With the unveiling of its new building, Valery Gergiev's Mariinsky Theatre has established itself as Russia's premier music institution. Dmitry Renansky ponders the significance of the new cultural superpower

Critic-turned-director Lyubov Arkus shuns the traditional impassive approach of documentary in favour of an intensely personal relationship with the subject. The result, argues Giuliano Vivaldi, is a powerful meditation on autism and the language of cinema

A Russian entrepreneur and founder of the avatar 2045 Initiative says humanity is only a step away from immortality. Tatiana Rubleva explores a scientific project that could challenge our notion of the impossible