Directing

Fyodor Khitruk

Born 1917-05-01 · Tver, Russian Empire

Fyodor Savelyevich Khitruk (Russian: Фёдор Савельевич Хитрук; 1 May 1917 – 3 December 2012; Tver) was a Russian (and Soviet) animator and animation director. Khitruk was born in Tver (Russian Empire), into a Jewish family. He came to Moscow to study graphic design at the OGIS College for Applied Arts. He graduated in 1936 and started to work with "Soyuzmultfilm" in 1938 as an animator. From 1962 onwards, he worked as a director. His first film "Story of One Crime" was an immense success. Today, this film is seen as the beginning of a renaissance of Soviet animation after a two-decade-long life in the shadows of Socialist realism. Diverging from the “naturalistic” Disney-like canons that were reigning in the 1950-60s in Soviet animated cartoons, he created his own style, which was laconic yet multi-level, non-trivial and vivid. He is the director of outstanding animated short films including such classics as his social satire of bureaucrats, "Man in the Frame" (1966); the philosophic parable, "Island" (1973) about the loneliness of a man in modern society; the biographical film "A Young Man Named Engels – A Portrait in Letters" (1970), based on drawings and letters of young Engels; the parody "Film, Film, Film" (1968); and the anti-war film, "Lion and Bull" (1984). In April 1993, Khitruk and three other leading animators (Yuri Norstein, Andrei Khrzhanovsky, and Eduard Nazarov) founded SHAR Studio, an animation school and studio in Russia. The Russian Cinema Committee is among the share-holders in the studio. In 2008, he released a two-volume book titled "Profession of Animation". He is the grandfather of violin virtuoso Anastasia Khitruk. Khitruk lived in Moscow, where he died in 2012, aged 95.

Acting credits

9.5

A poetic view of Russian animation and of cultural and social transformations Russian society has been gone through. It is about multi faceted and humorous animation, almost never exposed to western eyes.

Magia Russica

2004

3.0

A landmark four disc Box Set - Unearthed from Moscow's legendary Soyuzmultfilm Studios, the 41 films in ANIMATED SOVIET PROPAGANDA span sixty years of Soviet history (1924 - 1984), and have never been available before in the U.S.

Animated Soviet Propaganda

1997

Alder uncovers not only the life and works of the elusive Cold War soviet master, but also sheds light on the Soviet animation regime.

The Spirit of Genius - Fedor Khitruk and His Films

1997

The history of Russian animated films.

Miracle Factory. Animation Director

2005

Travelogue of two film historians Nikolay Izvolov and Sergey Kapterev who visit world film archives around the globe in search of a lost sound version of one famous Soviet cartoon. It's "The Post" made by Mikhail Tsekhanovsky in 1929 and based on a poem by Samuil Marshak. At first "The Post" has been released in a silent form and later Tsekhanovsky remade it with experimental music and narration by Daniil Kharms. At that moment it was the first Soviet sound cartoon and it was a success all over the world. Russian film studies consider "The Post" to be of great importance and artistic value but unfortunately it's still lost. Only the silent version and the 1964 remake are still known and available.

Searching for the Lost Pochta

2014

Behind the camera

7.5

Another Soviet Winnie-the-Pooh story. This time the donkey, known from the Pooh stories as Eeyore, is sad because he has no tail. Pooh goes in search of one and finds it attached to a bell that hangs from the treehouse of one Owl.

Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day

1972

7.5

Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day

1972

6.2

The way bureaucracy works is told by men in the frames.

Man in the Frame

1966

6.2

The way bureaucracy works is told by men in the frames.

Man in the Frame

1966

7.3

According to Winnie-the-Pooh himself, bears love honey very much. That's why it always runs out very quickly. And you can't do without honey, so Winnie, along with Piglet, sets off for a tall tree with a beehive hanging from it. Winnie fearlessly climbs up to the beehive on a balloon, singing a song about a little cloud.

Winnie-the-Pooh

1969

7.3

Winnie-the-Pooh

1969

7.5

The second of the Soviet Winnie-the-Pooh series. This one had Pooh and Piglet visiting Rabbit for a meal with honey.

Winnie-the-Pooh Goes Visiting

1971

7.5

The second of the Soviet Winnie-the-Pooh series. This one had Pooh and Piglet visiting Rabbit for a meal with honey.

Winnie-the-Pooh Goes Visiting

1971

7.7

The trials and tribulations of putting a feature film together.

Film, Film, Film

1968

7.7

The trials and tribulations of putting a feature film together.

Film, Film, Film

1968

Volume 3 (1979-1985): "Tale of Tales", "Hunt", "Cabaret", "Last Hunt", "There Was a Dog", "Travels of an Ant", "Lion and Bull", "Wolf and Calf", "Old Stair", "King's Sandwich", "About Sidorov Vova".

Masters of Russian Animation - Volume 3

2000

6.2

A castaway is interrogated by Interpol, conquered by an imperialist ship, loses his lone palm tree to greedy loggers, is consoled by a missionary who promptly abandons him, is thoroughly examined by scientists, and harassed by journalists.

Island

1973

6.2

Island

1973

6.0

A circus lion goes on holiday to Africa, but his circus skills doesn't let him be. Based on the tale of the Czech writer Milos Macourek "Boniface and his nephews»

Boniface's Holiday

1965

6.0

A circus lion goes on holiday to Africa, but his circus skills doesn't let him be. Based on the tale of the Czech writer Milos Macourek "Boniface and his nephews»

Boniface's Holiday

1965

7.1

A comedy that humorously addresses the issue of a woman's role in the family. The film consists of four short stories, united by the same characters: a Man and a Woman, living in different eras.

I Give You a Star

1974

7.1

A comedy that humorously addresses the issue of a woman's role in the family. The film consists of four short stories, united by the same characters: a Man and a Woman, living in different eras.

I Give You a Star

1974

6.5

In half a minute, a person who braked at a traffic light has time to look at the screen of a special roadside demonstration device-a movie comic-a "lightweight" version of the creation of the great classic Shakespeare based on the tragedy "Othello". A parable about how modern civilization devalues world culture.