Aside from the blazing roses, nothing evokes the famous song, but there are echoes of Shakespeare's "Othello" in a folk interpretation. The jealous Moor, either made of clay or plasticine, is ready to strangle the beautiful Desdemona. There is also a chaotic Russian world here, defying any logic but existing harmoniously under the strumming of the gusli, played by Galina Golubeva herself.
39 animated films based on literary works participated in the contest. Among them was a character inspired by Pushkin himself. The directing award went to Anastasia Zhakulina for "Exile" — a sketch about an imagined meeting between Alexander Sergeyevich and Rezo Gabriadze. Pushkin is also connected to the project "Cold Winds Still Blow," where his poem is explored by Doctor of Philological Sciences and Pushkin scholar Nikolai Pertzov. This is a collective work by students under the guidance of Elizaveta Skvortsova, initiated in the spirit of animal jam. The timeline was tight, but from this eclectic mix, a cohesive film emerged, pieced together from various fragments.
This year, student works predominated. Unlike their older colleagues, the youth turned to a wide array of literary sources: from Chekhov and Stanisław Lem to Paustovsky and Shergin. Angelina Gilderman's graduation film "Chorus" celebrates the power of spiritual song and is based on the Latin text "O Sacrum convivium," attributed to Thomas Aquinas. A concert is set to take place in a dull gray city. The audience gathers in the foyer, fills the auditorium, and falls silent as the choir begins to sing. The viewers become weightless, soaring upwards. Such is the magical power of art. Angelina's work was recognized by the jury, led by animation film classic Stanislav Sokolov, for its vivid artistic solution.
A handmade diploma, crafted overnight, was awarded to the two-minute film "Dog and Artist," based on a poem by Yunna Moritz, created by VGIK College graduate Maria Paitsun. Her supervisor was Anastasia Zhakulina, meaning that teacher and student participated equally in the same competition, which requires courage. An additional diploma was illustrated by jury member and production designer Alexander Khramtsov, known to audiences from the film "Ku! Kin-dza-dza." He depicted a tiny Pushkin in a top hat perched atop a dog on stilts. The prescribed awards were insufficient, so they had to be drawn manually.
The three-minute film "I Have the Right" by Ekaterina Efimova from St. Petersburg is based on Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment." "I took as a basis a fragment from the novel where Raskolnikov takes 730 steps from his coffin-like room to the apartment of the old pawnbroker before committing her murder. During this time, he makes his final decision," Ekaterina explains her concept. Her protagonist resembles a devilish bird, spreading its black wings over the city.
The best student film was "Letter" by VGIK graduate Anastasia Panteleeva — a touching story about a girl who discovers a letter from her mother hidden in a fairy tale book. Inside are photographs with an unfamiliar man, who transforms into a predatory wolf in the child’s imagination.
Director and jury member Ekaterina Sokolova, presenting her debut film "Autumn Has Arrived," shot 25 years ago based on Andrei Bitov's book "Hardworking Pushkin" and again involving Rezo Gabriadze and his illustrations, reminisced about those distant days. She received numerous awards for it, including a UNESCO medal. "I felt like I made it yesterday, or at the very least, the day before," Ekaterina said. "Many films at this festival are made by young authors. Time flies quickly, like a breath of wind, and soon you will find yourselves sitting in the jury. Since my film is the first, it is probably imperfect. I haven’t seen it in many years. It is dedicated to Pushkin and is very dear to me. It marked the beginning of my life in animation. This was the first film I took to festivals, where I met people I still consider friends. Without this film, I would be a different person."
Masters participated in the same competition as the youth: Natalia Berezovaya with her delicate "Christmas Star" based on the eponymous poem by Boris Pasternak (awarded for the best adaptation of a literary work), and Roza Gimatdinova with "The Poet," made from pebbles, through which something significant was said about the nature of poetic gift. The film is dedicated to the recently deceased poet Lev Rubinstein. The stones seem to bloom, and white petals become paper pages. "Lev and I were very good friends," says Roza Gimatdinova. "Not long before his passing, we spent a day together with friends — drinking, eating, singing… He loved to sing. At that time, I was finishing my film and decided to dedicate it to Lev." The jury recognized "The Poet" with an award for the best character. It seems to be just stones, with no visible character, yet he is invisibly present.
Georgy Vasilievich, director of the Mikhailovskoye Museum-Reserve, reminded everyone of actor Vladimir Retseptor, who coined an amusing explanation for his activity: "We don’t have a theater named after Pushkin, but rather, a theater of Pushkin." So it is with the reserve — it is Pushkin's. And the animators are simultaneously writers, poets, and versatile masters. They can boldly be called Alexandrovichs. We are all, to some extent, children of Pushkin.