Event

FOLKTALES IN THE FOG

HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG
Dir. Yuriy Norshteyn 1975. USSR, 11 min.
In Russian with English subtitles.

The most well-known of the animations that Norshteyn made for Soyuzmultfilm. While following the arc of a Russian folktale, it trades action for the expression of subtle emotion. An inquisitive hedgehog has to pass through a forest filled with fog to find his bear-friend, who has prepared a campfire and samovar for them. The fog holds both intrigue and impediment, and also creates a hide-and-seek game with the beautifully tactile animation. Unlike the dramatic finales of other folk tales, the end desire for the hedgehog is to count the stars in the pleasurable company of a chatty and warm-hearted friend.

TALE OF TALES
Dir. Yuriy Norshteyn, 1979, USSR, 29 min.
In Russian with English subtitles.

For many of Norshteyns works, the moral failures of humanity are redeemed in the silly and earnest efforts of anthropomorphized animals. The subtle symbolic content of TALE OF TALES should also be realized in light of the fact that Soyuzmultfilm was a state company, staffed with Stalinist bureaucrats as well as artists. Tale of Tales disobeyed the rules of Soviet Realism not so much because it contains a subversive message, but because of the lack of coherent message at all. Norshteyns wife Francesca Yarbusova and screenwriter Lyudmila Petrushevskaya were key contributors to the film, which had a laborious journey from conception to surviving censorship to capturing the attention of the world outside the USSR.

BELOVED BEAUTY
Dir. Vladimir Degtyaryov, 1958, USSR, 45 min.
In Russian with English subtitles

Here is a fantasy tale that obeys all of the traditional rules, whether Soviet or Western. A young man is told of a legendary great beauty, he goes in search of such a prize, faces perilous challenges, and is ultimately victorious. The exceptionality of this standard story is in the stop-motion animation and intricate puppetry used in BELOVED BEAUTY. Rather than being caught up in a fantasy, the fable is told by little bobble-head puppets with sensational costumes. This is a beautiful film forged by superior and mystical craftsmanship.