Those viewers were lucky – and the RG correspondent was among them – who saw the 20-minute pilot film, as well as a magnificent exhibition of dolls, drawings and sketches for this project, which the Cinemascope film company is now preparing for release.
After the screening of the film, the director answered questions from the audience and the RG correspondent.
Will we see on the screen not only Bulgakov, but also other writers?
Stanislav Sokolov: This, I hope, will be a full-length puppet film version about Bulgakov, his time and his characters.
Yes, we will have recognizable heroes, famous personalities – Stanislavsky, Lunacharsky, Trotsky, writers and poets – Mayakovsky, Alexei Tolstoy, Chukovsky, Kataev… There will be characters from the wonderful novel “The Master and Margarita” and scenes from it. And also mythological, ghostly characters – this is still animation.
Each of my films begins with a search for an unusual, non-standard solution, so as not to fall into cliched animation.
The script covers the main periods of Bulgakov’s life. I expect that this will be a film about the work of a writer who is in some kind of opposition to other authors. Who get involved in what they are forced to write about or agree with what is happening. Bulgakov adhered to an independent position, tried to write differently than others, who believed that there was no need to get into trouble. There are many interesting dialogues between Bulgakov and various writers. Previously, there was no Internet, but there were circles where writers gathered and read their unpublished works. It was a spiritual, intellectual outburst…
What sources did you use?
Stanislav Sokolov: There is a lot of literature dedicated to Mikhail Bulgakov; now more and more books are being published. I studied them. I turned to the memoir literature of a hundred years ago – the works of many writers, poets, directors working at that time turned out to be relevant and topical today. It is interesting to look at a time that was not so long ago – some 100 years ago. Then in Russia the situation was approximately the same as now.
The material is enough for the soul. We use fragments from various works of Bulgakov, including early feuilletons, stories, texts of letters.
We collaborated with the Mikhail Bulgakov Museum. Every year there are conferences dedicated to the biography and work of the writer, where new data from Bulgakov scholars appears, including from foreign publications.
Press service of the III Festival of Animation and Literature “Pushkin. Mikhailovskoe”
How long did this colossal work take?
Stanislav Sokolov: I started my work back in the pre-Covid period. It took about two years to write the script and make sketches. German Klimov, the brother of director Elem Klimov, helped me write the script. Unfortunately, Herman died during Covid.
The preparation took a lot of time. As well as the search for visual, stylistic and sound solutions. Here there is puppet and hand-drawn animation (in the classic way – pencil on tracing paper), fragments of real chronicles and multi-layered animation for the chronicles. We introduce additional textures into the scenes in order to find integrity between the images – three-dimensional and hand-drawn.
Filming lasted more than a year. The puppet part was filmed by Sasha Grigorchuk, a graduate of VGIK College. The drawn scenes were also done by experienced animators. Now we are engaged in so-called retouching – we process numerous visual layers in different scenes.
I have whole mountains of books that contain interesting facts about Bulgakov, his circle, friends, and associates. There is a lot of material that begs to be shown on the screen, the work is very interesting, despite the fact that there is little support for it. Our original animation is largely due to student enthusiasm. The state budget for the film ran out long ago. We pay for some things ourselves, and do some things absolutely free.
There are problems in animation. Despite the fact that many animators are produced every year, the quality of their work is not yet very high. Even for a small film it is difficult to find real professionals.
Who created these dolls?
Stanislav Sokolov: Puppeteer students who study at the Moscow THTK (Theater Art and Technical College). Their leader, now a graduate of THTK, our wonderful artist Igor Khilov, one of the best puppeteers in Russia, made us the main dolls.
The character figures were created by hand, and every movement of the dolls was filmed frame by frame.
The scenery was made partly by employees of the Soyuzmultfilm studio, students of the VGIK college and also graduates of THTK.
Looking at the dolls at the exhibition, we recognized in one of them the film expert, president of the Window to Europe festival Armen Medvedev…
Stanislav Sokolov: That’s right, Woland’s prototype was Armen Medvedev, chairman of the Russian State Committee for Cinematography in the 1990s. I drew from life, having received his consent. Armen Nikolaevich’s humor always reminded me of Bulgakov’s humor.
And I made Knyazhevich, the character of “Theatrical Romance”, the head of the reception of plays at the Independent Theater, look like Lev Konstantinovich Atamanov, the brilliant Soviet director of animated films.
Humor is also present, as we see in this film.
Stanislav Sokolov: Yes, somewhat black, but still. Bulgakov has an optimistic mood in many of his stories – this is how he experienced that difficult time, nervous tension in society. In the 1920s and 30s, performances based on his works were produced and closed. Now theaters are actively staging “The Master and Margarita”, “Heart of a Dog”, “Theatrical Romance”, “Days of the Turbins” – all of them still delight the audience. They are making interesting documentaries about Bulgakov.
We show Bulgakov in various situations. For example, Mikhail Afanasyevich often played billiards with Mayakovsky, and the poet usually won. Mayakovsky said: “You will soon get rich from your “Uncle Vanyas and Aunt Manyas.” – “You will soon get rich from your “Klopomor.” But only your descendants will benefit from your work,” Bulgakov predicted.
By the way
The music for the film was written by composer Sandor Kallos.
The voice of the project is People’s Artist of Russia Viktor Sukhorukov.
Source: rg.ru
