The Village of Khlyupovo Secedes From the Union

The Village of Khlyupovo Secedes From the Union (1992) is a Russian satirical comedy you can watch online on iFILM. Fed up with the endless inspectors and bossy officials rolling in from the city, the people of one tiny backwater make a wild call: they will simply quit the country.

The timing is everything. It all unfolds during the August 1991 coup, while the whole superpower is cracking apart at the seams — and little Khlyupovo declares its own sovereignty as if it were a great nation. Lookalikes of famous politicians wander through the frame, and the farce of a village "self-determination" lands right on the nerve of a collapsing empire. Georgy Shtil, Sergey Isavnin, Anatoly Stolbov and Lyubov Tishchenko head the cast.

Shot at the exact moment history was turning, the film catches that rare mood where laughter and ache sit side by side. If you have a taste for perestroika-era satire, this one is for you. Stream Anatoly Vekhotko's comedy online on iFILM.