Russia (bbabo.net), - Petersburg artists decided to combine the incompatible: to tell about the Siege of Leningrad in the language of animation. By January 27, the date of the liberation of Leningrad, work on the animated almanac "Siege of the Fate", which will include 16 short stories, will be completed. The first five have already been presented to the audience as part of the Lenfilm Club.

The idea to create such an artistic almanac was born at Lenfilm. It is based on the stories of Vadim Mikhailov, one of the oldest directors and screenwriters of Lenfilm. He himself is from Leningrad. Of those who were evacuated from the city as a child during the war. The stories are based on his own memories and real events of those years.

But it is one thing to hear or read about a city where cold, hunger and death are trying to reign. And quite another thing is to see it in images.

Moreover, not in films for adults, but in cartoons, from which, by association, something bright, gentle, touchingly childish is expected.

“I immediately refused to participate in the project, because the blockade is a separate issue that requires much more responsibility from the author than any other,” recalls director-animator Andrei Bakhurin. You must know exactly why you are doing this. After all, even a small uncertainty turns into vulgarity, and a single frame can destroy everything.

But, abandoning the project, he nevertheless agreed to read the stories. And one of them later became a six-minute cartoon called Alien Bread.

All cartoons in the almanac "Siege Fates" are equally short - no more than 15 minutes. But very different, each of them is a whole life.

Here is a little boy hiding with his mother in a bomb shelter. At the top is a mortal danger, nearby are frightened and cowering in anticipation of adults. And in his hands is the only thing that he managed to take with him from home - a Christmas tree toy. This is what in the dark basement reminds of peacetime and the best holiday. And suddenly this toy, like a real magic wand from another dimension, begins to create miracles: the basement suddenly shone with New Year's decorations, it became bright and alive around ("Dream of a Peaceful Christmas Tree", directed by Alexandra Agrinskaya).

Here is a young soldier who is about to go into battle, remembering his family. At a time when the blockade closes around the city, he mentally returns to the happy moments of his life. And at this moment, the watch on his hand stops, as a symbol of the fascist encirclement around the city ("Anxious Night", directed by Konstantin Biryukov).

And here is a little girl who is walking through a snow-covered city, clutching a piece of bread ration she just received in her hand. She meets hungry people, animals, birds. They look at her with pleading eyes, as if asking: give me at least a crumb. But the girl cannot: the bread is not hers, she ate her own right at the bakery. The piece she's clutching in her hand is that of her neighbour, an old sick woman who can't walk that far. Therefore, the girl saves someone else's bread and goes on. And in its footsteps, death is moving (Alien Bread, directed by Andrey Bakhurin).

Difficult cartoons, not children's plots. But many of those who gathered for the premiere viewing of the first issue of the siege almanac agreed that these cartoons may not have an age limit. Each viewer will understand and carry something of their own in their soul.

- Cartoons do not just tell long-known facts and stories about the blockade, they directly affect the soul, - says one of the spectators, a school teacher. - They are about how people generally survived in such conditions and how they remained people.

This gives a special authenticity to the cartoons. Separately in this row is the film "The Nutcracker, Piano and Dandelion Wreath" directed by Irina Evteeva. This touching story of the relationship between two teenagers who met by chance at an ice hole in a besieged city was created using a unique technique of combining animation and staged filming.

“I am a thirteenth-generation Petersburger, and in this film I used my family heirlooms: my mother’s toys, my grandmother’s things that survived the blockade,” says Irina Evteeva. - Mom said that then Christmas trees were really painted on the wallpaper. And on our Christmas tree in the film, real pre-war toys hang.

Almanac "Siege Fates" in many ways resembles such a box with carefully stored fragile Christmas tree decorations. These cartoons are not for every day. But they are just as valuable as the beautiful Christmas balls and garlands, which turn out to be the most necessary at the right time. Every family should have them. And let them get only once a year, but without them it is impossible. Because they are what makes our lives life. And if necessary, they can make everything around shine, even being in the most deaf basement.

Note

On January 27 St. Petersburg celebrates the 78th anniversary of the complete lifting of the siege of Leningrad. On this day, the cultural and exhibition center "Lenfilm" will be screenings of three films about the blockade in different genres - fiction, animation and documentary.

At 10.00 it will be possible to see the animated film almanac "Siege Fates" directed by Konstantin Biryukov, Anastasia Kopylova, Irina Evteeva, Andrey Bakhurin, Alexandra Agrinskaya and others.

At 12.30 - documentary film "Smelt for the Front" directed by Andrey Yegorov.

A film about a little-known page of the blockade - the fishermen who supplied the besieged Leningrad and its defenders with fish. Among those who went fishing were both professional fishermen and citizens mobilized for this work, mostly girls and women. Fish were caught in the Neva and the Gulf of Finland. Often under fire.

At 14.00 - the feature film "Blockade Diary" directed by Andrey Zaitsev. February 1942, severe frosts, terrible famine, no running water, no electricity, transport stops, Leningrad is littered with snow and almost paralyzed. A young woman Olga goes through the whole city to her father to say goodbye. She has just buried her husband and is sure that she will soon die of starvation too... The film is based on the memoirs of Olga Berggolts, The Blockade Book by Daniil Granin and Ales Adamovich, and the memoirs of unnamed blockade survivors.

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