79 Primaveras A poetic film tribute to the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh, the 79 Springs of the title referring to Ho's age at his death. The Spanish inter-titles are translated in the metadata....
A Grand Tradition The history of the Red Army from its formation in 1918, through 1925 when the Soviet Union first produced armoured vehicles, and WW2, up to the 1968 May Day parade showing nuclear capable rockets....
A Soldier Went Walking Interviews with Red Army soldiers about the Great Patriotic War intercut with newsreel and documentary footage. The commentary (by the poet and former war correspondent Konstantin Simonov) is in Russian but has been summarised in the metadata....
Accused of Genocide Cold War Soviet propaganda film about the Middle East. Deals with Israeli aggression in Lebanon. War scenes in Beirut. Interviews with Palestinians, including Yasser Arafat. Demonstrations. American and Israeli military leaders and politicians of th...
Action Against the Means Test Silent film with inter-titles showing marches and demonstrations in London against the Means Test and the Unemployment Legislation introduced by the National Government in the 1930s....
Advance, Democracy A film about the Co-operative movement, mixing fact and fiction to look at its history and its attitude to social conditions and the imminent Second World War....
Afghanistan 1956 A film on the visit to Afghanistan, part of the world tour by Nikolai Bulganin, Chairman of the USSR, Council of Ministers, Nikita Khrushchev, Member of the USSR, Supreme Soviet Presidium and Andrei Gromyko, First Deputy Foreign Minister. NB: End of...
Afghanistan: The Return Soviet soldiers returning from the war in Afghanistan express their feelings about their experiences and their sense of alienation from the civilian population, all edited against footage shot at the front. ...
Along the River Reli Rural life in China showing traditional ploughing and harvesting methods, also suggesting the coming of progress with the arrival of tractors....
Anna Pavlova Biography of the ballerina Anna Pavlova. Some of the footage of her dancing was shot in 1924 while she was in Hollywood with Pickford and Fairbanks. See Rachel Low, A History of British Film, 1929-1939: Films of Comment and Persuasion, p.106....
Anti-Fascist Demonstration Silent footage of an anti-fascist demonstration in London during the thirties....
Bacteriological Warfare in Vietnam Vietnamese documentary investigating the use of chemical weapons by the US army. Contains footage of experiments on animals....
Ballad of a Child Recollections of a Czech woman remembering events at Lidice. She was the only survivor of her family. The documentary contains strong footage....
Ballad of the Dnieper The first hydroelectric power station on the Dnieper-Dnieperstroi. Originally built in the 1930s, it was destroyed by the Nazis in World War 2 and rebuilt by the youth of the USSR after the War....
Ballad of the Green Berets Documentary film based on Robin Moore's book 'The Ballad of the Green Berets' which focuses on the training and work of the US Special Forces unit of that name. ...
Beirut - August 1982 Short witness account of the Israeli bombing of Beirut in 1982....
Ben Hai People The 17th Parallel, runs along the Ben Hai river which was the demarcation line between North and South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Film shows life on both sides of the river: shelling, bombing, underground living in the Vinh Moc Tunnel complex, ...
Bombing of Hanoi, Haiphong and Than Hoa Documentary film covering the effects of US bombing in three areas of North Vietnam. Contains some disturbing footage....
Bombing of London and Coventry Compilation of Nazi newsreels on the bombing of London and Coventry prefaced by shots taken on the ground. Parts of the film are mute while others have unsubtitled German commentary. ...
Brezhnev Visits Cuba State visit to Cuba by President Brezhnev, including some archive material of Cuban life under Batista. ...
Britain in the Twenties and Thirties Silent footage of social conditions in Britain in the 1920s and 30s and the British role in the international arena, including footage in India and of British troops during the Russian Intervention. The footage appears somewhat jumbled in places and...
By the Lhasa River Chinese propaganda film on Tibet, highlighting the benefits brought by Chinese rule. ...
Cable Street Silent footage of the Battle of Cable Street on 4 October 1936 when Oswald Moseley's British Union of Fascists attempted to march through the Jewish area of Cable Street in the East End of London but was prevented by a combination of anti-fascist g...
Central America: A Gamble on Terror A view of Central American political and social troubles during the Twentieth Century and the impact of American foreign policy. Soviet and foreign newsreels were used in this film. The credits express thanks to the revolutionary cinema workers of E...
Children of an Evil Hour Report on the conditions of children in the Saigon region made by Physicians for Social Responsibility. This film contains extremely disturbing footage of maimed children....
Chronicle of October 1917 Soviet film detailing the events leading up to and the night of the October Revolution 1917. Note that dates are given in the Julian calendar with the Gregorian calendar translation in brackets. Also, both Petrograd and Leningrad are used, appropria...
Colina Lenin Depiction of the daily life of the town of Regla in 1962 Cuba. The achievements of the Cuban revolution are shown, as well as the contrast between its industrial present and the pagan and religious roots of its past. The portrait shows a mix of nost...
Collusion Introduction to Middle East affairs from the Soviet perspective. Makes extensive use of foreign newsreels....
Communist Party - Election 1970 Party political broadcast, given by John Gollan with the slogan 'Go one better - Vote Socialist'....
Companero - Victor Jara of Chile A tribute to the Chilean musician and political activist Victor Jara, who was tortured and killed in the military coup of 1973....
Composer Sergei Prokofiev A biography covering his whole life from a Soviet perspective, omitting events embarrassing to the regime, in particular the banning of some works and the condemnation of his music in 1948. Includes extensive selections from his music in all genres ...
Conspiracy Against the Republic A fascinating Soviet account of the 1978 Communist revolution in Afghanistan and the struggle that followed against the counter-revolutionary forces, stressing the atrocities committed by the reactionaries. ...
Continent Aflame Part One A view of South American political and social troubles during the Twentieth Century. ...
Continent Aflame Part Two A view of South American political and social troubles in the 20th Century. Focus on Chile, Mexico (material from 1910), Peru, Venezuela and Panama ...
Create Not a Handful of Ashes A striking film on the futility of nuclear war. It examines the medical and genetic consequences of nuclear war, including powerful footage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the devastating consequences for the environment. Contains some footage of expe...
Crime Against Madrid This silent film with intertitles showing scenes in Madrid before, during and after an air raid carried out by government forces during the Spanish Civil War. Some material comes from the CNT film 'Call to Arms' (previously known as 'Spain Fights fo...
Cuba Today An account of Socialist life and reform in Cuba produced in the early 1960s. ...
Cuba: Island Ablaze Roman Karmen documentary tracing the history of the Communist revolution in Cuba. Cold War, anti-American. ...
Cuban Sports A film showing how the quality of life improved after Castro's revolution, with particular emphasis on sports. NB The title Cuban Sports does not appear on the film....
Czech Story Part One A film history of Czechoslovakia: Part One covers the period from the 1920s to the outbreak of World War Two and the country's occupation by Nazi Germany, presented as the story of the country's betrayal, not only by Germany, but also by her Western...
Czech Story Part Two The story of Czechoslovakia during World War II told from a Soviet Cold War perspective, with the Soviets portrayed as the Czechoslovak people's only true friend and Benes and the British and the Americans identified as the enemies of communism. ...
Czechoslovakia 1968: Year of Trial Soviet documentary about the invasion of Prague in 1968, following the so-called Prague Spring. The film is in Russian but the metadata includes translated selections from the commentary. ...
Dialogue at Reykjavik 1986 Cold war documentary documenting the 1986 summit meeting between Russian President Mikhail Gorbechov and his US counterpart Ronald Reagan in Reykjavik, Iceland....
Dien Bien Phu A film made in North Vietnam in 1964 to mark the tenth anniversary of the defeat of the French by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in what was then French Indo-China. It contains much interesting footage but the language is Vietnamese and it has not ...
Early Spring Tracing the Chinese year from Winter through to the Spring Festival, this documentary shows scenes from rural China and how life has been improved by the Communist regime. ...
Echo of Grenada Cold War documentary detailing Soviet condemnation of the American invasion of Grenada in 1983, as representative of their foreign policy....
Evidence of U.S. Germ Warfare in Korea and China The film presents what is claimed to be evidence of US Germ Warfare in China and Korea. It also includes an interview with an American pilot shot down on a bombing mission. He gives a statement corroborating the accusations made in the film. This is...
Family of Equals Documentary illustrating the good life and satisfaction of Russian Jews in the Jewish Autonomous Region, reacting to national and international criticism of anti-Semitism. The film includes footage from the establishment of the capital Birobidjan in...
February 1917 Compilation of Russian archive material showing events in Petrograd during the revolution of February 1917. ...
Fifty Fighting Years Tribute to and 50th anniversary celebration the journal 'Labour Monthly' and the struggles of the British Labour Movement 1921 - 1971. Makes extensive use of satirical cartoons. ...
Fighting Vietnam An account of the war waged by Ho Chi-Minh's Democratic Republic of Vietnam against the French colonial regime in French Indo-China in the period from 1945 to the middle of 1952. The film's commentary is in Vietnamese, but it has explanatory intert...
Film Director Sergei Gerasimov A documentary that looks at some of the career highlights of the Russian film director and actor. ...
Film Director Sergei Yutkevich Looks at some highlights of the biography of the Georgian film director - his work with the composer Dmitri Shostakovich on 'Golden Mountains' (1931); his films, 'The Man With A Gun' (1938), 'Counterplan' (1932), made with Fridrikh Markovitch Ermler...
Free Thaelmann Silent film with English inter-titles on the German Communist leader Ernst Thaelmann and the campaign to release him from Buchenwald concentration camp. ...
Gagarin, World's First Spaceman Soviet and world reaction to Yuri Gagarin after his return from the world's first manned space flight. ...
General Assembly The film presents Fidel Castro's speech to the people of Cuba on the 2nd of September 1960. just after the San Jose de Costa Rica Declaration (in which 21 countries were represented by their Ministers of Foreign Affairs) had condemned Cuba. Castro r...
Geneva: Start of a Dialogue A Soviet film documenting the historical summit between Reagan and Gorbachev that re-opened dialogue between the two nations. ...
Ghetto Terezin Feature film about the Kaufmans, a Jewish family in Czechoslovakia during World War 2. They are taken to Terezin (Theresienstadt), which the Nazis presented as a Jewish ghetto but which was actually a transit camp on the way to the extermination cam...
Goat Horn Feature film about a man who, after seeing his wife raped and murdered, raises their daughter as a boy. This desperate attempt to harden her in preparation for revenge leads to more bloodshed and ultimately tragedy. ...
Granada, My Granada Documentary about the fight of Spanish Revolution against fascism and Russian and international volunteers participants in 1936-39 events....
Hemingway An impressionistic biography of Ernest Hemingway centred around the writer's house in Cuba. Spanish language film. Joris Ivens, the documentary film-maker, comments in English on the Hemingway he knew....
Heroes of Shipka A patriotic account of the Battle of Shipka Pass and the siege of Plevna, with particular reference to the major role played by the Russian General Skobelev, the involvement of the western foreign powers, notably England, and the infighting among th...
Holiday on Sylt East German documentary about Heinz Reinfarth, a former SS officer, now the major of the North Sea holiday island of Sylt. Part of 'The Archives Testify' series. ...
Hope for the Future A look at twinned cities in the Soviet Union, Federal Germany, Great Britain, Africa and America and their positive effect on nuclear disarmament. ...
Housing Problems Communist Party theory and practice for solving the GDR's housing shortages by 1990. Includes illustrations of slums by Heinrich Zille. ...
How to Make Cannon Fodder Film account of the rise of Nazism in Germany and its focus on the country's youth, with special reference to the impact this has on the Sudetenland. ...
I Was, I Am and I Shall Be Documents the conditions in two prison camps in Northern Chile shortly after the 1973 military coup. It uses personal testimonies of prisoners and their jailers. ...
In Memory of Dr. Bethune A film showing the work of Dr Norman Bethune with the Chinese Eighth Route Army during the Sino Japanese War from early 1938 until his death in November 1939. The film has a Chinese soundtrack but it may in the future be possible to improve the qual...
In the Heart of Europe Documentary illustrating the history of Czechoslovakia from a communist perspective. ...
Joy in Tibet Chinese film on Tibet made one year after the Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959. It works from the perspective of seeing the Chinese as missionaries of progress, benefiting the people of Tibet. Note that a translation from the Chinese is required b...
Jubilee Silent film contrasting the Jubilee celebrations of 1935 with scenes of poverty '1910-1935'. NB original very duped so poor quality footage. ...
K-Sh-E: Komsomol, Chief of Electricity Documentary about the development of electricity generation in the Soviet Union, the involvement of the Komsomol (Young Communist League) and the improvements to life that it would bring....
Kampuchea from Tragedy to Rebirth Account of the history of Kampuchea (Cambodia) from the late 1960s to the early 1980s from a perspective sympathetic to the Vietnamese forces who invaded the country and overthrew Pol Pot in 1978. ...
Korea Today Communist propaganda film comparing progress in North and South Korea. ...
Last Letters A film recounting letters sent from German soldiers on the Stalingrad Front were suppressed, because of their 'lack of morale' and contrasting conditions suffered at the Front with the comparatively easy life at home. Warns of the rise of militarism...
Leading the People: Together with the People Documentary tracing the history of the Russian Revolution and the role of the people in the USSR and other socialist countries in working to achieve a Communist society during the twentieth century. ...
Liberated China Chinese language account of the changes in China after the Communist Party comes to power in 1949, contrasted with conditions pre-revolution in Shanghai and elsewhere. Also celebrates the Sino-Soviet Pact of 1950, without making any reference to the...
Liberation of Soviet Byelorussia Newsreel footage of the Nazi attack on Byelorussia and Soviet resistance and the final victory at the end of the Second World War....
Lidice Nazi destruction of Lidice in response to the assassination of Heydrich. ...
Life of Dimitrov Film biography of Georgi Dimitrov and the coming of the Communists to power in Bulgaria. ...
Living in Hope On the 40th Anniversary of the defeat of fascism an elderly woman places a placard around her neck. She is still looking for her son, missing in action in the Battle of Leningrad. The film poignantly reveals the responses of her fellow citizens who ...
Long Live Cuba Czech Cold War documentary on the attempted invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs. ...
Member of the Government The story of a simple peasant woman who surmounts family and collective farm crises and rises, via the chairmanship of the collective, to be elected a Deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR....
Message from Chile Testimony by Dr Sheila Cassidy, a British doctor who was tortured by the fascist junta in Chile, Bishop Helmut Frenz a Lutheran Bishop of Santiago, expelled for his activities on behalf of political prisoners, and Joan Jara wife of the Victor Jara th...
Motorised Infantry Documentary following the crew of an armoured troop carrier and their journey to becoming Soviet soldiers. ...
Newspaper Pravda A short film documenting 'a day in the life' of the Soviet newspaper, its history and present position in relation to society....
Night Over China Soviet documentary "defending the Chinese people from their enemies, the Maoists". NB: The film clearly documents the activities of the Red Guards although it never mentions them by name. This has been reflected in the cataloguing. Also, 'Peking' ha...
Nuclear Plague The history and effects of nuclear testing, attempts to ban them and the long term struggle towards nuclear disarmament. ...
One Day at Mosfilm A brief look behind the scenes at Mosfilm Studios, and at some of the famous directors who have worked there over the past sixty years. The film is undated but seems to have been made around 1983 or 1984....
Paul Robeson Compilation A portrait of the singer and civil rights campaigner comprising material from various sources (presumably compiled by ETV). NB There is an End title part way through the film though it does not mark the end of the film. ...
Peace Through Humanism Documentary promoting the work and ideals of the Soviet Red Cross as a model of international humanist aid....
Pilots In Pyjamas (Part Two: Hanoi Hilton) Part of a four part investigation of 10 captured Americian pilots. They recount their activities until their capture and their attitude to what they were doing. The film ranges back and forth between the interrogation room and action shots. ...
Preserve the Planet for Happiness Propaganda film about women at war and women campaigning for peace. Includes formation of the Women's International Democratic Federation in 1945 and the WIDF in 1983. ...
Proud Son of Africa Special release about the death of Patrice Lumumba, first Premier of the Congo Republic, who was assassinated by the armed forces of Joseph Mobutu with the connivance of the colonialists in 1961. A Soviet perspective....
Refugees in Catalonia Civilian victims of the Spanish Civil War. Quaker assistance through 'milk for Spain' campaign. ...
Reportage from North Vietnam Survey of North Vietnam. Effects of US bombing, Vietnamese air-raid precautions, captured US pilots and daily life of a people at war....
Return of Maxim The second part in the trilogy of the formation of a revolutionary in Tsarist Russia. Maxim Gorky is now a fully formed Bolshevik revolutionary working in St Petersburg in the months before the war....
Rhondda Silent documentary on the poverty of the Rhondda Valley, Wales during the 1930s and of demonstrations against unemployment. ...
Road to the Stars Life and work of Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. Poor quality sound and colour. ...
Save Spanish Children Basque children's camp. British support of the Republic and gathering of supplies to assist in finding homes for Spanish children both in Spain and in Britain. ...
Shanghai A short introduction to life and conditions in Shanghai in the mid 1940's....
Soldiers of the Liberation Army Short documentary looking at WW2 veterans and the battles they fought in, making extensive use of archive footage. ...
Song of the Rivers A compilation film sponsored by the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) about their forthcoming conference in Vienna in October 1953. The idea of the film was that six major world rivers - the Amazon, the Ganges, the Mississippi, the Nile, the V...
Soviet Magazine 4/1962 Newsreel. Footage from around the USSR, including features on the 14th Congress of the Young Communist League, Riga's international port and director of 'War and Peace' Sergi Bundarchuk. ...
Soviet Women's Voices Women and peace in the USSR. The 1982 Women's Peace March. World War Two footage. VE Day commemorations. The Soviet Women's Committee. The 1983 Prague Peace Conference. Interviews with Soviet women....
Spanish ABC Film about the work of the Spanish Republic Government up till 1937 to improve literacy and education. ...
Star Wars Documentary discussing Reagan's proposed 'Strategic Defence Initiative' (SDI). Includes interviews with Russian, American and English scientists, authors and politicians with footage of Reagan, Thatcher and Gorbachev. Also makes extensive use of ani...
Staying with Neighbours Documentary on anti-Nazi German intellectuals emigration to Czechoslovakia in the pre-War period. Commentary consists of quotes from Brecht, Furnberg, Toller and Heym. ...
Sun Yat Sen Biography of Sun Yat Sen the Chinese nationalist revolutionary. ...
Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam Compilation of archive footage tracing the events of WW2 from a Soviet perspective and using the three major Allied Conferences as focal points. ...
The Allies An account of the successful military alliance between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies in World War II led to the defeat of Germany and how this is threatened by the rise of German militarism post war....
The Chinese People's Victory The story of the People's Liberation Army victory over Chiang Kai Shek in China. ...
The Composer Shostakovich A biography of the composer Shostakovich which includes photographs of the composer, scenes of St Petersburg and footage of his music being performed. No mention is made of the difficulties faced by the composer under Stalin and Krushchev. The revol...
The Defence of Madrid A silent film with intertitles showing the defence of Madrid during the Spanish Civil War. The film is in three parts: 'The Assault on a People'; 'The Defence of Liberty' and 'The World Assists'...
The Future in Jeopardy Cold War peace film commenting on the destruction of the environment by humans, with particular emphasis on the development and use of gas and chemical weaponry from WW1. The film focuses on America's dominant role. Contains footage of humans and an...
The Gasworks An honest take on the inner city Prenzlauer Berg gasworks which had to be closed down because of dirty working conditions and serious atmospheric pollution. The film considers the effects on the local population and the re-deployment of workers. The...
The Rainbow A fictional film following life in a Russian village in the Second World War, during the German occupation. Beautifully shot, contains some harrowing and disturbing scenes. ...
The Reichstag Fire Trial Bulgarian account of the Reichstag Fire Trial with a focus on the trial of Dimitrov....
The Sino-Indian Boundary The second of two documentaries that aims to show China's honorable and reasonable behaviour in this disagreement, based on their voluntary retreat and kindly treatment of the Tibetan people, captured Indian soldiers and the casualties from the conf...
The Sino-Indian Boundary Question: The Facts The first of two documentaries that aim to show China's houourable and reasonable behaviour in the disagreement over boundary lines. ...
The Strategy of Acceleration A frank account of the 27th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union held in February 1986, where Gorbachev introduced the term glasnost ('openness'). From the context of the speech, it is clear that Gorbachev was concerned with internal ...
The Toxin of Chernobyl Soviet documentary on the effects on local communities resulting from the explosion of the nuclear reactor at Chernobyl. ...
The Truth About the April Revolution A Soviet account of the 1978 April Revolution (Saur) during which the communists took power in Afghanistan, clearly made to counter Western claims that the Soviet Union was suppressing the Afghan people. Development after 1979 events. ...
The Valley of the Bees Feature film. After his father's wedding, Andrew joins the Teutonic knights, where he is befriended by Armin. But he returns home to find his father dead and becomes involved with his widow. At their wedding Armin murders her. Andrew sets his hounds...
The Victims Accuse Documentary made as evidence of atrocities committed in Byelorussia from 1941-44 and presented in court in West Germany on 15 October 1962 at trials of former SS officers. CONTAINS DISTRUBING FOOTAGE. ...
The War as We Saw It A film on the Vietnam War made from the perspective of the North Vietnamese....
The War of the Mummies Documentary covering the toppling of the Popular Unity government in Chile and the take-over by the fascist Junta government. ...
The Way to the Sky Film follows three Soviet fighter pilots, across a range of experience and rank....
The Younger Generation in the Struggle for Peace Documentary concentrating on a student Soviet-American conference that discusses US and Soviet nuclear capabilities and the youth peace movement in the Soviet Union. ...
They Defended Their Motherland Documents the achievements of four WW2 veterans and their lives since the War, with WW2 footage. ...
Think of My Country A film showing the effects of US bombing on the Vietnamese countryside....
Three Portraits Short biographies of three Soviet women, their lives and careers; scientist, film director and artist....
Three Songs of Lenin Celebrates Lenin and the effect he had on Russia and the USSR and its citizens. Uses much of the existing footage of Lenin (shot by Vertov and others), including his funeral as well as shots of contemporaries including Lenin's wife Krupskaya and Sta...
Turksib A silent documentary about the building of the Turkestan-Siberian railway. The film focuses particularly on the benefits which the railway will bring to Turkestan....
US-USSR Parity? A comparison of American and Soviet nuclear arsenals from the Soviet point of view. There are 'Izvestia' interviews with military and civilian experts. A Soviet historian talks about the history of the Cold War. TV interviews with Soviet people....
USSR TODAY 11/57 Newsreel. Footage from around the USSR, including features on an industrial exhibition, the 80th birthday celebrations of Alexei II, an exhibition of Soviet Art and Dmitri Shostakovich. ...
USSR TODAY 6/58 Newsreel. Footage from around the USSR, including the USSR Agricultural Exhibition, Vladimir Tolstoy and Tatiana Samoilova....
USSR-India Eternal Friendship Film tracing the history of Soviet-Indian friendship and cultural exchanges from Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi and Gorbachev. ...
Venceremos Solidaridad Struggle of the Chilean people against the fascist military junta of General Pinochet. ...
Victorious Stalingrad The Soviet defence of Stalingrad against the Nazi attack and the battle for the city, November 1942 - 1943. ...
Vietnam: Land of Fire A North Vietnamese account of the US military's involvement in Vietnam, emphasising the atrocities committed in the shape of the US bombing campaigns, napalm attacks and chemical warfare, all leading to increased resistance from the people of North ...
Vyborg District Vyborg District was the workers' quarter of St Petersburg. Part 3 of the trilogy extends from the moment when the Winter Palace is captured to the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly. Maxim is put in charge of the State Bank. Natasha's is given ne...
Warsaw Ghetto Nazi propaganda newsreel to depict the Polish Jews as sub-human but as if in their natural state. Appalling conditions are portrayed. It is likely this film was never shown. EXTREMELY DISTURBING FOOTAGE. ...
We Lived through the Leningrad Blockade: Recollections of a Frontline Cameraman During World War Two German troops blocked off the Northern Russian city of Leningrad from 1941 until the liberation in 1944. This documentary includes footage of Leningrad at the time of the blockade and of the stories told by the soldiers and ordi...
Years of Severe Trial An account of the immediate post-revolutionary period with Russia beset by famine, Civil War and Intervention by foreign powers. ...
Youth of Maxim A portrait of the formation of a revolutionary in Tsarist Russia. ...
