Peculiarities of the National Hunt in the Winter

Kuzmich’s hunting ground no. 13. One winter evening Kuzmich reads militiaman Semyon his philosophical tract about a Chinese hunter who searched for six years before discovering the meaning of his efforts. He is stirred from his contemplations not only by his old friends, General Ivolghin and Detective Lyova Soloveychik, who have dropped by to relax, but also by some uninvited guests: ministerial examiners and ecological inspectors – a lady of valiant appearance and behaviour and her sickly assistant. This circumstance unpropitiously influences the men’s merry rituals and even their carefully planned boar hunt. There is nothing left for the general to do but implement a tried-and-true tactic: his energetic toasts ease the tension and dull the examiners’ vigilance. The snow, biting frost and Kuzmich’s bear contribute substantially to the curious incidents that take place in the idyllic hunting grounds. The film was first conceived as a television series and was shot in only 16 days near St. Petersburg. (Karlovy Vary International Film Festival)