In the middle of the Second World War teenage Alyosha is commended for destroying two German tanks, but, rather than take a medal, he requests a four day pass to visit his mother. Ballad of a Soldier is about this journey and the life enhancing encounters therein. Nominated at the 1962 Academy Awards for Best Screenplay, this classic of post-war Soviet Realism won many international film awards on its release, most notably a BAFTA Award for Best Film. find out more...

In the final days of WWII, during the chaotic Soviet occupation, a seventeen-year-old Hungarian boy, Jancsó's alter ego, wanders his own countryside. He is captured by occupying Soviet troops, released and then, after donning a German uniform for warmth, captured once more. Sent to assist a wounded young Russian soldier guarding a diary herd the two strike up a firm friendship and this is the detailed episode at the crux of his travels. Throughout the movie displaced people drift; bandits, escap find out more...