The beautiful, eclectic and colourful city of Moscow, witness to so many historical epochs, is always taking part in movie shoots - its streets, squares and buildings in a range of architectural styes are being used as settings for Russian and international films. In April, a film crew led by director Venkat Prabhu was at work on Moscow's streets
âItâs impossible to take your eyes off this infinitely dear faceâ: the startling film about Stalinâs funeral
Crafted from footage locked for years in an archive, Sergei Loznitsaâs State Funeral focuses on the motivations of the mourners who lived under the brutal regime
âYou are overwhelmed with sorrowâ . a clip from State Funeral. Photograph: YouTube
âYou are overwhelmed with sorrowâ . a clip from State Funeral. Photograph: YouTube
Fri 14 May 2021 03.00 EDT
âAt 21.50, due to cardiovascular and respiratory failure, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin died,â intones an announcer. A woman takes off her hat, on the verge of tears. A handsome youth in a military uniform stares stoically at his feet. One middle-aged man glances self-consciously at the camera, as if to check it is still watching him, before looking down again. Again and again, our focus is drawn to faces in the crowds all across the Soviet Union. Not all are reverent. So
Why Moscow is the greenest city in the world How did Russia’s industrial and historical center also become a heavily vegetated city?
According to WorldAtlas, 54 percent of Moscow’s territory is covered by public parks and gardens, making it the greenest city in the world.
There are 20 square meters of trees and shrubs per inhabitant in Moscow – many times more than in Tokyo, London or Beijing. This happened because of the combination of two factors: first, Moscow was initially built amongst the forests of the North-Eastern Russia, second, landscaping and greening started in Moscow as early as the 18th century.