The Klassiki Podcast

Jonas Mekas: a Lithuanian abroad

“The godfather of American avant-garde cinema“, Jonas Mekas left his native Lithuania in 1944, and a few years later moved to New York. His friendships and collaborations with the likes of Andy Warhol, Allen Ginsberg, and Yoko Ono helped to consolidate the downtown art scene, and his impressionistic “diary films”, compiled from footage of his life that he obsessively shot on his handheld Bolex camera, have proved hugely influential on experimental film ever since. 
Mekas never lost sight of his native Lithuania, returning to themes of dislocation and home throughout his career. His work speaks to the cinema traditions of the Baltic region more broadly. His attachment to Lithuanian national culture produced controversy at the end of his life when questions were raised about his work under Nazi occupation in the 1940s. 
To untangle the question of Mekas, Lithuania, and the avant-garde, host Sam Goff speaks with Josh Polanski, a critic who specialises in cinema from the Baltic states. You can find Josh’s writing on Baltic film here, and explore our collection of films from the region here. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

Under the Grey Sky: inside the crisis in Belarus

In 2020, Belarus was rocked by mass protests following fraudulent presidential elections that returned autocratic leader Aleksandr Lukashenko to power. The new feature film from Belarusian-Polish director Mara Tamkovich, Under the Grey Sky, is based on the true story of a journalist, Kateryna Andreevna, who was arrested and charged with treason for broadcasting police brutality against protestors. Under the Grey Sky is screening across the UK now as part of this year’s Kinoteka Polish Film Festival.
This week on the show, host Sam Goff sits down with Mara to discuss the real life events behind her film, and to try and shed light on the situation in Belarus – a country in the grip of a brutal regime, and one that remains party to the war in Ukraine, but which is too often absent from conversations about the region. 
You can find information about screenings of Under the Grey Sky at this year’s Kinoteka Film Festival, both in London and on tour throughout the UK, on the festival site. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

The long, strange trips of Wojciech Jerzy Has

2025 is the centenary year of Wojciech Jerzy Has – one of Poland’s greatest and most misunderstood filmmakers. A full retrospective of Has’s films is currently underway across the UK: from his surrealist masterpieces The Saragossa Manuscript and The Hourglass Sanatorium, to his never-before-screened shorts. To set the scene for this retrospective, host Sam Goff speaks with its curator, Polish film expert Michael Brooke, about Has’s peculiar place in Polish film history, his unique approach to literary adaptations, and the dreamworlds he conjured onscreen.
You can find information about all the Has screenings at this year’s Kinoteka Film Festival, both in London and on tour throughout the UK, on the festival site. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

Ester Krumbachová: the ghost of the Czech New Wave

Artist, guru, witch, muse. The cinematic polymath Ester Krumbachová was an essential figure behind many of the classics of the Czech New Wave. But Krumbachová herself remains an elusive figure, marginalised in histories of female filmmaking.
In recent years, this has begun to change. Krumbachová’s sole directorial effort, the romantic parody Murdering the Devil, has been restored and screened worldwide. It’s coming to the UK this month, with three screenings as part of this year’s Borderlines Film Festival, in Hereford, Ludlow, and Malvern, and Klassiki subscribers can watch the restoration on the site now. Host Sam Goff sat down with writer and curator Rachel Pronger to discuss Krumbachová’s role in the Czech New Wave, her fall from grace, and what her work can teach us about feminist filmmaking today.
Get your tickets for the Borderlines Film Festival screenings of Murdering the Devil. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

The war-haunted world of Larisa Shepitko

In this episode, we’re dipping back in to the archive of writing on the Klassiki Journal for an essay on the Soviet-Ukrainian director Larisa Shepitko, written and read by host Sam Goff. One of the most significant female filmmakers to emerge from the Soviet system, Shepitko’s career was cut short at the age of just 41 when she was killed in a car crash while location scouting for her fifth feature. Her surviving work reflects her experiences as a child of war and dislocation and remains vital to our understanding of the post-Soviet world.
Read the original piece here and make sure to explore our collection of classic Soviet titles. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

Pressburger: the Hungarian heart of British film

The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are among the jewels in the crown of British cinema. One half of this national institution, Emeric Pressburger, was a Hungarian Jewish refugee – a background rarely commented on in discussions of the duo’s achievements. He brought Central European sensibilities to the British public – but how do we locate the Hungarian element in the Archers? 
This week, host Sam Goff welcomes back film historian and curator Ian Christie to the pod. Ian knew Pressburger at the end of his life and, along with the likes of Martin Scorsese, helped to kickstart the Powell and Pressburger revival in the late 1970s – so he was perfectly placed to discuss the life and times of this fascinating figure.
Subscribers can explore our own collection of classic Hungarian titles here. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

In the studio with animation legends the Quay Brothers

The Klassiki Podcast is back! To kick off our third season, we're stepping into the studio with Stephen and Timothy Quay, aka the Quay Brothers. 
The duo’s career spans five decades and has seen them craft features, shorts, music videos, adverts, and installations – all in their unmistakable signature style combining stop motion and live action, surrealist flourishes, and an eye for the macabre. Their new feature film, 20 years in the making, is an adaptation of The Sanatorium under the Sign of the Hourglass by the Polish author Bruno Schulz. And we’re delighted that the Brothers have curated a new season of titles for Klassiki subscribers, launching this Thursday 6th February.
Host Sam Goff sat down with the Brothers in their London studio, the Atelier Koninck, to discuss their long personal and creative relationship with Eastern Europe, from their student days in the 1960s to their latest film.  
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass is screening at this year’s Kinoteka Film Festival: get your tickets here. Klassiki Picks with the Quay Brothers runs on the site from 13 February - 6 March. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

From Cranes to Cuba: how Kalatozov and Urusevsky reinvented Soviet cinema

We’ve reached the end of the second season of the show! Thank you to everyone who’s listened along so far. If you enjoy the show, please leave us a five-star review or a comment on your podcast app of choice. We’ll be back in 2025 with a new season, bigger and better than before.
For the final episode of the season, we’re dipping back in to the archive of the Klassiki Journal for an essay on the groundbreaking collaboration between director Mikhail Kalatozov and cameraman Sergei Urusevsky. Over just seven years and three films, the duo turned Soviet cinema on its head with their revolutionary cinematography and depth of feeling, winning the Palme d’Or along the way. 
Read the original piece here and make sure to explore our collection of classic Soviet titles, including Kalatozov’s Salt for Svanetia. Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

Shooting through tragedy: Shoghakat Vardanyan on 1489

Host Sam Goff speaks to Armenian director Shoghakat Vardanyan about her remarkable debut, 1489. In 2020, Vardanyan’s 21-year-old brother went missing days into the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan. With no prior filmmaking experience, Shoghakat picked up her phone and started recording herself and her parents as they began a gruelling quest for information. The resulting film is a portrait of family grief and resilience, in which we watch a young woman learning to express herself through film in real time. On this week’s episode, Shoghakat talks about the emotional experience of making the film and becoming a celebrated director by accident. 
1489 is screening at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London on Saturday 7 December as part of the inaugural London Armenian Film Festival. Buy tickets for the screening here.
Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.

One hundred years of Sergei Parajanov

2024 marks one hundred years since the birth of the great Sergei Parajanov, who turned Soviet cinema on its head in masterpieces like Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and The Colour of Pomegranates. Persecuted for his experimental artistic approach and queer identity, his work still provokes vital questions about post-Soviet culture.
What exactly does Parajanov mean today? To answer this question, host Sam Goff speaks with Carmen Gray, a critic and programmer specialising in the cinema of eastern Europe and the Caucasus. Read Carmen’s beginner’s guide to Parajanov here and head over to Klassiki to watch Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors and Hakob Hovnatanyan now.
Sign up for a free 7-day trial at klassiki.online.