Alexandr Petrov
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n animator
Animator
An animator is an artist who creates multiple images that give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence; the images are called frames and key frames. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an...
and animation director
Animation director
An animation director is the director in charge of all aspects of the animation process during the production of an animated film or animated segment for a live-action film...
.
Biography
Petrov was born in the village of Prechistoye (Yaroslavl OblastYaroslavl Oblast
Yaroslavl Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by Tver, Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Kostroma, and Vologda Oblasts. This geographic location affords the oblast the advantages of proximity to Moscow and St. Petersburg...
) and lives in Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...
.
He studied art at VGIK (state institute of cinema and TV). He was a disciple of 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...
at the Advanced School for screenwriters and directors (Moscow).
After making his first films in Russia, in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
he adapted the novel The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea
The Old Man and the Sea is a novel written by American author Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952. It was the last major work of fiction to be produced by Hemingway and published in his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it centers upon Santiago, an aging fisherman who...
, resulting in a 20-minute animated short — the first large-format animated film ever made. Technically impressive, the film is made entirely in pastel oil paintings on glass
Paint-on-glass animation
Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil paints on sheets of glass. Gouache mixed with glycerine is sometimes used instead...
, a technique mastered by only a handful of animators in the world. By using his fingertips instead of a paintbrush on different glass sheets positioned on multiple levels, each covered with slow-drying oil paints, he was able to add depth to his paintings. After photographing each frame painted on the glass sheets, which was four times larger than the usual A4-sized canvas, he had to slightly modify the painting for the next frame and so on. It took Aleksandr Petrov over two years, from March 1997 through April 1999, to paint each of the 29,000+ frames. For the shooting of the frames a special adapted motion-control camera system was built, probably the most precise computerized animation stand ever made. On this an IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
camera was mounted, and a video-assist camera was then attached to the IMAX camera. The film was highly acclaimed, receiving the Academy Award for Animated Short Film
Academy Award for Animated Short Film
The Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
and Grand Prix at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival
Annecy International Animated Film Festival
The Annecy International Animation Film Festival was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of June in the town of Annecy, France. Initially occurring every two years, the festival became annual in 1998...
.
After this, Aleksandr Petrov has maintained a close relationship with Pascal Blais Studio in Canada, which helped fund The Old Man and the Sea, where he works on commercialshttp://www.pascalblais.com/index2.html.
He returned to Yaroslavl in Russia to work on his latest film, My Love, which was finished in spring 2006 after three years' work and had its premiere at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival
Hiroshima International Animation Festival
The International Animation Festival Hiroshima is a biannual animation festival hosted in Hiroshima, Japan.The festival was found in 1985 by Association International du Film d'Animation or ASIFA as International Animation Festival for the World Peace...
on August 27, where it won the Audience Prize and the Special International Jury Prize. On March 17, 2007, My Love will be theatrically released at the Cinema Angelika in Shibuya
Shibuya, Tokyo
is one of the 23 special wards of Tokyo, Japan. As of 2008, it has an estimated population of 208,371 and a population density of 13,540 persons per km². The total area is 15.11 km²....
, (Japan) by Studio Ghibli
Studio Ghibli
is a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
, as the first release of the "Ghibli Museum Library" (theatrical and DVD releases of Western animated films in Japan).
http://www.fpsmagazine.com/blog/2007/01/ghibli-brings-west-to-japan.php
In a 2009 interview, Petrov stated that he was jobless and using-up the last of his previously earned money.http://niffiwan.livejournal.com/18934.html A 2010 article stated that Petrov wants to create an animated feature film with his technique, but cannot start because of lack of funds. http://animator.ru/articles/article.phtml?id=374
Artistic style
Petrov's style from the late 1980s onward can be characterized as a type of Romantic realismRomantic realism
Romantic realism is an aesthetic term that usually refers to art which combines elements of both romanticism and realism. The terms "romanticism" and "realism" have been used in varied ways, and are sometimes seen as opposed to one another....
. People, animals and landscapes are painted and animated in a very realistic
Realism (visual arts)
Realism in the visual arts is a style that depicts the actuality of what the eyes can see. The term is used in different senses in art history; it may mean the same as illusionism, the representation of subjects with visual mimesis or verisimilitude, or may mean an emphasis on the actuality of...
fashion, but there are many sections in his films where Petrov attempts to depict a character's inner thoughts and dreams. In The Old Man and the Sea, for example, the fisherman dreams that he and the marlin
Marlin
Marlin, family Istiophoridae, are fish with an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long rigid dorsal fin, which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to derive from its resemblance to a sailor's marlinspike...
are brothers swimming through the sea and the sky. In My Love, the main character's illness is represented by showing him being buried beneath freshly fallen snow on a dark night.
Director
- 19881988 in film-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
—Marathon, Марафон (Marafon) (directed and animated with Mikhail Tumelya) - 19891989 in film-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
—The Cow, Корова (Korova) (after Andrey Platonov) - 19921992 in filmThe year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
—The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, Сон смешного человека (Son smeshnovo cheloveka) (after Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky was a Russian writer of novels, short stories and essays. He is best known for his novels Crime and Punishment, The Idiot and The Brothers Karamazov....
) - 19971997 in film-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...
—Mermaid, Русалка (Rusalka) (after Alexander Pushkin) - 19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
—The Old Man and the SeaThe Old Man and the Sea (1999 film)The Old Man and the Sea is a 1999 paint-on-glass-animated short film directed by Aleksandr Petrov, based on the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film won many awards, including the Academy Award for Animated Short Film...
(after Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
) - 20032003 in filmThe year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
—Participated in Winter DaysWinter Daysis a 2003 animated film, directed by Kihachirō Kawamoto. It is based on one of the renku in the 1684 collection of the same name by the 17th-century Japanese poet Bashō....
, 冬の日 (Fuyu no hi) - 20062006 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
—My Love, Моя любовь (Moya lyubov) (after Ivan Shmelev)
Art director
- 19841984 in film-Events:* The Walt Disney Company founds Touchstone Pictures to release movies with subject matter deemed inappropriate for the Disney name.* Tri-Star Pictures, a joint venture of Columbia Pictures, HBO, and CBS, releases its first film....
By a Wave of the Wand, По щучьему велению (Po shchuchyemu veleniyu) (directed by Valeriy Fomin, cutout animationCutout animationCutout animation is a technique for producing animations using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or even photographs...
) - 19851985 in film-Events:* 3 December - Roger Moore steps down from the role of James Bond after twelve years and seven films. He is replaced by Timothy Dalton.* The Academy Award for Best Picture was won by Out Of Africa, while the highest grossing film was Back to the Future.* Bliss wins AFI Award for best Movie...
—Tale of a Small Fry, Сказочка про козявочку (Skazochka pro kozyavochku) (directed by Vladimir Petkevich, paint-on-glass) - 19861986 in film-Events:*April 12 - Actor Morgan Mason marries The Go-Go's Belinda Carlisle.*April 26 - Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger marries television journalist Maria Shriver.*May - Actress Heather Locklear marries Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee....
—WelcomeWelcome (1986 film)Welcome is a paint-on-glass-animated 10-minute film in the Soviet Union adapted from 1948 children's book by Dr. Seuss Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose....
, Добро пожаловать (Dobro pozhalovat) (directed by Alexei Karayev, paint-on-glass) - 19891989 in film-Events:* Batman is released on June 23, and goes on to gross over $410 million worldwide.* Actress Kim Basinger and her brother Mick purchase Braselton, Georgia, for $20 million...
—The Guardian, Хранитель (Khranitel) (directed by Vladimir Petkevich, ?)
Awards
- 19881988 in film-Top grossing films :- Awards :Academy Awards:* Act of Piracy* Action Jackson, starring Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone* The Adventures of Baron Munchausen* Akira* Alice...
—Ottawa International Animation FestivalOttawa International Animation Festival-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...
: Welcome, "Grand Prix" - 19901990 in filmThe year 1990 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* CGI technique is expanded with motion capture for CGI characters, used in Total Recall .* The first digitally-manipulated matte painting is used, in Die Hard 2....
—Berlin International Film FestivalBerlin International Film FestivalThe Berlin International Film Festival , also called the Berlinale, is one of the world's leading film festivals and most reputable media events. It is held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in West Berlin in 1951, the festival has been celebrated annually in February since 1978...
: The Cow, "Honorable Mention" in the category "Best Short Film" - 1990—Academy Award for Animated Short FilmAcademy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
: The Cow (nominated) - 1990—Ottawa International Animation FestivalOttawa International Animation Festival-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...
: The Cow, "OIAF Award for Best First Film" - 19921992 in filmThe year 1992 in film involved many significant films. -Top grossing films:-Awards:Academy AwardsGolden Globe AwardsNational Film Awards...
—Bombay International Documentary, Short and Animation Film Festival: The Cow, "Golden Conch for Best Animation Film" - 1992—Ottawa International Animation FestivalOttawa International Animation Festival-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...
: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, "Audience Award" and "OIAF Award for Best Production Between 10 and 30 Minutes in Length" - 19931993 in filmThe year 1993 in film involved many significant films, including the blockbuster hits Jurassic Park, The Fugitive and The Firm. -Events:...
—Cracow Film Festival: The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, "Special Mention for the depiction of a crucial subject in the form of animation" - 19971997 in film-Events:* The original Star Wars trilogy's Special Editions are released.* Production begins on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.* Titanic becomes the first film to gross US$1,000,000,000 at the box office making it the highest grossing film in history until Avatar broke the record in 2010.*...
—Cinanima: The Mermaid, "Grand Prize" - 1997—International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated FilmInternational Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated FilmThe International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film , also known as the Leipzig DOK Festival, is a film festival that takes place annually in Leipzig, Germany. It was founded in 1955 under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural and Documentary Films" and was the...
: The Mermaid, "Honorable Mention" in the category "Animated Films and Videos" - 1997—2nd Open Russian Festival of Animated Film2nd Open Russian Festival of Animated FilmThe 2nd Open Russian Festival of Animated Film was held in 1997 at a boarding house called "Birch Grove" near the town of Tarusa, Russia. Animated works from the past three years from the Russian Federation were accepted....
: The Mermaid, "Best Animator of a Drawn Film", "3rd Place Rating by Audience Vote" - 19981998 in film-Events:* February 14 - Sharon Stone marries Phil Bronstein.* Former child star Gary Coleman is charged with assaulting a young female bus driver at a California shopping mall.-Top grossing films:...
—Academy Award for Animated Short FilmAcademy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
: The Mermaid (nominated) - 1998—Ottawa International Animation FestivalOttawa International Animation Festival-History:In 1976, the Canadian Film Institute founded the biennial Ottawa International Animation Festival . First held August 10 to 15, 1976, the OIAF created a gathering place for North American animation professionals and enthusiasts to ponder the craft and business of animation...
: The Mermaid, "Craft Prize" in the category "Best Story" - 1998—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)...
: The Mermaid, "Grand Prize" - 19991999 in filmThe year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
—Academy Award for Animated Short FilmAcademy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
: The Old Man and the Sea - 20062006 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
—11th Hiroshima International Animation FestivalHiroshima International Animation FestivalThe International Animation Festival Hiroshima is a biannual animation festival hosted in Hiroshima, Japan.The festival was found in 1985 by Association International du Film d'Animation or ASIFA as International Animation Festival for the World Peace...
: My Love, "Audience Prize" and "Special International Jury Prize"http://www.urban.ne.jp/home/hiroanim/e/result/result2006.html - 2006—International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated FilmInternational Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated FilmThe International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film , also known as the Leipzig DOK Festival, is a film festival that takes place annually in Leipzig, Germany. It was founded in 1955 under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural and Documentary Films" and was the...
: My Love, "FIPRESCIFIPRESCIThe International Federation of Film Critics is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world for "the promotion and development of film culture and for the safeguarding of professional interests." It was founded in June 1930 in...
Prize for Best Animation" http://www.fipresci.org/festivals/archive/2006/leipzig/leipzig_06_ndx.htm - 20062006 in film- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2006...
—Animation Show of ShowsAnimation show of showsThe Animation Show of Shows is a traveling selection of the year's best animated short films, curated and presented by Acme Filmworks founder, Ron Diamond. It began in 1998 with the aim of showing the most original, funny, intelligent short animated films from all over the world and presenting them...
; My Love - 20072007 in filmThis is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
—12th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film12th Open Russian Festival of Animated FilmThe 12th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film was held from March 1-5, 2007 in Suzdal, Russia. The winners for all of the main award categories were announced on March 4th. The jury consisted of 33 professionals in a variety of different professions related to animation...
: My Love, "Grand Prix", "Best Direction" and "Best Visuals" - 20072007 in filmThis is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
—XVII International "Message to Man" Film FestivalMessage to ManMessage to Man is an international competitive documentary, short and animated film festival held annually in Saint Petersburg, Russia.- History :...
: My Love, "Grand Prix" - 20072007 in filmThis is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...
—Academy Award for Animated Short FilmAcademy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
: My Love (nominated)
External links
- Pascal Blais Studio - here you can see clips of Petrov's films (enter the English site, then click on "directors")
- Aleksandr Petrov at 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...
- English interview with AWN
- Trailer for the upcoming Ghibli DVD release of "My Love"
- FIPRESCI review of "My Love"Interview about his latest film (August 17, 2006)
- Fragment from Aleksandr Petrov's My Love with Esperanto subtitles