Jennifer
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Author's posts
Nov 15 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Seasons
Seasons, made in 1969, is one of the most beloved Russian animations, directed by Yuri Norstein and Ivan Ivanov-Vano, with the music of Tchaikovsky. You can find this and four other animations by Norstein: The Battle of Kerzhenets, Fox and Rabbit, The Heron and the Crane, and Hedgehog in the Fog, all on DVD in Masters of …
Nov 08 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Hedgehog in the Fog
Today we have another wonderful Yuri Norstein film, Hedgehog in the Fog. Norstein is best known for this animation, as well as his Tale of Tales. Hedgehog in the Fog was directed by Norstein, written by Sergei Kozlov, with music by Mikhail Meyerovich. It was produced by Soyuzmultfilm in 1975. It is the story of a hedgehog and a bear cub who …
Nov 01 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Night on Bald Mountain
Night on Bald Mountain is a film set to the music of the same name by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, and arranged by his fellow Russian composer, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The film was created by the inventors of pinscreen animation, Alexandre Alexeieff and his collaborator Claire Parker. Alexeieff was born in Kazan, Russia in 1901 and died in …
Oct 18 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Ivashka and Baba-Yaga
Last week we had an introduction to the Brumberg Sisters, and this week we have another great film by the duo, featuring one of the scariest characters of folklore, Baba-Yaga. While this fairy tale, and others, portray her as a child-hunting witch, there are some different renditions of Baba-Yaga. In Slavic folklore, Baba-Yaga is typically …
Oct 11 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Little Red Riding Hood
Meet the Brumberg Sisters, Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, both Moscow-born artists who worked together as animators, screenwriters, and directors, creating around 50 films in total. Made in 1937, this is their spooky animation of Charles Perrault’s Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale. Perrault’s version was a cautionary message to children about stranger danger. Soviet Film …
Jul 13 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Russian Sugar Ad
Here’s a little treat for this Wednesday: a jam ad created for Russian Sugar directed by Yuri Norstein. It was one of a group of Russian Sugar commercials made by Norstein between 1994 and 1995 that used cutouts and drawings for the animations (a bit past the Soviet era but still delightful and created by …
Mar 15 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Tale of Tales
Tales of Tales (Сказка сказок), also titled The Little Grey Wolf Will Come, was the first Soviet animation that I ever remember seeing, and for years I would return to this mysterious film, intermittently, in awe and wonder, taking in the magic and trying to piece together the different parts. Then I watched more Yuri …
Dec 21 2022
Soviet Film Wednesday: The Night Before Christmas
The Night Before Christmas (1951) was directed by the prolific Soviet animation duo of Valentina Brumberg and Zinaida Brumberg, who were also known as the “Brumberg sisters” as well as the “grandmothers of Russian animation.” Some of their most well known films are Little Red Riding Hood and Ivashka and Baba-Yaga. Not your typical Christmas story, it begins …
Dec 14 2022
Soviet Film Wednesday: Alexandr Petrov’s Coca Cola Sundblom Santa
To celebrate the season, here’s a vintage style Christmas Coca Cola ad by the Academy Award-winning, Soviet born animator Aleksandr Petrov. The commercial was created in 2001, and was based on Haddon Sundblom’s jolly Santa illustrations, which first debuted in 1931 Coke ads.
Dec 06 2022
The Jam – “Slow Down” (Live)
“Slow Down” is from the album In the City, released in May 1977.
