Khrjanovsky & Schnittke: Butterfly (1972)

Among a wealth of incredible animation from the former USSR, this is one of my favourites. I've come to think of this one as a gentle & cautionary rejoinder to Stan Brakhage's Mothlight. The tone is delicate & heartbreaking; the images are beautifully realised, and in their flat perspective and vibrant colours might have a kinship with Paradjanov - and, indeed, anything under the heavy influence of european folk art.

Andrei Khrjanovsky is still working; hopefully we see his new feature at the MIFF this year. Audio chores on this one are by his regular collaborator, Alfred Schnittke (electronic tonalities, realised on the ANS synth).

Book Illustrations 2: Trnka

... death & the emperor, from "The Nightingale"

Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales / by H. C. Anderson; illustrated by Jiri Trnka London : Spring Books, 1961

(This one figures in a book I copped as a long-ago b-day present from my Grandfather)


... Titania! A character sketch, for Trnka's stop-motion adaptation of:

A Midsummer Night's Dream / William Shakespeare ; with pictures from the film by Jiri Trnka Praha : Artia, 1960

A sad story: I bought a 16mm print of this one - technicolour, and in wide-screen scope - at a deceased estate auction for $21. I delegated some friends to collect it (the auction was interstate, you understand) & they grabbed the wrong reels - a Russian ballet film of the same title.

Stills can be found at the Kratky Film website...

... and some clips can be found on this site, and at youtube.