Rock Around the Kremlin

The film highlights the burgeoning underground rock and new wave scene in the late Soviet Union, featuring performances and interviews with Soviet rock bands like Alisa, Auktyon, Televizor (fronted by Mikhail Borzykin), and Obermaneken. The film acts as a time capsule from the period of glasnost, capturing the transition of Soviet rock from underground, apartment-concert (kvartirnik) stages to widespread public attention. Kostenko's documentary provides an important, gritty perspective on the youth culture and the socio-political awakening that defined the era right before the fall of the USSR.