Set during the first half of the 1970s, The Vanished Empire depicts a love triangle between two young men and a girl who study at the same Moscow university. As they argue, make up, and face their first disappointments and victories, the country they love undergoes sweeping and irreversible changes. The latest film by celebrated Russian filmmaker Karen Shakhnazarov (Zero City, Jazzman) is a cinematic love letter to a unique moment in the lives of the Soviet youth.