Mikhail Gorbachev
Birthday: Born in 1931-03-02 in Privolnoe, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]
Deathday: 2022-08-30
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв; 2 March 1931 - 30 August 2022) was a Russian and former Soviet politician. The eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, he was the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. He was also the country's head of state from 1988 until 1991, serving as the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989, chairman of the Supreme Soviet from 1989 to 1990, and president of the Soviet Union from 1990 to 1991. Ideologically, he initially adhered to Marxism–Leninism although by the early 1990s had moved toward social democracy.
TV Credits
La Foi du siècle
Character: Self (archive footage)
Communism spread to all of the continents of the word, lasting through four generations and over seven decades. Hundreds of millions of men and women were affected by this political system, one of the most unjust and bloodiest in history. Using newly discovered propaganda films and archival photos, these four episodes explore the mysteries of this totalitarian political machine that lured its share of important followers into the fold. Known as the red church, communism seduced its ardent follow...
Школа злословия
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A talk show...
Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States
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Oliver Stone's re-examination of under-reported events in American history....
The Second Russian Revolution
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The acclaimed documentary series from 1991 that examined political in-fighting in the Soviet Union and the battle for perestroika....
Zero Hour
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Zero Hour dramatizes the hour leading up to some of the most memorable historical events as they unfold minute by minute. Using a real-time clock and a split screen to follow key players, the series reveals the compelling and exciting minutes leading up to events that changed the world....
Tovarășu': facerea, gloria și desfacerea unui dictator
Character: Self (archive footage)
In-depth documentary mini-series presenting the rise, rule and fall of communist Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and the way he shaped both Romanian and international history....
Days That Shook the World
Character: Self (archive footage)
Days That Shook the World is a British documentary television series that premiered on BBC Two on 17 September 2003. The programme features various milestones throughout history. It has been broadcast on the BBC, Discovery Channel UK, The History Channel and Viasat History. The series was also released on DVD by the Polish edition of Newsweek in 2007....
Russia 1985-1999: TraumaZone
Character: Self (archive footage)
What it felt like to live through the collapse of communism and democracy. A series of films by Adam Curtis....
Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War
Character: Self (archive footage)
With firsthand accounts and access to prominent figures around the world, this comprehensive docuseries explores the Cold War and its aftermath....
세 개의 전쟁
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DAS!
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Maybrit Illner
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Beckmann
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Reinhold Beckmann hosts a weekly talk show....
Ein Herz für Kinder
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History 101
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Infographics and archival footage deliver bite-size history lessons on scientific breakthroughs, social movements and world-changing discoveries....
Предатели
Character: Self (archive footage)
A documentary series that explores who brought Vladimir Putin to power, and why. It meticulously reconstructs the sequence of events that have led us to the present day....
First Ladies
Character: Self (archive footage)
Blending in-depth interviews, rare archival footage, and cinematic recreations, this docuseries on the lives of America's most iconic First Ladies is a bold revision of each woman's traditional portrayal, revealing how they were impacted during their time in the White House, and how their achievements fundamentally shaped American and global history....
Corridors of Power: Should America Police the World?
Character: Self (archive footage)
No easy answers? Decision-makers from Kissinger to Rice revisit how the US responded to conflicts from Rwanda to Iraq. Faced with human suffering - who has responsibility to act?...
Movie Credits
In the Grip of Gazprom
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
The war in the Ukraine has changed the way many European countries view Russian politics. Suddenly it became clear how dependent countries had become on Russian gas imports for decades and what Vladimir Putin was up to. However, no country needs more gas than Germany. It was only after Russia's invasion of the Ukraine that the German government realized that Russia had long used gas as a weapon to impose its will on states. The instrument created for this purpose is the natural gas production co...
Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, l'homme qui a changé le monde
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Moscow 1996, Vote or Lose!
Character: Self (archive footage)
Moscow, January 1996. Boris Yeltsin gets ready to run for a second mandate of the presidency of the young Russian Federation. Polls are in the single digits. A painful economic transition, war in Chechnya, and the rise of criminal groups have left the majority of Russians dissatisfied with Yeltsin… and willing to vote for the communist leader Gennady Zyuganov. Yet six months later, Yeltsin won the election with nearly 54% of the vote. How did that happen?...
Here to Stay
Character: Self
Urban sprawl, extinct species, depletion of natural resources and global warming are all causes of deep anxiety. Here to stay takes an uncompromising look at Planet Earth today, in all its beauty but also its scars and contradictions. Illustrating the intricate relationship and contrasts between the miracles of nature and man's obsession in trying to tame them. Can we turn back the tide? What do we really want for ourselves?...
Laissez-faire
Character: Self (archive footage)
A historical perspective to understand Neoliberalism and to understand why this ideology today so profoundly influences the choices of our governments and our lives....
Mr. Landsbergis
Character: Self (archive footage)
This film about the Baltic nation of Lithuania from 1989 to 1991, when it broke away from the Soviet Union. This period of peaceful protests involving lots of singing came to be known as the "singing revolution."...
Those Who Dare
Character: Self (archive footage)
When Mikhail Gorbachev rose to power in 1985, his reform policy sparked an independence movement in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But as cries for help from the Baltic States were met with silence from the international community at large, two small nations – Iceland and Denmark – answered the call, motivated by the personal connections of their foreign ministers, Jón Baldvin Hannibalsson and Uffe Elleman Jensen....
A Bitter Taste of Freedom
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In her quest to uncover the wrongdoings of the Russian authorities, Anna Politkovskaya inspired awe in some and fear in countless others. At age 48 she was assassinated for simply doing her job. This documentary is based on Anna's conversations with filmmaker Marina Goldovskaya, Anna's former university professor and personal friend. Shot over a period of 20 years, this exclusive footage creates an incredible story of a woman who consciously gave her life for her convictions....
The Art of Dissent
Character: Self - Subject (archive footage)
"The Art of Dissent" celebrates the resilience and power of artistic engagement in Czechoslovakia before and after the 1968 Soviet-led invasion. The documentary's main protagonists - Václav Havel, banned singer Marta Kubisová, and the underground rock group the Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) - became the most recognizable dissidents during the 1970-80s. Havel bridged the disparate clusters of individuals and fused the literary, musical, political, and philosophical nonviolent elements into...
30 Years of Democracy
Character: Self (archive footage)
Two journalists born in the mid '80s decide to take a look back at how their country changed in the last 30 years since the fall of communism. The end product is a documentary containing footage of political events and historical milestones significant to Romania accompanied by a narrator's voice walking the viewer through the events, and also interviews with Romanian politicians and other influential public figures sharing their thoughts and their different views on those events....
Soviet Union: The Rise and Fall - Part 2
Character: Self (archive footage)
Historic Russian battles to repel invaders serve as prelude to the story of events that redrew the map of Eastern Europe and parts of Asia in the 20th century. Following the turmoil of the Bolshevik Revolution, Communist Russia faces the venom of Nazi aggression. 1940's film footage reveals the harsh reality of total war, as the Red Army and Soviet civilians alike confront a brutal and tenacious enemy. The following decades are darkened by tensions between the USSR and foreign powers, and viole...
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes
Character: Self (archive footage)
Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood trage...
Freedom's Fury
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A documentary on the 1956 Olympic semifinal water polo match between Hungary and Russia. Held in Australia, the match occurred as Russian forces were in Budapest, stomping out a popular revolt....
The Long Breakup
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Ukrainian journalist Katya Soldak, currently living in New York City and working for Forbes magazine, chronicles Ukraine's history: its strong ties to Russia for centuries; how it broke away from the USSR and began to walk alone; the Orange Revolution, the Maidan Revolution, the Crimea annexation, the Donbass War; all through the eyes of her family and friends settled in Kharkiv, a large Ukrainian city located just eighteen miles from the Russian border....
Quando c'era Berlinguer
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À la recherche de... Pierre Richard
Character: Self - Soviet and Russian statesman (archive footage)
Follow in the footsteps of burlesque actor Pierre Richard, a key figure in French cinema in the 1970s and 1980s....
The Abyss
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
A civilian oil rig crew is recruited to conduct a search and rescue effort when a nuclear submarine mysteriously sinks. One diver soon finds himself on a spectacular odyssey 25,000 feet below the ocean's surface where he confronts a mysterious force that has the power to change the world or destroy it....
Gorbacheva
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Raisa Gorbachev, Nancy Reagan, Jacqueline Kennedy, Margaret Thatcher. Their names have been in the same row for a long time. This film is a bold attempt to rethink the role of Raisa Gorbacheva in the history of modern Russia. How did a girl from a simple village grow into one of the main humanists of the 20th century, revolutionizing many areas of the country's life? Why exactly do we owe reforms in education, medicine and culture to Raisa Maksimovna? What thoughts and ideas voiced by her are st...
Farewell to Enrico Berlinguer
Character: Self
A film of Enrico Berlinguer's funeral in Rome, briefly tracing his career as leader of the Italian Communist Party....
Hammer & Tickle
Character: Self (archive footage)
Hammer & Tickle: The Communist Joke Book is a 2006 propaganda documentary film about "jokes" under the Soviet Union....
Stasi, un État contre son peuple
Character: Self (archive footage)
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, thousands of documents were hastily shredded by the dreaded GDR political police. 16,000 bags filled with six million pieces of paper were found. Thanks to the meticulous work of technology, the destinies of men and women who had been spied on and recorded without their knowledge could be reconstructed....
Zero Days
Character: Self (archive footage)
Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably....
Day of Revelation
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About the leaders and the nature of the activities of informal groups in Moscow: “Democratic Union” and “People’s Front”....
The Secret KGB JFK Assassination Files
Character: Self
On Nov. 22, 1963 the world was shocked by the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The mystery surrounding this history-changing event has led to many unanswered questions....
Faraway, So Close!
Character: Mikhail Gorbachev
Damiel is now married to Marion, runs the pizzeria “Da Angelo” and the two have a child. The solitarily remaining angel Cassiel is more and more dissatisfied with his destiny as a mere observer of human life and finally decides to take the great leap. As Karl Engel he soon gets into a dubious milieu and finds himself as the assistant of the German American Baker, who makes his money with shady arms deals and sends films east in exchange for weapons. Cassiel’s adventure turns into a “thriller” wh...
Disaster at Chernobyl
Character: Self (archive footage)
The explosion at Chernobyl was ten times worse than the Hiroshima bomb and was due to a combination of human error and imperfect technology. An account of the sixty critical minutes prior to the explosion of the nuclear power plant on the night of April 26, 1986....
Desert Storm: The War Begins
Character: Self (archive footage)
An historic presentation by CNN documenting the lead up to and the beginning of the war in Iraq....
The Battle of Chernobyl
Character: Self
On April 26, 1986, a 1,000 feet high flame rises into the sky of the Ukraine. The fourth reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant just exploded. A battle begins in which 500,000 men are engaged throughout the Soviet Union to "liquidate" the radioactivity, build the "sarcophagus" of the damaged reactor and save the world from a second explosion that would have destroyed half of Europe. Become a reference film, this documentary combines testimonials and unseen footage, tells for the first time...
Free to Rock
Character: Self
Rock & Roll spread the sound of freedom across the Iron Curtain and throughout Eastern Europe and the USSR, despite Communist attempts to outlaw it and to crush what they perceived was a contamination of their youth. Over the next thirty years, thousands of underground bands and millions of young fans who yearned for Western values helped fuel the nonvio- lent implosion of the Soviet regime. FREE TO ROCK features Presidents, diplomats, spies and rock stars from the West, the Soviet Union and Eas...
The Russian Woodpecker
Character: Former President Russia (archive footage)
As his country is gripped by revolution and war, a Ukrainian victim of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster discovers a dark secret and must decide whether to risk his life and play his part in the revolution by revealing it....
Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired
Character: Self
This is the story of a tiny country that made a decision to do something that no other country had ever done -- it decided to abolish its army and declare peace to the world. And this is the story of a young boy who grew up in that country, and how he ended up challenging -- and sometimes even convincing -- the greatest powers in the world to follow Costa Rica's example. "Oscar Arias: Without a Shot Fired" is a Don Quixote-like saga with great historical touchstones -- Ronald Reagan and Mikhail ...
The Autobiography of Nicolae Ceausescu
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The three-hour-long documentary covers 25 years in the life of Nicolae Ceaușescu and was made using 1,000 hours of original footage from the National Archives of Romania....
Reagan
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In 1988, after two terms in office, Ronald Reagan left the White House one of the most popular presidents of the twentieth century -- and one of the most controversial. A failed actor, Reagan became a passionate ideologue who preached a simple gospel of lower taxes, less government, and anti-communism....
Putin's Witnesses
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Russian Federation, December 31, 1999. After President Boris Yeltsin's unexpected resignation, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin becomes acting president of the country. From that day and for a year, Vitaly Mansky's camera documented Putin's rise to power. The story of a privileged witness. The harsh explanation of the reason why politics is the art of possibility of achieving the best with the support of many, but also of giving the worst in return....
Disco and Atomic War
Character: Self (archive footage)
A different history of the Cold War: how Estonians under Soviet tyranny began to feel the breeze of freedom when a group of anonymous dreamers successfully used improbable methods to capture the Finnish television signal, a window into Western popular culture, brave but harmless warriors who helped change the fate of an entire nation....
Meeting Gorbachev
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Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, sits down with filmmaker Werner Herzog to discuss his many achievements. Topics include the talks to reduce nuclear weapons, the reunification of Germany and the dissolution of his country....
Tiananmen: The People Versus the Party
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
The true story of the seven weeks that changed China forever. On June 4, 1989, pro-democracy demonstrations were violently and bloodily repressed. Thousands of people died, but the basis for China's future was definitely planted....
The Man Who Defied Beijing
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
A portrait of Chinese writer Liu Xiaobo (1955-2017), a witness of the Tiananmen Square massacre (1989), a dissident, a woodpecker who tirelessly pecked the putrid brain of the Communist regime for decades, demanding democracy loudly and fearlessly. Silenced, arrested, convicted, imprisoned, dead. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2010, alive forever. These are his last words....
Superstar: The Life and Times of Andy Warhol
Character: Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Iconic American artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol is the subject of this documentary, which looks at both his life and his influence on pop culture. The film provides details about Warhol's upbringing in Pittsburgh and follows his move to New York City, where he found massive success turning pop imagery into art and eventually founded "The Factory," his famed studio and party venue. Among the many notables interviewed are Dennis Hopper, David Hockney, and Roy Lichtenstein....
The Arrow of Time
Character: Self
President Mikhail Gorbachev recounts the end of the Cold War and the reduction of nuclear arms....
41
Character: Self (archive footage)
An HBO documentary, takes a ‘personal, not political’ look at George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States....
Solidarność: How Solidarity Changed Europe
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun....
Frenemies: Putin and Trump
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Russian President Vladimir Putin was one of the first politicians to congratulate Donald Trump on his election as president of the United States in 2016, but over time the relationship between the two heads of state has had its ups and downs. Are they friends or enemies? Has their mutual admiration turned into mutual distrust?...
Stalin and the Katyn Massacre
Character: Self (archive footage)
The Katyn massacre, carried out by the Soviet NKVD in 1940, was only one of many unspeakable crimes committed by Stalin's ruthless executioners over three decades. The mass murder of thousands of Polish officers was part of a relentless purge, the secrets and details of which have only recently been partially revealed....
The Collapse of The Soviet Union
Character: Self
The film is using episodes filmed mainly at the Kremlin, Soviet Union's headquarters which enable to have a glance to world's most well-known political kitchen....
Ceausescu: Behind the Myth
Character: Self (archive footage)
Veteran journalist and author Edward Behr spent a year investigating the rise and fall of Nicolae Ceausescu. Executed on Christmas Day 1989, Ceausescu was once a hero to his own people, and in the west. Behr's film reveals the truth behind the myth, in a tale of megalomania, farce, and horror....
Doot Doola Doot Doo ... Doot Doo!
Character: Self (archive footage)
After years of requests, Nardwuar the Human Serviette has finally entered the digital age with a compilation of over 60 of his favourite video interviews. Based around his two MuchMusic Specials, Nard Wars I and Nard Wars II and clocking in at over 5.5 hrs on 2 DVDs, "Doot Doola Doot Doo .... Doot Doo!" encompasses everything from former Soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev to Snoop Doggy Dogg to your mother!...
He Came to Give Us Freedom
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Biographical documentary about Mikhail Gorbachev and the way he did not waste his inner freedom before becoming General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and giving this freedom to the people....
Gorbachev. Heaven
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An immersion into the intimacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the USSR. The architect of perestroika and glasnost, who was praised in the West but reviled in his own country, still combative despite his advanced age, loneliness and illness, offers his personal and political testament....
My Favorite War
Character: Self - Politician (archive footage)
Ilze Burkovska, a little girl who is obsessed with stories of World War II and will be a filmmaker in a distant future, lives in Latvia under the totalitarian boot of the Soviets and the ominous shadow of the many menaces and horrors of the Cold War....
Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn
Character: Self (archive footage)
Legendary and controversial attorney Roy Cohn was a power broker in the rough and tumble world of New York City business and politics. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s top counsel during investigations into Communist activities in the 1950s, Cohn is also known for being Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, fixer and mentor....
The Way I See It
Character: Self (archive footage)
Former Chief Official White House Photographer Pete Souza's journey as a person with top secret clearance and total access to the President....
Era Of Dance
Character: Self (archive footage)
The film tells a story about the latest musical revolution in recent history – the early days of the rave scene and the golden age of techno culture. International political changes in the mid-80s and early 90s, including the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, in a short period of time allowed this cultural phenomenon to become a mass movement which was almost completely independent from the global corporations and which did not fight with the system but created its ow...
Our Africa
Character: Self
1960. The USSR starts humanitarian aid programs based on Marxist ideology in several newly independent African countries. For more than 35 years the Soviets expand their influence in Africa. Soviet filmmakers are sent along to document the glorious advance of socialism on the entire continent. After the fall of the Soviet empire Russia lost political interest in Africa, but thousands of kilometers of footage shot on African soil remain. With the help of filmmakers from back then, OUR AFRICA will...
The Last Days of the USSR
Character: Self
From 1989 to 1991 a string of unpredictable events happened that brought to light the rivalry between two men: Gorbachev, hindered by the economic results of his perestroika, and Yeltsin, embodying the hopes of the Russian people. Illustrated with interviews of top protagonists such as Mikhail Gobachev himself, the documentary recounts the critical last two years of the former USSR....
Sakharov. Two Lives
Character: Self (archive footage)
Avenue, university and even an asteroid bear his name. Academician Sakharov is known all over the world: someone as the creator of the hydrogen bomb, someone as an outstanding public figure and human rights activist. All his life Andrei Sakharov lived between two fires - science and humanism - and this dualism formed the basis of the film. The picture will show the scientist as he saw himself, through his dialogues with the Conscience....
Chernobyl: The Last Battle of the USSR
Character: Self (archive footage)
Three decades after the nuclear explosion, almost everything has been said about this ecological and sanitary disaster that made Pripiat a part of History. How did the greatest industrial disaster change the course of History, disrupt global geopolitics and, directly or indirectly, redistribute the balances and power relations of the twentieth century? The world will never be the same again. By retracing the incredible battle waged by the Soviet Union against radiation, this film proposes to ret...
Children of the 20th Congress
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In the film, the authors act as researchers of the Thaw era and the generation of the sixties....
USSR (1917-1991)
Character: Self (archive footage)
Experimental short film that explores the rise and decline of the Soviet Union, from the revolutionary spark of 1917 to the challenges and sacrifices endured during World War II, until its dissolution in 1991....
The Soviet Story
Character: Self (archive footage)
“The Soviet Story” is a story of an Allied power, which helped the Nazis to fight Jews and which slaughtered its own people on an industrial scale. Assisted by the West, this power triumphed on May 9th, 1945. Its crimes were made taboo, and the complete story of Europe’s most murderous regime has never been told. Until now......