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This was done in a rush, so you'll have to excuse me if there are some awkward spots in the translation (note: "film fund" means something like "film archive" - I forgot the usual English term). Please ask me if anything here's unclear or if you're having trouble finding more information about something that is mentioned here.
Original interview in Russian.
My comments at the bottom.
The 73rd anniversary of Soyuzmultfilm's founding was 5 days ago.
If you're curious about Akop Kirakosyan's animation credentials, I recommend watching this film that he directed in 1992. There are some others that he made, but they're not so good.
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Press Conference: Akop Korakosyan, Director of "Soyuzmultfilm" (June 2, 2009)
What will happen to Soyuzmultfilm and its film funds?
The government of Russia has decided to privatize Soyuzmultfilm studio in the year 2009. Throughout the 70-year existence of this studio, many masterpieces of national animation were created, including "You just Wait!", "Winnie-the-Pooh", "Boy and Karlson", "Cheburashka and Gena the Crocodile" and "Hedgehog in the Fog". Many scandals have flamed up around the film funds of Soyuzmultfilm. What is the current situation regarding the defence of the studio's copyrights to its works? What will happen to the film funds after privatization? What does the future hold for Russian animation? The questions of the readers of Lenta.ru were answered by the director of Soyuzmultfilm, Akop Gurgenovuch Kirakosyan.
Akop Kirakosyan, image from radiorus.ru
Mikhail [25.05 17:42]
Dear Akop Gurgenovich,
1) What is your personal view concerning the privatization of Soyuzmultfilm? What pluses and minuses do you see?
2) What degree of deficit does today's budget for Soyuzmultfilm contain? Do you have enough money to make something new?
3) Can you name at least 1-2 big animated productions that Soyuzmultfilm has created within the past 10 years?
Thank you.
1. If we're talking about a strategy for developing animation, privatization is necessary. I have a positive opinion concerning privatization. Animation is expensive, and it is impossible to stay hanging around the government's neck forever. In truth, animation is a good sector for making money and for business. Privatization can help with this. But big money is needed for this; it is absolutely necessary to form a large, progressive enterprise, to make a large amount of animated product and to sell the amount of animated product for which demand exists in the whole world. So privatization is the correct path, but now is too early; the studio has not yet fully revived after the collapse of the USSR, and besides this, there's an economic crisis now. I think that the government must support Soyuzmultfilm a little, until the world economy gets back on its feet, then they can privatize it. Animation is a serious business sector.
2. To tell the truth, exactly to the degree that the budget of the Russian Federation is in deficit. Absolutely. We're from this country. Even last year, in 2008, Soyuzmultfilm was still profitable. But already after the winter, our budget went into deficit. As the country goes, so do we. We cannot go in front of the country, because we are currently on government money, and only on government money.
3. I cannot name anything, because we have not created any big projects during the past 10 years. Big cinema requires, firstly, skilled directors; secondly, skilled scriptwriters who can write big scripts; thirdly, skilled specialists who are capable of drawing and producing a big animated film. All of this is a completely different form of animated film production. Very rarely during Soyuzmultfilm's 70 years did somebody dare to take a risk on big animated films.1 Ivan Ivanov-Vano made "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in his time; Lev Atamanov made "The Snow Queen" and "The Scarlet Flower". This is a different specialty; people who can make such films do not exist in Soyuzmultfilm today, and I do not even know any people in all of Russia who can make big animated feature films.2 This is a somewhat different specialty.
Dance of the firebirds from "The Little Humpbacked Horse" (1947)
Sergey [25.05 17:44]
Akop Gurgenovich,
1) Who, in your opinion, is today the leader of Russian animation (in an organizational-production sense)?
2) Why has Soyuzmultfilm let its leadership position slip away?
1. If you are interested only in leadership from an organizational-production sense, then I don't know, I haven't been at other studios. Judging by results, probably it is "Melnitsa" studio in Saint-Petersburg. What they create requires serious hard work on the organizational-production front. Their producer Selyanov does his job very well.
Scene from Melnitsa's "Alosha", the first financially successful Russian animated feature
2. The first reason is that the Soviet Union, collapsed, and it was the Soviet Union where Soyuzmultfilm's animated films were in regular demand: 40 of them a year. This was already "leadership". So the first reason was the amount of work and steady plan. Secondly, this large amount of work served as the education and workplace of fantastic artists, directors, and professionals, on a very competitive foundation. Thirdly, after the collapse of the USSR, all of these wonderful people (99 percent, I think) went away to wherever you can think of - into books, publishing, advertising, - in order to somehow make enough money for bread.
After the collapse of the USSR, there were no more commissions for Soyuzmultfilm, the continuity of generations was lost; before, it all worked like a conveyer belt - members of one generation would hand over to the next one all of their mastery, knowledge and talent.
And fourthly, there is no government planning today from the only commissioner of animated production: no word on which animated films are needed today not only for Soyuzmultfilm, but for Russian animation as a whole: patriotic ones, literary ones or comedic ones. There is no understanding, and there are many reasons for this. But you must not look for them only at Soyuzmultfilm. Ask yourselves, what happened to Russia from 1991-2009? We're also located in Russia. The reasons are all the same. These problems are not just in our house; the Soviet aviation industry is complaining and suffering. Where is education going? They say that they want to cancel literature classes in schools. You can find the reasons in this country, as well as in our company.
Irina [25.05 17:46]
Does Soyuzmultfilm work with Yuriy Norshteyn and Aleksandr Petrov? If not, why not, and why?
No, we do not work with them. Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn is a self-sufficient, individual author of his own films, who works for himself. Aleksandr Petrov is the same - he has his own studio in Yaroslavl. If he gets a commission for something, he fulfills this commission. They have neither the time, nor the inclination to work with Soyuzmultfilm, because they are independent artists. They practically do not need Soyuzmultfilm. They draw by themselves. What are we going to do, hold their hands while they draw?3
So there is no cooperation, but there is a very pleasant, warm relationship.
Pyotr T. [25.05 17:51]
1) How serious was the damage to Soyuzmultfilm's funds caused by the sale of copyrights beyond our borders during the 1990-2000 years? What of worth do you have left?
2) What, exactly, are your film funds?
3) Do you receive any payment when the artwork from animated films created by your company is used in television and street advertising? If yes, then how profitable is this?
1. The damage was done when we sold our copyrights beyond our borders. We did not receive even one kopek. As for what is left - the collection is still left; we need to begin working with it again, to once again distribute it across various sectors of the globe. We need to gather momentum.
2. Our golden collection incorporates 1350 animated films. Around 300-320 hours. If I started now to recite everything by alphabet, starting from the letter "A", I would finish in a week.
3. Customers very rarely ask us this question, so it is not profitable. We have practically no offers from street or television advertising.4
Valeriy [25.05 17:52]
Hello, Akop Gurgenovich,
Please explain, how did it come to be, that the Soviet cartoons with sound re-recorded in the beginning of the 21st century are impossible to watch? I get the impression that two students did all the voice-overs.
Did someone get punished for this?
Where can the original versions be found, and why do television channels show these abominations?
Sirin [26.05 10:59]
Akop Gurgenovich, I was watching our Soviet classic of animation, "The Scarlet Flower", and something else - I don't remember, but also old, with wonderful artwork, but revoiced! The wretched revoicing, with dull voices, and the awful electronic music absolutely killed these masterpieces. Were we really not able to save the soundtracks of these cartoons? Those voices do not exist now, and there are no voices who could even match their mastery. Who could replace Gribov or Chirkov? What other cartoons have lost their voices? When did this happen, and by whose fault?
Because this was done arbitrarily by despicable people. I don't know who they are. But however it was done, they are despicable people. This is not Soyuzmultfilm. And those despicable television people are showing these despicable creations. Why? Because they make money.5
litvinov [25.05 18:41]
Who is responsible for this whole mess in animation? And will anyone be held responsible for it?
Thank you. Respectfully,
Georgiy Litvinov.6
I cannot answer. I do not understand, what is this mess in animation that you speak of. There is no mess. A lot of fine work is being produced.
Andrei [25.05 19:52]
Are there worthy "receivers" of the animated legacy of the USSR among young studios? As is known, there are many now who create drawn animation. Are there those whose creations could be put on television screens and shown to everyone without shame - I'm talking about screen adaptations of folk tales, true stories ("byliny"), or just folk wisdom. Is there today, in principle, a committee for the censorship of animation - this is more a question concerning the appearance in theatres of that animated abomination, "Alisa's Birthday"7, and where do the animated works of talented people end up? You can compare this to Japanese anime - drawn animation, of the kind that we have had, now have, and will have. But will the government support all of this or is it more profitable for them to give us Ranetki Girls?
Yes, there are worthy successors, only, unfortunately, there is very little demand among television channels for what they make. In the past 10 years, about 100 animated films have been made every year. Among this thousand of animated films, I won't be wrong if I say that there are about 200 films for which one may feel some pride. The public simply never sees them; the creators of the films cannot show them themselves. These works can be seen only at various animated film festivals. For example, in Suzdal8 we see many animated talents. VGIK now produces many talented kids, fantastically talented. Good courseworks, good debuts. We know this, but unfortunately, the public does not see that there are worthy successors.
Japanese anime is drawings without soul. Soyuzmultfilm will never do anything similar. Not because this is bad or good. Soyuzmutlfilm has always put soul into animated films, whereas anime is a synthetic art. Such things also exist. You see, one person chooses fresh green plants, while another chooses plastic ones, for putting on the windowsill. We water living flowers, while anime makes artificial flowers. That is all.
Why does the government not support fine animated films?
I am not the government, so how can I answer this question? We are producers. How can we know the reasons? This is a very painful question for Russian cinematography. We are already fighting with it for 10-15 years. How many animated films has the outstanding director Garri Yakovlevich Bardin made? You don't know them, but it would be nice to show them to the people. And has anyone seen the latest works of Aleksandr Petrov? No. Has anyone seen the wonderful works of Ivan Maximov? The government gave the money, so the government should distribute the films. This question should not be directed at us. We are producers, and we are not ashamed of our own production, even from the modern difficult Russian history.
From "Chucha" (1997) by Garri Bardin. A fantastic trilogy of films was made, and even released in Russian theatres - however, it was released by an extremely incompetent distributor in very few theatres, so almost nobody saw them.
Yelena [25.05 20:08]
Akop Gurgenovich, what realistic predictions can you give for the development of animation along the principles laid down in Soviet times? Are the processes currently under way in Soyuzmultfilm sufficient for the development of animation and the increase in number of animated masterpieces? Will there be continuations of new animated series, and also please relate the process of creating children's animated films, and how the basic plot for an animated film is created?
The prediction is as follows: animation will continue to develop for the following reasons. First, without animation, like without electricity, human living conditions cannot exist. So it is in demand, and will continue to develop, including here in Russia. Second argument, for Russia: Animation is that which is the closest to Russian thinking and to Russian literature. And most importantly: Russian is a nation of philological thinking. This nation will always develop and produce animated films.
We are making continuations of the "Kesha the Parrot" series9, and we are also finishing up a continuation of "Buttermilk Village". That film is to be called "New Buttermilk Village"10. Soyuzmultfilm does what it can given the money it has to work with. Our direction has been decided: we will make continuations of well-known animated brands.
From "The New Adventures of Kesha the Parrot" (2005)
How is the plot and idea for an animated film created? In different ways. Mainly, our famous directors propose their own ideas, for example, Kurlyandskiy Aleksandr Yefimovich. He proposed the following idea: Kesha the Parrot, running away from Vova, finds himself on the North Pole. Now we are filming the film "Have You Visited Haiti?". He thought that the North Pole was Haiti.11
It can happen differently: a producer may get an idea, and he seeks suitable directors. We get idea proposals from producers. The story comes together in a complex fashion.
Mikhail [25.05 21:02]
Akop Gurgenovich,
Our animated films can rightly be considered the most philosophical and interesting, with fantastic animation, excellent music, but I refer here to the Soviet animation with which we grew up...
1. When will the new generation once again begin to quote Russian animated films, as our generation does constantly in life and at work? A question of quality.12
2. Please list the main difficulties and problems for the industry, as you see them (finances, lack of managerial experience, lack of government support, or simply the times we live in)?
3. What are your suggestions for an exit from this difficult position?
1. When our country will (as it was in the USSR) show our animated films as part of a fair competition. I already noted earlier that we have made over 1000 films in 10 years, and there are things in there worth quoting. Pilot Studio, for example, is making "The Mountain of Gems" - screen adaptations of the folk tales of nations living in Russia, but the country does not see any of this. Nobody shows our films, so where is there to quote from? They show imports, which have characteristic phrases like "Okay, let's have sex"13. So that's what they quote.
2. and 3. First you need to create a unified command for the marketing, production and sales of animated films and associated products. Any animated production has secondary markets - books, toys, and other types of joint products. Here it is necessary to create an area of joint business with interested people who understand that this is a very good business. In construction work, there exists an organized relationship - somewhere they make cement, somewhere else bricks, and together they work on one project - the building of houses. In the auto industry - they make engines in one place and wheels in another, but they have already existed as one unified team for many decades.
When such understanding businessmen, who would combine all of their efforts with treaties and obligations - you make the animated film, I'll make the notebooks, they'll make the toys - appear here as well, they will all support each other. The result will be that the producers broadcast the animated film, the consumer likes it. The child sees the toy and says: "Oh, they just showed this. Mom, buy it for me". The child goes to school - and they buy him notebooks with this animated film.
We need to create an encompassing program for the development of animated business as a branch of all interested segments of the business. That is the prospect. I don't know when, but it will happen someday.
Viktor [25.05 21:34]
1. What is your education?
2. How do you see your own role in the scandalous sale of the copyrights to the masterpieces owned by the studio?
3. Name the studio director at the moment that the rights were sold. Who is this person? How did he become the director?
4. Explain the role of Goskino in the copyrights sell-off. Who was the chairman at the time?
5. Explain the passivity of animation masters in defending the rights of the studio.
6. Should someone NOT submit the materials concerning the sale of rights to the studio masterpieces to the agencies responsible for the fight against corruption?
1. Post-graduate education, including artistic education.
2. I am a director who makes new animated films. This is probably a question for the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund.
3. I don't know who was the director then. I was not there then. 14
4. I cannot say, because I was not there then. My subjective personal view is that this decision was flawed. I don't know who was behind it, though.
5. The passivity can be explained. After the collapse of the USSR, people were torn away from Soyuzmultfilm. Over 20 years have passed, and the passivity has progressed. They aren't at the film studio any more, to fight for anything. You know, after the USSR's collapse, Soyuzmultfilm was dying, and people were looking for bread for themselves and leaving. There was no work; that is why it happened. Those who left at 70 are now 90. There's passivity for you.
Maria [26.05 10:51]
Does Soyuzmultfilm work with Diafilm studio?15
No, we do not, because we have almost no reversal film left.
Tigran [26.05 10:54]
Akop Gurgenovich,
What do you think about our modern animated features such as "Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber", "Alosha", "The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma", etc.?
Can you say something concerning their quality suitability for young audiences?
Thank you.
I cannot, because this is a purely subjective point of view. I do not like them; I have many questions from a professional standpoint concerning the quality of these animated films. You see, they try to make these films as entertainment. They think that entertainment means that you show someone giving the finger, and that's funny. I stopped laughing at someone giving the finger a very long time ago. Entertainment film is really based on rich education, culture and professionalism of the production. I did not see these components, so they bore me. This is my subjective view. I won't go to the movies, but a hundred other people will.
Mikhail [26.05 11:01]
Akop Gurgenovich,
Does there exist in Russia some sort of association (non-commercial partnership, union, etc.) of animation studios, or do you all function in a dispersed manner? Do you feel the necessity of such a union?
Yes, there is a necessity, and we are trying to create such an association. We had this association within the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR and Russia. There was an animation section with its own president and administration. During the last years people have run every which way to different producers, but now there is an idea to come together again, to create a union, because this is necessary, both because of the need for companionship and for negotiations with each other.
The process is moving forward, but it needs to be negotiated, and we need to understand how things are developing and what must be done.
Igor [26.05 11:43]
1. Who now owns the collection of Soviet animation? please answer concretely, if possible, without general phrases.
2. Are there mutual conflicting claims of the Soyuzmultfilm Film Studio and the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund? Can they be resolved?
3. Does a business model exist in the context of modern Russian society which allows for the production of masterpieces? Will the privatized studio attempt it? Or will you go the path of other Russian studios - simplified animation, horrible voices, lack of story and cheap moralizing?16
1. The Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund
2. There are no conflicting claims, because there are two Soyuzmultfilms - the film fund, which owns the rights to the golden collection, and the studio, which is a creative-production association, which produces new animated films. There are no more Soyuzmultfilms.
Yelena [26.05 12:27]
Dear Akop Gurgenovich, how do you see the possibility of exiting the crisis and the necessity of making commercial animated films based on Russian classics that do not abandon the principles of the animated masterpieces of Soyuzmultfilm (i.e. "Alosha"), working on a base of cooperation with the Union of Writers and theatres to create new masterpieces of animation and not give way in terms of quality, but if the material base does not allow this, to win in terms of art, classicism, of the transmission of artistic creation to the young viewer?
Theoretically, of course, this is possible and needed. Fantastic writers and theatres have cooperated with Soyuzmultfilm. We need to go in this direction.17
Vyacheslav [26.05 13:49]
Good day!
Are there plans for the production of social cartoons, as it was in the years of the USSR: about swindlers, cheats, etc.?
There are no plans; for this we need a concrete commission from the government. The government gives money for animated films. If the government were to finance the creation of social cartoons, of course we would gladly produce them. We remember the journal "Fitil" also. By the way, we made very many cartoons for "Fitil". But this was in plan back then; the government formulated social commissions. There are no plans now, but the will still exists.
VICTOR [27.05 08:41]
1. Will the workers of Soyuzmultfilm who recently became pensioners are decades of work for the studio have a right to shares after the privatization?
No. This is not a judgment; I am only saying what I currently know. They will not have rights to shares, because the government enterprise Soyuzmultfilm is being privatized by the government. 100 percent of the shares remain with the state as owner. If we as the staff had privatized it by ourselves for themselves, then - yes. At a general assembly we would have chosen the board of directors, and would have divided shares. But in this case, the state is privatizing its own belongings, so the shares remain with the state. That's what I know.
---
1. You can see a full list by going here and searching for "USSR".
2. See here for a list of those who are trying.
3. A little further down, Kirakosyan mentions that companionship is very important. Norshteyn also mentions that this is very important. Indeed, perhaps the most important thing that a studio could play is to bring all of these masters together and allow them to interact with younger students. This is why Soyuzmultfilm was so successful back in the day - the sharing of talent.
4. I wonder, is this because nobody uses the characters, or because courts wouldn't enforce challenges?
5. I've been hearing many people complaining about this. The thing is, if the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund owns the rights to those films, they have the power to stop this. Yet they do not.
6. Funny question...
7. Interestingly, people have some rather diametrically opposed opinions - I've also heard people say that it brings back those traditions as other films do not. In fact, the film was not distributed widely in Russian theatres at all, so I'm not sure why this person is complaining.
8. Open Russian Festival of Animated Film
9. Pretty bad continuations, I think - sequels in the worst sense, with poor animation and poor stories.
10. So they're nearly finished this? Interesting.
11. Now this is just my subjective opinion, but it sounds pretty poor to me, especially given their poor recent track record with sequels.
12. This is true. Russians constantly quote their classic animated films.
13. Not really sure about the translation here.
14. According to animator.ru, this is untrue; he was. The sale was made in 1992 by director S.S.Rozhkov, then next year was made even worse for the studio by new director Skulyadin (source, in Russian here)
15. Maker of reversal film?
16. Note: I think he's talking here about cheap things like "Luntik" which are bought by Russian tv channels. Pilot Studio films are VERY high quality, actually, but I guess they're not much in demand...
17. And yet, they insist on focusing on making so-far-not-very-good sequels to well-known brands. What happened to courageous projects such as Gofmaniada?
The most quotable thing in the interview is probably Kirakosyan's opinion about anime. The most noteworthy is probably the talk about creating an animation union.
Also, I must say that for all the complaining about the copyright deal made in the early 1990s, it has to be said that Oleg Vidov and his wife and their American company Films by Jove, despite their occasional mistakes (the English voice-overs and redone music were usually horrible) did a far better job of promoting Russian animation abroad than Soyuzmultfilm did since they got the rights back two years ago. In short, they actually did something and worked at promoting them, whereas the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund seems to be doing absolutely nothing at all, other than authorizing horrible new Russian re-dubbings of the classic soundtracks to their best films (instead of restoring the originals). Films by Jove only owned the international copyrights, and a great deal of original film negatives. Copyrights within Russia for the films never belonged to them, and the market within Russia for them is far greater.
Original interview in Russian.
My comments at the bottom.
The 73rd anniversary of Soyuzmultfilm's founding was 5 days ago.
If you're curious about Akop Kirakosyan's animation credentials, I recommend watching this film that he directed in 1992. There are some others that he made, but they're not so good.
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Press Conference: Akop Korakosyan, Director of "Soyuzmultfilm" (June 2, 2009)
What will happen to Soyuzmultfilm and its film funds?
The government of Russia has decided to privatize Soyuzmultfilm studio in the year 2009. Throughout the 70-year existence of this studio, many masterpieces of national animation were created, including "You just Wait!", "Winnie-the-Pooh", "Boy and Karlson", "Cheburashka and Gena the Crocodile" and "Hedgehog in the Fog". Many scandals have flamed up around the film funds of Soyuzmultfilm. What is the current situation regarding the defence of the studio's copyrights to its works? What will happen to the film funds after privatization? What does the future hold for Russian animation? The questions of the readers of Lenta.ru were answered by the director of Soyuzmultfilm, Akop Gurgenovuch Kirakosyan.
Akop Kirakosyan, image from radiorus.ru
Mikhail [25.05 17:42]
Dear Akop Gurgenovich,
1) What is your personal view concerning the privatization of Soyuzmultfilm? What pluses and minuses do you see?
2) What degree of deficit does today's budget for Soyuzmultfilm contain? Do you have enough money to make something new?
3) Can you name at least 1-2 big animated productions that Soyuzmultfilm has created within the past 10 years?
Thank you.
1. If we're talking about a strategy for developing animation, privatization is necessary. I have a positive opinion concerning privatization. Animation is expensive, and it is impossible to stay hanging around the government's neck forever. In truth, animation is a good sector for making money and for business. Privatization can help with this. But big money is needed for this; it is absolutely necessary to form a large, progressive enterprise, to make a large amount of animated product and to sell the amount of animated product for which demand exists in the whole world. So privatization is the correct path, but now is too early; the studio has not yet fully revived after the collapse of the USSR, and besides this, there's an economic crisis now. I think that the government must support Soyuzmultfilm a little, until the world economy gets back on its feet, then they can privatize it. Animation is a serious business sector.
2. To tell the truth, exactly to the degree that the budget of the Russian Federation is in deficit. Absolutely. We're from this country. Even last year, in 2008, Soyuzmultfilm was still profitable. But already after the winter, our budget went into deficit. As the country goes, so do we. We cannot go in front of the country, because we are currently on government money, and only on government money.
3. I cannot name anything, because we have not created any big projects during the past 10 years. Big cinema requires, firstly, skilled directors; secondly, skilled scriptwriters who can write big scripts; thirdly, skilled specialists who are capable of drawing and producing a big animated film. All of this is a completely different form of animated film production. Very rarely during Soyuzmultfilm's 70 years did somebody dare to take a risk on big animated films.1 Ivan Ivanov-Vano made "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in his time; Lev Atamanov made "The Snow Queen" and "The Scarlet Flower". This is a different specialty; people who can make such films do not exist in Soyuzmultfilm today, and I do not even know any people in all of Russia who can make big animated feature films.2 This is a somewhat different specialty.
Dance of the firebirds from "The Little Humpbacked Horse" (1947)
Sergey [25.05 17:44]
Akop Gurgenovich,
1) Who, in your opinion, is today the leader of Russian animation (in an organizational-production sense)?
2) Why has Soyuzmultfilm let its leadership position slip away?
1. If you are interested only in leadership from an organizational-production sense, then I don't know, I haven't been at other studios. Judging by results, probably it is "Melnitsa" studio in Saint-Petersburg. What they create requires serious hard work on the organizational-production front. Their producer Selyanov does his job very well.
Scene from Melnitsa's "Alosha", the first financially successful Russian animated feature
2. The first reason is that the Soviet Union, collapsed, and it was the Soviet Union where Soyuzmultfilm's animated films were in regular demand: 40 of them a year. This was already "leadership". So the first reason was the amount of work and steady plan. Secondly, this large amount of work served as the education and workplace of fantastic artists, directors, and professionals, on a very competitive foundation. Thirdly, after the collapse of the USSR, all of these wonderful people (99 percent, I think) went away to wherever you can think of - into books, publishing, advertising, - in order to somehow make enough money for bread.
After the collapse of the USSR, there were no more commissions for Soyuzmultfilm, the continuity of generations was lost; before, it all worked like a conveyer belt - members of one generation would hand over to the next one all of their mastery, knowledge and talent.
And fourthly, there is no government planning today from the only commissioner of animated production: no word on which animated films are needed today not only for Soyuzmultfilm, but for Russian animation as a whole: patriotic ones, literary ones or comedic ones. There is no understanding, and there are many reasons for this. But you must not look for them only at Soyuzmultfilm. Ask yourselves, what happened to Russia from 1991-2009? We're also located in Russia. The reasons are all the same. These problems are not just in our house; the Soviet aviation industry is complaining and suffering. Where is education going? They say that they want to cancel literature classes in schools. You can find the reasons in this country, as well as in our company.
Irina [25.05 17:46]
Does Soyuzmultfilm work with Yuriy Norshteyn and Aleksandr Petrov? If not, why not, and why?
No, we do not work with them. Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn is a self-sufficient, individual author of his own films, who works for himself. Aleksandr Petrov is the same - he has his own studio in Yaroslavl. If he gets a commission for something, he fulfills this commission. They have neither the time, nor the inclination to work with Soyuzmultfilm, because they are independent artists. They practically do not need Soyuzmultfilm. They draw by themselves. What are we going to do, hold their hands while they draw?3
So there is no cooperation, but there is a very pleasant, warm relationship.
Pyotr T. [25.05 17:51]
1) How serious was the damage to Soyuzmultfilm's funds caused by the sale of copyrights beyond our borders during the 1990-2000 years? What of worth do you have left?
2) What, exactly, are your film funds?
3) Do you receive any payment when the artwork from animated films created by your company is used in television and street advertising? If yes, then how profitable is this?
1. The damage was done when we sold our copyrights beyond our borders. We did not receive even one kopek. As for what is left - the collection is still left; we need to begin working with it again, to once again distribute it across various sectors of the globe. We need to gather momentum.
2. Our golden collection incorporates 1350 animated films. Around 300-320 hours. If I started now to recite everything by alphabet, starting from the letter "A", I would finish in a week.
3. Customers very rarely ask us this question, so it is not profitable. We have practically no offers from street or television advertising.4
Valeriy [25.05 17:52]
Hello, Akop Gurgenovich,
Please explain, how did it come to be, that the Soviet cartoons with sound re-recorded in the beginning of the 21st century are impossible to watch? I get the impression that two students did all the voice-overs.
Did someone get punished for this?
Where can the original versions be found, and why do television channels show these abominations?
Sirin [26.05 10:59]
Akop Gurgenovich, I was watching our Soviet classic of animation, "The Scarlet Flower", and something else - I don't remember, but also old, with wonderful artwork, but revoiced! The wretched revoicing, with dull voices, and the awful electronic music absolutely killed these masterpieces. Were we really not able to save the soundtracks of these cartoons? Those voices do not exist now, and there are no voices who could even match their mastery. Who could replace Gribov or Chirkov? What other cartoons have lost their voices? When did this happen, and by whose fault?
Because this was done arbitrarily by despicable people. I don't know who they are. But however it was done, they are despicable people. This is not Soyuzmultfilm. And those despicable television people are showing these despicable creations. Why? Because they make money.5
litvinov [25.05 18:41]
Who is responsible for this whole mess in animation? And will anyone be held responsible for it?
Thank you. Respectfully,
Georgiy Litvinov.6
I cannot answer. I do not understand, what is this mess in animation that you speak of. There is no mess. A lot of fine work is being produced.
Andrei [25.05 19:52]
Are there worthy "receivers" of the animated legacy of the USSR among young studios? As is known, there are many now who create drawn animation. Are there those whose creations could be put on television screens and shown to everyone without shame - I'm talking about screen adaptations of folk tales, true stories ("byliny"), or just folk wisdom. Is there today, in principle, a committee for the censorship of animation - this is more a question concerning the appearance in theatres of that animated abomination, "Alisa's Birthday"7, and where do the animated works of talented people end up? You can compare this to Japanese anime - drawn animation, of the kind that we have had, now have, and will have. But will the government support all of this or is it more profitable for them to give us Ranetki Girls?
Yes, there are worthy successors, only, unfortunately, there is very little demand among television channels for what they make. In the past 10 years, about 100 animated films have been made every year. Among this thousand of animated films, I won't be wrong if I say that there are about 200 films for which one may feel some pride. The public simply never sees them; the creators of the films cannot show them themselves. These works can be seen only at various animated film festivals. For example, in Suzdal8 we see many animated talents. VGIK now produces many talented kids, fantastically talented. Good courseworks, good debuts. We know this, but unfortunately, the public does not see that there are worthy successors.
Japanese anime is drawings without soul. Soyuzmultfilm will never do anything similar. Not because this is bad or good. Soyuzmutlfilm has always put soul into animated films, whereas anime is a synthetic art. Such things also exist. You see, one person chooses fresh green plants, while another chooses plastic ones, for putting on the windowsill. We water living flowers, while anime makes artificial flowers. That is all.
Why does the government not support fine animated films?
I am not the government, so how can I answer this question? We are producers. How can we know the reasons? This is a very painful question for Russian cinematography. We are already fighting with it for 10-15 years. How many animated films has the outstanding director Garri Yakovlevich Bardin made? You don't know them, but it would be nice to show them to the people. And has anyone seen the latest works of Aleksandr Petrov? No. Has anyone seen the wonderful works of Ivan Maximov? The government gave the money, so the government should distribute the films. This question should not be directed at us. We are producers, and we are not ashamed of our own production, even from the modern difficult Russian history.
From "Chucha" (1997) by Garri Bardin. A fantastic trilogy of films was made, and even released in Russian theatres - however, it was released by an extremely incompetent distributor in very few theatres, so almost nobody saw them.
Yelena [25.05 20:08]
Akop Gurgenovich, what realistic predictions can you give for the development of animation along the principles laid down in Soviet times? Are the processes currently under way in Soyuzmultfilm sufficient for the development of animation and the increase in number of animated masterpieces? Will there be continuations of new animated series, and also please relate the process of creating children's animated films, and how the basic plot for an animated film is created?
The prediction is as follows: animation will continue to develop for the following reasons. First, without animation, like without electricity, human living conditions cannot exist. So it is in demand, and will continue to develop, including here in Russia. Second argument, for Russia: Animation is that which is the closest to Russian thinking and to Russian literature. And most importantly: Russian is a nation of philological thinking. This nation will always develop and produce animated films.
We are making continuations of the "Kesha the Parrot" series9, and we are also finishing up a continuation of "Buttermilk Village". That film is to be called "New Buttermilk Village"10. Soyuzmultfilm does what it can given the money it has to work with. Our direction has been decided: we will make continuations of well-known animated brands.
From "The New Adventures of Kesha the Parrot" (2005)
How is the plot and idea for an animated film created? In different ways. Mainly, our famous directors propose their own ideas, for example, Kurlyandskiy Aleksandr Yefimovich. He proposed the following idea: Kesha the Parrot, running away from Vova, finds himself on the North Pole. Now we are filming the film "Have You Visited Haiti?". He thought that the North Pole was Haiti.11
It can happen differently: a producer may get an idea, and he seeks suitable directors. We get idea proposals from producers. The story comes together in a complex fashion.
Mikhail [25.05 21:02]
Akop Gurgenovich,
Our animated films can rightly be considered the most philosophical and interesting, with fantastic animation, excellent music, but I refer here to the Soviet animation with which we grew up...
1. When will the new generation once again begin to quote Russian animated films, as our generation does constantly in life and at work? A question of quality.12
2. Please list the main difficulties and problems for the industry, as you see them (finances, lack of managerial experience, lack of government support, or simply the times we live in)?
3. What are your suggestions for an exit from this difficult position?
1. When our country will (as it was in the USSR) show our animated films as part of a fair competition. I already noted earlier that we have made over 1000 films in 10 years, and there are things in there worth quoting. Pilot Studio, for example, is making "The Mountain of Gems" - screen adaptations of the folk tales of nations living in Russia, but the country does not see any of this. Nobody shows our films, so where is there to quote from? They show imports, which have characteristic phrases like "Okay, let's have sex"13. So that's what they quote.
2. and 3. First you need to create a unified command for the marketing, production and sales of animated films and associated products. Any animated production has secondary markets - books, toys, and other types of joint products. Here it is necessary to create an area of joint business with interested people who understand that this is a very good business. In construction work, there exists an organized relationship - somewhere they make cement, somewhere else bricks, and together they work on one project - the building of houses. In the auto industry - they make engines in one place and wheels in another, but they have already existed as one unified team for many decades.
When such understanding businessmen, who would combine all of their efforts with treaties and obligations - you make the animated film, I'll make the notebooks, they'll make the toys - appear here as well, they will all support each other. The result will be that the producers broadcast the animated film, the consumer likes it. The child sees the toy and says: "Oh, they just showed this. Mom, buy it for me". The child goes to school - and they buy him notebooks with this animated film.
We need to create an encompassing program for the development of animated business as a branch of all interested segments of the business. That is the prospect. I don't know when, but it will happen someday.
Viktor [25.05 21:34]
1. What is your education?
2. How do you see your own role in the scandalous sale of the copyrights to the masterpieces owned by the studio?
3. Name the studio director at the moment that the rights were sold. Who is this person? How did he become the director?
4. Explain the role of Goskino in the copyrights sell-off. Who was the chairman at the time?
5. Explain the passivity of animation masters in defending the rights of the studio.
6. Should someone NOT submit the materials concerning the sale of rights to the studio masterpieces to the agencies responsible for the fight against corruption?
1. Post-graduate education, including artistic education.
2. I am a director who makes new animated films. This is probably a question for the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund.
3. I don't know who was the director then. I was not there then. 14
4. I cannot say, because I was not there then. My subjective personal view is that this decision was flawed. I don't know who was behind it, though.
5. The passivity can be explained. After the collapse of the USSR, people were torn away from Soyuzmultfilm. Over 20 years have passed, and the passivity has progressed. They aren't at the film studio any more, to fight for anything. You know, after the USSR's collapse, Soyuzmultfilm was dying, and people were looking for bread for themselves and leaving. There was no work; that is why it happened. Those who left at 70 are now 90. There's passivity for you.
Maria [26.05 10:51]
Does Soyuzmultfilm work with Diafilm studio?15
No, we do not, because we have almost no reversal film left.
Tigran [26.05 10:54]
Akop Gurgenovich,
What do you think about our modern animated features such as "Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber", "Alosha", "The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma", etc.?
Can you say something concerning their quality suitability for young audiences?
Thank you.
I cannot, because this is a purely subjective point of view. I do not like them; I have many questions from a professional standpoint concerning the quality of these animated films. You see, they try to make these films as entertainment. They think that entertainment means that you show someone giving the finger, and that's funny. I stopped laughing at someone giving the finger a very long time ago. Entertainment film is really based on rich education, culture and professionalism of the production. I did not see these components, so they bore me. This is my subjective view. I won't go to the movies, but a hundred other people will.
Mikhail [26.05 11:01]
Akop Gurgenovich,
Does there exist in Russia some sort of association (non-commercial partnership, union, etc.) of animation studios, or do you all function in a dispersed manner? Do you feel the necessity of such a union?
Yes, there is a necessity, and we are trying to create such an association. We had this association within the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR and Russia. There was an animation section with its own president and administration. During the last years people have run every which way to different producers, but now there is an idea to come together again, to create a union, because this is necessary, both because of the need for companionship and for negotiations with each other.
The process is moving forward, but it needs to be negotiated, and we need to understand how things are developing and what must be done.
Igor [26.05 11:43]
1. Who now owns the collection of Soviet animation? please answer concretely, if possible, without general phrases.
2. Are there mutual conflicting claims of the Soyuzmultfilm Film Studio and the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund? Can they be resolved?
3. Does a business model exist in the context of modern Russian society which allows for the production of masterpieces? Will the privatized studio attempt it? Or will you go the path of other Russian studios - simplified animation, horrible voices, lack of story and cheap moralizing?16
1. The Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund
2. There are no conflicting claims, because there are two Soyuzmultfilms - the film fund, which owns the rights to the golden collection, and the studio, which is a creative-production association, which produces new animated films. There are no more Soyuzmultfilms.
Yelena [26.05 12:27]
Dear Akop Gurgenovich, how do you see the possibility of exiting the crisis and the necessity of making commercial animated films based on Russian classics that do not abandon the principles of the animated masterpieces of Soyuzmultfilm (i.e. "Alosha"), working on a base of cooperation with the Union of Writers and theatres to create new masterpieces of animation and not give way in terms of quality, but if the material base does not allow this, to win in terms of art, classicism, of the transmission of artistic creation to the young viewer?
Theoretically, of course, this is possible and needed. Fantastic writers and theatres have cooperated with Soyuzmultfilm. We need to go in this direction.17
Vyacheslav [26.05 13:49]
Good day!
Are there plans for the production of social cartoons, as it was in the years of the USSR: about swindlers, cheats, etc.?
There are no plans; for this we need a concrete commission from the government. The government gives money for animated films. If the government were to finance the creation of social cartoons, of course we would gladly produce them. We remember the journal "Fitil" also. By the way, we made very many cartoons for "Fitil". But this was in plan back then; the government formulated social commissions. There are no plans now, but the will still exists.
VICTOR [27.05 08:41]
1. Will the workers of Soyuzmultfilm who recently became pensioners are decades of work for the studio have a right to shares after the privatization?
No. This is not a judgment; I am only saying what I currently know. They will not have rights to shares, because the government enterprise Soyuzmultfilm is being privatized by the government. 100 percent of the shares remain with the state as owner. If we as the staff had privatized it by ourselves for themselves, then - yes. At a general assembly we would have chosen the board of directors, and would have divided shares. But in this case, the state is privatizing its own belongings, so the shares remain with the state. That's what I know.
---
1. You can see a full list by going here and searching for "USSR".
2. See here for a list of those who are trying.
3. A little further down, Kirakosyan mentions that companionship is very important. Norshteyn also mentions that this is very important. Indeed, perhaps the most important thing that a studio could play is to bring all of these masters together and allow them to interact with younger students. This is why Soyuzmultfilm was so successful back in the day - the sharing of talent.
4. I wonder, is this because nobody uses the characters, or because courts wouldn't enforce challenges?
5. I've been hearing many people complaining about this. The thing is, if the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund owns the rights to those films, they have the power to stop this. Yet they do not.
6. Funny question...
7. Interestingly, people have some rather diametrically opposed opinions - I've also heard people say that it brings back those traditions as other films do not. In fact, the film was not distributed widely in Russian theatres at all, so I'm not sure why this person is complaining.
8. Open Russian Festival of Animated Film
9. Pretty bad continuations, I think - sequels in the worst sense, with poor animation and poor stories.
10. So they're nearly finished this? Interesting.
11. Now this is just my subjective opinion, but it sounds pretty poor to me, especially given their poor recent track record with sequels.
12. This is true. Russians constantly quote their classic animated films.
13. Not really sure about the translation here.
14. According to animator.ru, this is untrue; he was. The sale was made in 1992 by director S.S.Rozhkov, then next year was made even worse for the studio by new director Skulyadin (source, in Russian here)
15. Maker of reversal film?
16. Note: I think he's talking here about cheap things like "Luntik" which are bought by Russian tv channels. Pilot Studio films are VERY high quality, actually, but I guess they're not much in demand...
17. And yet, they insist on focusing on making so-far-not-very-good sequels to well-known brands. What happened to courageous projects such as Gofmaniada?
The most quotable thing in the interview is probably Kirakosyan's opinion about anime. The most noteworthy is probably the talk about creating an animation union.
Also, I must say that for all the complaining about the copyright deal made in the early 1990s, it has to be said that Oleg Vidov and his wife and their American company Films by Jove, despite their occasional mistakes (the English voice-overs and redone music were usually horrible) did a far better job of promoting Russian animation abroad than Soyuzmultfilm did since they got the rights back two years ago. In short, they actually did something and worked at promoting them, whereas the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund seems to be doing absolutely nothing at all, other than authorizing horrible new Russian re-dubbings of the classic soundtracks to their best films (instead of restoring the originals). Films by Jove only owned the international copyrights, and a great deal of original film negatives. Copyrights within Russia for the films never belonged to them, and the market within Russia for them is far greater.