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Leonid Alekseyevich Amalrik (russian: Леонид Алексеевич Амальрик; — 22 October 1997) was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...
and
animation director
An animation director is either the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or television, and animated segment for a live action film or television show, or the animator in charge of co ...
. He was named
Honoured Artist of the
RSFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
in 1965.
[''Sergei Kapkov (2006)''. ]Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation
The ''Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation'' (russian: Энциклопедия отечественной мультипликации; transliterated ''Entsiklopediya otechestvennoy multiplikatsiyi'') is a collection of biographies and filmographie ...
. — Moscow: Algorithm, p. 63—64
Biography
Early years
Leonid was born to Anna Mikhailovna and Aleksey Ivanovich Amalrik, an employee and later an inspector at the ''Russia'' insurance company, a
distinguished citizen of Moscow.
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
during the 19th century and founded a
lace
Lace is a delicate fabric made of yarn or thread in an open weblike pattern, made by machine or by hand. Generally, lace is divided into two main categories, needlelace and bobbin lace, although there are other types of lace, such as knitted o ...
manufactory, but later burned it down during his alcoholic intoxication; both Amalric and his wife were killed in fire, only their 4-year-old son also named Jean survived. He was raised by the French colony in Moscow as Ivan Ivanovich Amalrik and later joined the Albert Hübner's Calico Manufactory. He was married to the daughter of the Moscow 1st class merchant Sergei Belkin from
Old Believers
Old Believers or Old Ritualists, ''starovery'' or ''staroobryadtsy'' are Eastern Orthodox Christians who maintain the liturgical and ritual practices of the Russian Orthodox Church as they were before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow bet ...
. Among their children was Sergei Amalrik, grandfather of the Soviet writer and dissident
Andrei Amalrik, and Aleksey Amalrik, father of Leonid.
Amalrik grew up in a wealthy family at the
Arbat District
Arbat District (russian: link=no, район Арбат) is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. Population:
The district extends from central Mokhovaya Street west to Novoarbatsky Bridge over th ...
in the center of Moscow. At the age of seven he had to spend several months in bed following the
appendectomy
An appendectomy, also termed appendicectomy, is a Surgery, surgical operation in which the vermiform appendix (a portion of the intestine) is removed. Appendectomy is normally performed as an urgent or emergency procedure to treat complicated acu ...
. During that time he started drawing and became addicted to it. He would later direct a part-autobiographical film ''A Girl and an Elephant'' (1969) based on
Aleksandr Kuprin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (russian: link=no, Александр Иванович Куприн; – 25 August 1938) was a Russian literature, Russian writer best known for his novels The Duel (Kuprin novel), ''The Duel'' (1905)Kuprin sc ...
's story as well as his childhood memories.
In 1925 he entered the
State College of Cinema to study for a
set decorator
The set decorator is the head of the set decoration department in the film and television industry, responsible for selecting, designing, fabricating, and sourcing the "set dressing" elements of each set in a Feature Film, Television, or New Media ...
. From 1926 to 1928 he worked at
Mezhrabpom-Rus as a scene painter assistant under
Abram Room Abram Matveyevich Room (russian: Абрам Матвеевич Роом; 28 June 1894 in Wilno, Russian Empire (now Vilnius, Lithuania) – 26 July 1976 in Moscow) was a Russian film director. He was a People's Artist of the RSFSR and winner of the ...
,
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...
and
Vsevolod Pudovkin
Vsevolod Illarionovich Pudovkin ( rus, Всеволод Илларионович Пудовкин, p=ˈfsʲevələt ɪlərʲɪˈonəvʲɪtɕ pʊˈdofkʲɪn; 16 February 1893 – 30 June 1953) was a Russian and Soviet film director, screenwriter ...
.
Career
In 1928 he graduated from college and joined the Gosvoenkino studio as animator along with
Yuri Merkulov and
Lev Atamanov
Lev Atamanov (russian: Лев Атаманов), born Levon Konstantinovich Atamanyan (russian: Левон Константинович Атаманян, hy, Լեւոն Կոնստանտինի Ատամանյան; – 12 February 1981), was a ...
. Their biggest project was ''The First Cavalry'' (1929), a
live-action animated film
A live-action animated film is a film that combines live action filmmaking with animation.
Films that are both live-action and computer-animated tend to have fictional characters or figures represented and characterized by cast members through moti ...
dedicated to the
1st Cavalry Army __NOTOC__
The 1st Cavalry Army (russian: Первая конная армия, Pervaya konnaya armiya) was a prominent Red Army military formation. It was also known as "Budyonny's Cavalry Army" or simply as ''Konarmia'' (Кона́рмия, "Horse ...
where Amalrik animated a large military map and invented a number of original techniques in the process such as a combination of
stop motion
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...
and
cutout animation
Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's ea ...
. The movie remained one of the Soviet box office leaders for several years.
[Irina Margolina, ]Eduard Nazarov
Eduard Vasilievich Nazarov (russian: link=no, Эдуард Васильевич Назаров; 23 November 1941 – 11 September 2016) was a Soviet and Russian animator, screenwriter, voice actor, book illustrator and educator, artistic director ...
. ''Animation from A to Z. Episodes 23, 5, 6'' documentary by REN TV
REN TV (russian: РЕН ТВ) is a Russian free-to-air television network, was founded on 1 January 1997 by Irena Lesnevskaya and her son, Dmitry Lesnevsky, who had been running REN TV as a production house for other national Russian television ...
, 1997 In 1930 he returned to
Mezhrabpomfilm
Mezhrabpomfilm (russian: Межрабпомфильм), from the word ''film'', and the Russian acronym for Workers International Relief or Workers International Aid (russian: Международная рабочая помощь, was a German-Ru ...
where he co-directed his first traditionally animated short ''
Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
'' (1932) with
Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano (russian: Иван Петрович Иванов-Вано; – 25 March 1987), born Ivanov, was a Soviet and Russian animation director, animator, screenwriter, educator, professor at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematog ...
. It was based on the satirical poem by
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
and addresses issues of American
racism in Cuba
Racism in Cuba refers to racial discrimination in Cuba. In Cuba, dark skinned Afro-Cubans are the only group on the island referred to as black while lighter skinned, mixed race, Afro-Cuban ''mulattos'' are often not characterized as fully black or ...
. After that he was visited by the
secret police
Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...
who questioned him and searched his flat. The director himself explained it as a result of his radical formalistic "anti-
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
" vision and some featured themes that seemed suspicious to them.
In 1935 he moved to
Mosfilm
Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output incl ...
, and in a year the animation department was transformed into
Soyuzmultfilm
Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Union Cartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, Formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm) is a Russian animation studio based in Moscow. Launched in ...
.
For the first few years Amalrik along with other animators focused on Disney-styled films, despite he didn't tolerate them.
Since 1938 he had been actively working in the genre of
political satire
Political satire is satire that specializes in gaining entertainment from politics; it has also been used with subversive intent where Political discourse analysis, political speech and dissent are forbidden by a regime, as a method of advancing ...
that allowed for more artistic freedom. In 1939 he joined forces with
Vladimir Polkovnikov
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukra ...
, and together they directed a trilogy ''Limpopo'' (1939), ''Barmaley'' (1941) and ''Peacock's Tail'' (1946) based on the
Doctor Aybolit
Doctor Aybolit (russian: Доктор Айболит, ''Doktor Aibolit'') is a fictional character from the children's poems ''Aybolit'' (1929) and ''Barmaley'' (1925) by Korney Chukovsky, as well as from the children's fantastic novella ''Doctor ...
fairy tales, all shot in full color using the three-color filming process by
Pavel Mershin (the color copies of the first two shorts are considered to be lost). It was one of the first Soviet mini-series and among the first distinctive pictures of Soyuzmultfilm that defined the "Soviet style" of animation.
During their work on ''Barmaley'' Polkovnikov was enrolled to the army and Amalrik finished it on his own, yet after the war they continued working as a team until 1953. Their most famous work ''The Grey Neck'' (1948) based on the tale by
Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak
Dmitry Narkisovich Mamin-Sibiryak (russian: Дми́трий Нарки́сович Ма́мин-Сибиря́к) (October 25, 1852 – November 2, 1912) was a Russian author most famous for his novels and short stories about life in the Ur ...
received several awards at international film festivals, including the IV Film Festival in
Mariánské Lázně
Mariánské Lázně (; german: Marienbad) is a spa town in Cheb District in the Karlovy Vary Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 12,000 inhabitants. Most of the town's buildings come from its Golden Era in the second half of the 19th centu ...
.
With the start of the
Great Patriotic War
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...
he stayed in Moscow. On July, 1941 his house was destroyed by a bomb during the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
bombing of the city. His family survived by a chance, but remained homeless until
Korney Chukovsky
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky ( rus, Корне́й Ива́нович Чуко́вский, p=kɐrˈnʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ tɕʊˈkofskʲɪj, a=Kornyey Ivanovich Chukovskiy.ru.vorb.oga; 31 March NS 1882 – 28 October 1969) was one of the most p ...
learned about it and helped them get a new flat. During the first month of war Amalrik gathered a group of those few animators left in the city, including Olga and
Nikolai Khodataev, and they produced several anti-
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
sketches that were released under the ''Kino-Circus'' name in 1942. Soon after he was sent to the frontline and ended up in a hospital. He also worked at the Voenttechfilm studio.
Since 1954 he had been directing films on his own. Many of them were adaptations of fairy tales written by his long-time friend
Vladimir Suteev
Vladimir Grigorevich Suteev (russian: Владимир Григорьевич Сутеев) (5 July 1903 – 10 March 1993) was a Russian author, artist and animator who primarily wrote stories for children. He was among the founders of the So ...
, as well as satirical tales by
Sergey Mikhalkov
Sergey Vladimirovich Mikhalkov (russian: link=no, Серге́й Влади́мирович Михалко́в; 27 August 2009) was a Soviet and Russian author of children's books and satirical fables. He wrote the lyrics for the Soviet and Russ ...
aimed at children and adults. In 1958 he directed ''The Cat's House'', "an animated opera parody" based on the fairy tale in verse by
Samuil Marshak
Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak (alternative spelling: Marchak) (russian: link=no, Самуил Яковлевич Маршак; 4 July 1964) was a Russian and Soviet writer of Jewish origin, translator and poet who wrote for both children and adults. ...
with the score written by
Nikita Bogoslovsky
Nikita Vladimirovich Bogoslovsky (russian: Ники́та Влади́мирович Богосло́вский; 22 May 1913 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire – 4 April 2004 in Moscow, Russia) was a Soviet and Russian composer. Author of more t ...
.
It was awarded the first prize at the X International Film Festival for Children and Youth in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
. Among his most popular and quatable works was ''
Thumbelina
Thumbelina (; da, Tommelise) is a literary fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in t ...
'' (1964), an adaptation of
Hans Christian Andersen
Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales.
Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...
's fairy tale. His last film was ''Terem-Teremok'' (1971). After that he left the industry.
Leonid Amalrik died in 1997. He was buried at the
Pyatnitskoye cemetery.
Leonid Amalrik's tomb
/ref> His wife Nadezhda Mikhailovna Privalova, an artist, worked with him on many of his films.
Films
* 1932 — ''Black and White
Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey.
Media
The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...
'' (with Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano (russian: Иван Петрович Иванов-Вано; – 25 March 1987), born Ivanov, was a Soviet and Russian animation director, animator, screenwriter, educator, professor at Gerasimov Institute of Cinematog ...
)
* 1936 — ''Kolobok'' (with Vladimir Suteev
Vladimir Grigorevich Suteev (russian: Владимир Григорьевич Сутеев) (5 July 1903 – 10 March 1993) was a Russian author, artist and animator who primarily wrote stories for children. He was among the founders of the So ...
)
* 1938 — ''Politsatire Journal № 1'' (one of the sketches, lost)
* 1939 — ''Limpopo'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov
Vladimir may refer to:
Names
* Vladimir (name) for the Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak and Slovenian spellings of a Slavic name
* Uladzimir for the Belarusian version of the name
* Volodymyr for the Ukra ...
)
* 1939 — ''Victorious Route'' (with Dmitry Babchenko and Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1941 — ''Barmaley'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1942 — ''Kino-Circus'' (with Olga Khodataeva)
* 1946 — ''Peacock's Tail'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1948 — '' Grey Neck'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1950 — ''Sturdy Fellow'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1951 — ''High Hill'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1953 — ''Magic Shop'' (with Vladimir Polkovnikov)
* 1954 — ''An Arrow Flies into a Fairy Tale''
* 1955 — ''Postman Snowman''
* 1956 — ''Little Ship''
* 1958 — ''The Cat's House''
* 1959 — ''Three Lumberjacks''
* 1960 — ''Different Wheels''
* 1960 — ''Non-Drinking Sparrow. A Tale for Adults''
* 1961 — ''Family Chronicles''
* 1962 — ''Two Fairy Tales''
* 1963 — ''Grandmother's Goatling. A Tale for Adults''
* 1964 — ''Thumbelina
Thumbelina (; da, Tommelise) is a literary fairy tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in t ...
''
* 1966 — ''About a Hippo Who Was Afraid of Vaccinations''
* 1967 — ''Fairy Tales for Big and Small''
* 1968 — ''I Want to Horn!''
* 1969 — ''A Girl and an Elephant''
* 1971 — ''Terem-Teremok''
See also
* History of Russian animation The history of Russian animation is the visual art form produced by Russian animation makers. As most of Russia's production of animation for cinema and television were created during Soviet times, it may also be referred to some extent as the histo ...
References
External links
*
Leonid Amalrik
at the Animator.ru
Animator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and (to a lesser extent) the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). It also includes a forum, a news block, ...
(English and Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amalrik, Leonid
1905 births
1997 deaths
Russian animated film directors
Artists from Moscow
Russian animators
Russian people of French descent
Soviet animators
Soviet animation directors
Soviet military personnel of World War II
Soviet screenwriters
20th-century Russian screenwriters
Male screenwriters
20th-century Russian male writers