The Battle of Kerzhenets
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Kerzhenets
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:Secha pri Kerzhentse) is a 1971 Soviet
/Russian
animated film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
and Yuriy Norshteyn
. The film is set to music by Rimsky-Korsakov
and uses Russian fresco
es and paintings from the 14th-16th centuries (which are animated using 2-dimensional stop motion
animation).
(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).
Kerzhenets River
Kerzhenets River is a river in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia. It is a left tributary of the Volga, joining the Volga near Lyskovo, about 70 km east of Nizhny Novgorod.-History:...
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Romanization of Russian
Romanization of the Russian alphabet is the process of transliterating the Russian language from the Cyrillic alphabet into the Latin alphabet...
:Secha pri Kerzhentse) is a 1971 Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
/Russian
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
animated film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Ivanov-Vano
Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano was a Soviet animator and Russian animation director, sometimes called the "Patriarch of Soviet animation"....
and Yuriy Norshteyn
Yuriy Norshteyn
Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn , or Yuri Norstein is an award-winning Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts, Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales...
. The film is set to music by Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
and uses Russian fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
es and paintings from the 14th-16th centuries (which are animated using 2-dimensional stop motion
Stop motion
Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation).
Plot
The story is based on the legend of the Invisible City of KitezhKitezh
Kitezh was a mythical city on the shores of the Svetloyar lake in the Voskresensky District of the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in central Russia. It appears for the first time in "Kitezh Chronicle", an anonymous book from the late 18th century, believed to have originated among the Old believers.-The...
(made into a 4-act opera
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Maiden Fevroniya is an opera in four acts by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The libretto was written by Vladimir Belsky, and is based on a combination of two Russian legends: that of St. Fevroniya of Murom, and the city of Kitezh, which became invisible...
by Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
in 1907
1907 in music
-Events:*February 21 - Frederick Delius's opera A Village Romeo and Juliet is premiered in Berlin.* General Porfirio Díaz legendarily orders a mariachi band to wear upper-class clothing when they played for the visiting United States Secretary of State Elihu Root; this is the beginning of modern...
), which disappears under the waters of a lake to escape an attack by the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
(Russia was under the Mongol-Tartar yoke
Mongol invasion of Rus
The Mongol invasion of Russia was resumed on 21 December 1237 marking the resumption of the Mongol invasion of Europe, during which the Mongols attacked the medieval powers of Poland, Kiev, Hungary, and miscellaneous tribes of less organized peoples...
for a period of three centuries in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
). 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
- 19711971 in filmThe year 1971 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*February 8 - Bob Dylan's hour long documentary film, Eat the Document, premieres at New York's Academy of Music...
—Karlovy Vary International Film FestivalKarlovy Vary International Film FestivalThe Karlovy Vary International Film Festival is a film festival held annually in July in Karlovy Vary , Czech Republic. The Karlovy Vary Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Europe's major film events....
: Prize for Best Animated Film - 19721972 in filmThe year 1972 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:*Avanti!, directed by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon and Juliet MillsB...
—Zagreb World Festival of Animated FilmsZagreb World Festival of Animated FilmsAnimafest Zagreb, also known as World Festival of Animated Film in Zagreb, is an annual festival dedicated to animated film held in Zagreb, Croatia. Initiated by the International Animated Film Association, the event was established in 1972 at the time when Croatia was part of SFR Yugoslavia)...
: Grand Prize - 1972—Tbilissi: Prize for Best Animated Film
- 1972—Bombay Film Festival: "Diplom"
Creators
| Directors | Yuriy Norshteyn (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 | Yuriy Norshteyn (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 Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Nikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César... (Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков) |
| Sound Operator | Boris Filchikov (Борис Фильчиков) |
External links
- The Battle of Kerzhenets at the Animator.ruAnimator.ruAnimator.ru is a Russian website chronicling the films, people and studios of the animation industry in Russia, the former Soviet Union and the CIS. It also includes a forum, a news block, a photo-gallery and an animators labour exchange...
(Russian and English)