Inside Brighton Beach's Babushka Beauty Pageant A lovely short film on Brighton Beach's Your Highness Babushka Beauty Contest.
Short Film: Anya A touching, short, CGI animated film looks at 20 years in the life of a Russian orphan.
Biopics: Monarchs, Heroes, and Their Fans Eleven recent biopics highlight fascinating histories of Russians of ages past.
Using Laughter to Cope These eight outstanding Soviet comedies show some of what has made Russians laugh over the past century. Most are still watched today. (First in our new series on learning about Russia through its films.)
Russian/Soviet War Movies You Can Stream Some of the best Russian and Soviet films about World War II that you can stream online.
Canning Worth Its Salt What better way to celebrate the shifting seasons than with a review of the delicious things you might find stored away in a Russian pantry for colder days. Recipes included!
A Soviet Bake-Off and Blini Julia Frey's parents, Victor and Victoria, created beautiful feasts in the Soviet times. For Victor, it meant getting cake equipment tailor-made and becoming the best baker in town. For Victoria, it was cooking a Russian and Ukranian storm. Julia cooks, bakes and reminisces about her "great childhood" in London.
Siberia: Land of Pines, Exile, Cold... and Bird Cherry Cake. Siberia is surrounded by stereotypes, but there's more to it than exile and cold. It has amazing forests, pine nuts and delicious bird cherry cake.
Milk Foam Pancakes is Only the Beginning Traditional Yakut meals get a second chance thanks to local museum. Tuyara, museum employee and part of the program to bring back these recipes, shares her story.
Piter's People – Natalia Kapiturova We begin a new project, in which readers meet regular St. Petersburgers, to learn about their lives and their favorite places in the Northern Palmyra. First up: coffee!
Piter's People – Nikolay Predtechensky St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 as a port on the Baltic Sea, and about 10% of its surface area is water. So we meet a boat rental company owner and find out the best place for pizza in the city.
Piter's People - Katya Kotlyar Graphic designer, traveler, instagram explorer, Katya Kotlyar knows her home city inside out, and sees it as an artist would, as a beautiful backdrop for living.
Krasnoyarsk Krai Elena Chernyshova, 34, lives in Norilsk. She sends us pictures of this mining town, as well as the Siberian city of Kodinsk.
Smolensk Irina Novikova explains the resilience of Smolensk, its legends, ghosts, churches and fortress. Oh, and why people stop by a city park to stroke the genitals of a bronze deer.
Sakhalin Alexander Gayvoron is a teacher and photographer who lives on Sakhalin. He gives us a quick tour.
Kolomna Tatiana Solovyova lives in Kolomna, in the southern part of Moscow Oblast. She invites us along for a visit.
Countdown to Departure So, what exactly have we been doing in the two months since the successful closure of our crowdfunding for this project?
The Last Hero A train ride, a war hero, sunflower fields, and the Loch Ness monster - just another day on the road for the Children of 1917 team.
A Good Butcher In which a retired Polish butcher explains how to live to be 100 and serenades us on his trumpet.
Sergei Troyanovsky Historian and deputy director of the Kremlin Museum, Veliky Novgorod This is a very difficult question. Because of “Country or Death,” as Fidel Castro said, when he conquered Cuba. To be a patriot does not mean to hate other nations, other peoples. To be a patriot means to love one’s own. I love my country a great deal. I am by birth half Belarusan and half Russian and have many relatives in Ukraine. And I cannot say that I am a patriot of the Russian Federation of today. I love people in general. That is what a patriot is, in my opinion.
Marina Kozlova Jurist, single mother, mother of Lev and Marta, Moscow I cannot call myself a patriot. I believe [the author Sergei] Dovlatov said something about uniting people on the basis of nationality or the place where they live – that it is at the very least stupid. People should unite around and be proud of other sorts of things. I am not a patriot.
Valentin Svatovoy Owner of Valentine’s bakery, Petrozavodsk Unequivocally. There’s no need to shy from this. I am a patriot of the land where I live, because I am proud of what was done before me, and I need to do things that those who come after me will be proud of.
