The Klassiki Podcast

• Lucian Pintilie: godfather of the Romanian New Wave

  For this episode, we’re dipping back in to the archive of writing on the Klassiki Journal for a profile of the great Romanian director Lucian Pintilie, whose provocative, modernist work bridges the gap between communist-era filmmaking and the New Wave that has defined Romanian cinema in the 21st century. Subject to censorship and exile, Pintilie returned to his homeland in the 1990s to cement his legacy and influence a new generation of directors. Read the original piece here and make sure to check out Pintilie’s classic satire Reconstruction as well as our collection of classic Romanian titles. Get in touch: [email protected]  Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.  

  --------  

  15:05

  --------

  15:05
• Eastern notions: celebrating Ali Khamraev

  Central Asia remains a great blindspot for many Western cinephiles – so we were thrilled to hear about an upcoming season in New York, hosted by the Asia Society in partnership with Anthology Film Archives. Eastern Notions is a celebration of the great Uzbek director Ali Khamraev, one of the true masters of Central Asian cinema, with more than 20 features in a career stretching back to the 1960s. Running from 20-23 November, the season highlights five of Khamraev’s fiction films, with the great man making a rare appearance in the States to attend in person. To mark the occasion, host Sam Goff spoke with the season’s curator Inney Prakash about Khamraev’s diverse body of work, his relationship with more famous Soviet icons like Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Parajanov, and the question of curating Central Asian film.  Listeners in New York, don’t miss out: Eastern Notions runs from 20-23 November at Asia Society and Anthology Film Archives.  Read our 2021 interview with Ali Khamraev for further insight into his long and fruitful career.  Klassiki subscribers can watch Khamraev’s poetic and autobiographical film I Remember You on the site now. Get in touch: [email protected]. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

  --------  

  34:59

  --------

  34:59
• Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part One – Last Air in Moscow

  14 years after her previous feature, Julia Loktev is back with a monumental new documentary project. My Undesirable Friends is her collective portrait of some of the last independent journalists working in Russia in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Part One, titled Last Air in Moscow, was shot entirely on iPhone during Loktev’s trips to the Russian capital. Over more than five immersive hours, we follow journalists from the TV channel Rain and other oppositional outlets as they struggle to keep pace with Russia’s descent into the abyss, from labelling journalists as “foreign agents” to outright assault and arrest. Host Sam Goff sat down with Julia to find out how the film evolved over time, the relationship between her work in fiction and documentary, and where she’s at with Part Two of the project, entitled Exile, which follows our journalist protagonists after they are forced to flee Russia. Last Air in Moscow is currently screening in select locations across the US. Find your nearest screening here. Get in touch: [email protected]. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

  --------  

  37:33

  --------

  37:33
• The Klassiki Kino Club: The Return of the Projectionist

  This week, we’re reopening the Klassiki Kino Club, our watch-along exploration of Klassiki’s ever-expanding catalogue. In the hot seat this time around is Ally Pitts, host of the long-running Russian and Soviet Movies Podcast and confirmed Eastern European film aficionado. Ally’s choice comes from Azerbaijan: Orkhan Aghazadeh’s 2024 documentary The Return of the Projectionist, a portrait of cinephilia and friendship across generations.  Ally and host Sam Goff get into Aghazadeh’s playful blend of observation and performance, the state of cinema in the post-Soviet space, and how to make a nostalgic film without being sentimental.   Watch along with us on Klassiki now! Subscribers will also find our exclusive video interview with Aghazadeh. Check out Ally’s podcast here. Get in touch: [email protected]. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

  --------  

  31:54

  --------

  31:54
• Horror behind the Iron Curtain

  As every film fan knows, October is horror season. And while eastern Europe these days is full of horror filmmakers who can mix it with the best of them, this wasn’t always the case: under communism, the genre often struggled to get past state censors. But the idea that there was no horror produced behind the Iron Curtain is a myth. There was in fact a rich tradition in the sixties and seventies, drawing on national folklore, literary sources, and the region’s traumatic recent history to chilling effect. On Klassiki, you can currently stream a Halloween double header of cult classic Soviet films. Viy, by Konstantin Yershov and Georgi Kropachyov, is famous among genre fans as the greatest of all Soviet horror titles, while Valeri Rubinchik’s The Savage Hunt of King Stakh is a criminally under-seen gothic gem from Belarus.  In the spirit of the season, this week Sam speaks with Miriam Balanescu, a film writer and critic with a special interest in all things ghoulish. They discussed the horror history of countries like Poland and Czechia, the political subtext of genre filmmaking under communism, and what ‘folk horror’ meant in the Soviet context.  Don’t miss our Halloween double header, now showing on Klassiki. Get in touch: [email protected]  Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

  --------  

  41:12

  --------

  41:12

More TV & Film podcasts

Trending TV & Film podcasts

About The Klassiki Podcast