Coverage

Tsar Nicholas II, the inept last monarch of Russia, insensitive to the needs of his people, is overthrown and exiled to Siberia with his family.

A ghost and a French marquis wander through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, encountering scenes from many different periods of its history.

The Winter War was an epic life and death struggle that changed the course of World War II, and saved a democracy. Fire and Ice documents this timeless story of courage against all odds by a people united to preserve their freedom.

Directed by Edvin Laine and Viktor Tregubovich, Trust (1976) is a Finnish-Soviet historical drama film that follows the relations between Finland and the Soviet Union. In December 1917, the Finnish delegation, composed of Chairman of the Senate Finance Department P.E. Svinhufvud (Vilho Siivola), Senator Carl Enckell (Yrjö Tähtelä) and State Secretary Gustaf Idman (Yrjö Paulo) arrive in St. Petersburg to meet V.I. Lenin (Kirill Lavrov) to gain recognition for the country's independence.

A young Russian girl is forced into a life of prostitution in Czarist Russia, and she and a British journalist find their lives endangered when she reveals to him information regarding the social crimes rampant in her country.

Täällä Pohjantähden alla is based on the book with the same title. It is a story of the little village. The movie starts in the 1890's and it ends to the Finnish civil war in 1918. Story concentrates around a tenant farmer family, although it gives us a good look at the society at whole. While the class struggle depends, people of the village are driven to bloody civil war.

February Manifesto was Yrjö Norta's and Toivo Särkkä's Finnish movie from 1939. It is a Finnish historical drama about developing independency based on book of the writer Mika Waltari. Movie Starring Tauno Palo and Regina Linnanheimo. For it's anti-soviet thematics it was banned in Finland from 1944 to 1987.

With capitalism and corruption becoming more entrenched in Russia, a father and his teenage son gear up for a yearlong political campaign to unseat President Putin in the 2008 elections and shift the country back toward socialism. Aliona Polunina's thoughtful documentary follows Anatoly and Andrei in their struggle to recreate a revolutionary fervor in a society that seems to be embracing the materialist values of the West.

A story about vagabond named Paul and his journeys in the countryside. He is a real charmer and many women will fall in his lap.

Finnish film from 1931. The first version. It is the year 1915, and five Finnish men ski to Sweden via the Gulf of Bothnia to get military training in Germany. Among the men are Martti and Kalpa from the 27th Army Ranger Battalion. In the reserve, the troops spend their free time in a café called the Golden Anchor, owned by Sonja Strand. Sonja's captain serves in the Russian army, and Sonja has a relationship with Baron von Lichtenstein, who exploits Sonja who spies on Russia using Jew Isaac as her messenger.

The Role is about a brilliant actor in revolutionary Russia who takes on the greatest role of his life - the role of another man. Influenced by the ideas of symbolism and the Silver Age, he decides to slip into the life of his doppelganger – a revolutionary leader in the new Soviet Russia. First intrigued, then obsessed, he flings himself into the role and lives it to the hilt… even when the play of the life he is writing heads towards a tragic finale. Based on true incidents in the lives of Russia’s symbolists, this gripping film explores how far one man will go for the role of a lifetime.

The young Count Martin von Tandenskiöld who has returned from the war is forced into a battle with a Russian colonel after he harasses his bride Karin. Chased by the Cossacks Martin escapes and joins the old wanderer. On the way Martin encounters adventures and beautiful women.

This biographical film celebrates the little-known life of the Finnish novelist and revolutionary Maiju Lassila (Asko Sarkola), born in 1868. Lassila's early years are briefly shown, then the film richly details his active and paradoxically reclusive adult life, beginning with his sojourn in St. Petersburg, working as a businessman. Unable to stay away from politics, he caused the assassination of a high-ranking Czarist and as a result, had to run back to Finland to hide. Once established in the comparative safety of a small village, he taught school in order to support his real vocation as a writer. Always living on the edge of poverty, if not square in the middle of it, Lassila continues to avoid public contact - he keeps his identity low-key and camoflages it by publishing under a variety of pseudonyms.

Stephen Smith explores the extraordinary life and work of the virtuoso jeweller Carl Faberge. He talks to HRH Prince Michael of Kent about Faberge items in the Royal Collection and to Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who spent $100 million acquiring nine exquisite Faberge eggs. The bejewelled trinkets Faberge made for the last tsars of Russia in the twilight of their rule have become some of the most sought-after treasures in the world, sometimes worth millions. Smith follows in Faberge's footsteps, from the legendary Green Vaults in Dresden to the palaces of the tsars and the corridors of the Kremlin museum, as he discovers how this fin de siecle genius transformed his father's modest business into the world's most famous supplier of luxury items.

Tar Steam Princess Armada travels along Lake Saimaa to St. Petersburg and back during the years of Russian rule over Finland. The ship's crew gets tired of their sophisticated coffee maker and replaces her with Roma girl Veera, who has escaped from an arranged marriage. On the way back, mysterious passengers appear on the ship.

Host Adam Conover employs a combination of comedy, history and science to dispel widespread misconceptions about everything we take for granted.

This four-part historical drama follows the end of Catherine the Great's reign and her affair with Russian military leader Grigory Potemkin that helped shape the future of Russian politics.

A genre-bending, anti-historical ride through 18th century Russia following the rise of Catherine the Nothing to Catherine the Great and her explosive relationship with husband Peter, the emperor of Russia.

The life of Prince John, youngest child of Britain's King George V and Queen Mary, who died at the age of 13 in 1919.

In this landmark five-part series, he explores the extraordinary changes that are taking place in Russia today and reveals the contours left by history on this vast land. From the Arctic Circle, where the summer sun never sets, to the breathtaking cities of Vladivostok and St Petersburg, from white witches to hirsute masseurs, from oil wells to shamans, Dimbleby’s journey by boat, train, truck and foot is heart-warming, entertaining and compelling. This is television’s first comprehensive look at a country shrouded in myth. Look through one window and you see an authoritarian regime trying to modernise itself into an oil-rich economy. Look through another and you see exuberant people enjoying new opportunities, struggling with old problems. Everywhere, the marker stones of their turbulent past. Uncover an enormous and diverse country in transition in this beautiful and exhilarating series

A young doctor who has graduated at the top of his class from the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry is thrust out into an isolated and impoverished country side as the village's only doctor. As he learns to adapt to his new lifestyle, he develops a morphine addiction to stay his sanity while realizing what being a doctor in the real world means.

The story of a young Louis XIV on his journey to become the most powerful monarch in Europe, from his battles with the fronde through his development into the Sun King. Historical and fictional characters guide us in a world of betrayal and political maneuvering, revealing Versailles in all its glory and brutality.

Lucy Worsley travels to Russia to tell the extraordinary story of the dynasty that ruled the country for more than three centuries - the Romanovs.

A Russian oligarch's spying on the Finnish government and power battle with Kremlin push Finland to the brink of war with Russia. It is up to Finnish Secret Police detective Arto Ratamo to expose the oligarch's ruthless manoeuvres before Russia invades Finland.

During the 1950s, Helsinki was the focal point of the Cold War, as global powers and their intelligence agencies coalesced in the small neutral country that stood between the East and the West. Shadow Lines is an international spy thriller that follows a secret intelligence team whose mission is to defend the independence of Finland no matter the cost.

Join a crazy adventure from the Stone Age to independence. A new comedy series about the history of Finland. Who really murdered Rasputin? How did the Crusades really begin? What does Santa have to do with the Estonian ferry? Join a crazy adventure from the Stone Age to independence and learn how everything might have happened because after all, history is written by those who won. The history of Finland is a comedy where the truth gets a real rice sauna. From Urdonners to drag queen tsars, you've never heard of Finland's history like this before.

Formerly the palace of Czars, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg is now one of the world's largest museums, drawing three and a half million visitors per year. This superbly mastered DVD series is a guided tour of the works in the galleries as well as a compelling lesson in art history. The 540 minute series examines some of the sculptures, paintings, tapestries, and glassware pieces found within the four pavillions, as well as the impressive European-style architecture of the museum itself. Researched and authenticated by the Hermitage Museum and lavishly photographed, the series covers such styles as Classical, Neo-Classical, Baroque, Gothic, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and Cubism. As well, it showcases works by such masters as Rodin, Goya, Da Vinci, Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso. Be captivated by the history and culture of this breath taking collection of visual art masterpieces.

The Activists follows the years from 1899 to 1906 when Finland as an independent nation started to form. At the center stage are young restless souls who operate against the backdrop of the phenomena of the time: deep social divisions, political intrigue, fierce proclamations and people’s movements that get out of control. Activists portrays what happens when people lose faith in society’s capability to deal with conflict.

Poromafia is a crime saga tinged with black humor, centered on the internal power struggle of a family ruling the northern wilderness. The northern matriarch leaves behind an inheritance, which divides the family's lands among the family. However, the wills tear the family apart as buried secrets come to light.