Approx. 7 min
Chapter III
Winter
A scene from the winter chapter. It gives a sense of the film's rhythm, the farm in deep cold and the relationship between Misha and his workers.
Logline
In a remote corner of western Russia, Misha runs a farm with minks, cattle, pigs, horses and a few workers. He is tender with his animals and harsh with his men. Over four seasons, as animals are fed and roofs patched, authority stays improvised and loyalty fragile. Then a worker dies, and Misha suspects another. The next morning the animals still need feeding. A film about care and violence that come from the same hands.
Synopsis
Somewhere in the far west of Russia Misha keeps an animal farm. He has minks, cattle, pigs, poultry, horses and a few men who work for him. Of all the creatures here, the men get the least care.
The film follows one year on the farm in five chapters: summer, autumn, winter, spring, and summer once more, as if the year had to start over just to prove that nothing would change. Animals are fed, roofs are patched, wages are argued over. Misha sees everything and forgives little. He can be tender with a calf and humiliate a man within the same hour, and he finds nothing strange in that.
Authority here is improvised, and loyalty lasts until the next payday. Then one of the workers dies. Misha suspects another of having a hand in it. The next morning the animals still need feeding.
This is a film about a place where care and violence come from the same hands, and where just holding things together is a kind of heroism, or a kind of sentence.
Long synopsis
Misha’s farm lies far from anywhere in western Russia: minks, cattle, pigs, poultry, horses, and a handful of hired hands. The film spends a full year here, comprised in five chapters: summer, autumn, winter, spring, and summer again, as if the calendar itself were running in a loop.
Nothing escapes Misha’s eye. Every feeder, every fence, every task passes under his control. With the animals he can be surprisingly gentle, attentive, almost loving. With the men who work for him he is someone else: impatient, domineering, at times humiliating. People come and go, alliances shift, and whoever is in charge is in charge only until the next quarrel.
The seasons turn and the work never ends. Animals must be fed, structures repaired, labor negotiated again and again. Then, in the middle of this routine, one of the helpers dies. Misha is convinced that another worker is responsible. Yet there is no reckoning and no pause. The shifts go on, the farm absorbs the loss as it absorbs everything else, and nothing changes.
Without commentary, the film observes how tenderness and cruelty live side by side, and how a small world keeps itself from falling apart, at a cost that no one counts.
- ISummer
- IIAutumn
- IIIWinter
- IVSpring
- VSummer again
Working scenes
Russian with English subtitles · click to watch
Approx. 7 min
Approx. 4 min
Work in progress
On the farm
A short scene from the rough cut: daily work, the animals, and Misha with his men.
The rough cut is available on request
Request the rough cutPhotographs
Photographs taken on the farm during filming by Natalia Chub-Afanasyeva
13 photographs · click to enlarge
Director's statement
I am interested in contradictions that do not resolve: how the same person can embody both care and cruelty.
I shot this project over three years. The protagonist is my uncle, a man I have known since childhood. I am present in the film as both observer and occasional participant. This is a film about a world that is rarely visible from the outside.
The work on the farm is done predominantly by men, some of them ex-convicts, so my presence drew some attention. My uncle often speaks to me directly and voices his concerns. I have always known his dedication and passion for animals, and I wanted to see whether that dedication is strong enough to withstand hardship and the negligence of his workers.
The narrative is built from linear events that unfold season after season. Formally, the film is organised as a cycle of the four seasons in five chapters, each unfolding as if in a single day. This allows relationships and tensions to accumulate gradually. There is no voice-over and no music; the camera is handheld, live and close to people.
Motivation
My main motivation for this project is to explore the Russian cultural matrix.
The work began in 2014 and is still going on. The farm lies in a small village in western Russia. Without state support and in constant economic difficulty, the farmer keeps it going by diversifying: besides fur, he keeps dairy and beef cattle, and three horses that he rents out at fairs.
He works from dawn till dusk with only a few helpers and takes part in every task himself, from preparing food for the animals (and for his helpers) to milking the cows. He can hardly leave the farm for more than a few days: his helpers drink, and he cannot rely on them.
My approach is to get as close as possible to the people while keeping some distance, so the viewer sees them intimately and, at the same time, sees the bigger picture. I want to show not only the people of the farm but also the space around them. Through a connection with both the people and the place, the viewer can be fully drawn into the scene.
Director
Natalia Chub‑Afanasyeva
Natalia Chub-Afanasyeva is a Russian-Swiss-French documentary filmmaker, born in Moscow and based in Potsdam, Germany. She works with observational and author-driven forms. Her work focuses on human condition and behaviour within social structures, often combining intimacy, ambiguity and restrained narrative.
She first trained as an English teacher and then moved into film, earning a BA in Digital Filmmaking from Middlesex University (2015). In 2017 she studied documentary photography at the Fotografika Documentary Academy in St. Petersburg. In 2024 she completed the Un/Filmed documentary programme under the mentorship of Askold Kurov. Saga of a Cow, Mink, Horse and Men is her first feature documentary for public release.
Selected works
- Memory for TwoDocumentary · 20 min · Germany · in production · planned for 2027
- Clearing OutDocumentary · 17 min · Germany · 2025
- White OutDocumentary · 90 min · Switzerland · 2014 · internal film for a theatre group in Zurich
- 300 Years OldDocumentary · 5 min · Russia · 2011
Technical information
- Title
- Saga of a Cow, Mink, Horse and Men (working title)
- Director
- Natalia Chub-Afanasyeva
- Genre
- Feature documentary, observational
- Running time
- ca. 90 min
- Country
- Germany
- Filming location
- Western Russia
- Language
- Russian, English subtitles
- Format
- Feature-length documentary, digital
- Shooting period
- Three years, four seasons
- Status
- Post-production (rough cut), completion 2027
Visual approach
- Participatory, observational style following the farmer
- Live, handheld camera, close to people
- No voice-over commentary
- Cyclical structure of the four seasons in five chapters, each unfolding as if in a single day
- Set entirely on the farm: outdoor spaces and enclosed interiors
Producer's notes
This is the director’s first feature film: a 90-minute documentary, currently in rough cut. It has been financed entirely from the director’s own resources. Shooting is complete. What remains is the fine cut, colour grading, sound design, sound mix and subtitling. We are now looking for partners to help us bring the film to completion and to its audience.
Behind the feature lies a much larger body of footage, enough for a three-hour version or a mini-series. This gives the project room to grow beyond the theatrical cut, for broadcasters and platforms interested in a longer format.
The access is unique. Misha, the farmer, is the director’s uncle. Only a family member could film him, his workers and his animals this closely and over such a long period, without the farm putting on a show for the camera.
On the surface, this is a portrait of one farm. On a larger scale, it is a film about the Russian cultural matrix. The collapse of the Soviet Union destroyed the country’s agricultural sector, and more than three decades later it has never fully recovered. A private farmer like Misha cannot afford a qualified workforce. He relies on whoever is available: homeless men, men who drink heavily, men just released from prison. They arrive, work a little, drink, and leave. Economic hardship is part of everyday life, and every step forward takes enormous effort just to keep things from falling apart.
On a more intimate level, the film lets a European viewer enter a reality that runs on different principles, both between people and between people and animals. Here, keeping mink in cages and raising cattle for meat goes hand in hand with genuine love for the animals. The cage, however inhumane it may look, is not in itself a synonym for cruelty. For a Western audience this is a deeply uncomfortable and contested idea, and the film does not try to resolve it. We expect it to provoke strong reactions and lively debate.
We aim to premiere the film at a leading documentary festival such as IDFA, Visions du Réel, Sheffield DocFest or Ji.hlava, and to build its further life through television. As a first feature with exclusive access and a subject that divides audiences, it is well placed for both festival competition and broadcast.
The film is looking for
- Sales agent
International sales and festival positioning.
- Distribution
Theatrical and broadcast partners in Germany, France, Switzerland and beyond.
- Finishing partners
Support for sound design and mix, colour grading and subtitles.
Contact
A screening link for the rough cut and the project sheet are available on request.