In a remote forest in western russia, Katya spends her days as an employee of the local Elk farm. For over 20 years, she has been responsible for every aspect of these majestic, hulking creatures’ lives, from delivering them as babies to separating them from their mothers to milking them as adults. In addition, she must show jostling crowds of tourists around the farm every day. Katya is also having trouble with her son, who is desperately unhappy at the military cadet school she has sent him to, and we see the parallels between her roles as a mother and a caregiver at work and at home as they play out in subtle but affecting ways. In this beautifully filmed, empathetic, and slyly funny portrayal, we watch as Katya stoically struggles to balance the needs of those who depend on her, be they human or animal, with her own. PB