Valentina Smirnova

An orphaned boy unlocks terrifying memories from the “kinderheim” concentration camp upon attending a trial of collaborators.

"Tale of the Star Child" is a two-part television film, based on the works of Oscar Wilde. Like the earlier film, The Star Boy (1958), The Tale of the Star Boy, was based on two tales from Wilde's collection "A House of Pomegranates" - The Star-Child (1891) and The Birthday of the Infanta (1888) . However, the plot, in contrast to the first screen version, made more significant changes: in particular, added science-fiction elements and completely eliminated magic.

The eldest son, who left for St. Petersburg, where he works as a detective, comes to the family of a crooked merchant and shopkeeper Grigory Tsybukin. Parents decide to marry him - his son is already 28 years old. They find a poor, but beautiful, clean and modest girl who meekly marries an already worn-out and balding man from the city, decently "laying by the collar". There is a merry wedding, and the husband leaves, leaving another worker in the family...

A parody of the clichés and techniques of the Soviet adventurous comedy genre of the 1950s-1970s. This is a story about three heroes who return to their home city after escaping from prison. Truthfulness and sincerity help the characters find their place in the changed system.

Lopushansky's second film focuses on a few hours in the life of a soloist musician during the siege of Leningrad, in WWII. The Leningrad philharmonic is going to play Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony, which is to be broadcast to England. The soloist, like his fellow musicians, is weak and half-starved, and doubts whether he will be able to perform well enough.

The war caught Pavlik and his mother far from Leningrad, where they lived. Soon they found themselves in the territory occupied by the Nazis. When his mother was arrested on the traitor's denunciation, Pavlik went on foot to Leningrad. The partisan scout Savely brought the boy to his house, and two winters later Pavel, having matured, became a soldier and returned to Leningrad with a partisan supply train.

Director Lydia Bobrova pictures the bleak life in the Russian countryside by showing some events in the life of three brothers and their families. The three brothers are different in character, but all suffer from the dreariness of kolchoz life. The title is derived from a nostalgic Russian song. The wild geese have the possibility of moving on to milder climes, a possibility that Russian country people don’t have.