Wings

For her first feature after graduating from the All-Russian State Institute for Cinematography (VGIK), Larisa Shepitko trained her lens on the fascinating Russian character actress Maya Bulgakova, who gives a marvelous performance as a once heroic Russian fighter pilot now living a quiet, disappointingly ordinary life as a school principal. Subtly portraying one woman’s desperation with elegant, spare camera work and casual, fluid storytelling, Shepitko, with WINGS, announced herself as an important new voice in Soviet cinema.

Starring Maya Bulgakova, Zhanna Bolotova, Pantelemion Krymov, Leonid Dyachkov, Vladimir Gorelov, Yury Medvedev, Nikolay Grabbe