SYNOPSIS: The rich history of Ukrainian Cossacks date back the late 15th century when a bloody battle between the East and the West ensued for almost 300 years.  From the very beginning of their existence, Cossacks presented a willful force which no potential conquers were able to subjugate.  In their secular struggle against their enemies, the Cossacks created a distinctive military art.  Severe life conditions along with the continuous threat of annihilation made for cultivating such moral and physical qualities as courage, endurance and quick wit.  They easily endured hardships of military life, and learned to be content with little.  It is long ago that the last bloody battle ended and nowadays earth doesn't groan under innumerable hords, cries of slaves don't float over the steppe expanse, and those who saturated this earth with their blood defending it don’t exist anymore.  But they still live in people’s memory.

In Azov Films' Matter of History: Spas on Khortytsya, four boys are charged with bringing you a look at the 11th Cossack Festival in Zaporizhzhya.  No blood, no gore, just singing, dancing and celebrating Ukraine's rich history!

EDITORIAL REVIEW: A Cossack is Russia's answer to Cavalry mounted units.  Knowing that, you'd think we'd show some Cossacks in this film!  You'll see no (live) horses and no battles that the Cossacks are famous for.  The problem with giving boys a camera, an assignment, and very little (if any) supervision, you're pretty much playing Russian Roulette with not only the quality of the footage you'll get back, but also exactly what is filmed.  In this case we got no horses, a lot of dancing, and girl's bums.  We thought about scrapping the entire project and starting over again, but thought that this is exactly the premise of "A Boy's Video Diary."  The whole point of this series is to give our young journalists a camera to film some sort of historical venue, or cultural event, so you, the viewer, can see it from their prospective.  In this case, it took a lot of editing (to take out those close ups of girls bums) but we managed to string together a brief look at the 11th Annual Cossack Festival that took place in October, 2008, in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine.  You'll see some Cossacks, both young and old, and their colorful uniforms, from all over Ukraine.  Singing, dancing and celebrations galore start off our second Matter of History movie.  Later on, the pros take over the camera work and a trip to the sauna ends the day where we HOPE the boys were entertained if not educated!

You meet two new Azov boys today.  At the Festival, you'll meet Sasha Serov (yes, yet another Sasha) who takes the camera for a while (he's the boy on the DVD cover) to give us his point of view (he was briefly seen in Parkour Boys).  A little later on at the sauna, you'll meet newcomer Vitaliy (or Victor as he sometimes goes by).  The boys play Twister, swim, relax and have all the usual nudist fun to wrap up another great Azov Films release.  Some of you have expressed concern that the interviews with the boys are rather boring (we agree).  So, while we "re-tool" our interview portions (new and improved interviews are coming soon), we've moved this interview to our Bonus Features (for more than one reason this time...and you'll see what I mean when you watch it).

Speaking of Bonus Features, we've packed this DVD with a whole mess of extras:

° 51-picture slideshow with photos you can download to your computer.
° 16-minute sauna interview with the boys (subtitled in English).
° History of Cossacks biography.
° History of Naturism biography.
° Trailers.

If you're wondering why the running time is lower than the usual, it's because we moved the sauna interview into the Bonus Features.  An of course, like all of our Azov Films releases, the entire show is subtitled in English.

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* This DVD will play WORLDWIDE.

STARRING: Stanislav Ivanov, Ivan (Vanya) Krasko, Zhenya Petrov, Alexander (Sasha) Serov, Konstantin Krasnulin, Vitaliy (Victor) Arlipenko.
DIRECTOR: Sergey Kotov.
AVAILABILITY: In stock! Ships within one business day.
LENGTH: 75 minutes + previews + deleted scene + photo gallery.
LANGUAGE: Russian, with OPTIONAL ENGLISH SUBTITLES.
SPECIAL FEATURES: 1.33:1 (4:3 Full Screen); 2.0 Stereo; 1 disc; Chapter selection; Sauna interview with the boys; History of naturism biography; History of Cossacks biography; Slide show with downloadable 51-picture photo gallery; Trailers.
VIEWER DISCRETION: Naturist, European culture.
PICTURE QUALITY: Excellent picture quality. (what's this mean?)
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Ukraine (2008).
ALSO KNOWN AS:
DATE OF PRODUCTION: October, 2008.
DATE ADDED TO OUR LIBRARY: December 12, 2008.

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*There is no sexual content in this professionally produced film. ** This film is suitable for viewing by naturists and those interested in the naturist lifestyle.