Stanley Kubrick on Vsevolod Pudovkin's influential theories of editing: "I read Eisenstein’s books at the time, and to this day I still don’t really understand them. The most instructive book on film aesthetics I came across was Pudovkin’s Film Technique, which simply explained that editing was the aspect of the film art form which was completely unique, and which separated it from all other art forms. The ability to show a simple action like a man cutting wheat from a number of angles in a brief moment, to be able to see it in a special way not possible except through film—that this is what it was all about. This is obvious, of course, but it’s so important it cannot be too strongly stressed. Pudovkin gives many clear examples of how good film editing enhances a scene, and I would recommend his book to anyone seriously interested in film technique." -Interview with Joseph Gelmis in 1970.

The best Soviet films of 1979, as voted by readers of Soviet Screen magazine: 1. Young Wife, dir. Leonid Menaker 2. Let's Talk, Brother…, dir. Yuri Chulyukin 3. An Old-Fashioned Comedy, dir. Era Savelyeva and Tatyana Berezantseva 4. The Last Chance, dir. Eduard Gavrilov 5. Five Evenings, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov 6. Troublemaker, dir. Vladimir Rogovoy 7. A Taste of Bread, dir. Alexei Sakharov 8. Centaurs, dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius 9. When I Will Become a Giant, dir. Inna Tumanyan 10. Fourth Height, dir. Igor Voznesensky

Behind-the-scenes photos from the making of The Needle (1988), directed by Rashid Nugmanov, featuring Viktor Tsoi.

The Girl and the Echo (1964), dir. Arunas Zebriunas

Film posters for Tarkovsky films

38 Parrots (1976), dir. Ivan Ufimtsev

The most popular Soviet films of 1958, ranked by theater admissions: 1. Over Tissa, dir. Dmitry Vasiliev (45.7M) 2. And Quiet Flows the Don, dir. Sergei Gerasimov (42.4M) 3. Girl Without an Address, dir. Eldar Ryazanov (36.5M) 4. The Street is Full of Surprises, dir. Sergei Sidelev (34.3M) 5. The Variegateds Case, dir. Nikolai Dostal (33.7M) 6. Red Leaves, dir. Vladimir Korsh-Sablin (33.1M) 7. The Eighteenth Year, dir. Grigory Roshal (33M) 8. A Sailor from the Comet, dir. Isidor Annensky (32.5M) 9. My Dear Man, dir. Iosif Kheifits (32M) 10. A Girl with a Guitar, dir. Aleksandr Faintsimmer (31.9M)

A Cruel Romance (1984), dir. Eldar Ryazanov

Nobody Wanted to Die (1965), dir. Vytautas Žalakevičius

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1965), dir. Sergei Parajanov

The best Soviet films of 1978, as voted by readers of Soviet Screen magazine: 1. Office Romance, dir. Eldar Ryazanov 2. Destiny, dir. Yevgeny Matveyev 3. My Tender and Affectionate Beast, dir. Emil Loteanu 4. Front Beyond the Front Line, dir. Igor Gostev 5. A Strange Woman, dir. Yuli Raizman 6. The School Waltz, dir. Pavel Lyubimov 7. Blockade, dir. Mikhail Yershov 8. In the Zone of Special Attention, dir. Andrei Malyukov 9. The Mire, dir. Grigory Chukhrai

Hussar Ballad (1962), dir. Eldar Ryazanov

Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (1990), dir. Garri Bardin

An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977), dir. Nikita Mikhalkov

Heart of a Dog (1988), dir. Vladimir Bortko

War and Peace, Part III: The Year 1812 (1967), dir. Sergei Bondarchuk

The best Soviet films of 1977, as voted by readers of Soviet Screen magazine: 1. White Bim Black Ear, dir. Stanislav Rostotsky 2. Practical Joke, dir. Vladimir Menshov 3. Wounded Game, dir. Nikolai Gubenko 4. The Legend of Till, dir. Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov 5. Night Over Chile, dir. Sebastian Alarcon and Aleksandr Kosarev 6. The Ascent, dir. Larisa Shepitko 7. Mama, dir. Elizabeth Bostan 8. The Red and The Black, dir. Sergei Gerasimov 9. One-Two, Soldiers Were Going…, dir. Leonid Bykov 10. An Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano, dir. Nikita Mikhalkov