A project in the making since the 1970s, inspired by both Gogol’s short story and Shostkovich’s opera, Khrzhanovsky’s The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks is an artistic gem which asks pertinent questions about Russian civilisation. Freely jumping between decades and location, some of the film is set on a plane where famous moments of cinema play on the monitors. This animation tells both the story of The Nose and a parable of 20th-century Russia against the backdrop of Stalin’s reign of terror. Characters include Gogol, Shostkovich, Bulgakov, and Tarkovsky.