Soviet satire so sharp it almost got the filmmakers sent to the gulag—oh wait, it did.
Television crews arrive in a fishing area to film a report about fishermen and the advanced farm of Chairman Kalach. On the way, they are intercepted by Senka Lapin and his friends. Their goal is to show the beauty of the amazing Lake Baikal and the monstrous working and living conditions of the fishermen...
Writing
Satirical dialogue that genuinely endangered its creators' lives.
Direction
Dorman shoots Baikal like paradise and the fish farm like hell.
Director
Venyamin Dorman
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The film was immediately banned and remained shelved until glasnost in the late 1980s. Dorman didn't direct again for over a decade.
Lake Baikal was already becoming an environmental symbol in Soviet dissent; this film weaponized that symbolism against official 'progress' narratives.
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