Masters of Russian Animation – Vol.4 of 4 (1986-1990)

May 18, 2009

“Masters of Russian Animation” Vol.4
DVDRip | AVI | 416×304 | DivX | MP3 | 8-20 min each | 25-120 MB each

The 12 shorts in this collection were made at the Soyuzmultfilm Studio during the late ’80s, shortly before the collapse of the Soviet regime ended the subsidies that had financed the studio’s output since its establishment in 1936. Nina Shorina’s mordant stop-motion film “Door” (1986) probably ranks as the best known work in the anthology. The outré inhabitants of a crumbling apartment house go to enormous trouble getting in and out of the building without using the front door–even after a boy demonstrates that it’s unlocked. “Door” satirizes the mismanaged life Soviet citizens endured for decades, but the rest of the films draw primarily on non-Russian sources for inspiration. Natasha Golovanova’s charming “Boy Is a Boy” (1986) reflects the influence of British illustrator Ronald Searle; “Liberated Don Quixote” (1987) by Vadim Kurchevsky offers backgrounds that evoke the paintings of El Greco; Mikhail Aldashin and Peep Pedmanson borrowed heavily from the Hubley Studio films “Keke” (1988). While Shorina’s “Alter Ego” (1989) resembles a watered-down version of the work of Czech surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer. Although many of the films are interesting and entertaining, the studio was clearly past its prime. The viewer looks in vain for the compelling personal visions of Yuri Norstein and Fyodor Khitruk, who dominated Soyuzmultfilm during its most creative period. Complete contents: 1. “Door,” 2. “Boy Is a Boy,” 3. “Liberated Don Quixote,” 4. “Martinko,” 5. “Big Underground Ball,” 6. “Cat and Clown,” 7. “Dream,” 8. “Kele,” 9. “Alter Ego,” 10. “Girlfriend,” 11. “Croak x Croak,” 12. “Cat and Company.” Unrated, it is suitable for ages 10 and older for minor cartoon violence, grotesque imagery, and difficult themes.

Doors – Director: Nina Shorina (1986)
Born in Moscow, Shorina was a popular child actress who studied first acting and then filmmaking at the State Film School (VGIK). She began working at Soyuzmultfilm in 1976 and directed several children’s films, including Poodle. Just prior to perestroika, Soyuzmultfilm’s administration approved DOOR, a script ostensibly about a boy repairing a door, believing it would also be a film for children. However, the film Shorina delivered in 1986 was for a grown-up audience, the first of a trilogy that would explore the Soviet citizen’s reaction to the dramatic political changes sweeping the Soviet Union. The state film censors threatened to shelve the film. After the DOOR won numerous international prizes – by which time the sweeping changes of perestroika had firmly taken root – the censors apologized to Shorina.

Boy Is A Boy – Director: Natasha Golovanova (1986)
Golovanova graduated from both the acting and the directing departments of the State Film School. She began work at Soyuzmultfilm in 1971, directing Disney-style animation for children based on Russian and western fairy tales and scripted by her husband, Vladimir. With BOY IS A BOY, she worked for the first time with a female screenwriter, Masha Denego, and explored her experience raising two sons. The Film was well-accepted and shown widely.

Liberated Don Quixote – Director – Vadim Kurchevsky (1987)
After beginning work at Soyuzmultfilm as an art director, Kurchevsky became a leading director of stop motion animation for children. In the 1960s he began to address adult viewers. He experimented with new forms of artistic expression and together with Nikolai Serbryakov and Roman Kachanov, took stop motion in new directions. LIBERATED DON QUIXOTE was the first lyrical “auteur” film in this genre. A stylish and ironic retelling of Cervantes’ Spanish classic, the film incorporates Kurchevsky’s background as a graduate of the Muhina Art School in St. Petersburg and as a curator at the Zagorsk Doll Museum. The exquisite costumes and masterly use of lighting and color influenced a generation of stop motion animators in Russia and around the world.

Matinko – Director: Eduard Nazarov (1987)
Based on a fairy tale written by Boris Stergin, a great storyteller whose works were not widely distributed in the former USSR because he had never joined the Communist Party. Like the wife of Mikhail Gorbachev, former Secretary General of the Soviet Union, the princess in the story is named Raissa. Only fragments of the film (those without the Princess Raissa) were broadcast by the State Television until Gorbachev was out of power.

Big Underground Ball – Director: Stanislav Sokolov (1987)
Made just after perestroika, the film is about the struggle of power between darkness and light in a world of dreams. The film is based on two Hans Christian Andersen stories.

http://rapidshare.com/files/171739482/1_Door_-_Director_Nina_Shorina__1987_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171757813/2_Boy_Is_a_Boy_-_Director_Natasha_Golovanova__1986_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/172367963/3_Liberated_Don_Quixote_-_Director_Vadim_Kurchevsky__1987_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171767896/4_Martinko_-_Director_Eduard_Nazarov__1988_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/172120707/5_Big_Underground_Ball_-_Director_Stanislav_Sokolov__1988_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171787876/6_Cat_and_Clown_-_Director_Natasha_Golovanova__1988_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171791657/7_Dream_-_Director_Nina_Shorina__1988_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171961031/8_Kele_-_Director_Mikhail_Aldashin__1988_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/171995594/9_Alter_Ego_-_Director_Nina_Shorina__1989_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/172460331/10_Girlfriend_-_Director_Yelena_Gavrilko__1989_.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/172456314/10_Girlfriend_-_Director_Yelena_Gavrilko__1989_.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/172047851/11_Croak_x_Croak_-_Director_Yelena_Fedorova__1990_.avi
http://rapidshare.com/files/172067646/12_Cat_and_Company_-_Director_Alexander_Guriev__1990_.avi

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Related posts:

1. Masters of Russian Animation – Vol.1 of 4 (1962-1968)
2. Masters of Russian Animation – Vol.3 of 4 (1979-1985)
3. Masters of Russian Animation – Vol.2 of 4 (1969-1973)
4. The Rise And Fall Of The Russian Oligarchs
5. BBC – Modern Masters (2010)

Posted in Documentary by Crossover