Elena Volyntseva

This film is based on the book about Vasili Ivanovich Chapaev (1887 - 1919) who was in real life the Commander of the 25th Division of the Red Army. Chapaev is an uneducated peasant and a decorated hero in the World War I and later in the Russian Civil War, that followed the Russian revolution. This man of action is fighting on the side of the poor people. His troops consist of peasants, just like him. Unable to write, he can brilliantly demonstrate various battle tactics by moving potatoes on the table. He is street smart. He never lost a battle against the experienced Generals of the Tzar's Army.

Film adaptation of The Golovlyov Family ("Господа Головлёвы), a classic novel by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. In the mid-19th century old-fashioned estate based on serfdom laws and traditions, tough and shrewd Arina Petrovna tries her best to make her realm prosper and even expand – despite unwillingness of her husband and three of her four children to lend helping hands... Ten years on, serfdom abolished, and now Porfiry-Yudishka, the epitome of a corrupt, cruel hypocrite, becomes the heir to the estate. Dullness and horrors of life, spent in destroying everybody around him, finally makes him to slowly realize things went somehow wrong. Half-mad, apparently, he goes to the cemetery to "ask for forgiveness" from his mother Arina Petrovna, and dies somewhere along his way, his frozen corpse found the next day.

The film mocks the moribund world of pan-Poland. The border established by the Treaty of Riga between pan-Poland and Soviet Belorussia passed through the estate of Polish Count Wadecki. The best part of the estate with the palace ended up on Soviet territory. From that moment on, the count lost peace and sleep. New owners - a noisy, cheerful pioneer squad - took up residence in the former manor house. The count's servants, shepherd boy Vasya and servant girl Yadya, watch the life of their neighbours with keen interest. Having accidentally crossed the border in search of a stray cow, Vasya happily stays in Soviet Belarus. He is followed by Yadia. Eventually the Count and his "lordly" guests cannot bear the sight of the noisy youth festivities on the Soviet side and flee. Yadia and Vasil participate in the Soviet youth party.