Jennifer
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Author's posts
Jan 31 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: Bashō
“Bashō” was animated by Soviet-born artist Yuri Norstein (revered director of Seasons, Hedgehog in the Fog, and Tale of Tales) using cut-out animation. It is a segment of the film Winter Days (originally 冬の日 Fuyu no Hi), which is a collage of animated short films comprised of mostly Japanese pieces, directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. Winter Days is based …
Jan 17 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: The Mitten
While Rankin & Bass were celebrating wintertime with their charming 1960’s stop-motion animations for Americans, including the beloved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Soviet animator and director Roman Kachanov was making his own adorable stop-motion films, including the celebrated Cheburashka children’s series consisting of Gena the Crocodile, Cheburashka, Shapoklyak and Cheburashka Goes to School. A prolific artist, Kachanov was also …
Nov 29 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: Good Night Children
This animated short was created by Russian artist Yuri Norstein, who is known for his attention to fine detail in his beautiful handmade stop-motion films which often include layers of sketches and paintings on paper and glass. It took Norstein almost two years to create this short piece. Norstein creates delicate movements, a unique sense …
Apr 19 2023
Soviet Film Wednesday: The Little Mermaid
This wonderfully illustrated 1968 Russian animation is based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. It begins with a Copenhagen tour guide’s introduction to Andersen’s story, and unfolds to show us the rest of the story, which is not quite the same as the Disney version. As is often the case with re-imagined fairy tales, the older tale …
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.
Nov 16 2022
Soviet Film Wednesday: Samoyed Boy
Made in 1928, Samoyed Boy was one of the first films directed by the Brumberg sisters, along with directors Nikolai Khodataev and Olga Chodatajewa. It is the story of a boy who fights corruption in his village, then goes on to study in Moscow. It may be best known for its innovative animation; the mesmerizing waves are stunning …
Nov 12 2022
On This Day in 2004: The Funeral of DJ John Peel
DJ and radio host John Peel’s funeral was held on this day, November 12, 2004, at St Edmundsbury Cathedral in the town of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, England. Among the 1000-plus attendees were many artists, including Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, The White Stripes, and Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey. His brother Alan Ravenscroft read a eulogy …
