Animatsiya in English

This is a wonderful film that was directed by Leonid Nosyrev (also known for "Laughter and Grief by the White Sea" and earlier films such as "Two Merry Ganders") in 1981. It takes place near the river of Ussuri, which is near Korea in the far east of Russia, making part of the border between Russia and China.

I adore this film. It is a warm story that is lovingly made, and a perfect film to watch for the holiday season.



The following interview with Leonid Nosyrev appeared in the program guide for WFAC '09:

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This film looks very unusual, both compared to your other cartoons and compared to other cartoons in general. The characters display a certain naturalism. What was the reason for choosing this style? How was it created, and what unique difficulties did it offer?

We wrote the screenplay with writer Yuriy Koval based on his story; not even a story, but a little fable that happened at an exhibition of children's drawings. There, the writer saw a strange drawing on which was shown a little tiger lying on a sunflower which was growing in the middle of a snowy taiga. The writer enquired about identity of the artist, and a little boy in valenki¹ came up (it was wintertime). "Why is the tiger on a sunflower in winter?" asked the writer. "A little tiger walked and walked across the snow. He got tired. He burrowed himself in the snow. And under the snow, he saw a sunflower seed. The little tiger started to breathe on the seed - he warmed it up - and the seed started to germinate and grew into a sunflower. And on the sunflower was the little tiger," said the little boy.

And on the basis of this story written down by the writer, we created our own story about The Little Tiger on the Sunflower.

If you saw my films from Merry-Go-Round², the 4th installment of this film-journal contains my work The Hamster Who Refuses to Speak. This little film features a hamster, a beaver, a squirrel, a jay, and all of them are realistically-shaped and furry. The film was made in 1972. The Little Tiger came out in 1980. If you carefully look at my films, you will see that the characters of my films correspond well with the style of the backgrounds. The difference between a character that is solidly colored and one colored with gradients (such as the tiger) is large. The very theme, plot and texture required the presence of animals that were furry and charming, for they then become much more attractive for the viewer. But this requires a lot of labour-intensive work. Each cel (a sheet of celluloid with a drawing) had to first be painted from the back side, then the method of trimming the paint with a hard-bristle brush is used from the front side, to create furriness and form. And this was repeated on thousands of cels, in order to create movement. But the characters of the film The Little Tiger on the Sunflower aren't naturalistic. They are similar to nature, but far from being naturalistic. Fervent naturalism is, in a certain sense, non-artistic.

The animals in the animated film do not speak with human voices, but their voices are nevertheless incredibly diverse and expressive. I've never seen anything like it. Why did you decide to go in this direction, and how were these sounds recorded?

We decided to record the voices of the animals in the following manner: the characters would growl, and pronounce something in their own way (they were voiced by an imitation actor), and then the actor Yevgeniy Leonov would translate it into human language as the narrator. This method gives the opportunity of seeing the animals in their natural environment, while avoiding the distasteful sound of "talking" animals.

Notes:
¹Valenki are traditional Russian felt boots.
²A Soyuzmultfilm series running for 33 installments from 1969 to 2002 (link). Each 10-minute film contained a number of smaller films, very often first films by new directors. Nosyrev was one of its creators.

The 1964 Thumbelina (Duymovochka), directed by Leonid Amalrik at Soyuzmultfilm studio, is a beloved adaptation of the story by Hans Christian Andersen. I've been working on English subtitles to it for quite a while, and finally finished the translation a bit over a month ago. The film is 30 minutes long. It's one of the classics of Soviet animation. It's also pretty funny in places.

The following is a bit of commentary that contains "spoilers".

This is definitely a very old-fashioned tale, with some ideas that would be considered outdated today. For a large part of the story, Thumbelina doesn't take active control of her life, and only avoids many catastrophes through the kindness of strangers who feel sorry for her. The only thing she does of her own will is take care of a sick bird and months later, upon an accidental meeting with that bird, asks it to take her away. Nevertheless, the film contains some rather well-done and amusing exaggerations of certain types of people. From the unbelievably lazy toads to the bustling (and somewhat self-serving) field mouse, the supporting characters are well-developed, well-animated and, for me at least, are the most interesting part of the film. The only one I really didn't like was the prince at the end, who is rather ridiculously over-dramatic in declaring his love for Thumbelina (much more so than in the Andersen story). You can see influences from ballet, particularly in the way that Thumbelina is animated.



( Parts 2 and 3 )

Four years after her poetic film about ancient family grief, director Galina Barinova moved into the science fiction genre with this strange, engaging, nearly wordless film.



The animation in Galina Barina's films is awe-inspiring. In this particular film, the methodical, smooth slowness of the movements, coupled with the innovative art direction remind me a bit of "The King and the Mockingbird", and even more so of Richard Williams' "Thief and the Cobbler". Even the majestic first appearance of the dragon brings to mind the first appearance of the War Machine. The beautiful art direction exudes a strange, timeless, enchanting atmosphere, with a bit of grittiness added by using a certain texture behind the colours. It fits perfectly with the scenario of the film, which may be set in the remote future or in the remote past.

The story is a cycle - like an ouroborous (the mythical dragon that eats its own tail). The film starts by introducing us to a worker who works at a strange factory that endlessly makes circles into squares and back again (a bit of foreshadowing, there). At the end of the day, he retires to his home and to his beloved lady. Unexpectedly, the media singles them out and makes them into celebrities, who must provide entertainment for the city's television-addicted inhabitants. The scene of the couple being pursued by giant video cameras on legs is one of the most memorable in the film for me.



But this seemingly charmed life has a terrible price. Because of her elevation to the position of "most beautiful woman in the city", the man's beloved is taken away for sacrifice to a terrible mechanical dragon that menaces the city. The theme of the sacrifice of the damsel to the dragon is ancient and recognizable in many countries. It is also present in a good amount of Russian folklore.

The grief-stricken man is donated resources by the city's citizens to go destroy the evil. And he goes... but in the end, he becomes what he is fighting, and the cycle begins anew. The people in control change, but the beast doesn't, for the people within the beast no longer perceive it as such. And this, too, is an ancient and fundamental idea. For example, to this day, we all know that governments take up the habits that they were fighting against once they gain power.

Also, it would be an injustice to not mention the wonderful synthesized music that so perfectly captures both the lyrical and the action-filled parts of the film.

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Galina Barina has made two masterpieces, from what I have seen. "When the Sand Will Rise..." is one, and this is the second. In her earlier films, she experimented with other techniques. Notably, many of her early films, until the mid-1980s, used cutout animation. But I have to say that her way of animating is far more suited to traditional animation. It took her a long while to find mastery with her voice, maybe because her voice is so distinct. Many of her other films either lack a solidly-presented screenplay (and the overall impression of them is rather average), or are just too strange to make sense of (as is the case with her wordless adaptation of a famous Tatar poem, "Şüräle" - though it gets better on repeat viewings).

Of her later early-1990s films, her 1991 adaptation of Ivan Bilibin's artworks, "Ivan Tsarevich and Grey Wolf", is not a bad film but feels stilted and constrained, almost like a history lesson. It feels stifled by the source material, rather than inspired. Her 1993 film about "Jester Balakirev" (her last work) feels even more awkward, despite the screenplay being written by two respected masters of writing and directing, Leonid Nosyrev and Anatoliy Petrov. Perhaps the problem with those two films is that they feature heavy use of dialogue, while Barina's best films feature almost none.

Gofmaniada is an upcoming stop-motion-animated feature film being directed at Soyuzmultfilm studio by director Stanislav Sokolov, based on the tales of E.T.A. Hoffmann. They've been working on it since 2001. There is more information on its Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gofmaniada


Director Sokolov moving a puppet between shots.

Just recently, the first 20 minutes of the film were uploaded online. They can be streamed over here:

http://mults.spb.ru/mults/?id=2700

The description says: The feature film centers upon the fate of writer E.T.A. Hoffmann as he lives through a deep internal drama - the discrepancy between imagination and reality. Departing from the cruelty and greed of the surrounding world, he is reincarnated in his characters, who manage to triumph over evil. The first part reflects vivid scenes from the childhood and youth of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Overcoming childhood fears about the Sandman, a terrible old woman, and the failure of first love, he finds solace in a fantasy world, where he is patronized by good wizards, and dreams a beautiful image of his beloved.

These 20 minutes were first released in 2006, in an effort to find more funding to complete the film. After fruitlessly trying to interest foreign investors, Soyuzmultfilm won some funding from the Russian government, but that likely collapsed along with the financial crisis in late 2008. Apparently, only 7 minutes have been filmed since 2006.

After watching this material, I am very impressed by the puppets and decorations (the art design was done by the famous sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin). The animation is also wonderful in places. And the voicing is good-to-excellent. I did not, however, quite understand the logic of the story - it is as if some key scenes were left unfilmed (which is quite possibly the case).

Continuing the theme of "Old Russia"...
"When the Sand Will Rise" is a film based on an ancient Russian ballad which opens a veil onto the world of old Slavic mythology and its heavenly gods. It is a traditional story of the struggle of good and evil, personified in images of the family and its destroyer, the werewolf. The art direction (by Galina Petrova) is based on Slavic folk art.

Directed by Galina Barinova in 1986 at Soyuzmultfilm, the screenplay was written by Anatoliy Petrov, a famous director himself. I first saw this film last week, and was amazed by it. I had never heard of Galina Barinova before, or seen any of her films. The animation is slow-moving, yet deliberate, smooth and hypnotic. Both the foreground and the background are stylistically united. The innovative style sometimes makes it seem not like traditional cel animation but like sand or paint.

The film might seem very weird to some, but it is in fact a faithful immersion into very old Russian cultural themes that are at least a thousand years old. I recommend keeping an open mind. The original ballad was first collected by Ivan Kireyevskiy, who lived in the first half of the 19th century.

Concerning subtitles: If subtitles appear to be missing: Click on the triangle at the bottom right of the video, and make sure that CC is turned on. Although I recommend watching this film with the subtitles turned off at least once, probably the second time - it is the kind of film that is best experienced without distractions from the animation.

A few people have commented saying that they like the translation, but I myself am a bit unsure about it. This is a ballad in archaic Russian that had to be translated into archaic English. Neither of these is really my specialty. I hope I did well enough.




Drink and food did the father give his son;
Yet one day did the father dislike his son;
And disliking him, turned him from his door:
"Go forth, my son, from my door abroad!
Go and learn, my son, of the foreign side,
Of the foreign side unfamiliar!"
How the brave youth's sisters were like him,
Three sisters, three of kin;
How the big sister did lead the horse out,
How the middle sister did bring the saddle out,
How the younger sister did give the whip;
And, on giving the whip, she did cry,
Through her tears, to her brother words she spake:
"Oh, but when, brother, will you return to us?"
"Oh my sisters, my dear kin!
You may go to the sea blue,
You may gather the sand yellow,
You may plant it in my father's field;
And when the sand will rise, and blossom,
That is when, sisters, I will return to you,
Yes, when the sand will rise, and blossom,
It is then, sisters, I will return to you."
How nine years for the brother passed;
On the tenth did his sisters go forth to seek:
Went the big sister to the sea, pike-transformed,
Went the middle sister to the field, falcon-donned,
Went the younger sister to the sky, star-enshaped.
How the big sister of her brother did not hear,
How the middle sister of her brother did hear,
How the younger sister her brother did see:
That felled does lie the brave youth
On the wild steppes of Saratov.
His good horse stands by his side,
Stomps his hoof he against the damp earth:
"Oh, stand up, wake up, brave youth!
All your sisters have gone to look for you!"
On not finding their brother, they all flew
Over steppes, over steppes of Saratov;
And they flew upon the brother dear to them:
"Oh, stand up, wake up, brave youth!"

Some interesting observations about this poem that I found at folk-lore.ru in an essay titled "The Maxim of the Impossible":

A variety of expanded metaphor inherited from mythological folklore is "the formula of the impossible" (described by A.A. Potebnya). The formula of the impossible is a poetic way to express the concept of "this will never be" or "this cannot happen." In the song "Food and Drink Did the Father Give His Son...", the priest casts out the young man, compelling him to visit "the foreign side". He is escorted by his three sisters. The youngest asks: "Oh, but when, brother, will you return to us?" Her brother knows that he will not return, that death awaits him, and thus replies: "Oh my sisters, my dear kin! You may go to the sea blue, You may gather the sand yellow, You may plant it in my father's field; And when the sand will rise, and blossom, That is when, sisters, I will return to you."

The question arises: why is our hero, not yet having left, already reporting his death? We are left with only one answer: the lyrical meaning of the song. For the song, its content is a way to express sorrow for the untimely-deceased young man, to show the grief of his sisters. The formula of the impossible is found in folk songs of various Slavic peoples.

The film goes further than the poem: the last scene, in which the father sees his whole family outlined before a gate, suggests that he has lost all of his children.

I subtitled this film (animator.ru profile) a long time ago, but only uploaded it online in May of this year. This is an adaptation of a story written by Ivan Turgenev in 1854 that is very well-known in Russia. The film was directed in 1987 by Valentin Karavayev (best known for the films starring Kesha the Parrot), using the cut-out animation technique.

An English translation by Contance Garnett of the original story can be read here.




Some of my own thoughts:

There is a lot to like about the film, and though it is sad, it is often also very beautiful. My favourite thing of all may be the outstanding animation of the little dog, which really made me think of it as a living creature.

I think that the ending in this film wasn't quite there, personally; it left out a few important details from the story that I think are crucial to it (especially if one hasn't read the story beforehand). First - in the story, the old lady at the end wants Gerasim back & acts horrified by what has happened (paralleling the scene of the killing of the fly, at the beginning of this film - a very smart addition to the film that wasn't in the original). But in the film, we do not see her reaction. Second, I think that mentioning what happened to Gerasim after his return would have been important. Third, his psychological state isn't made very clear at the end in the film. Someone who sees the film before reading the story may naturally ask "why doesn't Gerasim go with his dog to his village instead of killing her?" In the story, he kills Mumu because he promised to the head steward after everyone surrounded his house, and he does not break promises. He had to promise to do it because if he did not, they were going to do it themselves - he's strong, but not strong enough to fight everyone off. And he couldn't just leave - he was a serf, bound to the place by law. In the written story, he only gets away because the old lady soon dies and her heirs have no time to worry about him.

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

( LONG INTERVIEW )

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.

"Bald Mountain". This name has survived among the people as an echo of ancient mythical notions. It is a mountain where witches and evil spirits gather to cook magical herbs and make spells. And this "mountain" is none other than the sky itself.

This was the ONLY film that Soyuzmultfilm released in 1998, and in 1999 they released no films at all. At the time that this film was being made, the once-mighty studio was in its death throes. Its management had become tied to organized crime and the studio's assets were deliberately being sold to enrich the bosses. Hired thugs were being used to keep the employees in line and the police didn't dare interfere. It was a regular occurrence for animators to come to their desk only to find all of the materials gone, sold to the highest bidder. These events are described in more detail in Georgiy Borodin's 2003 article. That was the environment in which Galina Shakitskaya directed this impressive film, her debut as director (before that, she had worked as an art director at the studio since 1977).

The animation was made with paint-on-celluloid, a technique also used by Vladimir Samsonov. And like most of Samsonov's films from the early-to-mid 1980s, it is a nearly wordless symphonic poem.


A few words: The film contains some pretty frightening Satanic imagery, but it also optimistically contains two characters that are obviously meant for children to sympathize with: a little elf-like-girl and her lamb who live among the multitude of naked witches and demons. It feels a little strange. I suppose it's possible that some children would be fine watching this; like a good scary story. But I suspect that this was a product of inertia more than anything; Soyuzmultfilm had been making films for children for so long that it was hard to let go.

Though I doubt that this was widely seen by anyone when it came out. It did screen at the 4th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film, where it won 8th place in the audience voting.

Here is Vladimir Samsonov's film "The Bread's Light" (1983), which has some similar stylistic features (same animation technique, for example). These two films are both structured around fairly long orchestral musical compositions, and both are about storms.

All of the films from the series directed by Fyodor Khitruk have now been translated into English.

"Winnie-the-Pooh" (1969) (translated by me; alternate translation by 0xDD is here)


"Winnie-the-Pooh Goes Visiting" (1971) (translated by "Artem, Lesha & Co."; comments can be sent to vinni.puhi at gmail dot com)


"Winnie-the-Pooh and the Day of Worries" (1972) (translated by 0xDD aka. DigitalDude)



P.S. It is possible to learn how to download higher-quality mp4 versions of Youtube videos here, or just use this website.

All of these films are classics beloved by Russian children and adults. I have to say that my personal favourite episode is the second. Pooh comes off as such a wonderfully selfish ass.

Here's a little segment that I translated from Fyodor Khitruk's recently-released Russian-language two-volume book The Profession of Animation (it was sent to me by mail, along with Norshteyn's book, by his grandson Fyodor Khitruk Jr., who is also the webmaster of Animator.ru):

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The Profession of Animation (pg. 190-192, vol. 1)
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Of course, literature serves as a mighty source of ideas. It is much easier to work with a ready-made creation, especially with a creation that has passed the test of time. It is already well-known what precisely in that creation so excites and attracts audiences. The job at hand then becomes attempting to transfer these particular qualities into another language.
So it was with me with "Winnie-the-Pooh". With "Winnie-the-Pooh" we... not we, but me personally. I don't much like using the word "me", because I think that the creation of films is, at least in my experience, after all a collective art. But I really did dream about adapting this work for a long time. Although that's not the right word either. This was, again, like something spinning through the subconscious part of my brain: "Wouldn't it be nice to do Winnie-the-Pooh". At that time, I had not yet seen the Disney film. Maybe if I had seen it, I would not have made my own. What is the sense in repeating? Although I must tell you that I am not very satisfied with the Disney film. And also, in hindsight, I can directly relate to you the words of the author of that American film - Wolfgang Reitherman. He also was not very satisfied with his own "Winnie-the-Pooh".
I was afraid to start working on my dream precisely because each line of that book was precious to me. I read it first in English; a present that I was given. Only after did I get to know Zakhoder's translation. A wonderful translation! Perhaps this is not even a translation, but a second version; so interestingly did he do it. I very much wanted to start on a film, but I was afraid. It sometimes happens that you very much treasure the material and are afraid to ruin it, to do it wrong.
First of all, one had to decide on a visual direction, on the look of these characters. I very much wanted to make them as they are in the original book. I don't remember the last name of the artist. Shepard, I think. I explored this Winnie-the-Pooh for literally several years and thought about how it could be possible to transfer all of the untransferable beauty of the language into another form. For all of that charm, that attractiveness to flow not from the literary material, not from the text, but from the image, from the behaviour of these characters. For example, there are certain places there: "One time, Winnie-the-Pooh, the donkey Eeyore and Piglet were sitting on the porch of the house and listening to what Winnie-the-Pooh was saying" [note: I don't know the original English version of this sentence. Can anyone find it?]. This is a kind of naive absurdity. This naive absurdity contains its own charm. If you like, its own wisdom, its own integrity. There are many such moments there. When I befriended the artist Zuykov in our work on "Film, Film, Film", and after we also made a small sequence for Ryazanov, I, like some character in a Ryazanov film, began to think: "Isn't it time for us to have a go at Milne?" And we had a go; we actually tried to do it.
At first we tried to draw Winnie-the-Pooh. Simply to see if it worked or not. Here he was sitting in a chair. At first nothing came of it. Or rather, something quite interesting came of it, maybe even more interesting that what is currently in the film, but that Winnie-the-Pooh that we thought up required an unbelievable amount of extremely complex work. Because there were such nuances there, that he had to be made of little traits separated into tens of thousands of drawings - a task that was beyond our abilities. Well, somehow we finally found a construction for him. In contrast, work on the screenplay went smoothly and without incident. Because the schema was already there, the dialogue was already there, the scenes were practically almost there; we only had to pack them in, so that they would be comfortable to watch.
The first thing that we did was to remove Robin. All of his actions were spread out among the other characters. And we did the right thing, because he only underlined that there was a person on one side and animals or toys on the other. For us this was a single world - the world of Winnie-the-Pooh. Populated neither by animals nor by people, but by characters dear and beloved to us. I'm saying this because, on one hand, adapting a literary work is always very risky; especially such, and I won't hesitate to use this word, genial works as, let's say, "Alice in Wonderland" or "Winnie-the-Pooh". One needs to gather a lot of courage and pack a lot of baggage in order to have a go at, for example, Tolstoy. Some people have the courage, but this is a big risk. We took that risk. And what was normally the most difficult thing for me - the exposition and development of a story, in other words the screenplay - was in this case amazingly easy. I must say that the first time when I did not curse myself after finishing a film, was after my work on "Winnie-the-Pooh".

Previously:
Our Masha in the Strawberry Country (Dec. 18, 2008)
The New Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma (Dec. 25, 2008)
The Tale of Fedot the Strelets (Jan. 1, 2009) (Dec. 18, 2008)
Ivan Tsarevich and Grey Wolf (Feb. 1, 2009)
Alice's Birthday (Feb. 19, 2009)
Star Dogs: Belka and Strelka (Dec. 31, 2009)
Alien Pile (likely 2009)
A Room and a Half, or A Sentimental Journey to the Homeland (likely 2009)
Little Muk and the Pirates of the Caspian Sea (maybe 2009)
Kin-dza-dza-dza! (2010)
The Ugly Duckling (~2011)
Blue Beard (????)
New Buttermilk Village (????)
Mad Hair (????)

Gofmaniada (Wikipedia, Soyuzmultfilm "new projects" page)
Гофманиада
Release date: Maybe 2009 (source)
Director: Stanislav Sokolov
Studio: Soyuzmultfilm
Budget: ? (in this 2006 interview, Akop Kirakosyan wished for $1.5 million)
78 minutes

A film based around stories by German writer E.T.A. Hoffman, with Hoffman himself as the main character. There already exists a very nice English Wikipedia article, so I would suggest you go there for most information. But to quickly summarize:

This puppet-animated feature is the biggest project that the once-great Soyuzmultfilm studio has taken on since the fall of the Soviet Union. A pilot film of 20 minutes was released in 2006 and got positive reviews. It has a number of very talented people behind it, including veteran director Stanislav Sokolov and well-known sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin making the gorgeous puppets and sets. The actors are also talented people. By the way, Shemyakin doesn't admit it but the Hoffman puppet - with the black hair - is a bit of a caricature of the director. Compare these two images:



There has been (and maybe still is) a major problem with finding funds. The release date was pushed back from 2007 to 2008, and now this month they're saying "2009 if all goes well". Whenever somebody says "if all goes well", this usually means they're doing quite a bit of wishful thinking, particularly in Russia (Melnitsa is the only Russian studio that has been consistently punctual about its announced release dates for features). With such talent behind it, though, it is going to be worth the wait.

Here are some translated words from the former official website (deleted in mid-2007 as part of a conscious effort by Soyuzmultfilm's management to minimize their internet presence - yes, it sounds crazy to me also):

The project is intended as a widescreen movie of 78 minutes.

The wealth of characters (over one hundred), a combination of puppet and drawn animation, the use of modern digital technologies to create virtual special effects, transformations, metamorphoses, the application of new materials for the heads of the characters, extensive decorations, unusual fantastic interiors (a crystal city, Atlantis, mysterious palaces, temples) - all of this will require substantial financial investments, beyond the frame of the usual government financing of standard films.

It is indispensible to have the corresponding technical equipment, the quality record sound system Dolby Stereo, and to attract the top creative forces of Russian animation: artist-animators, artist-constructors , sculptors, painters, decorators, masters of computer graphics, animation and special effects.

Currently work is completed on a 20-minute pilot film whose mission is to test the characters and style of the movie, to allow the project's members to visually imagine the quality and creative direction.

We are confident that the distinctive design of the "Gofmaniada" film will attract to itself demanding aesthetes, who after investing money in the project, will receive pleasure from being involved in the creation of a highly artistic work.

And here's a news report from the 2006 screening of the pilot:


( More pictures in here )

For some more information in Russian and images, go to one of these two links:
http://abbsound.livejournal.com/49621.html (this is a post by the SMF director of marketing, before he left the studio in mid-2007)
http://63koval.livejournal.com/27558.html

Or you can download an 11mb .zip file containing every image related to the film that I've found (some are very large).