Nikolai Kolyada died. The playwright and director, who during his lifetime became a modern Ural classic, is remembered by Yan Levchenko Nikolay Kolyada. Photo: Alexander Avilov / AGN “Moscow” Kolyada died on the night of March 2, and on the same day his theater produced the play “Orpheus Descends to Hell.” During the rehearsal, the irrepressible artistic director ran away from the hospital, but a week ago he was connected to a ventilator, with which you can no longer escape.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili At the end of November, the largest Black Nights Film Festival in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region ended in Tallinn. The film “The Winners Are Seen at the Start” took part in the feature film competition of the Baltic countries. This is the first feature film by Zhannat Alshanova, a director from Kazakhstan who lives between Almaty and London.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili One of the largest film festivals in Europe, PÖFF, has ended in Tallinn, where more than five hundred new films were shown: funny, scary, ironic, beautiful and truly lively. Journalist and culturologist Yan Levchenko spoke about what new products of the festival should be paid special attention to.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Today marks the 131st anniversary of the birth of one of the most important philologists and writers of the 20th century - Yuri Tynyanov. On this occasion, we asked a cultural scientist, journalist and author of the book “Another Science. Russian formalists in search of a biography" by Yana Levchenko write about the figure of Yuri Nikolaevich Tynyanov.

Maxim Sher is a post-colonial photographer who started with landscape photography of Russia and its (former) outskirts, including now independent states. Having gone from found photography to the currently developing large project EMPIRE, the photographer discovers that his profession is not to illustrate an idea, much less support species trends, but to “poke with a stick” where they are not asked.

Cultural expert and journalist Yan Levchenko had a long two-part conversation with photographer Maxim Sher, who shot for Der Spiegel, The New York Times, The Guardian and many other publications, about post-Soviet aesthetics, post-colonial space and photography in general. We are publishing the first part of this material. material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili We meet on Zoom, but we managed to prepare financially for the meeting even earlier.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili A year ago, pianist, writer and anti-war activist Pavel Kushnir died in a pre-trial detention center in Birobidzhan, the first political prisoner in Russian history to die as a result of a hunger strike. He wrote several books, only one of which was published during his lifetime - in a small German publishing house.

How Lake Oszi Osbourne, who died two weeks after a farewell concert, lived and what was remembered Source: Blacksabbath.com The listing of the merits of Ozzi Osborne, who completed his earthly path yesterday, July 22, at the age of 76, reveals the idiocy of secular stamps. He is a legend, he is the father of many musical styles, he is a guiding star for generations of youth who managed to grow old with him. How could this turn out?

Alexander Mitta died - director of the films "Crew" and "Gori, Gori, my star." How did he go down in the history of cinema? Photo: Andrey Lyubimov / "Moscow" The director, actor, teacher and writer Alexander Mitta, who died in the 93rd year of life, belonged to the generation of Tarkovsky and Muratova, Panfilov and Klimov. He was even older than German Sr. Among Mitta’s peers, it was customary to claim a noticeable role in art and compare themselves with large foreign authors.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili How did Soviet cinema become more erotic scenes? The cinema of perestroika is the last rise of the Soviet film industry. After the “April Plenum” of the CPSU in 1985 and the V Congress of the Union of Cinematographers in May 1986, a bright and short era began. It lasted until 1991, when the USSR began to disintegrate in its previous form.

Conversation with the Lithuanian playwright Marus Ivashkevichius about plays about the siege of Mariupol, about Leo Tolstoy, about work in Russia and samoznian gods Marus Ivashkevichyus. Photo: Konstantin Sednev / Postimees Grupp / Scanpix / Leta Marus Ivashkevichyus (1973) is one of the most famous Lithuanian playwrights.

How do world wars begin? Tom is written on this topic, but all their authors agree that behind the war as a way of destroying some people by others does not have logic in the usual understanding. Having taken Valery Zaluzhny, Edward Luttvak, Einstein and Freud, culturologist Jan Levchenko, in the Sunday Preach section, is trying to find comfort in the desire for humanity for the desire for Tanatos. The Third World War, undoubtedly, is already coming.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: LW Historians Mikhail Gabovich and Mykola Gomanyuk published the book “Monuments and Territory. War memorials in Russia-occupied Ukraine" (Central European University Press). It is dedicated to the “battles for history” that accompany Russian aggression in Ukraine. Using extensive material, the authors demonstrate how different concepts determine Ukrainian and Russian approaches to material forms of memory.

material: Yan Levchenko illustrations: Sofia Khananashvili Philologist and cultural scientist Yan Levchenko wrote a review-essay about the book “Post-Russia” by philosopher and publicist Vadim Shtepa, published in the publishing program “Schools of Civic Education” (Riga, 2025), series “Timely Thought”. Yan Levchenko talks about the modern Russian-speaking opposition, about possible scenarios for the transformation of Russia after Putin, about imperialism and why everyone is afraid of collapse.

At the end of January, the historian Konstantin Pakalyuk, who was living in Israel, announced the release of his book "In Search of Russian Antiquity". It tells about working with memory done over the past decade in the regions of Central Russia. A lot of works have been written and published about the memory policy in the Russian Federation, including after 2022, that is, it is not closed, but it is the current topic.