Umka

Umka (2026) is a Russian live-action fantasy-adventure you can watch online on iFILM. Director Maksim Peshkov adapted the Soviet animated shorts from 1969 and 1970 into a feature film for the first time. On New Year's Eve, a boy named Taike and a polar bear cub each make the same secret wish — a real friend.

By morning, they find each other. They keep it quiet. A poacher known as Sedoy eventually discovers the friendship and kidnaps Umka's mother to sell her to a private zoo. Taike pulls his entire family into the rescue. Pavel Priluchny, Marina Kravets, and Yaroslav Matveev lead the cast.

The Soviet cartoons this draws from have stayed in Russian cultural memory for more than fifty years — the live-action film treats them with care rather than irony, which is the right call. Stream Umka (2026) online on iFILM.