Yesterday, the online platform OKKO celebrated its 15th anniversary. We decided to gather the cinema's favorite projects in one article. Just a list, without rankings, as all projects are beloved.

 1703

«1703» is the winner of the Originals+ streaming festival, a stylish hybrid of black comedy and noir detective with a powerful acting duo of Gosha Kutsenko and Kuzma Saprykin. The plot revolves around the investigation of the disappearance of corpses from St. Petersburg morgues, undertaken by two completely dissimilar partners: a cynical misanthrope and fan of Tanya Bulanova, Gosha, who is experiencing a personal drama because of his transgender son, and young Muscovite Vadik, who dreams of stand-up and resists the St. Petersburg gloom. The project wins over with its unique atmosphere — a gloomy, mythologized St. Petersburg with an endless night, absurd characters like a priest with a vape, and a fine balance between black humor and deep drama. The brilliant cast (including Pavel Tabakov, Andrey Fedortsov, and Nikolai Fomenko), witty dialogues, and signature soundtrack turn this story into one of the most notable events of the Russian series year, although the open ending of the first season divided viewers' opinions.

Magic Precinct

«Magic Precinct» is a daring and atmospheric Russian fantasy where former special forces soldier Lyokha Popov ends up in a department for combating fairy-tale crimes and instead of ordinary bandits catches werewolves with Baba Yaga in modern Moscow (and later St. Petersburg) settings. The series wins over with a fresh idea — placing mythical characters in a gritty reality, complemented by a talking dog Palych, a gnome with Tourette's syndrome, and absurd but catchy humor, and the stylish visuals paired with an excellent cast (Naumov, Sobolev, Yankovsky) turn this story not just into a fairy tale for adults, but into an engaging detective story about how difficult it is to remain human when surrounded by all sorts of evil spirits. And for the crossover with the series that is in this list, an extra plus in karma.

 Get on Your Feet

«Get on Your Feet» is an inclusive dramedy that won the prize for «Most Anticipated Series» at the «New Season» festival. At the center of the plot is former prisoner Andrey, nicknamed Stary (Gosha Kutsenko), who returns to Pyatigorsk after 20 years in prison and learns that he has an adult daughter Olya (Mila Ershova), who uses a wheelchair. Forced to live under the supervision of a local police officer (Olga Lerman), the heroes go from distrust and resentment to attempts to build a relationship, while simultaneously Stary tries to collect an old debt from a former accomplice (Alexey Rozin). The project wins over with its careful approach to the topic of inclusion: the prototype of the heroine was a real girl, Zlata Varlamova, who consulted the film crew, and one of the key roles was played by actor with Down syndrome Anton Sankevich. This is a warm and life-affirming story about a second chance, where tragic moments coexist with organic humor, and the authors' attention is focused not on diagnoses, but on living people with their own fears and dreams.

 Breathe

«Breathe» is a tense drama directed by Anna Kuznetsova (author of «Vacation»), which has already received the main prize at the «Pilot» festival and rave reviews from critics. At the center of the plot is Lera (Marina Alexandrova), a star Moscow obstetrician, a supporter of natural childbirth, after a failed delivery of Masha (Dasha Vereshchagina), the mistress of influential businessman Shakhov (Pyotr Buslov), becomes the main accused in the tragedy. The series wins over not only with its relevant medical and social issues (the cost of medical error, violence in childbirth, misogyny), but also with its multi-layered plot: in addition to the investigation, the viewer is immersed in Lera's personal life — a widow with three children, with alcohol addiction, and also sees the storylines of her teenage daughters facing bullying and first love. Brilliant acting by Alexandrova, a lively script, and atmospheric direction creating a «bubbling microcosm».

Kalimba

«Kalimba» is a psychological thriller with elements of detective, which unfolds around a risky experiment by professor of psychiatry Meshchersky (Fyodor Bondarchuk). He gathers eight people in an isolated basement — four pairs of «victim and offender» (rape, car accident with disability, drug addiction, financial fraud), puts electric shock bracelets on them and tries to «heal» them from trauma through confrontation. The project wins over with its dark atmosphere, referencing the Stanford experiment, and the star duo of Bondarchuk with Sergei Garmash, while the plot keeps tension through a double intrigue: the professor's true goal remains a mystery, and in the middle of the narrative, when the experiment gets out of control, a mysterious sniper gets involved, sharply changing the genre from claustrophobic drama to a detective with a criminal resolution.

 Volunteer's Playlist

«Volunteer's Playlist» is an eight-episode drama based on the autobiographical novel by a member of a search team, Mrshavko Shtapich (Artyom Lyashenko), who also served as the screenwriter of the project. At the center of the plot is 25-year-old Misha Shtapich (Ivan Yankovsky), whose life has gone downhill: divorce, problems with his ex-wife and son, lack of money and alcohol addiction. After volunteers find him himself, he, by chance, joins the team and rapidly turns into a talented coordinator who finds missing people where others are powerless. The project wins over with its honest, sometimes oppressive atmosphere, referencing films by Zvyagintsev and Balabanov, and a realistic look at the daily life of volunteers, where each episode is a separate operation to search for a person. However, the series is not only about searches in the forests, but also about the personal dramas of the volunteers themselves, their imperfection, love triangles, and the hero's difficult journey from complete apathy to finding meaning through saving others. Shtapich's role is one of the best works of Ivan Yankovsky, who together with Shamil Khamatov, Dmitry Chebotaryov, and Mila Ershova creates a powerful acting ensemble, for which the project received the main prize at the streaming content festival.

Sex Before and After

«Sex Before and After» is the directorial debut of Daria Moroz. Its main strength is that it skillfully deceives expectations: despite the provocative title, there is almost no sex on screen. Instead, in the format of witty short stories taking place in a bar called «Ice», the authors explore complex human nature — what we say, what we feel, and who we become before intimacy and after it. The series wins over with honest, ironic, and life-like dialogues about crises, fears, and desires, while maintaining a stylish look and excellent acting ensemble. It is a light but thoughtful dramedy that, without unnecessary frankness, talks about the most important things in relationships between

The Route

«The Route» is a dark psychological thriller from the creators of «The Method», Oleg Malovichko and Dusan Gligorov, which from the very first minutes immerses the viewer in an atmosphere of hopelessness and mystery. At the center of the plot are two storylines: St. Petersburg judge Svetlana (Karina Razumovskaya) goes in search of her missing adopted daughter, and in a provincial town, investigator Elvira (Anna Mikhalkova) investigates the horrific case of a 13-year-old girl who shot her family. The series wins over not only with its star cast and realistic, oppressive visuals, but also with its multi-layered plot, which gradually connects these two stories together, revealing a terrible picture of a criminal network, corruption, and human indifference. It is a harsh and honest exploration of the themes of violence, trauma, and the price of human life, which keeps tension until the very end, forcing the viewer, together with the heroines, to unravel the tangle of dark secrets of the past.

The Lesson

«The Lesson» is a dramatic series about former rapper Anton (Yura Borisov), who after the death of his girlfriend, drug addiction, and escape from rehab returns to his hometown and, on the condition of his older brother, a teacher Konstantin (Daniil Vorobyov), gets a job at a school. The project wins over not only with the star duo of Borisov and Vorobyov, whose acting turns the story of brotherly enmity into a subtle psychological duel, but also with its multi-layered plot: on one hand — the drama of an adult man trying to «work through mistakes» through mentoring, on the other — the detailed storylines of teenagers with their real problems: bullying, addiction, domestic violence, self-harm. The series does not slide into a clichéd «re-education of difficult children by a teacher», but honestly says that a second chance is not given to everyone, and keeps the viewer in suspense until the very end.

The Black Countess

«The Black Countess» is a hermetic detective thriller by Ilya Kulikov («Dyatlov Pass») with elements of mysticism, which unfolds in the spirit of Agatha Christie's «And Then There Were None». At the center of the plot is a closed immersive show for one very rich viewer: in an old mansion, actors under the direction of a director (Yuri Chursin) perform a play, but during the 12th performance everything goes off script — an actor dies, and all participants find themselves cut off from the world. What begins as a psychological game of finding the killer among those present, in the finale turns into the intervention of supernatural forces — the spirit of the countess living in the house and in a cursed comb, which is obsessed with the rich heiress Linda (Ekaterina Volkova). The project wins over with its stylish atmosphere, disturbing music, and strong cast (Kirill Kyaro, Ekaterina Volkova).

We hope that in the coming years the list of favorite series will only grow.