A Time to Gather Stones

An almanac of short feature films based on stories by Mikhail Mishin from the collection of short stories "Pause in a Major".

Siege of Leningrad, 1942. Despaired Nina Voronova evacuates from the city, leaving her little son along in a deadly cold apartment. He is found by Katya, a teenage girl from next door. She claims he’s her brother, and manages to get extra food provision from the district administration. When Alexey Voronov arrives to the city, he realises this little boy is his son.

Russia, the early 20th century. Smart underground revolutionaries invented an apparatus detecting sexual impulses. That would let them use the erotic energy for the cause of the revolution, instead of wasting it in carnal pleasures, as the unconscionable bourgeoisie does. The revolutionaries start working on building a sex bomb, a weapon of formidable destructive power.

The action takes place in a small Ural village beginning the War. The protagonist returns to his native place several years after the war and finds out that he is considered missed in action. The story about people whose quiet life was ruined by the War. The film reveals the tragedy of the whole nation.