Enchanted Region (Season 1)

Enchanted Region (Заколдованный участок, 2006) is a Russian comedy-drama series you can watch online on iFILM. The village of Anisovka has hit rock bottom — people drink, loaf around, and stare gloomily at a future where a new bridge nearby threatens to wipe the place off the map. So the local bosses try a last resort: they hire a psychic to cure the whole village of drinking, despair and plain laziness in one go.

The session does not go as planned. The hypnotist collapses mid-trance, and when Anisovka wakes up it is a changed place — only something has gone wrong with the psychic too. From there the locals must work out who bewitched whom and how to undo it. That absurd premise spins off a string of stories, funny and almost fairy-tale-like, yet rooted in very recognizable countryside life.

This folksy comedy gathers a strong cast: Leonid Yarmolnik, Vladimir Menshov, Roman Madyanov and Andrei Krasko in one of his final roles, directed by Alexander Baranov. It's a warm, ironic take on rural Russia with none of the usual bleakness — a treat for anyone who likes gentle stories carried by real actors. Stream every episode of Enchanted Region (2006) online on iFILM.