Best Belarusian movies
A curated collection of popular movies from Belarus.
Fortress of War (2010)
Fortress of War (2010)
The film covers the heroic defence of the Brest Fortress, which was attacked during the first strike of German invaders on June 22 1941. The story describes the events of the first days of the defence, including the three main resistance zones, headed by the regiment commander, Pyotr Mikhailovich Gavrilov, the commissar Efim Moiseevich Fomin and the head of the 9th frontier outpost, Andrey Mitrofanovich Kizhevatov. Many years later veteran Alexander Akimov again recalls the memories of the time, when he, then a 15 year old Sasha Akimov was deeply in love with the beautiful Anya and suddenly found himself in the middle of the bloody events of war.
Hell Hath No Fury (2021)
Hell Hath No Fury (2021)
Branded a traitor by her countrymen, French national Marie DuJardin is rescued by American soldiers on one condition: to survive, she must lead them to a cache of gold - before the Nazis return to claim it for themselves.
Crystal Swan (2018)
Crystal Swan (2018)
Minsk, Belarus, 1996. Velya, an aspiring DJ, wants to move to Chicago to make her dreams come true, but bureaucracy, a phone line and the human condition will put obstacles in her way that will be difficult to avoid.
The Road Movie (2017)
The Road Movie (2017)
Anything can happen on Russian roads and is precisely shot by the dashboard camera. Super-objective video registration grows into the strong image of Russian national character – with its permanent awaiting for the miracle and habitual approach to real dramas. A forest on fire as a symbol of Russian hell, a military tank at a car wash and car chase in the vicinity of Kremlin shot with a dashboard cam at the same time when Boris Nemtsov, the leader of political opposition, was shot dead near Kremlin. Dashboard cam depicts life in it’s purity as an unbiased observer.
In August of 1944 (2001)
In August of 1944 (2001)
The movie is set in Belarus, where a team of counter-intelligence officers is given only three days to find a German radio operator posing as a Soviet soldier, behind soviet lines, on the eve of a major offensive.
Soldier Boy (2019)
Soldier Boy (2019)
This is a story about exciting events that occurred in the life of the smallest soldier - the hero of the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Sergei Aleshkov. He lost all his relatives and got into the army. With a six-year-old boy, they started playing the soldier game in order to preserve his childhood, and he, in order to comply with this honorary title, became a real defender of the Motherland.
I Won't Come Back (2014)
I Won't Come Back (2014)
Anya, a young academic raised in an orphanage, is on the cusp of success when she’s accused of drug possession. While in limbo hiding from the police, she hits the road with Kristina, another orphan several years Anya’s junior, in search of her possibly mythical grandmother.
The Road to Mother (2016)
The Road to Mother (2016)
When the Soviets impose new ways of collective farming and permanent settlements on a region of nomadic dwellers, young Ilyas is separated from his mother, Mariam. Through decades of war, mother and son persevere in their efforts to be reunited.
Spice Boyz (2020)
Spice Boyz (2020)
Vasilisa returns to her hometown for the wedding of her school friend Inna. Inna’s groom “Chistiy” with his two friends “Lambada” and “Kolbasa” organize a unplanned bachelor party on the eve of the wedding. Inna and Vasilisa show up unannounced to the party. Based on real events from 2014 in the city of Gomel.
Черный замок (2024)
Черный замок (2024)
Young professor Anton Kosmich studies the history of Belarus. One day he is mystically transported to the Middle Ages, where he will have to unravel the secrets of the past millennia.
Luka (2013)
Luka (2013)
Year 1917. Young doctor Valentin Voyno-Yasenetskyj with his wife and four children moved to Tashkent, beset by civil war and intervention. Voyno-Yasenetskyj became head physician in the city hospital. He not only saves hundreds of patients every day, operating under the bullets of the permanent street battles, fighting for his life and life of his beloved wife, dying of TB. In the midst of persecution, he as alone with four children on the outskirts of the former empire, so he decides to become a priest. And since then, he never altered neither scalpel, nor cross, he goes with them through all their hard exiles and arduous life, treating both: body and soul.
On the Nameless Height (2004)
On the Nameless Height (2004)
The location is the Belarusian forests, close to the Polish border, during Operation Bagration in the summer of 1944. After a short pause, the Red Army is preparing to advance, but on one segment of the front there are two serious obstacles: an unnamed hill with unknown German strength, and a highly skilled German sniper, who is killing off not only Russian officers, but also all captured German officers before they can be interrogated. Because of this, the local commander, Major Inozemtsev, suspects that the hill is a trap, which the Germans are very eager to keep a secret.
Kupala (2020)
Kupala (2020)
A story about the dramatic fate of the national poet of Belarus Yanka Kupala. The movie reveals the main milestones of the poet’s life and career, coinciding with the most tragic events of the 20th century.
Where Are We Headed? (2021)
Where Are We Headed? (2021)
This is ‘a road movie’ encapsulated in the Moscow metro system and filmed over the course of one year: a documentary film that observes cultural and social issues in modern Russia.
Attack of The Dead: Osovets (2018)
Attack of The Dead: Osovets (2018)
August 6, 1915. After several unsuccessful attempts to assault the positions of the Russian army, the command of the German troops is decided on a new one. On the eve of the attack on the position of the Germans deliver cylinders with chlorine. Lieutenant Kotlinsky accidentally learns about the upcoming use of chemical weapons, but he does not have the time and opportunity to protect his people. All that remains for him is to set up a company to fight to the last.
Celebration (2019)
Celebration (2019)
The town of Maardu in Estonia organises an annual Ukrainian-themed festival, called 'Sorochinsky Fair' after the short story by Nikolai Gogol. More than 15,000 people come every year. This is the largest Ukrainian fair outside of Ukraine, and it has even been entered into the Ukrainian Book of Records. This festival presents life in all its vividness, variety, and unpredictability, with the beauty contest as its central motif. The protagonists of Gogol's works are transported to the modern day in all their enchanting absurdity, and they fit in pretty well. It is a kaleidoscope of incidents and viewpoints, observed with engagement and curiosity.
Handbook (2021)
Handbook (2021)
A felicitous and at the same time almost unbearable cinematic experimental set-up that uses documentary means to show what the Belarusian reality behind the news items looks like. Based on eyewitness accounts, Pavel Mozhar re-stages Lukashenko’s perfidious and oppression-based power system. Violence in the shape of detailed reconstructions may seem abstract at first glance but drills itself into our consciousness all the more persistently in the course of the film.
The Date (2024)
The Date (2024)
The first-ever independent Belarusian film featuring a famous Belarusian rap band. The users of dating website - a pianist Michael and a physicist Olesya - meet in a cafe. They have a fight. Later it turns out that they are the spouses who participate in an experiment of the psychologist Vera, Olesya's sister. It doesn’t help the couple to reveal their secrets to each other.
Song Titled 328 (2020)
Song Titled 328 (2020)
Belarus is a country of authoritarianism, capital punishment and poverty which is fighting a ruthless war on drugs. Thousands of young people end up behind bars because of the Criminal Code’s infamous ‘anti-drug’ Article 328. When 19-year-old Diana died of an overdose of ecstasy in her boyfriend Illia’s arms, her friends were too scared to call an ambulance. Only Anton asked for help, realising that he was facing up to 25 years in prison.
Belarus: Recalculating Route (2020)
Belarus: Recalculating Route (2020)
On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The results, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won, were not recognized by 14 countries. Protests and mass detentions of protesters have been taking place in the country for more than two months. Documentary director Maxim Shved, in order to capture the mood of people and their political views, installed cameras in the cars of two taxi drivers, Pavel and Anna. They talk to passengers, and inevitably their dialogues come down to politics.
Debut (2017)
Debut (2017)
The soulless atmosphere of a women's penitentiary destroys the prisoners' personality, kills all femininity in them. The film looks at the rationality of the long prison terms for women with children.
Warmth (2012)
Warmth (2012)
This is a strange little place, where in winter, among the snowdrifts and frozen ice waterfalls, it is very warm. Men and women half-dressed, heated. Their movements at the machines are perfect - fast, rhythmic, precise, like a dance. The relentless rumble of cars is like music. Such an impeccable harmony between people and mechanisms that they seem to be something single, whole, a continuation of each other. Only for moments does a debugged endless action interrupt: someone thinks, or wipes sweat from his forehead, or sits down to breathe. People at this factory in the village of Smilovichi near Minsk make felt boots, which are then sold around the world.
Pure Art (2019)
Pure Art (2019)
A film about contemporary Belarus, freedom and art. A mysterious artist appears on the streets of Minsk and starts to paint. Passers-by, intrigued, want to know what he is creating, but the artist will not reveal his secret. Step by step, the viewers learn more about him. His name is Zahar Cudin and he is one of the most promising Belorussian painters.
1986 (2019)
1986 (2019)
Elena is a student in Minsk. She is having an intense but self-destructive love affair with Viktor. When Elena's father goes to prison she has to take charge of his business dealings to help him. She drives repeatedly into the restricted zone at Chernobyl, behind the wheel of a truck, in order to smuggle contaminated steel. The conflicts with Viktor escalate, and Elena is increasingly captivated by the zone's deceptive beauty...
Restricted Area (2020)
Restricted Area (2020)
1989, 180 km from Chernobyl. 4 guys and 2 girls, traveling by the river, swim in the resettlement zone. By chance, because of them, a person hiding in an abandoned village dies, and in the hands of the guys is a bag with a large amount of money...
Welcome to the Family (2022)
Welcome to the Family (2022)
Leonid Ivanovich - The Godfather. In this world, he loves only two things: to be the Godfather and his daughter Mira. In order not to anger the boss, Mira is bypassed by everyone. Except for Sasha, who knew nothing about the family, and just fell in love at first sight. Now he has a difficult task - not to lose his hand and heart before the wedding.
Belarus: Personal Stories From a Country in Turmoil (2020)
Belarus: Personal Stories From a Country in Turmoil (2020)
Mass protests across Belarus erupted following the widely disputed election that put President Lukashenko in office for a sixth term. Three Belarusian filmmakers document personal stories of people caught up in the political turmoil. Filmmaker Maksim Shved was arrested, imprisoned and then released while the protests around him swelled. Meanwhile, Ekaterina Markavets observes the psychological burden of her fellow citizens and worked with professional psychologists to set up a volunteer support service for people affected by current events. Andrei Kutsila followed a celebrated Belarusian broadcast journalist who worked for State TV for nearly 40 years, now in hospital recovering from injuries she sustained while at a protest. All three filmmakers wonder what the future holds for their country and fellow citizens.
The Modern Movie Date (2024)
The Modern Movie Date (2024)
A time capsule of the shared "microcinema" watching experience of Nikita Lavretski and his wife, Volha Kavaliova.
II (2019)
II (2019)
Nastya, Sasha and Kristina are 16 years old. They study together at a school in a Belarusian town and live ordinary teenager lives, with the usual problems and dreams. Nastya wants a better life. Her dream is to study in Poland. Several times a week she goes to a private Polish language tutor. On these trips she is accompanied by her friend Sasha. The boy is constantly bullied by his schoolmates, who think he is gay. As for Kristina, she doesn’t plan on studying and is mostly interested in dating her new boyfriend. The school follows a severe law of rules and discipline that hasn’t changed much since Soviet times. The only person who stands out is a young English teacher. One day everything changes. A shocking event brings out fears, prejudice and hatred of those who are different.