Programme sections/Paths of Masters - From Animation To Fiction

PATH OF THE MASTER – FROM ANIMATION TO FEATURE FILM
ANDREI KHRZHANOVSKY

The program of the last two editions of our festival included a series of encounters with the works made by animated-film directors who started with animated films to make their debut in feature-length films and then made career in this most popular film area. In 2009, as part of “Paths of Masters – from Animation to Feature Film” we presented the works of Piotr Dumała, Michaela Pavlatova, Andrzej Barański, Terry Gilliam and Ryszard Czekała, while in 2010 we focused on Stephen and Timothy Quay, Walerian Borowczyk, Jan Švankmajer, Tim Burton and Emily Hubley. This year we have the pleasure of presenting yet another artist who followed that unusual path, a Russian artist with Polish origins, who took part in our festival in 1997, Andrei Khrzhanovsky. On his unique career path we come across studies in feature-length film direction at the Moscow VGIK – and despite his education in this field – decades of work on animated films. In the end, after many years, Khrzhanovsky got back to the point he departed from, directing a film entitled A Room and a Half, which was received with enthusiasm also in Poland.
Khrzhanovsky was born in 1939 in Moscow. In 1962 he graduated from VGIK, supervised by Leo Kuleshov. Two years later he joined the Sojuzmultfilm studio, where he worked with Fiodor Chitruk, specializing in animated films. There he made his debut Zhil-był Kozyavin (1966). Despite the criticism voiced by the Russian bureaucracy, the film was shown in the entire USSR. Stekliannaja harmonika (1968), another animated film made by Khrzhanovsky, was prohibited by the Russian censorship due to its suspiciously ideological subject (a story about suppressing artistic ambitions and freedom).
From the very beginning he showed interest in the history and culture of Russia. His pictures are subtle and expressive. From Khrzhanovsky's works we learn about his fascination with Alexander Pushkin and his works. Inspired by the poet’s drawings, he created a trilogy I fly to you as a remembrance/ Ya k vam lechu vospominanem, 1977; And I am with you again/I s vami snova ya, 1980; Autumn/Osen. The films opened totally new possibilities of expressing classical literature in the language of animation. In 1999 he also made a series of fictionalized documentaries entitled Pushkinada - Meetings with Pushkin and A Lullaby for Cricket.
Among his many works we can also find School of Fine Arts (1990),made with the use of paintings done by an Estonian artist, Jul Sooster, as well as films made in cooperation with an outstanding Italian screenwriter, Tonin Guerra: Lion with Grey Beard (1994) and A Long Journey (1997). In this last picture the artist used famous Federic Fellini’s drawings. Khrzhanovsky is also a teacher. He teaches at VGIK and at Szar, an animation school/studio, which he set up in post-soviet Russia together with other outstanding artists – Jurij Norstein, Fiodor Chitruk and Eduard Nazarov.
Khrzhanovsky’s recent works definitely transgress the boundaries of animation. In 2002 he made a film entitled One and a Half Cat, which combined animation, fiction and documentary; a collage which depicts Russia, Petersburg, history, elapsing time and the poetry of Joseph Brodsky (called “one and a half cat” by Anna Achmatowa). Six years later in similar poetics, making use of casual style and found footage, he made A Room and a Half, another reference to Joseph Brodsky. This time he imagined that the poet boards a ship and visits Russia. This is a nostalgic journey to the world vanished long time ago. There are also many humorous elements. Khrzhanovsky applies photography, drawing, fragments of films, and interwove them with staged fragments.

 

24th November (Thursday) Rotunda Cinema 4.30 p.m.

PÓŁTORA KOTA/POLTORA KOTA/A CAT AND A HALF, scen./script: Jurij Arabov, Andrei Khrzhanovsky, reż./dir.: Andrei Khrzhanovsky, zdj./phot.: A. Feodorov, anim.: N. Bogomolova, G. Zebrova, wyst./cast: Sasza Ginzburg, R. Kurkina, S. Jurski, muz./music: J.S. Bach, A. Vivaldi, S. Prokofiev, Rosja/Russia, 2002, 27’25” A combination of documentary, animation and feature film, based on literary works, drawings and photos made by Joseph Brodsky. Grand Prix “Golden Dragon” at the Kraków Film Festival, 2003.

POLTORY KOMNATY ILI SENTIMENTALNOE PUTESHESTVIE NA RODINU/PÓŁTORA POKOJU/A ROOM AND A HALF, scen./script: Jurij Arabov, Andrei Khrzhanovsky, reż./dir.: Andrei Khrzhanovsky, zdj./phot.: Vladimir Bryljakow, anim.: Alexandr Boim, Natalja Krivulja, wyst./cast: Alisa Friendlich, Sergei Jurski, Grigoriy Ditiakowski, Rosja/Russia, 2008, 130’ Joseph Brodsky, a Russian poet, Nobel-prize winner, was once asked whether he would return to his homeland. He answered that if yes, then only anonymously. The director indulged in fantasizing and visualized the return of the poet to his country, creating an ironic fairy tale. During the journey he transports us in time, interweaves history, literature, Russian culture and archive materials connected with the poet’s life. The director mixes different narration techniques, fictionalized scenes, animation and documentary.