Yuri Norstein
Yuri Norstein, is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts, Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981 he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name. According to the Washington Post, "He is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time".
Biography
Yuri Norstein was born to a Jewish family in the village of Andreyevka, Penza Oblast, during his parents' World War II evacuation. He grew up in the Maryina Roshcha suburb of Moscow. After studying at an art school, Norstein initially found work at a furniture factory. Then he finished a two-year animation course and found employment at studio Soyuzmultfilm in 1961. The first film that he participated in as an animator was Who Said "Meow"?.After working as an animation artist in some fifty films, Norstein got the chance to direct his own. In 1968 he debuted with 25th October, the First Day, sharing directorial credit with Arkadiy Tyurin. The film used the artwork of 1920s-era Soviet artists Nathan Altman and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin.
The next film in which he had a major role was The Battle of Kerzhenets, a co-production with Russian animation director Ivan Ivanov-Vano under whose direction Norstein had earlier worked on 1969's Times of the Year.
Throughout the 1970s Norstein continued to work as an animator in many films. The individual glass planes can move horizontally as well as toward and away from the camera.
For many years he has collaborated with his wife, the artist Francheska Yarbusova, and the cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy.
Throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, Norstein's animations were showered with both state and international awards. Then, in a bitter twist of irony, he was fired from Soyuzmultfilm in 1985 for working too slowly on his latest film, a feature-length adaptation of Gogol's Overcoat. By that time he had been working on it with his usual small team of three people for two years and had finished ten minutes.
In April 1993, Norstein and three other leading animators founded the Animation School and Studio in Russia. The Russian Cinema Committee is among the share-holders of the studio.
To this day, Norstein is still working on The Overcoat – his ardent perfectionism has earned him the nickname "The Golden Snail". The project has met numerous financial troubles and false starts, but Norstein has said that it currently has reliable funding from several sources, both from within and outside of Russia. At least 25 minutes have been completed to date. A couple of short, low-resolution clips have been made available to the public. The first 20 minutes of the film have also toured among various exhibits of Norstein's work in Russian museums. The full film is expected to be 65 minutes long.
Norstein wrote an essay for a book by Giannalberto Bendazzi about the pinscreen animator Alexander Alexeïeff titled Alexeïeff: Itinerary of a Master.
In 2005, he released a Russian-language book titled Snow on the Grass. Fragments of a Book. Lectures about the Art of Animation, featuring a number of lectures that he gave about the art of animation. That same year, he was invited as "guest animator" to work on Kihachirō Kawamoto's puppet-animated feature film, The Book of the Dead.
On 10 August 2008, the full version of the book Snow on the Grass was released. The book, which was printed in the Czech Republic and funded by Sberbank, consists of two volumes, 620 pages, and 1700 color illustrations.
The studio stopped working on The Overcoat for nearly a year while Norstein worked to release the book.
Filmography
- The 25th, the First Day, in collaboration with Arkadiy Tyurin.
- The Battle of Kerzhenets, in collaboration with Ivan Ivanov-Vano.
- .
- The Heron and the Crane.
- Hedgehog in the Fog.
- Tale of Tales.
- Participated in Winter Days.
- The Overcoat.
Releases
Awards and praise
- 1971 – Karlovy Vary International Film Festival : The Battle of Kerzhenets named Best Animated Film
- 1972 – Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films : Grand Prize for The Battle of Kerzhenets
- 1972 – Tbilisi: The Battle of Kerzhenets named Best Animated Film
- 1972 – Bombay Film Festival : "Diplom" for The Battle of Kerzhenets
- 1975 – Annecy International Animated Film Festival : Special Jury Prize for Heron and Crane
- 1975 – New York : First Prize for Heron and Crane
- 1976 – Frunze All-Union Film Festival: Hedgehog in the Fog "best animated film"
- 1976 – Teheran Children's and Youth Film Festival : Hedgehog in the Fog "best animated film"
- 1977 – Odense : Grand Prize for Heron and Crane
- 1979 – USSR State Prize for Tale of Tales
- 1980 – Lille International Festival of Films : Jury Grand Prize for Tale of Tales
- 1980 – Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films: Grand Prize for Tale of Tales
- 1980 – Ottawa International Animation Festival : Best Film Longer Than Three Minutes Award for Tale of Tales
- 1984 – Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival : Tale of Tales voted by large international jury to be the greatest animated film of all time
- 1991 – Annie Award for Distinguished Contribution to the Art of Animation
- 1995 – Russian Independent Triumph Award
- 1996 – People's Artist of Russia
- 1996 – 1st Open Russian Festival of Animated Film, Breakthrough Prize for Russian Sugar
- 2002 – Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films: Tale of Tales again voted by large international jury to be the greatest animated film of all time
- 2004 – Japanese Order of the Rising Sun
- 2014 – Animafest Zagreb - World Festival of Animated Film: Lifetime Achievement Award