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New documentary set to put Soviet “Soyuzmultfilm” in the spotlight, team calls out to those who worked in it

By John Freeman on June 17, 2016

https://youtu.be/vaNFeLcyq0c

London-based Bill Melendez Productions are currently in pre-production on a feature length documentary exploring animation for children and families in the USSR, in part, focusing on the studio Soyuzmultfilm, and the women in Soviet animation: from Aleksandra Snezhko-Blotskaya, co-director of the Soviet Realist classic, The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights (1951), to Inessa Kovalevskaya, director of the psychedelic, The Bremen Town Musicians (1969).

The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights is a 1951 Russian animation of an 1833 fairytale poem written by Alexander Pushkin, based upon the classic Grimms tale, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was directed by Ivan Pyetrovich Ivanov-Vano, known as the “patriarch of Soviet animation.”

An image from The Bremen Town Musicians, released in 1969

The film will also include women involved in the USSR’s rich history of model animation, including the directors Aida Zyablikova (Akairo), and Maya Buzinova (The White Heron), and the writer Alexandra Sviridova (About the Little Mammoth).

The film has already secured the participation of the Professor and Chair of Animation & Digital Arts at The School of Cinematic Arts, USC (University of Southern California), but the company seeks the assistance of those within the Russian Federation, and to an extent, within the former SSRs, with links to period animation studios and artists: They would welcome an opportunity to open a line of conversation.

Drop them a line via mirzaATbillmelendez.tv.

Bill Melendez Productions is an animation production company located in Hollywood in Los Angeles in California, with offices in the UK. Studio production has included every Peanuts TV special, series and feature film and the studio’s classic Emmy, Annie , and Peabody award winning animation includes features , television specials , industrials and commercial messages.

They have also created hundreds of advertising commercials have been created and produced – spots for Metlife to McDonald’s , from Chevron to Cheerios to Knott’s Berry Farm.

The many animated characters brought to life by the company include Babar the Elephant, Betty Boop, Cathy, Charlie Brown, Lucy , Linus, Snoopy, Dick Deadeye and The Lion Witch and the Wardrobe.

Web: www.billmelendez.tv

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.