The Battle of Kerzhenets
The Battle of Kerzhenets (Russian: Се́ча при Ке́рженце; tr.: Secha pri Kerzhentse) is a 1971 Soviet animated film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Yuri Norstein. The film is set to music by Rimsky-Korsakov and uses Russian frescoes and paintings from the 14th–16th centuries. These are animated using 2-dimensional stop motion animation.
| The Battle of Kerzhenets | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Directed by | Yuri Norstein Ivan Ivanov-Vano |
| Produced by | Soyuzmultfilm |
| Written by | Ivan Ivanov-Vano |
| Music by | Rimsky-Korsakov |
Release date | January 1, 1971 (USSR) |
Running time | 10 min 12 sec |
| Country | USSR |
| Language | Russian |
Plot
The story is based on the legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh (made into a 4-act opera by Rimsky-Korsakov in 1907), which disappears under the waters of a lake to escape an attack by the Mongols. (Russia was under the Mongol-Tartar yoke for a period of three centuries in the Middle Ages.)
The film itself follows the legend only loosely, however, and its highpoint is a battle between the Russian soldiers and the Mongol hordes, symbolizing a clash of cultures (the Virgin Mary appears early in the film, in effect watching over the Russian side of the battle).
Awards
- 1971—Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Prize for Best Animated Film
- 1972—Zagreb World Festival of Animated Films: Grand Prize
- 1972—Tbilisi: Prize for Best Animated Film
- 1972—Bombay Film Festival: "Diplom"
Creators
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Directors | Yuri Norstein (Юрий Норштейн) Ivan Ivanov-Vano (Иван Иванов-Вано) |
| Writer | Ivan Ivanov-Vano (Иван Иванов-Вано) |
| Art directors | Marina Sokolova (Марина Соколова) Arkadiy Tyurin (Аркадий Тюрин) |
| Animators | Yuri Norstein (Юрий Норштейн) Aleksandr Rozhkov (Александр Рожков) Boris Saavin (Борис Савин) Vyacheslav Shilobreyev (Вячеслав Шилобреев) |
| Camera operator | Vladimir Saruhanov (Владимир Саруханов) |
| Composer | Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков) |
| Sound operator | Boris Filchikov (Борис Фильчиков) |
See also
- History of Russian animation
- List of stop-motion films
External links
- The Battle of Kerzhenets on IMDb
- The Battle of Kerzhenets at the Animator.ru (English and Russian)