Alexander Sokurov's Russian Ark is generally acclaimed as a milestone in cinematography. In this film, Sokurov reversed the idea of montage, creating instead the sensation of an uninterrupted flow of time encompassing three centuries of Russia's cultural history through a single, 90-minute take.

Yet this film is but one milestone in the work of this versatile director. Since the 1990s, Sokurov's films have had international recognition at film festivals and through foreign distribution. In this, the first English-language book to cover Sokurov's full oeuvre, leading scholars on Sokurov unravel his work on documentaries; his early films and literary adaptations; his trilogy on leaders focusing on the decaying body; his films on passing youth and approaching age; and, of course, Russian Ark. The book also provides samples of the major Russian-language studies of Sokurov’s films to provide the reader with an insight into Russian approaches to Sokurov.