Soyuzmultfilm

Early years The film studio was founded on 10 June 1936, by order of the Chief Directorate of the Film and Photo Industry (GUKF) of the State Committee on the Arts under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. Two of the animated groups that existed in Moscow at that time were merged into a single film studio under the name Soyuzdetmultfilm, which was changed to Soyuzmultfilm in 1937. The studio was located at Novinsky Boulevard, 22. The creative staff included already well-known masters of hand-drawn animation – Ivan Ivanov-Vano, Olga Khodataeva, Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg, Vladimir Suteev, , and others. Three-months retraining courses were organized by the studio for all creative artists. The masters taught young animators the basics of professional skills. The studio turned into the main production base of Soviet animation and became a creative centre for animation of the USSR. In 1943, Soyuzmultfilm returned to Moscow. In early 1944, the studio organized the first Arts Council. By the end of the 1940s, Korney Chukovsky, Samuil Marshak, Evgeny Schwartz, Sergey Bolotin, , Mikhail Volpin, Nikolai Erdman, Valentin Kataev, Yury Olesha, , Lev Kassil, Vladimir Suteev, , , , were invited to cooperate with the studio. In the post-war years, the studio stopped the direct lifts of American animation techniques, and the original aesthetic "canon" of the children's Soviet cartoon was determined. In 1959, the well-known motion picture '''' by Roman Kachanov and was released, combining stop motion, traditional and cutout animation, and won a number of prestigious awards at international festivals, including the prize of the International Film Press Federation (FIPRESCI). In the middle 1950s, the studio began to abandon the naturalistic representation of hand-drawn films, prioritizing more conventional forms. The volume of filmmaking increased (at the peak of production by the beginning of the 1970s, the studio released more than 30 films a year), including annual production of feature films.). Among the most famous feature films of the studio of the second half of the 1950s: • The Enchanted Boy (1955) by Alexandra Snezhko-Blotskaya and , which became the laureate of many prestigious film screenings, • The Island of Mistakes (1955) by the Brumberg sisters, • '''' (1955) by , • '''' (1956) by Olga Khodataeva, • The Twelve months (1956) by Ivan Ivanov-Vano, • '''' (1957) by Ivan Ivanov-Vano, • '''' (1957) by Olga Khodataeva and Leonid Aristov, • '''' (1956), by Leonid Amalrik • '''' (1958) by Leonid Amalrik, • '''' (1956) by Boris Stepantsev and , • '''' (1958) by Boris Stepantsev and Evgeny Raykovsky, • The Adventures of Buratino (1959) by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Dmitry Babichenko The studio also created cartoons for an adult audience: • '''' (1954) by , • '''' (1954) by and Boris Stepantsev, • '''' (1955) by and Roman Davydov, • '''' (1957) by , • '''' (1957) by Yevgeny Migunov Familiar Pictures was shot entirely in an innovative for that time conventional manner. Since the 1960s, the range of stylistic, genre and technological searches and solutions had been continuously expanded and developed. The old production system prevented art from moving forward, In the 1960s, Soyuzmultfilm was also actively developing puppet animation. Colour, decoration, texture of the material were applied in a new way. Semi-dimensional, bas-relief, including paper dolls began to be used. A new breakthrough in children's puppet animation began In 1969, the animated anthology series Happy Merry-Go-Round was founded. The first release was produced under the direction of Roman Kachanov by the beginning directors Anatoly Petrov, Gennady Sokolsky, Leonid Nosyrev, and , the world-recognised masters of animation today. The new generation of directors actively produced films, among them: together with the cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy. His films '' (1973), The Heron and the Crane (1974), Tale of Tales (1979) received worldwide recognition. The cartoon Hedgehog in the Fog'' (1975) won more than 35 international and All-Union awards, and in 2003, it was recognized as the best animated film of all time according to a survey of 140 film critics and animators from different countries. By the early 1980s, Soyuzmultfilm's works won a total of more than 150 prizes and diplomas at international and domestic festivals. • '''' (1979) by Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin, • Where Is the Teddy Bear? (1979) , • '''' (1979) Inessa Kovalevskaya, • three films under the general title Baba Yaga is against! (1979–1980) by , • '''' (1980) by Boris Dyozhkin. • '''' (1983–1997) by Leonid Shvartsman By the beginning of the 1980s, viewers became aware of the new names of the directors – Eduard Nazarov ('' (1977), Once Upon a Dog'' (1982), ' (1983)) and Garri Bardin, experimenting with unconventional textures and materials (' (1983)). Leonid Nosyrev explored the Russian North folklore with a series of films based on the stories by Boris Shergin and Stepan Pisakhov: ''If you don't like it – don't listen (1977), (1979), Arkhangelsk Novels'' (1986). • The Tale of Tsar Saltan (1984) by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Lev Milchin, • '''' (1985) by Eduard Nazarov, • '''' (1987) by Eduard Nazarov, • the animated series The Return of the Prodigal Parrot (1984–1988) by and , • '''' (1987) by Andrei Khrzhanovsky and , • '''' (1988) by and Peep Pedmanson, • '''' (1988) by Alexey Turkus, Alexey Shelmanov, Vasily Kafanov, • '''' (1989) by Yelena Gavrilko, • '''' (1989) by , • '''' (1985), • '''' (1986), • '''' (1987), • '''' (1987), • Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood (1990) by Garri Bardin. The short film '''' was awarded the Short Film Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1988. was released together with the Romanian studio Casa de Filme 5 and Moldova-Film.   In 1987, the animated trilogy The Adventures of Lolo the Penguin, directed by Gennady Sokolsky and Kenji Yoshida, was released jointly with the Japan's Lifework Corporation.   Since 1989, in collaboration with S4C (UK) television channel the series of the anthology Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, based on the plays of William Shakespeare, began. The series was co-directed by several Russian animators – Stanislav Sokolov, , Nikolay Serebryakov, Yefim Gamburg and . The premiere took place in 1992 on BBC2. The show was highly praised by viewers and critics and won three Emmy Awards. In the second half of the 1980s, the work of the studio was reorganized. In 1988, five creative associations were formed within Soyuzmultfilm: Search (art director Andrei Khrzhanovsky), Comics (art director Vladimir Tarasov), Tradition (art director Anatoly Petrov), Children's film (art director Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin), 3D stop motion (art director ), as well as the stand-alone workshop by Yuri Norstein. That lasted until 1990, when the studio's division into Creative Production Association for stop motion and hand-drawn films was returned. In 1990s, Soyuzmultfilm became a production base for independent private studios as well (, Argus International, School-Studio SHAR, Renaissance, Studio 13, Chris, Polinkevich and others). In 1999, pursuant to the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin, a new structure was established – the Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSUE) "Soyuzmultfilm Film Studio", which was given the premises, production facilities and film rights. and the FSUE Creative Production Association "Soyuzmultfilm Film Studio", headed by Akop Kirakosyan, and which mission was to create new films. In 2008, the post of artistic director was introduced at the studio. It was occupied by (until 2010) and Stanislav Sokolov (in 2011–2013).       == The studio today ==

In 2011, Vladimir Putin, at the meeting with animation directors, decided to abolish the "United State Film Collection" and transfer the films to the studio. He also promised to significantly increase funding for domestic animation and children's cinema. From that moment, with the support of the state represented by the Ministry of Culture, the studio got out of crisis and the revival of Soyuzmultfilm began. From 2013 to 2016, the artistic director of the studio was . In 2016, the Soyuzmultfilm film studio celebrated its 80th anniversary. As of today, Soyuzmultfilm received about 90% of the film rights to its collection. In terms of the number of projects and the volume of created content, Soyuzmultfilm has reached the level of a major film studio and presents its projects again at international film and television markets. New headquarters In 2017, Soyuzmultfilm moved to a new building on Akademika Korolyova Street, with almost 6000 square meters of floor space. There are about 300 employees in the studio today, 250 of them are engaged in the projects production process. Since February, 2017, Yuliana Slashcheva has been managing the Soyuzmultfilm studio as the chairman of the board. Her past experience includes a position of chief executive officer of the leading Russian independent broadcasting holding CTC Media. Yuliana has several significant rewards in the Media Business category – in 2007, she was included in the ranking of the Most Influential Business Women in Russia, prepared by '', and became the winner of the annual national award Media Manager of Russia 2007 in the nomination "Public Relations", in 2015, Yuliana appeared on the list of The 20 Most Powerful Women in Global TV 2015, prepared by The Hollywood Reporter.'' In July, 2017, Boris Mashkovtsev became the director of the Soyuzmultfilm film studio. Before that he was heading Airplane Studio LLC, bringing with him over a decade of experience in animation production. Boris is also a member of the management board of the Russian Animated Films Association. Boris is one of the key experts in the animation industry in Russia, he is a co-author and the chief scholarly editor of A Dictionary of Modern Animation Terminology and co-author of the textbook Producing Animated Films. Since June, 2019, Julia Osetinskaya became the general producer of the studio. She was the executive producer in Riki Group and the head of Riki Development Fund, where she developed and produced several successful new animated brands and projects of the group. Recently, Soyuzmultfilm has developed, ready to introduce into production and is already patenting several unique technological solutions. The studio keeps producing and developing clay and puppet stop motion animation as this is an incredible legacy of Russia, with professional specialists using unique techniques. The initial task, according to the new management, is to develop all existing animation techniques under the studio's roof. TV series Today the studio is actively engaged in the development of series production with a focus on international markets. Soyuzmultfilm actively develops co-production and creates projects with other well-known studios. Nowadays Soyuzmultfilm has seven released projects. Several other series are in production The animated series are intent on not only at entertaining children, but also at education and personal development through visualization in a funny way without strict edification. Most of the series are created with the participation of professional media psychologists. Together with Channel One Soyuzmultfilm is creating the educational mini-series aimed at the very youngest audience segment Claymotions (2+) (since 2018), made in authentic clay-motion technique and teaching kids through games. The musical comedy Orange Moo-cow (3+) (since 2019), co-produced with Cyber Group Studios, forms important value orientations among children. The adventure story Captain Kraken and His Crew (4+) (since 2017), co-produced with Rocket Fox Animation Studio, The adventure social comedy Pirate School (8+) (since 2018) was the only Russian series project that entered the competition program of the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, in 2018, and became a winner at the Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal as Best Series, in 2020. The series for a teenage audience The Adventures of Peter & Wolf (12+) (since 2020), in which the real world and the magical world collide, is full of funny adventures and many unexpected events. The series develops ability to think out of the box and find a way out of any situation with the help of knowledge and ingenuity. At the same time, Soyuzmultfilm preserves the continuity of the classic legacy and keeps the atmosphere of the original cartoons with a focus on modern audience. One of the most popular series – the adventure family sitcom '' (6+) (since 2018) which is a sequel of the famous Russian trilogy Prostokvashino'' based on the book by Eduard Uspensky. It is produced in the traditional technique of complex hand-drawn animation, where each scene is sketched manually, but today it is made with a stylus on the touchpad so that it looks modern. The premiere of the series became the record breaker for the number of views on the air of the Carousel Russian television channel and collected more than 1 million views in just 2,5 hours on social networks. The series Orange Moo-cow and '''' took 2nd and 4th places, respectively, among the animated series shown on Russian TV in 2019, according to the 4-17-year-old audience rating of the most-watched television programme which lasts more than 5 minutes, Mediascope research company indicates. The 2021 series Rockoons, about a group of seven differently colored performing raccoons, is one of a few Russian animated media that took part in the Key Buyers Event for a chance to gain worldwide exposure. Feature films One of the main directions that the studio is developing today is a production of feature films. In 2018, the studio released the stop motion puppet animated fantasy Hoffmaniada directed by Stanislav Sokolov, which was being produced for 17 years. The film conceptualized the struggles of an animation studio and its revival through its historic production cycle. The film is about the life and work of renowned German writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. The screenplay incorporates storylines and characters from his tales The Golden Pot, The Sandman, and Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober. The film released in Russia on 11 October 2018 and later in Japan in 2019. The feature received positive reviews from critics who remarked the film is at the same level as contemporary legends of stop motion films succeeding in reviving 19th century Romanticism literature in animation format. It won awards at the Golden Eagle Award as Best Animated Film, the Icarus, the Brazil Stop Motion International Film Festival award, and was nominated at the Asia-Pacific Screen Awards as Best Animated Film. A new animated feature for family viewing Suvorov, co-produced by Gorky Film Studio, is currently in production. It is a historical fiction, which combines several genres: adventure, military historical and biographical. Suvorov is made in CGI graphics and 3D with motion capture technology. This entertaining and educational story promotes traditional values of loyalty, courage and self-realization, filled with the spirit of adventure, subtle humor and romance. The shorts produced by the studio regularly participate in prestigious international festivals. Among the recent award-winning shorts are: • Vivat Musketeers! (2019) by Anton Diakov, • Good Heart (2018) by Evgenia Zhirkova, • I Want to Live in the Zoo (2017) by Evgenia Golubeva, ''Coco's Day'' (2017) by Tatyana Moshkova, • Trunky (2017) by Ekaterina Filippova, • About Our Astronauts (2018) by Galina Golubeva, • The Sled (2016) by Olesya Shchukina, • Two Trams (2016) by Svetlana Andrianova, • Moroshka (2015) by Polina Minchenok, • Pik Pik Pik (2015) by , • Mama Heron (2015) by and others. Among the studio's production are new programmes of the legendary compilation of animated shorts for children Happy Merry-Go-Round, first released in 1969. The collection includes unique works in gouache and sand techniques. In 2017, Soyuzmultfilm released the new Bicycle almanac, which was created by students of animation colleges and up-and-coming directors.   According to surveys of kids, the heroes of the "Golden collection" are among the most popular and favorite children's characters. The studio decided to create a continuation of these cartoons. "We selected the ten most popular characters from the old collection and are ready to give a new lease of life to them. Our task is to pack the new product with respect to the continuity of the animation traditions, using a modern language and a visual range that is understandable to modern children", Yuliana Slashcheva says. In 2020, the second re-release of the Golden Collection commenced on 19 December 2020. The High Definition film restoration materials for the films were released. The film stock were renewed with all the film grain and extra flickering dots removed ensuring the stability of the films for the foreseeable future. Distributed by United Network "Cinema Park", the HD version of the classics are screened in many of the major cities in Russia. == Awards ==

• 1951 — IV Cannes Film Festival: the Special Jury Prize – The Humpbacked Horse by Ivan Ivanov-Vano • 1955 — VIII Cannes Film Festival: Short Film Special Distinction – The Golden Antelope by Lev Atamanov • 1957 — Venice Film Festival: Golden Lion in the animated film category – The Snow Queen by Lev Atamanov • 1967 — Annecy International Animated Film Festival: Children's film Award – The Mitten by Roman Kachanov • 1974 — XXVII Cannes Film Festival: Grand Prize of the Festival – short films – '''' by Fyodor Khitruk • 1975 — XXVIII Cannes Film Festival: Short Film Special Jury Prize – '''' by Fyodor Khitruk • 1980 — Ottawa International Animation Festival: Category A, Films Longer Than 3 Minutes – 1st Prize – Tale of Tales by Yuri Norstein • 1984 — Olympiad of Animation by ASIFA-Hollywood: The greatest animated film of all time – Tale of Tales by Yuri Norstein • 1986 — International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film: Golden Dove – '''' by Garri Bardin • 1988 — XLI Cannes Film Festival: Short Film Palme d'Or – '''' by Garri Bardin • 2003 — Laputa Animation Festival: 150 Best Animations of All Time – 1st place – Hedgehog in The Fog by Yuri Norstein • 2003 — Laputa Animation Festival: 150 Best Animations of All Time – 2nd place – Tale of Tales by Yuri Norstein • 2019 — Golden Eagle Award: Best Animated Film – Hoffmaniada by Stanislav Sokolov == Films by Jove controversy ==

In 1992, the studio signed a deal with the American company Films by Jove, owned by Russian immigrant actor Oleg Vidov and his American wife Joan Borsten. It was the first international offer that the studio had received. The deal stipulated that Films by Jove would be granted the rights to 547 of the most popular classic studio films for a period of 10 years in all territories except the CIS; as part of the return, Soyuzmultfilm would receive 37% of the net profits. Films by Jove restored many of the films and released many of them on television, video and DVD in the United States and Europe, albeit usually with dubbed voices (in the case of the series "Mikhail Baryshnakov's Stories from my Childhood" having celebrity actors dubbing some characters in the films featured in the series) and changed music. According to current director Akop Kirakosyan, the original deal seemed promising at the time but turned out to be "deadly" for the studio. The expected payouts never materialized because Films by Jove never posted any net profits; all of the money officially went to things such as new soundtracks, lawsuits and copy protection measures. Whether either deal was legal was debated in court, with the Soyuzmultfilm Film Fund (see section below) claiming that because the company's lease on its possessions would have expired in 1999 (at which time ownership would have automatically reverted to the government if no new lease were signed), Soyuzmultfilm had no authority to issue rights that lasted beyond that timeframe. Joan Borsten presented a different story. In the end, the Russian courts sided with Soyuzmultfilm and the American courts sided with Films by Jove. U.S. Federal Court found that the Russian government has twice tried to invalidate Judge Trager's August 2001 summary judgment decision in favor of Films By Jove and transfer the copyrights to a library of 1,500 animated films, which Films by Jove licensed from Soyuzmultfilm Studios in 1992 to a new state-owned company. The judge found evidence of "continued actions being taken by the Russian government and judiciary to influence the outcome of this United States litigation with the purpose of depriving plaintiff Films by Jove of its right to distribute the animated films in the United States and elsewhere outside the former Soviet Union." The voluminous and very thorough decision further noted that, "In the case at bar, expropriation of the property of an American company by an act of a foreign sovereign is unquestionably against the public policy of the United States." On 11 April 2007, Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov announced that he was in the final stages of negotiating a price with Films by Jove to buy back the collection. A source close to Usmanov said that Films by Jove's initial price was $10 million, while Usmanov is willing to pay "several times less", as he considers that the rights already belong to Soyuzmultfilm and that he himself is only buying the physical film prints. == Notable artists ==

Animators and directors • Leonid Amalrik • Lev Atamanov • Garri Bardin • Brumberg sisters • Roman Davydov • Boris Dyozhkin • Yefim Gamburg • Ivan Ivanov-Vano • Roman Kachanov • Fyodor Khitruk • Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin • Eduard Nazarov • Yuri Norstein • Vladimir Popov • Nikolay Serebryakov • Leonid Shvartsman • Stanislav Sokolov • Boris Stepantsev • Vladimir Tarasov • Francheska Yarbusova Actors • Oleg Anofriyev • Maria Babanova • Lev Durov • Lyudmila Gnilova • Alexey Gribov • Vsevolod Larionov • Yevgeny Leonov • Vasily Livanov • Sergey Martinson • Georgy Millyar • Andrei Mironov • Vyacheslav Nevinny • Anatoli Papanov • Klara Rumyanova • Grigory Shpigel • Oleg Tabakov • Yevgeny Vesnik • Maria Vinogradova • Georgy Vitsin • Rina Zelyonaya == List of notable films ==

• 1945 The Lost Letter () • 1947 To You, Moscow () • 1947 The Humpbacked Horse () • 1951 The Tale of the Dead Tsarevna and the Seven Bogatyrs () • 1951 The Night Before Christmas () • 1952 The Scarlet Flower () • 1952 The Snow Maiden () • 1952 Kashtanka () • 1953 Flight to the Moon () • 1954 The Golden Antelope () • 1954 Tsarevna the Frog () • 1955 The Enchanted Boy () • 1956 The Twelve Months () • 1956 The Ugly Duckling () • 1956 The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda () • 1957 The Snow Queen () • 1958 Beloved Beauty () • 1959 The Adventures of Buratino () • 1961 Chipolino () • 1962 The Story of a Crime () • 1962 The Wild Swans () • 1964 Lefty () • 1964 Thumbelina () • 1965 ''Boniface's Holiday'' (Каникулы Бонифация) • 1966 There Lived Kozyavin () • 1967 Mowgli () • 1968 Little Boy and Karlsson () • 1968 The Little Mermaid () • 1969–2006 Well, Just You Wait! () • 1969 Crocodile Gena () • 1969, released 1986 The Glass Harmonica () • 1969 The Bremen Town Musicians () • 1969 Winnie-the-Pooh () • 1969 Film, Film, Film () • 1969 Umka () • 1970 Karlsson Returns () • 1970 Umka is Looking for a Friend () • 1971 Cheburashka () • 1971 Losharik () • 1971 How the Little Donkey Looked for the Happiness () • 1971 Winnie-the-Pooh Goes on a Visit () • 1973 Miracle () • 1973 On the Trail of Town Musicians of Bremen () • 1973 The Heron and the Crane () • 1973 The Island () • 1973 The Nutcracker () • 1973 The Fox and the Hare (Лиса и заяц) • 1974 Prometheus () • 1974 Shapoklyak () • 1975 Hedgehog in the Fog () • 1976–1991 38 Parrots () • 1977 Polygon () • 1978 Three from Prostokvashino () • 1978 Contact () • 1979 Tale of Tales () • 1983 Cheburashka Goes to School () • 1984 The Tale of Tsar Saltan () • 1985 Two Tickets to India () • 1987 Laughter and Grief by the White Sea () • 1988 Mountain Pass () • 1990 Grey Wolf and Little Red Riding Hood == See also ==