Documentaries

Arkeïon

Russian and Soviet archives from the 20th century
1,500 hours - Gaumont collection

In 2003, Arkeïon Films handed over its entire collection of documentaries from Eastern Europe and the former USSR to the Cinémathèque Gaumont, comprising a total of 1,500 hours of 35-mm film spanning communist history in the 20th century. While film was exploited by the Soviets as a rich source of propaganda, this legacy provides us with a unique perspective on 100 years of communism.

The Arkeïon collection covers the entire political, economic, social, cultural and scientific history of Russia from Tsarist times to the present day.  

Arkeïon also offers hundreds of hours of outstanding footage covering many other fascinating subjects:

China, as filmed by the Soviets
50 years of rare, top-quality images covering the modern history of China.
1937: Heroic China - Roman Karmen (50")
1941: China at War - Roman Karmen (35")
1950: The Victory of the Chinese (1' 32")
1950: Liberated China (1' 26")
1954: Celebrations in Peking (20")
1971: China at Night - Alexandre Medvekine (1')
1977: Peking: the Restless People - Alexandre Medvekine (55")
1986: The Chinese Revolution (1' 20")

Spain in the 1930s
Documentaries on the Spanish Civil War and the evacuation of Spanish children to the USSR, including:
1937: Madrid in Flames - Roman Karmen
1939: España - Esther Choub (1' 30")

France from the 1930s to the 1950s and from 1982 to 1986
1944: Liberated France (1' 20")
1947:  In Paris (20")
1947: Our friend Maurice Thorez (30")

1982-1986: France today,  the follow-up to the  Chroniques de France series (Pathé), features documentaries produced by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aimed at giving other nations a comprehensive overview of French society.

Latin American revolutions
A Continent in Flames (2')

Ho Chi Minh's Vietnam
Images of the Indochinese conflict, the Vietnam War, and the country's reconstruction, plus everyday life in Hanoi and beyond the capital. The 1960s and 1970s are particularly well covered in this collection. 

Yugoslavia
Sarajevo in the 1920s, Milan Nedic in 1943, Tito and his supporters circa 1944, the Ustashi and the Chetniks, the country's reconstruction, Tito's funeral, Milosevic's speech at Kosovo Field in June 1989, mass graves in Croatia in 1993, and much more.

Official visits to the USSR
Politicians and intellectuals: André Gide in 1935, Pierre Laval, De Gaulle in Moscow in 1944, Henri Barbusse, André Malraux, Louis Aragon, Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Cot, Georges Pompidou, Maurice Thorez and many others.