Leningraders, My Children

Leningraders, My Children (1981) is a wartime drama by Damir Salimov you can watch online on iFILM. The year is 1942, and trainloads of orphaned children are being moved out of besieged Leningrad deep into the Soviet rear.

The echelons of exhausted kids reach Uzbekistan. In villages and towns they are taken in by families and orphanages — Uzbek mothers open their homes to children who have lost everyone. The film follows how strangers turn into kin: a boy from Leningrad picks up his first Uzbek words, an old farmer calls the rescued children his own. Tamara Shakirova, Lev Lemke and Elena Astafyeva lead the cast.

Made at Uzbekfilm, the story draws on a real chapter of the war, when the republic sheltered tens of thousands of evacuated orphans. No battle scenes, no grand speeches — just quiet domestic moments that speak of mercy louder than any monologue. One for viewers who value honest Soviet home-front drama. Stream Leningraders, My Children (1981) online on iFILM.