Description:

Adaptation of a 16th-century poem about the Polish/Lithuanian/Belarusian lands, their hunting of the bison, and their battles against the Ottoman-supported Tatars and Teutonic Knights.

Originally published in the Latin language in 1523, commissioned by Pope Leo X who was an avid hunter (who, however, died before the poem was completed). Considered the earliest text in their literature by three countries: Poland, Belarus and Lithuania.

First translated into Polish in 1914, and several translations into Russian with the first in 1968. This film seems to use the Russian translation from the 1980 Belarusian-Russian edition, which can be read online here.

Some information about the author can be found on Wikipedia. Two English translations exist. The first, by Michał J. Mikoś (2007), seems closer to the original. The second, by Frederick J. Booth (2019, "Song of the Bison") is not in verse but in prose, and differs significantly from the Russian translation that served as the basis for this film, being shorter and much less poetic.

For some critical commentary, see Marion Rutz's Carmen de bisonte in English and for an International Audience (2022).