After being demobilized from the army, Danylo returns to his native village and organizes the construction of a stadium, hoping to engage local youth through some work and sport. The person most resistant to the idea is Yushka, the village’s incorrigible prankster. Yushka is admired by Odarka, one of the local model workers. Hoping to impress her, he decides to transform himself from the biggest troublemaker into the village’s finest football player.

The only comedy in the career of Sergei Paradjanov—a filmmaker renowned for his wit and love of practical jokes—the film pays tribute to his mentor, Ihor Savchenko, whose film “Accordion” (1934) helped establish the genre of the Soviet kolkhoz comedy. “The First Lad” both embraces and reimagines this tradition in the spirit of the Thaw, creating a layered story about personal growth through sport, where duty ultimately gives way to genuine feeling.

Filled with inventive situational humor and vividly drawn characters, “The First Lad” became the biggest box-office success of Paradjanov’s career, attracting 21.7 million viewers. For the director himself, the film also marked the beginning of his fascination with the beauty and poetry of the Ukrainian countryside—a discovery he would later recall in his memoirs.