SPIKE Collection - Masters Of Russian Animation

Glass Harmonica

This seriously anti-Semitic clip from 1968 is nevertheless a mind-bending and hypnotic work of art, and reflects on the still valid issue of the worship of the money contra purity of art.

Glass Harmonica was shelved by Soviet censors who found it ideologically disturbing. It was finally released after perestroika. It was the first animated film scored by the late legendary Russian composer Alfred Schnittke. The animators Yulo-Ilmar Sooster and Yuri Nolyev-Sobolev, were among the most important artists of the Soviet underground. Before finding refuge at Soyuzmultfilm, they participated at the famous and controversial Manege (opposite the Kremlin) exhibit of underground art which was closed down by Khruschev and condemned by Soviet press.

This 20 min. film is from the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 04 min 30 sec

Tale of Tales

This clip is from a 1979 short film directed by Yuri Norstein, written by playwright Ludmila Petrushevskaya and is based on his childhood memories. It is Norstein's masterpiece and generally considered one of the greatest animated films ever made. It was the third collaboration among Norstein, his wife, the artist Francesca Yarbusova, and cameraman Alexander Zhukovsky. Zhukovsky photographed houses and even old cars in the Moscow neighborhood where Norstein grew up, and Yarbusova turned them into art. This film was difficult from the onset and made studio administrators and film ministry censors very nervous. The first script was rejected. The second was approved, but after four months of preparation production was halted for a year. It took Norstein thirteen months to complete the film, which was then rejected by state film censors who were terrified of possible hidden meanings. They rejected the original title There will Come a Little Grey Wolf. Norstein, without much thought, suggested Tale Of Tales, a phrase from a Turkish poem by Nazim Hikamet. After considerable lobbying by Fyodor Khitruk and numerous foreign film critics, Tale Of Tales was finally approved for distribution in November 1979 when the team of Norstein, Zhukovsky and Yarbusova received the prestigious "All State" Award for Hedgehog in the Fog and Heron and Crane.

This film is 30 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 10 min 00 sec

Hedgehog In The Fog

This clip from a 1975 short film directed by Yuri Norstein is an evocative piece done with cutouts and ink drawings, about a hedgehog who escapes danger with the help of the fog.
After Heron and Crane, Norstein and his team thought about making an "easy" film. Although the Norstein team (Norstein, Yarbusova and Zhukovsky) consisted of only three persons, the studio imposed on them the same production schedule given to films with large crews of 30 or more. By the day the film was due to be delivered to the studio, Norstein had only 20 percent completed. The director of Soyuzmultfilm was enraged and decided to shelve the project. He sent Norstein and Zhukovsky to a Communist Party committee meeting (as members of Soyuzmultfilm) to be reprimanded for disgracing the studio. Neither Norstein nor Zhukovsky were party members, but many of their friends were. Zhukovsky arrived early with a bottle of vodka and convinced a projectionist to stay late. He insisted that members of the committee see what Norstein had accomplished before making a final decision as to the fate of the film. The sixty meters the committee viewed were so impressive that all agreed to allow Norstein to complete the film.

This film is 12 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 07 sec

Passion Of Spies

A clip from an elaborate Spy vs. Spy epic from 1967, with many amusing sight gags relating to surveillance and other spy-like activities.

This is the second feature directed by Yefim Gamburg, an artist who began working at Soyuzmultfilm in 1955 and animated many of the best children's poems, fairy tales and songs. He turned his attention to adults with "Passions of Spies," reviewing dozens of Soviet spy and detective films to make Soyuzmultfilm's first spoof. He selected the most stereotypical spy movie plots and characters, all well known to Soviet audiences. Soviet censors were so nervous about the film that they immediately sent it to the film club at Lubyanka (KGB Headquarters) to test the political waters. A high ranking general loved it and personally thanked Gamburg for "destroying the established stereotype of the 'wooden' Soviet intelligence." Made during a period of Soviet world power, the film was never officially shown abroad until after perestroika.

This 20 min. film is from the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 04 min 27 sec

Ball Of Wool

This clip is from an impressive stop motion piece by Nikolai Serebryakov. "Ball of Wool" is based upon a folk tale about a magic lamb whose wool is ill-used by an elderly woman.

This 10 min. film is from the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 04 min 30 sec

Film Film Film

This clip is from 20 min. long film directed by Fyodor Khitruk and it wittily explores the highs and lows a movie director must go through to get a film made. It has a catchy theme song ("Feelm, feelm, feelm") and cleverly uses scenes from famous Russian movies as its story progresses.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 06 min 40 sec

Big Underground Ball

This clip is from a 1987 short film was directed by Stanislav Sokolov and is about the struggle of power between darkness and light in a world of dreams. The film is based on two Hans Christian Andersen stories, The Marsh King's Daughter and Hill of the Elves - both written by the famous Danish children's author to convey social, moral, and philosophical messages to a mature audience.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 06 min 20 sec

Contact

This clip is from a 1978 short film directed by Vladimir Tarasov, who became interested in science fiction as a child, reading western writers H.G. Wells, Isaac Asimov, and Andrei Norton, as well as Russia's Kir Bulchov. In 1976, he directed Soyuzmultfilm's first animated sci-fi film. CONTACT followed two years later and with the help of the Godfather theme music by Nino Rota and "Lady Be Good" by George & Ira Gershwin, became one of the most popular contemporary films produced by the studio.

This film is 10 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 45 sec

Liberated Don Quixote

This clip is from a 1987 short film directed by Vadim Kurchevsky, who began to work at Soyuzmultfilm as an art director, and later became a leading director of stop motion animation for children. In the 1960s he began to address adult viewers. He experimented with new forms of artistic expression and together with Nikolai Serbryakov and Roman Kachanov, took stop motion in new directions. Liberated Don Quixote was the first lyrical "auteur" film in this genre. A stylish and ironic retelling of Cervantes' Spanish classic, the film incorporates Kurchevsky's background as a graduate of the Muhina Art School in St. Petersburg and as a curator at the Zagorsk Doll Museum. The exquisite costumes and masterly use of lighting and color influenced a generation of stop motion animators in Russia and around the world.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 05 min 40 sec

Cabaret

This clip is from a 1984 short film directed by Ideya Garanina was inspired by the plays of Federico Garcia Lorca. Shelved by Soviet censors, the film was resurrected and recut after perestroika.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 05 min 21 sec

King's Sandwich

This clip is from a 1985 short film directed by Andrei Khrjanovsky and it is based on a poem by A. A. Milne, and narrated by Arcady Raikin, one of Russia's most renowned comedians. For Khrjanovsky, the poem illustrated how a simple human desire can create absolutely irrational problems, out of proportion to the original desire. Soviet censors suspected Khrjanovsky was criticizing the country's lack of butter.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 05 min 16 sec

Boy Is A Boy

This clip is from a 1986 short film directed by Natasha Golovanova who began work at Soyuzmultfilm in 1971, directing Disney-style animation for children based on Russian and western fairy tales.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 00 sec

Door

This clip is from a 1986 short film directed Nina Shorina tells a story of bizarre inhabitants of a crumbling apartment house go to enormous trouble getting in and out of the building without using the front door - even after a boy demonstrates that it's unlocked. Door satirizes the mismanaged life Soviet citizens endured for decades.

Born in Moscow, Shorina began working at Soyuzmultfilm in 1976 and directed several children's films, including Poodle. Just prior to perestroika, Soyuzmultfilm's administration approved Door, a script ostensibly about a boy repairing a door, believing it would also be a film for children. However, the film Shorina delivered in 1986 was for a grown-up audience, the first of a trilogy that would explore the Soviet citizen's reaction to the dramatic political changes sweeping the Soviet Union. The state film censors threatened to shelve the film. After the Door won numerous international prizes - by which time the sweeping changes of perestroika had firmly taken root - the censors apologized to Shorina.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 00 sec

About Sidorov Vova

This clip is from a 1985 short film directed by Eduard Nazarov who spent three and a half years in the Soviet army as a simple soldier based in Berlin. He got rid of a recurrent nightmare that he was going to be drafted a second time by making this film.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 02 min 47 sec

Old Stair

This clip from a 1985 short film directed by Alexander Gorlenko tells the story of a boy's ordinary life and his unusual fantasies.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 02 min 40 sec

Wolf and Calf

In this clip is from a 1984 short film directed by Mikhail Kamenetsky, an old wolf captures a newborn calf with the intention of eating him, but when the calf's first words are 'mama' he finds he can't bring himself to do it. Meanwhile his vixen neighbour tells all the other animals that he is fattening the calf up, and everyone expects a piece of him. But the wolf is coming to think of the calf as his child.

A former cameraman, Kamenetsky helped to revive the animated techniques pioneered by Dziga Vertov in the 1920s, making Soyuzmultfilman international leader in the "stop motion" genre. His films are characterized by great humor and soft irony and tell the story of humanity and good deeds.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 02 min 38 sec

Lion and Ox

This clip is from a 1983 short film directed by Fyodor Khitruk is a lyric morality play, it is based on an African folk tale about how slander and envy can destroy friendship.effects by himself.

This film can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 04 min 02 sec

Travels Of An Ant

This clip is from a 1983 short film directed by Eduard Nazarov about an ant who gets blown away with the wind from its home and the adventures it goes through in desparately trying to find its way back.
To keep this wonderful film from going over budget, Nazarov used no composers and no actors. He did all of the sound effects by himself.

This film is 11 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 30 sec

There Once Was A Dog

This clip is from a 1982 short film directed by Eduard Nazarov about an old guard dog who befriends the old wolf he once chased from the village. The wolf helps him to become appreciated again by the villagers, and the dog thanks him by inviting him to a wedding.
All ten-minute films produced by Soyuzmultfilm had to be completed in four months, whether simple or complicated. It was impossible for Nazarov to finish Hunt, which required drawing each scene by hand, in accordance with the studio's rigid production schedule. And so despite the success of Hunt, it would be two years before Nazarov was allowed to direct There Once Was A Dog. In this film Nazarov used a different, simpler technique, and it was completed "almost on time." A folk tale told by many cultures, Nazarov decided to set his version in the Ukraine where he had spent many enchanted summers and had come to appreciate the beauty of the people, the countryside and the music.

This film is 11 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 03 min 38 sec

Last Hunt

This clip is from a 1982 short film directed by Alexander Karavayev about a hunting dog who falls in love with a wounded bird. Karavayev studied art direction at Soyuzmultfilm together with Yuri Norstein and then became a student of director Ivan Ivan Ivanov-Vano. His animation is characterized by humor, lyricism, and satire.

This film is 11 min. long and can be watched in its entirety on the Masters Of Russian Animation DVD set - an extraordinary collection of Russia's most important animated short films by Russia's world renowned directors.

Runtime: 00 hrs 01 min 45 sec