Here is a charming little song, “Singing Cat,” an excerpt from Ladislas Starevich’s first animated feature, and often regarded as his finest work, The Tale of the Fox (Le Roman de Renard), which was made with the help of his daughter Irene in 1941. Ladislas Starevich was born in Moscow to Polish parents on August …
Category: Soviet Era
Nov 13 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: Seasons
Seasons, made in 1969, with its beautiful stop-motion animation, is one of the most beloved Russian short films. Seasons was directed by Yuri Norstein and Ivan Ivanov-Vano, set to the music of Tchaikovsky. The detailed stop-motion animation, much done with delicate lace, features a couple gliding through the seasons, all set to brilliant renditions of “October” and …
Nov 06 2024
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 …
Oct 30 2024
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 23 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: Viy
Viy is a significant artifact in the history of cinema, particularly in the context of Soviet film. Released in 1967, it is widely regarded as the first horror movie produced by the Soviet film industry. The film is based on a horror novella by Nikolai Gogol, a renowned Russian-Ukrainian author whose work has been foundational …
Oct 16 2024
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 09 2024
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 …
Oct 02 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: Birthnight
In Birthnight, Night visits young Tima, a boy who sleeps with the light on because he is afraid of the dark, and she invites him to her nighttime birthday party in the woods. If the story doesn’t sound intriguing enough, the eccentric synth music of Eduard Artemyev is sure to transport you to another world, …
Sep 25 2024
Soviet Film Wednesday: Butterfly
Sep 18 2024
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 …