Biography
PAR Yuri Norstein (Russian: Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн, Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn; born 15 September 1941), is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts, Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981 he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name. According to the Washington Post, "He is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time".
Yuri Norstein was born to a Jewish family in the village of Andreyevka, Penza Oblast, during his parents' World War II evacuation. He grew up in the Maryina Roshcha suburb of Moscow. After studying at an art school, Norstein initially found work at a furniture factory. Then he finished a two-year animation course and found employment at studio Soyuzmultfilm in 1961. The first film that he participated in as an animator was Who Said "Meow"? (1962).
After working as an animation artist in some fifty films, Norstein got the chance to direct his own. In 1968 he debuted with 25th October, the First Day, sharing directorial credit with Arkadiy Tyurin. The film used the artwork of 1920s-era Soviet artists Nathan Altman and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin.
The next film in which he had a major role was The Battle of Kerzhenets (1971), a co-production with Russian animation director Ivan Ivanov-Vano under whose direction Norstein had earlier worked on 1969's Times of the Year.
Throughout the 1970s Norstein continued to work as an animator in many films, and also directed several. As the decade progressed his animation style became ever more sophisticated, looking less like flat cut-outs and more like smoothly-moving paintings or sophisticated pencil sketches. His most famous film is Tale of Tales, a non-linear, autobiographical film about growing up in the postwar Soviet world.
Norstein uses a special technique in his animation, involving multiple glass planes to give his animation a three-dimensional look. The camera is placed at the top looking down on a series of glass planes about a meter deep (one every 25–30 cm). The individual glass planes can move horizontally as well as toward and away from the camera (to give the effect of a character moving closer or further away).
For many years he has collaborated with his wife, the artist Francheska Yarbusova, and the cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy.
Source: Wikipedia
Filmography
all 44
Movies 44
Director 14
self 9
Producer 1
Winter Days (2003)
Dreams about Alfeoni (2002)
School of Fine Arts (1990)
My Favorite Time (1987)
У попа была собака (1983)
Olympians (1982)
Autumn (1982)
Tale of Tales (1979)
One Day Before Our Era (1977)
Hedgehog in the Fog (1975)
Shapoklyak (1974)
The Fox and the Hare (1973)
Mama (1971)
The Property of Republic (1971)
Losharik (1971)
Children and Matches (1969)
Seasons (1969)
The Comedian (1968)
My Green Crocodile (1966)
Left-Hander (1964)
Two Stories (1962)
Information
Known ForDirecting
GenderMale
Birthday1941-09-15 (83 years old)
Birth PlaceAndreevka, Penzenskaya oblast, USSR (Russia)
CitizenshipsSoviet Union, Russia
Also Known AsYuri Norstein, Yury Norshteyn, Yuri Norshteyn, Yuriy Norstein, Yury Norstein, Yuriy Norshteyn, Iouri Norstein, ユーリ・ノルシュテイン, ユーリ・ボリソヴィチ・ノルシュテイン, Норштейн, Юрий Борисович, Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн, Ю. Норштейн
AwardsWinsor McCay Award, Triumph, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres, Honored art worker of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Order of the Rising Sun, USSR State Prize, Annie Award, Nika Award
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
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