A Russian & Soviet Movie Podcast with Ally Pitts

Professor Catriona Kelly will be discussing her new book Russian Food Since 1800: Empire at Table with previous guest on this show, Alissa Timoshkina at Pushkin House in London on Friday 15th March 2024. It's an in-person & online hybrid event, which will from 6.30 to 8.00 pm GMT. Find out more about the event and buy tickets at pushkinhouse.org Our episode on Little Vera (dir. Vasily Pichul;...

In the spirit of High Fidelity, Ally Pitts brings you an audio listicle of some awesome movies he saw for the first time in 2023. They are, in the order they appear on the episode: - Conscience (Volodymr Denisenko; 1968) - Fright Night (Tom Holland; 1985) - Chameleon Street (Wendell B. Harris Jr; 1989) - The Queen of Spades (Thorold Dickinson;1949) - The Afterlight (Charlie Shackleton; 2021) Honou...

Links mentioned in the episode: Cinemas screening Tchaikovsky's Wife (UK and Republic of Ireland): sovereignfilms.co.uk/tchaikovskyswife The Guardian's Pjotr Sauer interviews Kirill Serebrennikov BBFC content advice for Tchaikovsky's Wife To receive a 50% discount on an annual subscription to Klassiki, please use the code RUPOD50 at checkout. Visit Klassiki. Online and sign up for a free trial! Co...

Probably not the best place to start if you're arriving at this feed for the first time.

Ally Pitts reviews Kira Kovalenko's 2021 Ossetian language coming of age drama Unclenching the Fists and then recommends a handful of other films currently streaming on MUBI. Links mentioned in the episode: To get a 30-day free trial of MUBI, please visit: https://mubi.com/russiansovietpod Carmen Gray's article, Scarred States: Unclenching the Fists and the Art of Escape . Podcast episode on Daugh...

Ally Pitts introduces an episode of All the Best Lines, hosted by Smokey and Adam Roche, that he guested on in 2021. Links mentioned in the episode: Listen to more All the Best Lines episodes . Listen to our episode on War & Peace with Adam Roche . Listen to The Projection Booth on Ninotchka. Contact Us: (We've changed the name of the show, but the social handles are staying the same for now)....

Dr Samuel Goff, editorial director at the film streaming service Klassiki, joins Ally Pitts to talk about Ally's five film picks from the Klassiki film Library. To receive a 50% discount on an annual subscription to Klassiki, please use the code RUPOD50 at checkout. Visit Klassiki. Online and sign up for a free trial! Follow Klassiki on: Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/klassiki/   Facebook: htt...

To mark the 5th anniversary of the release of the pilot episode for this show, we're taking you to on a trip into the show's pre-history...our host Ally Pitts's podcasting debut! Classic Schmassic was an amazing comedy podcast about movies from before 1980. For this episode, Ally joined hosts Chris Mead & Owen Choules to discuss Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin and whether it lives up t...

Ally Pitts introduces a conversation between Sean Guillory and Maria Belodubrovskaya that was originally recorded for the SRB Podcast . Find it wherever you listen to this podcast. Note: the SRB Podcast is now the Eurasian Knot.  There's also a brief update on what's happening with the show. Also, Feedspot added us to their 100 best movie podcasts list , which is pretty awesome!  Contact Us: Twitt...

We highly recommend you check out this history podcast series centering on Teddy Roe, an American who visited the Soviet Union in 1968. Visit the Teddy Goes to the USSR website , or find the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Jenny Shelton from the RSPB discusses this historical drama from Yakutia with host Ally Pitts. The film centres around an elderly couple whose grueling but predictable life in rural Siberia in the 1930s is a disrupted by the arrival of mysterious bird of prey. Episode Sponsor: You can watch The Lord Eagle , along with many other films from Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia on the stre...

Podchaser.com is donating $0.25 to support World Central Kitchen's #ChefsForUkraine for every podcast review on their site from now until the end of April 2022. Russophiles Unite's Podchaser page . The Eastern Border's Podchaser page . More about Podchaser's #Reviews4Good campaign. Here's Podchaser's FAQ about #Reviews4Good . Contact Us: Twitter:  @RussophilesU Email:  russophilesunite@gmail.com F...

Petrov's Flu film screening times:  https://www.odeon.co.uk/films/petrovs-flu/HO00002609/   Petrov's Flu + Q&A with Kirill Serebrennikov film screening times:: https://www.odeon.co.uk/films/petrovs-flu--qa/HO00002626/  

Lyn Seren joins Ally Pitts once again, this time to discuss this surreal Canadian spoof of early Soviet film. Some Ways You Can Support the Show: First of all, please subscribe on your podcatcher of choice, if you haven't already! At the time of recording, this film was on MUBI. At the time of this update (Nov '24) it isn't but try out MUBI for free for 30 days with our referral link anyway! www.m...

What else did Ally get up to last year when he wasn't recording Russophiles Unite episodes?

Carrie & Ally Pitts discuss a Khrushchev Thaw-era musical satirical comedy from the director of Soviet New Year staple The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!. Some Ways You Can Support the Show: First of all, please subscribe on your podcatcher of choice, if you haven't already! If you're listening from the UK, you can pick up a book from our uk.bookshop.org affiliate store ; 10% of the sale w...

Film historian and Hamo Bek-Nazarov Project co-founder Daniel Bird joins Ally Pitts to discuss this astonishing debut feature by the late Armenian-Russian director Maria Saakyan.  To celebrate the release of the new restoration the film on region-free Blu-ray, Second Run are offering 10% off the list price of The Lighthouse and/or any other Blu-ray or DVD on Secondrundvd.com . coupon code RUSSOPHI...

The Lighthouse [AKA Mayak] (Maria Saakyan; 2006) Blu-ray Giveaway on Twitter A new restoration of Maria Saakyan’s stunning film The Lighthouse AKA Mayak is out on Blu-ray on 27th September 2021! To celebrate, we've teamed up with Second Run to give away 2 copies of the Blu-ray. To enter: 1) Follow @RussophilesU & @SecondRunDVD on Twitter. 2) Retweet the tweet about the competition (You'll find...

Ally Pitts and Lyn Seren are hosting podcast where they discuss the music of alternative rock legends R.E.M. one track at a time. It's called Gentlemen Don't Get Caught, and we think you should listen to it! You can find the show at this link . 

Kristaps Andrejsons, journalist and host of The Eastern Border podcast, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this documentary which provides a startling insight into the cult of personality surrounding Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. STATE FUNERAL is now showing on MUBI. You can claim your free 30-day trial of their incredible film streaming service by visiting: https://mubi.com/russiansovietpod -  Ally's M...

Phil Manchester, former Moscow resident and pub quizmaster extraordinaire, joins Ally Pitts to discuss this adaptation of the first of Martin Cruz Smith's Arkady Renko detective novels, set in early 1980s Moscow. CONTENT WARNING: The film includes violence and gore, including violence against women. SPOILERS for both the book and the film (and indeed subsequent Renko books) from about 23 minutes i...

Against their better judgement, Ally & Carrie Pitts decided to watch this extremely low-budget adaptation of JRR Tolkien's classic fantasy. Here are a few of their thoughts. If you'd like to get in touch, it would be great to hear from you! Here are some ways you can do that: Twitter:  @RussophilesU Email:  russophilesunite@gmail.com Facebook:  www.facebook.com/groups/russophilesunite Instagra...

Author and publisher Alex Christofi joins Ally Pitts to discuss the tumultuous life of Fyodor Dostoevsky, who is the subject of his fascinating new biography, Dostoevsky in Love, published by Bloomsbury Continuum. Listeners in the UK can pick up a copy of Dostoevsky in Love via our uk.bookshop.org affiliate link . 10% of the sale will go towards covering the costs of running the show and you'll al...

Nadja Bee, film critic and co-founder of KinoSelect , joins Ally Pitts to discuss a sprawling drama from the 1960s in which a group of friends navigate the trials, tribulations, and joys of young adulthood. Oh, and a youthful Andrei Tarkovsky shows up briefly as a jerk at a party. CONTENT WARNING: The film's plot includes the death of a parent. SPOILERS from about 22 minutes in until the end. Supp...

Lyn Seren, host of  Gentlemen Don't Get Caught: An R.E.M. Podcast , joins Ally Pitts to discuss this depiction of an adolescent conscript's experience of the First World War, which features an unusual (and perhaps not wholly successful) artistic twist. SPOILERS from about 8 minutes in until the end. CONTENT WARNING: the film discussed contains violence and nudity. Support the show/fund Ally's caff...