut film tells the story of a rebellious yet resigned section of Russian youth on the fringes of established society.
Kanga (1992)
Early 90s London gets a vibrant dose of African culture in this mini odyssey fusing dance, music and fashion.
Women He's Undressed (2015)
Hollywood stars, historical footage and stylized reenactments tell the story of costume designer Orry-Kelly, who ruled Tinseltown fashion for decades.
I Thought I Told You To Shut Up!! (2015)
This documentary short tells the story of cartoonist David Boswell and his greatest creation: Reid Fleming, World's Toughest Milkman. In the late '70s, David Boswell birthed Reid Fleming, a counterculture icon in the form of a comic book anti-hero. Fast forward to the '80s, Warner Brothers aimed for a Hollywood film. Today, three decades later, Reid Fleming remains stuck in a contractual quagmire. Jonathan Demme, Academy Award-Winner (The Silence of the Lambs, Stop Making Sense), narrates "I Thought I Told You To Shut Up!!" This documentary blends stop-motion animation with interviews from Boswell, Hollywood cohorts, and fans, exploring the enduring allure of the indomitable Reid Fleming, the World's Toughest Milkman.
Harry Styles: The Finishing Touch (2023)
Hit after hit, pop-icon Harry Styles, once the centerpiece of the world's biggest boy bands has grown into someone who isn't afraid of self-expression, continuing to reject the traditional confines of masculinity.
The True Cost (2015)
Film from Andrew Morgan. The True Cost is a documentary film exploring the impact of fashion on people and the planet.
Girl Model (2011)
A documentary on the modeling industry's 'supply chain' between Siberia, Japan, and the U.S., told through the experiences of the scouts, agencies, and a 13-year-old model.
Hollywood: Style Center of the World (1940)
This short promotes the premise that movies often create a demand for the fashions seen in them. It starts with a vignette in rural America. A mother and daughter go to town to buy a new dress. In the dress shop window is a designer dress worn by Joan Crawford in a recent movie. We then go to Hollywood and visit Adrian, MGM's chief of costume design, and see how multiple copies of a single clothing pattern are produced. The film ends with short segments of several MGM features.
The End Of The Line: Rochester's Subway (1995)
"The End of the Line - Rochester's Subway" tells the little-known story of the rail line that operated in a former section of the Erie Canal from 1927 until its abandonment in 1956. Produced in 1994 by filmmakers Fredrick Armstrong and James P. Harte, the forty-five minute documentary recounts the tale of an American city's bumpy ride through the Twentieth Century, from the perspective of a little engine that could, but didn't. The film has since been rereleased (2005) and now contains the main feature with special portions that were added as part of the rereleased version. These include a look at the only surviving subway car from the lines and a Phantom tun through the tunnels in their abandoned state, among others, for a total of 90 minutes of unique and well preserved historical information.
The Gospel According to André (2018)
From the segregated American South to the fashion capitals of the world, operatic fashion editor André Leon Talley's life and career are on full display, in a poignant portrait that includes appearances by Anna Wintour, Marc Jacobs, Tom Ford, Bethann Hardison, Valentino, and Manolo Blahnik.
Unzipped (1995)
Isaac Mizrahi, one of the most successful designers in high fashion, plans his fall 1994 collection.
Helmut Newton: Frames from the Edge (1989)
A camera crew follows Helmut Newton, the fashion and ad photographer whose images of tall, blond, big-breasted women are part of the iconography of twentieth-century erotic fantasy. He's on the go from L.A., to Paris, to Monte-Carlo, to Berlin, where he was a youth until he escaped from the Nazis in 1936. We see him on shoots, interviewing models, and discussing his work.
In the Grip of Gazprom (2023)
The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production company GAZPROM. So how did Germany become so dependent on Russian gas? The documentary shows how, over several decades and several changes of government, a broad alliance of politicians and business representatives did everything possible to secure Germany's energy supply with cheap Russian gas, while the Kremlin's foreign policy became increasingly aggressive and the warnings of experts went unheeded.
Vinyl Nation (2020)
The vinyl record renaissance over the past decade has brought new fans to a classic format and transformed our idea of a record collector: younger, both male and female, multicultural. This same revival has made buying music more expensive, benefited established bands over independent artists and muddled the question of whether vinyl actually sounds better than other formats. Vinyl Nation digs into the crates of the record resurgence in search of truths set in deep wax: Has the return of vinyl made music fandom more inclusive or divided? What does vinyl say about our past here in the present? How has the second life of vinyl changed how we hear music and how we listen to each other?