the 1971 russian SOYUZMULTFILM production THE BATTLE OF KERZHENETS was directed by IVAN IVANOV-VANO and YURIY NORSHTEYN, set to the musik of RIMSKY-KORSAKOV. the cut-out stop motion animation was done using elements of russian religious frescoes and paintings from the fourteenth to sixteenth century. the story is based on the legend of the invisible city of KITEZH, which disappears under the waters of a lake to escape an attack by the mongols. following are some captured scenes.
© soyuzmultfilm
my name is hans bacher, – I work as production designer in the animation film industry. for the last 40 years I lived and worked in duesseldorf, london, paris, los angeles, manila and tokyo. now I am professor for film-design at the nanyang techn. university in singapore.
Beautiful short indeed. There is something magical about seeing those ancient paintings suddenly brought to life and, of course, the power of image to narrate a whole story without using a single word…
animated icons
hi sir,
this post reminds me of the film Secret of Kells, though it cant compare to the visuals of the topic at hand.
It was a rare treat seeing it projected in 35mm when Norstein spoke at USC recently!