At a time when all agriculture in the country was conducted by collective and state farms and this way of life seemed to be the only correct one, director M. Litvyakov turned to the theme of individual farming, "privatnik". The film caused a storm of indignation on the part of collective and state farm leaders, on the part of the party nomenklatura. The question of whether or not to release the film on the screen was decided only in the Central Committee of the CPSU - permission to show it was received.
View of a part of the Yaroslavsky railway station building in Moscow.
Passengers exit the carriages of an electric train, legs of passengers walking along the platform.
A woman from the Kaluga region answers questions about her work, the successes of her farms, about coming to Moscow for groceries (synchronously and off-screen), a girl sits on suitcases.
Carriages of a departing electric train.
Views of a peasant farm (convex image in a circle).
Rural landscapes, view from their windows.
Interior view of a covered market (from above).
Food sellers at the counters offer goods, serve customers (panorama).
The face of a seller from Central Asia.
Faces of sellers and customers.
The sellers answer the question - where they come from, talk about their personal farm, livestock and poultry, about living conditions, about the goods and products that they buy in the city, about the small number of meat products on sale, about the reasons that do not allow keeping a lot of livestock, about the lack of feed (synchronously).
The sellers lay out the goods on the counters.
In the evening, the collective farm shepherd drives the cows into the pen.
The herd fords the river, the mowers mow the grass on the bank.
People mowing.
Stacking the mown grass, preparing fodder in one of the farms.
Stacking hay in a haystack.
A team of mowers in the field near a haystack during lunch.
Economist Shmelev G.I. speaks to the collective farmers about the topic of the meeting to discuss issues of private subsidiary farming (synchronously and off-screen), collective farmers at the meeting, Shmelev's face, panorama of the meeting.
A collective farmer speaks about the neglect and difficulties of running a private farm, the difficulties and problems of keeping livestock and delivering milk to the state (synchronously and off-screen), faces of the meeting participants.
A woman speaks about the lack of feed for keeping livestock (synchronously and off-screen), faces of the meeting participants.
Shmelev Geliy Ivanovich - economist
1978
Moscow Moscow region Kaluga region Ryazan region
Summer
Participants of the meeting with economist Shmelev talk about their indifference to subsidiary farming, the reasons for such indifference, the difficulties of keeping livestock, the lack of feed for livestock, the small number of livestock, the full provision of people by the collective farm and the outflow of youth from the village (synchronously).
Collective farmers talk about the amount of livestock and poultry in their personal farm, talk about the need to have a personal farm (synchronously and off-camera), faces of the meeting participants.
A member of the local regional committee of the CPSU informs the meeting participants about the allocation of compound feed for individual farms, about the reasons for the lack of feed on sale due to the reluctance of trade organizations to remove it from warehouses (synchronously and off-camera), faces of Shmelev and the meeting participants.
Mowers mowing during a smoke break.
Mowers mow grass in a meadow, faces of the mowers.
Interior view of a covered food market (from above).
Market vendors talk about the basic food products in the village, the presence and quantity of livestock on the farm, the difficulties and problems of maintaining a private farm, the benefits of food trading for the family budget, the reluctance of young people to work the land, and trips to Moscow for meat and sausage (synchronously and off-screen).
Buyers at the market choose goods.
Vendors behind one of the counters.
A cleaner stands leaning on an empty counter.
A woman with a turkey in her hands in the window of a hut.
A woman with a boy in the window of a house.
A woman with a cat in the window of a house.
People's faces in the windows of a village house (alternating shots).
Rural summer landscape, heads of passing mowers are visible in the tall grass.
A woman weeds beds in a vegetable garden.
A concrete pillbox overgrown with grass, a panorama of a field, a combine harvesting.
A German economist asks the director of a breeding state farm about the workers' personal subsidiary farms and livestock ownership; a translator translates into Russian (synchronously and off-screen).
Panorama of some of the state farm's residential buildings.
The director talks about the presence and quantity of livestock and poultry owned by the state farm's workers, and about providing the state farm's workers with personal land plots (synchronously and off-screen).
Views of the state farm's territory, the daily life of the state farm's workers.
Ducks graze by a pond, swim in the water.
Goats tied to a fence.
Apple harvesting, panorama of personal land plots.
Faces of the German guests.
Shmelev Geliy Ivanovich - economist
1978
Moscow Moscow region Kaluga region Ryazan region
Summer
Views of the state farm territory from the windows of a wedding car, the bride's face during marriage registration, a bouquet in the bride's hands.
The newlyweds and guests on the observation deck of the Wedding Palace.
View of the wedding banquet, the guests shout "Bitter!", the newlyweds kiss.
An orchestra plays, the newlyweds and guests dance on the open area.
A woman at the wedding talks about the parasitic mood of city dwellers, about the difficulties of keeping livestock (synchronously).
One of the guests shouts "Bitter!" at the wedding table, the newlyweds kiss, the orchestra plays a fanfare.
The guests at the wedding talk about the inconvenience of urban-type houses in rural areas for caring for personal livestock, about the need to build houses for two families and keep dairy cattle (synchronously).
Guests dancing at the wedding.
A woman talks about the advantages and conveniences of her own house in the countryside, about the usual way of life of the village and the preservation of its traditions (synchronously and behind the scenes).
Dancing guests.
The boy's face.
Village children ride horses in shallow water.
Young people on mopeds ford a stream, raising splashes.
Young people ride mopeds on an island, summer rural landscape.
People walk across the square, women carry goods to the market in carts (top).
Interior view of a covered food market (panorama).
Sellers prepare for the working day.
A woman mows the grass in her yard, panorama of bushes and fruit trees.
Combine harvesters in the field harvesting.
City relatives of villagers pack vegetables and other agricultural products, load them onto the roof rack of a car.
A basket of apples in the trunk of a car, the trunk lid is closing.
An elderly collective farmer talks about the age-related difficulties of keeping livestock, about the reluctance of young people to keep their own livestock (synchronously).
A passenger car loaded with agricultural products sets off for the city, relatives wave goodbye with handkerchiefs.
Panorama of a part of the sky in the clouds.
1978
Moscow region Kaluga region Ryazan region
Summer