Lovely to read this post.
I’ve always considered Norshteyn to be the greatest animator that has ever lived. As a kid I was enthralled by films like The Heron and the Crane and Hedgehog in the Fog. You can read about the pioneering technique he uses here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overcoat_(animated_film)
His impact can be seen and felt in the work of many animators who have come through the SHAR system, an animation school and studio he co-founded in Moscow. The great Aleksandr Petrov was a disciple of Norshteyn and you can clearly see the latter’s influence in animations like The Cow and The Old Man and the Sea.
I can recommend the work of one of his contemporaries Oksana Cherkasova who has made some beautiful animations in her time at SHAR. And if you want to branch out into other styles of animation, I’d recommend Ivan Maximov. He didn’t come through SHAR but has been recruited by the school to teach. He’s worlds apart from Norshteyn but Wind Along The Coast is a very engaging animation.
Funny that you mention Aleksandr Petrov. Just this week I had the pleasure to watch The Cow, which impressed me very much, Rusalka, and Dreams of a Simple Man (the “Simple” part is mistranslated as “Ridiculous”). I ordered My Love, which is part of a compiltation of shorts, but given Petrov’s talents and acclaim (an Academy Award nod for all his work except Dreams) he deserves his own release, something that unfortunately has not come (except Old Man and the Sea). What do you say about petitioning for Norstein and Petrov for their individual Criterion releases?
Good idea and your post here serves as a good starting point. All you need is a link.
Criterion certainly is missing out in the animation department. Ocelot? Back? Miyazaki? and as you mentioned, norstein…
Another criminally underrated animator that I hope gets The Criterion treatment is Lotte Reiniger. She is a pioneer in animation and one of the first to release a feature. Reiniger has so many films (mostly shorts) for them to choose from.
A pioneer I hope also gets released sooner or later by Criterion (in stop motion animation), is Aleksandr Ptushko. Image Entertainment used to have his works, now they are out of print. Criterion could get them easier since they are in good terms with Image. Karel Zeman is another one similar to him that is peaking my interest and barely available on dvd.
That being said I hope that Yuri Norstein is the first animator who gets a full Criterion release (not Eclipse!), along with his commissioned side works, as I mentioned above (ads, etc.).
It’s highly unlikely that Norstein will get the Criterion treatment, as the rights to his films – and Soyuzmultfilm’s output in general – is held by Films By Jove, which distributes them in the US themselves. And in general they do a pretty good job – my only significant beef is that the subtitles are both yellow and non-removable, which isn’t too bad with TALE OF TALES (which has very very little spoken content), but wreaks havoc on THE FOX AND THE HARE, where most of the salient artwork occupies the bottom quarter of the screen. But aside from that the source prints are excellent.
As for Lotte Reiniger, the BFI has just (as in last month) released a two-disc collection of her fairytale films, and is preparing a similar survey of her music films. And I believe she made THE first animated feature film – does anything predate THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED (1923-6)?
But if I’m not much mistaken, Criterion has never shown much (or any?) interest in animated shorts, so I’m not sure why people think they’d be the best company to handle this material – I’d be much more inclined to favour a specialist with a strong track record in animation, like the BFI (UK), NFB (Canada), Chalet Films (France) or PWA (Poland).
Criterion has released Le Jetee, Stan Brakhage’s films, Patriotism, Night and Fog, White Mane, The Red Balloon. The latter is to be released officially by Criterion, since White Mane and Balloon were released through Janus Films. Those are examples that they take interest in short films, since half of them were individual releases. You have a valid point about Films By Jove, but then again they could (as they always do) licence the rights from Jove. My only worry would be if Criterion wouldn’t be allowed to use the original Russian credits. Other than that there’s no worry or doubts for me.
There has been some debating about which is the first animated film, but Reiniger’s Achmed is the only surviving one.
Those are examples that they take interest in short films, since half of them were individual releases. You have a valid point about Films By Jove, but then again they could (as they always do) licence the rights from Jove.
Actually, the rights situation is extremely tangled at present, and it’s a moot point whether Films By Jove still owns the US rights – but because of the uncertainty, another US distributor probably won’t be able to licence them directly from Soyuzmultfilm because of the risk of legal action. (This is one of the perennial headaches about distributing films from behind the old Iron Curtain in the West – believe me, I’m writing from experience!)
Films By Jove doesn’t have an official website, but they were credited by Criterion in the Ivan’s Childhood release (probably the production stills) -posible collaboration? In spite of this trouble there is an answer as to who owns the American rights. Negotiations could be reached and resolved to all parties on the issue. Since the Masters of Russian Animation dvd (where Norstein’s work was officially available in the US) is out of print and Soyusmultfilm doesn’t have any catalogue in the US, it would only benefit both companies if they come to a sort of terms through Criterion. They would be fools to not let Criterion release the film. It’s a win/lose situation, and both rights holding companies are almost defunct and inactive in putting their films in the market and elsewhere. It would be a sad conclusion that their most renowned works are introduced to many through YouTube (ie bad quality).
For those interested in Russian animation, take a look at Magia Russica [if you can find it]. I saw this film at an animation festival in Brussels and was given a copy by the filmmakers, Masha Zur Glozman and Yonathan Zur.
Magica Russica features Norstein, and I’m glad you mentioned it. It would be a great feature for a Norstein dvd extra, if the Collection puts it.
Good to find this thread. Tale of Tales is wonderful, and fully deserved the accolades as best animation. Hedgehog in the Fog is charming and beautiful too. Good also to have mention of the Czech Karel Zeman- some fabulous adventures
Yes, short films in general get usually ignored on individual DVD releases. But I think animated shorts have a better standing, as there are many renowned directors who have a cult following.
Besides the ones mentioned, I’d also like to see good editions of animated works by Walerian Borowczyk, Garri Bardin and Wladyslaw Starewicz.
I wish The Auteurs had more attention paid to Yuriy Norshteyn. Am I the only one who can’t add him to my “favourite auteurs” list?
I think “The Auteurs” will add more and more filmmakers as they go along. I can’t add almost half of my favorite directors yet. ;-)
ELGZ
Is any one familiar with his work? His film “Tale of Tales” has been heralded as the best animated film of all time. It won various awards worldwide and Hayao Miyazaki has stated Norstein as one of his favorites. he has been working on “The Overcoat” for 25 years and is still not done. I hope The Criterion Collection releases his complete works along with his “Russian Sugar” ad and Winter Days segment.