'Gems' unlocks wealth of toon talent in Russia
Project has spent over two years in development
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Comprising 52 13-minute films and running more than 11 hours, "Mountain" adapts fairy tales from Russia's different nationalities in a wide range of animated styles.
The first toon scored a 5.6 rating, 21.4 share -- ranking it at 51 out of the top 100 programs that week, and coming in second for tyke programming.
The project has been more than two years in development at Alexander Tatarsky's Pilot studio, set up 17 years ago as the country's first private film outfit.
Pilot collaborated with many established names -- and some new stars -- of the Russian toon industry; animation masters Fyodor Khitruk and Yury Norshtein are creative consultants.
Voiceover work includes thesp Alexei Batalov ("The Cranes are Flying").
Tatarsky tells Variety that the first book he remembers from childhood was a collection of fairy tales of the same title, but the helmer also stresses the skein's contemporary relevance.
"Though we made the project as a work of art, it also has a political standpoint," he says. "What is happening in Russia is coming close to a state of ethnic war -- and I don't want to live in such a country. The inspiration was to show that one race doesn't think itself better than another. I want to live in a country where tolerance reigns."
Tatarsky's partner Georgy Vasiliev, of production company Aeroplan, estimates costs at between $10,000 and $20,000 per minute of animation work, depending on technique, making the budget at least $7 million -- steep by Russian standards. Some 70% of financing came from Russia's state Federal Agency for Culture and Cinema, with Aeroplan providing the remaining 30%.
Aeroplan will release the pics on a series of five-film DVDs over the next eight months, and will explore international sales.
Regular TV exposure on Channel One, which will air one episode per week, is a rarity for short animation in the territory.
Vasiliev is optimistic about the project's wider repercussions. "I hope it's a sign of the appearance of a strong and contemporary Russian animation school that can compete with foreign product," he says.
