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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 The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
times, it may also be referred to some extent as the history of Soviet animation. It remains a nearly unexplored field in
film theory Film theory is a set of scholarly approaches within the academic discipline of film or cinema studies that began in the 1920s by questioning the formal essential attributes of motion pictures; and that now provides conceptual frameworks for und ...
and history outside Russia.


Beginnings

The first Russian animator was Alexander Shiryaev, a principal ballet dancer and choreographer at the
Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music t ...
who made a number of pioneering
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 ...
and traditionally animated films between 1906 and 1909. He built an improvised studio at his apartment where he carefully recreated various ballets — first by making thousands of sketches and then by staging them using hand-made puppets; he shot them using the 17.5 mm Biokam camera, frame by frame. Shiryaev didn't hold much interest in animation as an art form, but rather saw it as an instrument in studying human plastics. Lord, Peter
The start of stop-frame
''The Guardian''. November 14, 2008. Accessed on: June 23, 2009.
Nina Alovert.
Belated Premier. Past Pages Come to Life
' article from the Russian Bazaar magazine, January, 2005 (in Russian)
They were mostly forgotten during the
Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
period, mentioned only in the memoirs of his students. In 1995, they were re-discovered by a ballet historian Viktor Bocharov who got hold of Shiryayev's archives and released ''A Belated Premiere'' documentary in 2003 with fragments of various films. All of them were later restored and digitized with the help from the
Pordenone Silent Film Festival Le Giornate del cinema muto (referred to in English as Pordenone Silent Film Festival) is an annual festival of silent film held in October in Pordenone, northern Italy. It is the first, largest and most important international festival dedicated ...
and Aardman Animations. The second person to independently discover animation was Vladislav Starevich. Being a trained biologist, he started to make animation with embalmed insects for educational purposes, but soon realized the possibilities of this medium to become one of the undisputed masters 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 ...
later in his life. His first few films, made in 1910, were dark comedies on the family lives of cockroaches, and were so revolutionary that they earned him a decoration from
Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
. He produced a number of other popular animated films with insects at the
Aleksandr Khanzhonkov Aleksandr Alekseevich Khanzhonkov ( rus, Александр Алексеевич Ханжонков, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ xənˈʐonkəf; — 26 September 1945) was a pioneering Russian''Peter Rollberg (2016)''Historical Dic ...
's studio where he also worked as a cinematographer and a director of live-action films, sometimes combining live action with stop motion animation, as in ''
The Night Before Christmas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...
'' and ''A Terrible Vengeance'' (both from 1913). Starevich left Russia after the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, and for many years, the animation industry was paralyzed.


After the revolution

In the early years after the
October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key moment ...
, Russian animation remained undeveloped compared to cinema or
theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
. The 1923
agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred to ...
animated short ''Today'' directed by
Dziga Vertov Dziga Vertov (russian: Дзига Вертов, born David Abelevich Kaufman, russian: Дави́д А́белевич Ка́уфман, and also known as Denis Kaufman; – 12 February 1954) was a Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsre ...
and animated by Ivan Belyaev became a pioneering work and was followed by other cutout films (called flat marionettes at the time) in style of
editorial cartoons A political cartoon, a form of editorial cartoon, is a cartoon graphic with caricatures of public figures, expressing the artist's opinion. An artist who writes and draws such images is known as an editorial cartoonist. They typically combine ...
that satirized bourgeoisie, Church and Western countries, drawn and animated in a sketchy manner; those included films and sketches by Vetrov and Aleksandr Bushkin for
Sovkino Goskino USSR (russian: link=Yes, Госкино СССР) is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It w ...
such as ', ''Humoresques'' and episodes of ''
Kino-Pravda ''Kino-Pravda'' (russian: Кино-Правда, translation=Film Truth) was a series of 23 newsreels by Dziga Vertov, Elizaveta Svilova, and Mikhail Kaufman launched in June 1922. Vertov referred to the twenty-three issues of ''Kino-Pravda'' a ...
''.'' Giannalberto Bendazzi (2016)''
Animation: A World History: Volume I: Foundations - The Golden Age
at
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
, p. 80–81, 79, 174-177
In 1924, Mezhrabpom-Rus released the critically acclaimed ' that satirized '' Aelita''. It also utilized cutout animation along with the
constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...
art style and was developed independently by three artists — Nikolai Khodataev, Zenon Komissarenko and Yuri Merkulov — who headed the first Soviet animation studio at the All-Union Technicum of Cinematography. In 1925, it was followed by a government-backed ''China in Flames'' made by the same team along 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 ...
, Vladimir Suteev and the Brumberg sisters. With 1000 meters of film and 14
frames per second A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...
it ran over 50 minutes at the time, which made it the first Soviet animated
feature film A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...
and one of the first in the world.''Larisa Malyukova (2013)''. OVERcinema. Modern Russian animation. — Saint Petersburg: Umnaya Masha, p. 264–265, 268 ''Sergey 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 filmographi ...
, p. 14–21
During the late 1920s, the industry started moving away from agitation. In 1927, Merkulov, Ivanov-Vano and directed the first Soviet cartoon aimed at children — ' based on the fairy tale in verse by
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 ...
. Made at Mezhrabpom-Rus, it combined
traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proce ...
and some live action scenes.''
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 ...
(1980)''. Frame by Frame. — Moscow: Iskusstvo, 239 pages, p. 34, 98, 102, 112–129, 150, 12–13, 223–226
Same year Ivanov-Vano and Cherkes worked on ', another hand-drawn short that featured a distinguishable art style (white lines against black background). It was written and directed by Yuri Zhelyabuzhsky and Nikolai Bartram, founder of the Moscow
Toy Museum A toy museum is a museum for toys. They typically showcase toys from a particular culture or period with their history. These are distinct from children's museums, which are museums for children, and are often interactive – toy museums may be ...
, who also produced ''Bolvashka's Adventures'' that combined live action and
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 ...
animation in a story about a
Pinocchio Pinocchio ( , ) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the children's novel ''The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) by Italian writer Carlo Collodi of Florence, Tuscany. Pinocchio was carved by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a Tuscan vil ...
-like wooden boy. The idea was extended in a spiritual successor — ''Bratishkin's Adventures'', the first Soviet
animated series An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have eithe ...
created between 1928 and 1931 by Yuri Merkulov and
Aleksandr Ptushko Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (russian: Александр Лукич Птушко, – 6 March 1973) was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director, and a People's Artist of the USSR (1969). Ptushko is frequently (and somewhat misleadingly) referre ...
at
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 inclu ...
.Gulliverkino: Far Side of the Fairy Tale. Aleksandr Ptushko - Innovations
article from Iskusstvo Kino, May 5, 2015 (in Russian)
In 1928, Nikolai Khodataev, his sister Olga Khodataeva and the Brumberg sisters produced a hand-drawn animated short ' stylized as traditional Nenets art that followed a dramatic narrative and used an innovative technique of printing on thin celluloid. A 24-minute stop motion film ''The Adventures of the Little Chinese'' was directed same year by and could be considered a return to the traditions of
Ladislas Starevich Ladislas Starevich (russian: Владисла́в Алекса́ндрович Старе́вич, pl, Władysław Starewicz; August 8, 1882 – February 26, 1965) was a Polish-Russian stop-motion animator notable as the author of the first pup ...
. Mikhail Tsekhanovsky's ''
Post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service ** Iraqi Post, Ir ...
'' (1929, cutout/cel animation) was both a return to constructivism traditions and a big step forward: it was successfully exported and widely shown around the world, while in the USSR it changed the perception of animation as an art form. It also became the first
colorized Film colorization (American English; or colourisation [British English], or colourization [Canadian English and Oxford English]) is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia, or other monochrome moving-picture imag ...
Soviet animated film and one of the first to get a musical score and a voiceover by Daniil Kharms. Mikhail and his wife Vera Tsekhanovskaya led an animation studio at
Lenfilm Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared between ...
where a number of distinctive hand-drawn and stop motion films were created throughout the 1930s, including the much-praised ' (1938) by .Eleonora Guylan, Peter Bagrov.
Once upon a time... Memoirs about the Leningrad pre-war animation
' at the Notes by Film Historian magazine, 2005 (in Russian)
''Sergei Asenin (2012)''. The World of Animation // The Tropes of Soviet Animation, p. 45–46. — Moscow: Print-on-Demand, 303 pages The team actively applied color using the original
dye-transfer process Dye transfer is a continuous-tone color photographic printing process. It was used to print Technicolor films, as well as to produce paper colour prints used in advertising, or large transparencies for display. History The use of dye imbibition f ...
invented by Lenfilm specialists, similar to
Technicolor Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...
. In 1933, the couple collaborated with
Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...
and Alexander Vvedensky on the first traditionally animated Soviet feature — ''
The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda "The Tale of the Priest and of his Workman Balda" (russian: «Сказка о попе и о работнике его Балде», Skazka o pope i o rabotnike yego Balde) is a fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin. Pushkin wrote the tale o ...
'', a satirical opera loosely based on the fairy tale in verse by
Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...
and stylized as ROSTA posters. Despite many problems, including the infamous bullying of Shostakovich in press, the film was nearly finished and had been stored at Lenfilm until 1941 when almost all of it was destroyed in fire caused by the bombings of Leningrad. Tsekhanovsky is also credited with invention of
graphical sound Graphical sound or drawn sound (Fr. ''son dessiné'', Ger. ''graphische Tonerzeugung'',; It. ''suono disegnato'') is a sound recording created from images drawn directly onto film or paper that were then played back using a sound system. There are ...
along with Arseny Avraamov and . They were challenged by a group led by who made a number of animated shorts based on their own idea of "drawing paper sound". In 1935,
Aleksandr Ptushko Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (russian: Александр Лукич Птушко, – 6 March 1973) was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director, and a People's Artist of the USSR (1969). Ptushko is frequently (and somewhat misleadingly) referre ...
directed ''
The New Gulliver ''The New Gulliver'' (russian: Новый Гулливер, ''Novyy Gullivyer'') is a Soviet stop motion-animated cartoon, and the first to make such extensive use of puppet animation, running almost all the way through the film (it begins and ends ...
'', one of the world's first full-length animated movies that combined detailed
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 ...
with a live actor (a 15-year-old boy). The film featured from 1,500 to 3,000 different puppets with detachable heads and various facial expressions, as well as camera and technical tricks. The international success of the movie allowed Ptushko to open his own "division of 3D animation" at
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 inclu ...
which also worked as a school for beginning animators. In four years, they created a dozen of stop motion shorts; most of them, such as (1936), were based around Russian folklore, traditional art (with the involvement of artists from
Palekh Palekh (russian: Па́лех) is an urban locality (a settlement) and the administrative center of Palekhsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population: Painting Palekh has a very long history in Russian iconography, the art of painting ...
) and could be watched in full color thanks to the newly invented three-color film process by .Nikolai Mayorov
The Color of Soviet Cinema
from the Film Expert's Notes magazine № 98, 2011 (in Russian)
In 1939, Ptushko directed another feature — '' The Golden Key'' based on the popular Soviet
fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cul ...
; it also combined stop motion with live action, but to a lesser extent. Simultaneously,
Alexandre Alexeieff Alexandre Alexandrovitch Alexeieff (Russian: Александр Александрович Алексеев;Alternative transcriptions include Alexander Alexeieff or Alexander Alexeïeff or Alexandre Alexieff 18 April 1901 – 9 August 1982) was ...
who fled for France during the
Russian Civil War , date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
developed a
pinscreen animation Pinscreen animation makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows. The technique has been used to create animated ...
technology that allowed for a wide spectre of special effects achieved through the use of hundreds of thousands of pins that formed different patterns. Despite the status of
white émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik com ...
in the USSR his films were well known among Russian professionals and inspired various artists, most famously
Yuri Norstein Yuri Borisovich Norstein, PAR (russian: link=no, Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн; born 15 September 1941) is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts '' Hedgehog in the Fog'' and '' Tale of Tales''. Sin ...
. In the mid-1990s Alexeieff's daughter visited Moscow and presented her father's works to the . Today he is commemorated as a patriarch of Russian animation.''Sergei Asenin (1983)''
The Wisdom of Fiction: Masters of Animation about Themselves and Their Art
— Moscow: Iskusstvo, p. 37


Soyuzmultfilm, 1936–1960

In September 1933, the Principal Management of the Photo-Cinematographic Industry (GUKF) ordered to provide animators with facilities and equipment; meanwhile, specialized script-writers were hired for Animated feature films. who headed the Amkino Corporation, a
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...
-based company responsible for distribution of Soviet movies in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the C ...
, was given the task to study the animation processes at
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 ...
and
Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...
.Kirill Malyantovich.
How they fought cosmopolites at Soyuzmultfilm
' article from the Notes by Film Historian magazine, 2001 (in Russian)
Next year Smirnov returned to Moscow and founded an Experimental Animation Workshop under the Main Directorate of the Photo-Cinematographic Industry where he, Alexei Radakov, Vladimir Suteev and started "developing the Disney style". In 1935,
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film pr ...
himself sent a film reel with
Three Little Pigs "The Three Little Pigs" is a fable about three pigs who build three houses of different materials. A Big Bad Wolf blows down the first two pigs' houses which made of straw and sticks respectively, but is unable to destroy the third pig's house ...
and
Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an animated cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime mascot of The Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white g ...
shorts to the
Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (russian: Моско́вский междунаро́дный кинофестива́ль, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is the film festival first he ...
that made a lasting impression on Soviet animators and officials. On June 10, 1936, the Soyuzdetmultfilm Studio was created in Moscow from the small and relatively independent trickfilm units of
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 inclu ...
,
Sovkino Goskino USSR (russian: link=Yes, Госкино СССР) is the abbreviated name for the USSR State Committee for Cinematography (Государственный комитет по кинематографии СССР) in the Soviet Union. It w ...
, Mezhrabpomfilm and Smirnov's studio. In a year it was renamed to
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 ...
. Three-months retraining courses were organized by the studio administration where animators studied everything, from drawing and directing movies to the basics of music and acting. For four years some of the leading animators focused on the creation of Disney-style shorts, exclusively using the
cel A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid (consisting of cellulose nitrate and camphor) was used during the first half of the 20th century, bu ...
technique. From 1937, on they also produced films in full color using the three-color film process by Pavel Mershin. In 1938, the team also mastered
rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...
, or Eclair as it has been known in Russia since the 1920s (after the Eclair video projector). Not everyone was happy with the chosen direction though, and by 1939 many developed their own styles.
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 ...
directed based on the fairy tale in verse which he personally praised as an important step from Disney. Suteev and Lamis Bredis presented a distinctive Uncle Styopa adaptation, while Leonid Amalrik and converted Doctor Aybolit stories into a distinctive mini-series that ran from 1939 to 1946 and defined the "Soviet style" of animation. At the same time Aleksandr Ivanov and made a radical shift towards
agitprop Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', "propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred to ...
and
socialist realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is c ...
with films such as ''Grandfather Ivan'' and ''War Chronicles''.''Irina Margolina, Natalia Lozinskaya (2006)''. Our Animation. — Moscow: Interros, p. 46–51, 58–63, 146–152, 70–75 Soon after
Lev Kuleshov Lev Vladimirovich Kuleshov (russian: Лев Владимирович Кулешов; – 29 March 1970) was a Russian and Soviet filmmaker and film theorist, one of the founders of the world's first film school, the Moscow Film School. He ...
, then a professor at
VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...
, suggested Ivanov-Vano to open and head a workshop under the Art Faculty which became the first official Russian workshop where students studied the art of animation. Among Ivanov's first students were
Lev Milchin Lev Isaakovich Milchin (russian: Лев Исаакович Мильчин, 1920—1987) was a Soviet animation director, art director, artist and book illustrator. He was also a pedagogue at VGIK. He was named an Honoured Artist of the RSFSR in 19 ...
, Yevgeniy Migunov and . 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 Sou ...
the studio was evacuated to
Samarkand fa, سمرقند , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
along with some key animators who continued teaching students and producing films, including anti-fascist propaganda. In 1943, they returned to Moscow and released several kids movies such as ''
The Tale of Tsar Saltan The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan ( rus, «Сказка о царе Салтане, о сыне его славном и могучем богаты� ...
'' (1943) by the Brumberg sisters and (1945) by Ivanov-Vano — the last film to use the Soviet three-color filming process before the switch to Agfacolor. By that time Ptushko's studio at
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 inclu ...
had been shut down and Tsekhanovsky's studio at
Lenfilm Lenfilm (russian: link=no, Ленфильм) is a Russian production company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes shared between ...
— destroyed by a bomb, which basically turned Soyuzmultfilm into Russia's animation monopolist. Yet even after the war, its resources were very limited. 19 animators from the relatively small Soyuzmultfilm team were killed in action. A whole generation of Leningrad animators either disappeared at fronts or died during the
Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad (russian: links=no, translit=Blokada Leningrada, Блокада Ленинграда; german: links=no, Leningrader Blockade; ) was a prolonged military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the Soviet Union, So ...
. Others returned as war-disabled, like Boris Dyozhkin and Aleksandr Vinokurov (both lost their left eyes), who got a bullet stuck in his head and who lost his right arm and learned to work as left-handed. One of the leading directors, Vladimir Suteev, left the industry on his return for personal reasons. The rest worked intensively to prepare new animators; between 1945 and 1948, four groups of students graduated from VGIK. They also continued releasing short and feature films that brought them international recognition, such as '' The Lost Letter'' (1945) and '' The Humpbacked Horse'' (1947) that was used by
Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film pr ...
as a teaching tool for his artists. In 1948, short comedy film was accused of "
formalism Formalism may refer to: * Form (disambiguation) * Formal (disambiguation) * Legal formalism, legal positivist view that the substantive justice of a law is a question for the legislature rather than the judiciary * Formalism (linguistics) * S ...
" and "
anthropomorphism Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
" following the Cold War anti-Disney campaign. As the art director Yevgeniy Migunov remembered, he floutingly drew backgrounds for his next movie as realistic as possible, and suddenly it became "a golden standard" for the next ten years.
,
Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all n.s.) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various med ...
,
Palekh Palekh (russian: Па́лех) is an urban locality (a settlement) and the administrative center of Palekhsky District of Ivanovo Oblast, Russia. Population: Painting Palekh has a very long history in Russian iconography, the art of painting ...
and
Fedoskino miniature Fedoskino miniature (russian: федоскинская миниатюра) is a traditional Russian lacquer miniature painting on '' papier-mache'', named after its original center Fedoskino (Федоскино), an old village near Moscow widely ...
s and other national styles. The Disney's conveyor method of production with a clear work split was implemented along with a full analog of a
multiplane camera The multiplane camera is a motion-picture camera that was used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of para ...
. Eclair (
rotoscoping Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced o ...
) also rose to popularity. According to the 1951 report by
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 a temporary measure that served as a teaching tool for beginning animators.'' Giannalberto Bendazzi (2016)''
Animation: A World History: Volume II: The Birth of a Style - The Three Markets
at
Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
, p. 81, 282–297, 303–309
Many leading actors were involved, such as Mikhail Astangov who appeared as the beast in ''
The Scarlet Flower The Scarlet Flower (russian: Аленький цветочек, ''Alen'kiy tsvetochek''), also known as The Little Scarlet Flower or The Little Red Flower, is a Russian folk tale written by Sergey Aksakov. It is an adaptation of traditional fa ...
'' (1952).Larisa Malyukova'
interview
with Leonid Shvartsman at Animator.ru (in Russian)
Some directors made extensive use of this method, while others mixed it with traditional animation as in ''
The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...
'' (1957) by Lev Atamanov, arguably the most famous work of that time. Many focused on animal art with little to no use of rotoscoping. All this allowed for a yearly release of prominent feature films with high production values such as ''
The Night Before Christmas ''A Visit from St. Nicholas'', more commonly known as ''The Night Before Christmas'' and ''Twas the Night Before Christmas'' from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title ''Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas'' i ...
'' (1951), ''
The Snow Maiden ''The Snow Maiden'' (subtitle: A Spring Fairy Tale) ( rus, Снегурочка–весенняя сказка, Snegúrochka–vesénnyaya skázka, italic=yes ) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed ...
'' (1952), '' The Enchanted Boy'' and ''
The Frog Princess The Frog Princess is a fairy tale that has multiple versions with various origins. It is classified as type 402, the animal bride, in the Aarne–Thompson index. Another tale of this type is the Norwegian '' Doll i' the Grass''.D. L. Ashliman ...
'' (1954), '' The Twelve Months'' (1956) and '' The Adventures of Buratino'' (1959).


The Khrushchev Thaw

First changes happened in 1953 when a puppet division was reopened at Soyuzmultfilm. In 1954, Yevgeniy Migunov along with an engineer Semyon Etlis produced the first Soviet
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 ...
film since
Aleksandr Ptushko Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (russian: Александр Лукич Птушко, – 6 March 1973) was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director, and a People's Artist of the USSR (1969). Ptushko is frequently (and somewhat misleadingly) referre ...
: ' about the adventures of the Russian clown
Karandash Mikhail Nikolayevich Rumyantsev (russian: Михаи́л Никола́евич Румя́нцев; 10 December 1901 – 31 March 1983), better known under his stage name Karandash (russian: Каранда́ш which means ''pencil''), was a famous ...
and his dog. According to Migunov, they had to reinvent the whole production process. They organized a technical base, constructed and patented a device for shooting in statics, with a horizontally moving camera and attachable dolls. Also for the first time they used ball-jointed dolls and latex to make puppet faces. They were followed by Vladimir Degtyaryov who produced many films such as ''
Beloved Beauty ''Beloved Beauty'' (russian: Краса́ ненагля́дная, Krasa nenaglyadnaya) is a 1958 feature-length stop motion-animated film from the Soviet Union. The film, which was made at the Soyuzmultfilm studio, is based on Russian folk tal ...
'' (1958) and ' (1962), Roman Kachanov and who directed the award-winning ' (1959) that combined stop motion, traditional and cutout animation, and
Nikolay Serebryakov Nikolay Nikolayevich Serebryakov (russian: Николай Николаевич Серебряков; 14 December 1928, Leningrad – 9 August 2005, Moscow) was a Soviet and Russian director of animated films and a People's Artist of Russia Peop ...
whose style was marked by extensive aesthetic search for "combination of realism and the baroque". Sergey Obraztsov and his team also produced a number of movies using hand puppets.Arkady Raikin Arkady Isaakovich Raikin (russian: Аркадий Исаакович Райкин; – 17 December 1987) was a Soviet stand-up comedian, theater and film actor, and stage director. He led the school of Soviet and Russian humorists for about hal ...
who also appeared in the short. What made it special was a radical style of magazine caricatures, since Raikin's satire didn't fit the "realistic" art direction. It was not long until other animators started abandoning it. In 1958,
Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya Alexandra Gavrilovna Snezhko-Blotskaya (Russian: Александра Гавриловна Снежко-Блоцкая, 21 February 1909 in Volchansk, Russian Empire – 29 December 1980 in Moscow Oblast, Soviet Union) was a Soviet animated fil ...
released an adaptation of Arkady Gaidar's ''A Tale of Malchish-Kibalchish'' inspired by ROSTA posters, while Boris Stepantsev and Evgeny Raykovsky directed a
postmodern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...
' that leant towards
Tex Avery Frederick Bean "Tex" Avery (February 26, 1908 – August 26, 1980) was an American animator, cartoonist, director, and voice actor. He was known for directing and producing animated cartoons during the golden age of American animation. His most ...
.It Was I Who Drew the Little Man'' by the Brumberg sisters, '' The Key'' by Lev Atamanov, ''
Cipollino Cipollino (), or Little Onion as translated from the original, is a fictional character from Gianni Rodari's eponymous ''Tale of Cipollino'' ( it, Il romanzo di Cipollino), also known under its 1957 renamed title ''Adventures of Cipollino'' ( it, ...
'' by Boris Dyozhkin and ''
The Wild Swans The Wild Swans ( Danish: ''De vilde svaner'') is a literary fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen about a princess who rescues her 11 brothers from a spell cast by an evil queen. The tale was first published on 2 October 1838 in Andersen's ' ...
'' by Mikhail and Vera Tsekhanovsky — the first Soviet
widescreen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...
feature that introduced
Gothic art Gothic art was a style of medieval art that developed in Northern France out of Romanesque art in the 12th century AD, led by the concurrent development of Gothic architecture. It spread to all of Western Europe, and much of Northern, Southern an ...
style. Ivanov-Vano also broke new grounds with ''The Flying Proletary'' (1962), the first widescreen stop motion short based on the poems and art of
Vladimir Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (, ; rus, Влади́мир Влади́мирович Маяко́вский, , vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ məjɪˈkofskʲɪj, Ru-Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky.ogg, links=y; – 14 Apr ...
that made use of bas-relief paper dolls. Same year
Fyodor Khitruk Fyodor Savelyevich Khitruk (russian: Фёдор Савельевич Хитрук; 1 May 1917 – 3 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian animator and animation director. Biography Khitruk was born in Tver (Russian Empire), into a Jewis ...
made a directoral debut with a primitivistic cutout short '' The Story of a Crime'' that told a contemporary story and gained international praise.


Soyuzmultfilm, 1964–1991

In the following years, many animators turned away from the conveyor method of production and developed their own distinctive styles and approaches. The number of titles rose through the mid-1960 into the 1970s and 1980s, up to fifty per year. Mini-series and anthologies became common, while the amount of feature films decreased dramatically. Director Boris Stepantsev was known for experimenting a lot. Among his films was another postmodern comedy ''Vovka in the Far Far Away Kingdom'' (1965), the
paint-on-glass animation Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil paints on sheets of glass. Gouache mixed with glycerine is sometimes used instead. The best-known practitioner of the technique is Russian animator ...
''Song of a Falcon'' (1967), the highly popular '' Karlsson-on-the-Roof'' dilogy (1968–1970) that made use of
xerography Xerography is a dry photocopying technique. Originally called electrophotography, it was renamed xerography—from the roots el, ξηρός, label=none ''xeros'', meaning "dry" and -γραφία ''-graphia'', meaning "writing"—to emphasiz ...
and ''
The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikov ...
'' adaptation (1973) that presented a familiar story without a single spoken word. Some patriarchs also joined the new wave. Ivanov-Vano was appointed an artistic director of the puppet division where he made a number of stop motion/cutout films inspired by Russian folk art, like '' Lefty'' (1964) that addressed
lubok A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki'', Cyrillic: russian: лубо́к, лубо́чная картинка) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. Lubki ...
, '' Go There, Don't Know Where'' (1966) that used elements of
rayok A rayok ( rus, раёк, p=rɐˈjɵk, "small paradise") was a Russian fairground peep show. Performed using a box with pictures viewed through magnifying lenses, these were accompanied by lewd rhymed jokes. ''The Fall of Adam and Eve'' was one of ...
and
skomorokh A skomorokh ( in Russian, in Old East Slavic, in Church Slavonic. Compare with the Old Polish , ) was a medieval East Slavic harlequin, or actor, who could also sing, dance, play musical instruments and compose for oral/musical and dramatic pe ...
theatre, ''The Seasons'' (1969) based around
Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...
's '' two character pieces'', presented as a combination of Dymkovo toys and
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 ...
, and the award-winning '' The Battle of Kerzhenets'' (1971) where
fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster ...
s and
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most c ...
s came to life. Another well-respected old-timer Boris Dyozhkin launched a popular series of short comedy films about two teams that competed in various sport disciplines such as football, hockey, skiing, boxing and so on. It ran from 1963 to 1981 and was notable for fast-paced
slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...
synchronized with music. Among the most political animators were
Fyodor Khitruk Fyodor Savelyevich Khitruk (russian: Фёдор Савельевич Хитрук; 1 May 1917 – 3 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian animator and animation director. Biography Khitruk was born in Tver (Russian Empire), into a Jewis ...
whose satire ''The Man in the Frame'' (1966) was cut by censors and
Andrei Khrzhanovsky Andrei Yurievich Khrzhanovsky (russian: Андрей Юрьевич Хржано́вский; born 30 November 1939 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian animator, documentary filmmaker, writer and producer known for making art films. He is the fath ...
whose
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
film ' (1968) was shelved for many years. On the other hand, Khitruk's ' (1965), '' Film, Film, Film'' (1968) and the ''
Winnie-the-Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...
'' trilogy in particular became an instant success among both kids and adults. Roman Kachanov made numerous films for children. He started with
puppet animation 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 ...
such as '' A Little Frog Is looking for His Father'', '' The Mitten'' and, most famously, the '' Cheburashka'' series that turned Cheburashka into one of the iconic characters of Soyuzmultfilm. In his late years he switched to
traditional animation Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation. Proce ...
with the feature
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interste ...
''
The Mystery of the Third Planet ''The Mystery of the Third Planet'' (russian: Тайна третьей планеты, ''Tayna tretyey planety''), aka ''The Secret of the Third Planet'' is a 1981 Soviet traditionally animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produc ...
'' (1981). ''
Adventures of Mowgli ''Adventures of Mowgli'' (russian: Маугли; also spelled ''Maugli'') is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Ki ...
'' mini-series by Roman Davydov was released from 1967 to 1971. Just like ''Winnie-the-Pooh'', it was not conceived as a reaction to the Disney's ''
The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' (1894) is a collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, w ...
'' (even the first episode was developed simultaneously) and followed the original plot closely, appearing more adult and spiritually closer to the book. In 1973, the shorts were combined into a 96-minute feature. The rising popularity of the industry started drawing people from other areas.
Vasily Livanov Vasily Borisovich Livanov (russian: link=no, Василий Борисович Ливанов; born 19 July 1935), MBE, is a Soviet and Russian film actor, animation and film director, screenwriter and writer most famous for portraying Sherlock ...
, originally an actor, finished animation courses and directed several experimental pictures. Yet his biggest success was '' The Bremen Town Musicians'' (1969), an animated musical film heavily influenced by rock and roll and hippie cultures. The first part was directed by Inessa Kovalevskaya who also abandoned her position at State Committee for Cinematography, Goskino to work on animated musicals. After she left the project, Livanov directed the On the Trail of the Bremen Town Musicians, sequel by himself. The three main characters were voiced by the leading Soviet pop singer Muslim Magomayev (musician), Muslim Magomayev. 1969 saw the birth of Russia's most popular animation series ''Well, Just You Wait!'' directed by Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin.
The Nu, Pogodi! Series Turned to Be the Most Beloved Animation in Russia
' by RIA Novosti, February 26, 2014 (in Russian)
These seemingly simple miniatures about a wolf chasing a hare through Soviet-style cartoon worlds owe a great deal of their popularity to the quality animation, varied soundtrack and cunning subtexts built into their parts. The original series ran from 1969 to 1993. During the mid-2000s, an unsuccessful attempt to reboot the series was made. Also, in 1969, a long-running animated anthology series ''Happy Merry-Go-Round'' was founded by Anatoly Petrov (animator), Anatoly Petrov and Galina Barinova (animator), Galina Barinova. Each episode combined several short experimental films by the beginning directors like Leonid Nosyrev, , Eduard Nazarov, Gennady Sokolsky, Garri Bardin and . Most of them gained acclaim later on, working in their own unique niches. Anatoly Petrov showed extreme realism (close to photorealism) without rotoscopy, photography or any "cheating". His style was known as "photographics", or "graphical painting"; for many years he developed the so-called effect of moving glaze (painting technique), glaze in a 3D environment using traditional animation materials. The final result was close to advanced Computer-generated imagery, CGI long before it was invented. Among his best works was ''Polygon (film), Polygon'' (1977) and several films based on Greek mythology. Gennady Sokolsky focused on environmental films with attractive characters and ambient soundtracks: ' (1977), ' (1978) and ''The Adventures of Lolo the Penguin'' (1986), a joined List of joint Japanese–Soviet films, Soviet-Japanese feature co-directed with Kenji Yoshida. Leonid Nosyrev explored the Russian North folklore with a number of ethnographical films based on the stories by Boris Shergin, Stepan Pisakhov and Yury Iosifovich Koval, Yuri Koval. In 1987, seven of them were combined into a ''Laughter and Grief by the White Sea'' feature film. One of the most famous Russian animators is
Yuri Norstein Yuri Borisovich Norstein, PAR (russian: link=no, Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн; born 15 September 1941) is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts '' Hedgehog in the Fog'' and '' Tale of Tales''. Sin ...
. His films ''Hedgehog in the Fog'' (1975) and ''Tale of Tales (1979 film), Tale of Tales'' (1979) won numerous awards at international festivals. ''Tale of Tales'' was named the best animation film of all time at the 1984 Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles and at the 2002 Animafest Zagreb. Since the beginning of perestroika Norstein has been working on ''The Overcoat (animated film), The Overcoat''. Vladimir Popov (animator), Vladimir Popov had been known since the 1960s for his shorts such as ''Umka (1969 film), Umka'', but it was the ''Three from Prostokvashino'' trilogy (1978–1984) that brought him fame. The characters and their catchphrases entered Russian folklore, and it was chosen the third best animation of all time in the 2014 poll conducted by the Public Opinion Foundation. In 2018 the series was rebooted. Vladimir Tarasov was a rare Soviet director who dedicated himself to the science fiction genre. Among his prominent works were ''Contact (1978 film), Contact'' (1978) influenced by ''Yellow Submarine (film), Yellow Submarine'', ''Shooting Range (film), Shooting Range'' (1979), ''Contract (1985 film), Contract'' (1985) and ''The Pass (1988 film), The Pass'' (1988). Stanislav Sokolov brought
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 ...
to a new height. His approach characterized by complex animation structures and multiple special effects could be observed in the award-winning ''Black and White Film'' (1984) or ''The Big Underground Ball'' (1987). During late years, few animated films were produced due to the lack of financing from government. Garri Bardin who also specialized on stop motion films made of matches, ropes and wire, was one of those few directors who managed to cope with the political changes. His ''Seryi Volk & Krasnaya Shapochka, Grey Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood'' (1991) was full of allusions to the upcoming end of the USSR.


Other Soviet studios

Kievnauchfilm was founded in 1941. Although it was created to produce popular science films, it eventually became best known for its animated films, and remained active in History of Ukrainian animation, Ukrainian animation for decades. In 1968, a group of mathematicians led by Nikolay Konstantinov released a 1.5-minute non-narrative animation ', one of the earliest examples of computer animation, computer and procedural animation in history programmed on BESM-4.Leonid Levkovich-Maslyuk.
The Arrival of a Kitty
' article from Computerra № 7, 21 February 2006 (in Russian)
It was also one of the first attempts to render realistic animal motion digitally. Programmed at the Moscow State Pedagogical University, ''Kitty'' was made into a movie and screened at the Moscow State University. It was later shown to students at mathematics competitions and used for educational purposes at schools. From 1970 on, new studios appeared across the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, RSFSR, most famously Multtelefilm division of Studio Ekran (Moscow) that focused on lower-budget television animation. It was known for several popular TV series such as ''Leopold the Cat'' (1975–1987), ' (1984–1987), ''Investigation Held by Kolobki'' (1986–1987) and ' (1986–1988), as well as various experiments. re-discovered
paint-on-glass animation Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil paints on sheets of glass. Gouache mixed with glycerine is sometimes used instead. The best-known practitioner of the technique is Russian animator ...
with films like ''Wonders'' (1980), ' (1982) and (1984), while Alexander Tatarsky pioneered clay animation with ''Plasticine Crow'' (1981), ''Last Year's Snow Was Falling'' (1983) and the ''Good Night, Little Ones!'' opening. He and his students also practiced total animation (flying camera with characters and backgrounds moving simultaneously). Multtelefilm served as a base for Pilot (studio), Pilot, the first private Soviet animation studio founded by Alexander Tatarsky and Igor Kovalyov in 1988. They aimed at both auteur and commercial animation, producing absurd adult-themed films. In several years half of the team left Russia to work for Klasky Csupo where they created popular animated series such as ''Rugrats'' and ''Aaahh!!! Real Monsters''. The Sverdlovsk Film Studio also gained fame for its paint-on-glass animation with complete new level of quality by and Aleksandr Petrov (animator), Aleksandr Petrov (''Welcome (1986 film), Welcome!'', ''The Cow (1989 film), The Cow''), as well as sand animation by Vladimir and Elena Petkevich (''A Small Tale of a Small Bug''). The rest included the animation department at Lennauchfilm that produced educational and popular science films, the Permtelefilm studio (Perm, Russia, Perm) responsible for TV animation mostly based on the Ural (region), Ural folklore, Kuybyshevtelefilm (Samara, Kuybyshev) known for its stop motion ''Forest Tales'' series, Saratovtelefilm (Saratov) and some others. In 1989, another independent studios Christmas Films was founded by Soyuzmultfilm veterans that focused on international coproduction. It became famous during later years with the Russian-British ''Shakespeare: The Animated Tales'' series (1992–1994) that earned several Primetime Emmy Awards.


Russian animation today

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union the situation for Russian animators changed dramatically. Due to the new management and the lack of state funding, many of them left
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 ...
, which was turned into a leased enterprise. In 1993, Yuri Norstein,
Fyodor Khitruk Fyodor Savelyevich Khitruk (russian: Фёдор Савельевич Хитрук; 1 May 1917 – 3 December 2012) was a Soviet and Russian animator and animation director. Biography Khitruk was born in Tver (Russian Empire), into a Jewis ...
,
Andrei Khrzhanovsky Andrei Yurievich Khrzhanovsky (russian: Андрей Юрьевич Хржано́вский; born 30 November 1939 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian animator, documentary filmmaker, writer and producer known for making art films. He is the fath ...
and Eduard Nazarov founded the SHAR Studio meant for training animators and producing films. Garri Bardin also founded the Stayer animation studio where he continued directing claymation and stop motion films. Others joined Pilot (studio), Pilot, Christmas Films, Animation Magic and similar companies that lived on advertisement and commissioned works for big studios from Western countries. In 1992, Films by Jove, an American company ran by Oleg Vidov and his wife Joan Borsten, signed a nine-year contract with the new Soyuzmultfilm director Stanislav Rozhkov that gave them exclusive distribution and editing rights for the major part of the studio's collection. They were supposed to share incomes, but only after their expenses would've been paid off. As a result, animators received nothing for their past works. In 1993, they elected a new director, a shady businessman Sergei Skulyabin who promised to turn the studio into a joint-stock company. Instead he signed a new contract with Vidov, extending it from nine to twenty years and returning a number of non-profitable films. His plan was to sell exclusive rights for all past and future films to his dummy corporation and bankrupt the studio.Olga Razumovskaya.
Studio Renews Fight For Soviet Cartoons
' article at The Moscow Times, 18 August 2010
Georgy Borodin.
Goodbye, Souyzmultfilm!
' article at Animator.ru, August–October 2003 (in Russian)
When animators realized it, they managed to overthrow him with the help from the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation, Union of Cinematographers and Goskino, although the Ministry of State Property still refused to step in and return the studio the state status. Skulyabin also refused to leave the director's chair up until 30 June 1999 when Sergei Stepashin finally signed a long-awaited order that turned Soyuzmultfilm into a unitary enterprise. By that time the production completely stopped. In 2001 the Supreme Court of Arbitration of Russia returned the rights to the whole collection back to Soyuzmultfilm which led to a legal battle with Films by Jove. Only in 2007 Vidov and Borsten agreed to sell the collection to the Russian business magnate Alisher Usmanov who donated it to the state-run children's channel Bibigon. Around the same time the studio came back to life. Nevertheless, there were a few very successful international co-productions, e.g. the aforementioned ''Shakespeare: The Animated Tales'' and Aleksandr Petrov (animator), Aleksandr Petrov's Academy Awards, Oscar-winning ''The Old Man and the Sea (1999 film), The Old Man and the Sea'' (1999). An ambitious project in 12 series ''Dunno#Adaptations, Dunno on the Moon'' was released between 1997 and 1999. Based on the Soviet sci-fi Dunno on the Moon, novel of the same name, it was produced at Aleksei Guskov's F.A.F. Entertainment in the best traditions of Soviet hand-made animation. Despite the hardships, Natalya Lukinykh has estimated that Russian animated films won about twice as many prestigious international awards in the 1990s as Russian live-action films. As Russia's economic situation became increasingly stable, so did the market for animation, and during the last three years, a number of feature-length animation films from Russian studios have emerged (e.g. Melnitsa Animation Studio's ''Little Longnose'', 2003, from Wilhelm Hauff's fairy tale, and Solnechny Dom, Solnechny Dom Studio's 2006 ''Prince Vladimir (film), Prince Vladimir'', based on early history of Kievan Rus', Rus' – the highest-grossing Russian animated film to date). While the Russian animation community is yet far from reaching the splendor it possessed before the end of the Soviet Union, a significant recovery is being made and it is becoming more and more clear that the revived Russian animation industry will be very different from what it was in the late 1980s. According to Andrei Dobrunov, head of Solnechny Dom, several Russian studios are currently working on some ten animated feature films. ''Especial (2006), Especial'' released on July 31, 2006 was Russia's first 3D computer graphics, CG-animated feature film. At the same time, Soyuzmultfilm has partnered up with Mihail Chemiakin and is working on ''Hoffmaniada'', a puppet-animated feature film which is deliberately being made entirely without computers. In 2007, the Synfig#Usage, Morevna Project was launched, aiming at creating a science fiction re-telling the folk-tale of The Death of Koschei the Deathless, Marya Morevna as an anime primarily by using the free software Synfig tool and releasing it under a Creative Commons license. Other popular Russian Internet cartoons include ''Masyanya'' and ''Mr. Freeman''. A corporate collaboration between the Japanese Studio 4°C and Russia's Molot Entertainment did also produce the anime film ''First Squad'' (2009), which won the ''Kommersant'' newspaper's prize. Beginning in 2009, animation entered a new crisis as Goskino indefinitely postponed funding for all projects, and for the 2010 budget the state cut animation funding by half. The animation community reacted by appealing to the President and the public

In 2010, many of the major studios, including Pilot (studio), Pilot, were either closed or on the verge of shutting down. The vast majority of studios had relied on state support to some extent, and Goskino did not fulfill any of their contractual obligations to pay for the films that they had ordered and which the studios had already produce

In addition, Disney has been accused of using anti-competitive practices to sideline domestic Russian competition on TV channel

The Centre of National Film, Center of National Film CG animated film ''Space Dogs'', released on March 18, 2010 and about the Soviet space dogs Soviet space dogs#Belka and Strelka, Strelka and Belka, received an English release on June 8, 2012 and spawned a broader franchise. Wizart Animation, alongside InlayFilm, also produced a new CG film version of ''The Snow Queen (2012 film), The Snow Queen'' (2012), spawning a new franchise with sequels ''The Snow Queen 2'' (2014) and ''The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice'' (2016), alongside their first fully original concept ''Sheep and Wolves'' (2016). Animaccord Animation Studio has had success in CG television animation with its children's series ''Masha and the Bear'' (2009–present), whose emphasis on pantomime has helped it export outside of the country, premièring on the US version of Netflix in August 2015. Another long running, educational, children's series by Melnitsa Animation Studio called ''Luntik'' has aired since September 1, 2006. An earlier success in this market was ''Kikoriki'' which aired from May 7, 2004 until 2012, produced by Petersburg Animation Studio with assistance from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. English-language distribution rights to the series were acquired by 4Kids Entertainment from worldwide distributor Fun Game Media, Munich and began airing as part of The CW4Kids block on The CW Television Network, The CW on September 13, 2008, under the name ''GoGoRiki''. In 2011 a prequel feature film was released entitled ''Kikoriki. Team Invincible'' and further films are planned. A connecting factor in many recent Russian animated efforts is Timur Bekmambetov, whose Bazelevs Company has helped produce, finance and promote ''Kikoriki'' and ''The Snow Queen''. In 2010, the animated series The Fixies premiered on Carousel (TV channel), Karusel and Russia 1. In 2018,
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 ...
, announced plans to restore films from its Golden Collection. On 5 December 2020, the second part of the Golden Collection was restored and released theatrically by United Network "Cinema Park" in Russia. The release was followed up online premiere service viewing options.


Popular animation studios

*
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 ...
*Melnitsa Animation Studio *Petersburg Animation Studio *Animaccord Animation Studio *Wizart Animation *InlayFilm


See also

* History of animation * Animator.ru * Masters of Russian Animation *
Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation The ''Encyclopedia of Domestic Animation'' (russian: Энциклопедия отечественной мультипликации; transliterated ''Entsiklopediya otechestvennoy multiplikatsiyi'') is a collection of biographies and filmographi ...
* KROK International Animated Films Festival * Open Russian Festival of Animated Film * Magia Russica


References


Bibliography

* Bendazzi, Giannalberto. 1994. ''Cartoons. One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation.'' London/Bloomington: John Libbey/Indiana University Press. * Giesen, Rolf. 2003. ''Lexikon des Trick- und Animationsfilms.'' Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf. * Leslie, Ester. 2002. ''Hollywood Flatlands. Animation, Critical Theory and the Avant-Garde.'' London, New York: Verso. * Pilling, Jayne (Ed.). 1997. ''A Reader in Animation Studies.'' London et al.: John Libbey. * Асенин, Сергей Владимирович. 1986. ''Мир мультфильма.'' Москва: Искусство. * Венжер, Наталья Яковлевна (Ed.). 1990. ''Сотворение фильма. Несколько интервью по служебным вопросам.'' Москва: Союз Кинематографистов СССР. * Иванов-Вано, Иван Петрович. 1978. ''Кадр за кадром'', Москва: Искусство. *Орлов, Алексей Михайлович. 1995. ''Аниматограф и его анима: психогенные аспекты экранных технологий.'' Москва: Импето.


External links


Russian and Soviet animations
a
Russian Film Hub

Animator.ru
– the homepage of the Russian animation community. Includes a
English-language database

Soyuzmultfilm homepage
The most famous Russian animation studio's home page
Officially licensed YouTube channel for Soyuzmultfilm animation
in Russian (English subtitles promised)
www.pilot-film.com
Another famous studio's homepage (in Russian and English)
Animated Century. The Stars of Russian Animation
documentary series (in Russian, English website)
Russian Insider
– a blog focusing on current and past Russian/Soviet animation
Mountain of Gems series
at the official YouTube channel (in Russian, English, Spanish and Chinese)
Blog about Russian Animation Influence in Cuban Culture

Soviet Cartoons Online
- in English and Russian, with Russian and English subtitles


News articles


''The St. Petersburg Times'' (Russia)
– a May 2006 article about the film ''Prince Vladimir (film), Prince Vladimir'' and the future of the animation industry in Russia
Redrawing Russian History
(May 18, 2006)
In-depth history of the appalling and criminal happenings at Soyuzmultfilm during the 1990s

An overview of Russian animated feature films in the 1990s and early 2000s


Maria Tereschenko, Russia Beyond the Headlines, December 17, 2009 (English) {{Animation History of animation by country, Russia Russian animation, Soviet animation,