Fyodor Khitruk

Born: 1917-05-01 in Tver, Russian Empire

Died: 2012-12-03

Known For: Directing

Biography

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.

Filmography

2002

About the Girl Who Found Her Bear ... (Animation Director)
Neighbours ... (Animation Director)

2000

Masters of Russian Animation - Volume 2 ... (Director)
Masters of Russian Animation - Volume 1 ... (Screenplay)
Masters of Russian Animation - Volume 3 ... (Director)

1998

Mikhail Baryshnikov's Stories from My Childhood ... (Animation)
The Big Leap ... (Producer)

1997

The Spirit of Genius - Fedor Khitruk and His Films as Self
Dunno on the Moon ... (Consulting Producer)
Animated Soviet Propaganda as Self - Contributor

1995

Attraction ... (Art Direction)

1989

The Cow ... (Art Direction)

1986

Three Novels ... (Writer)
Lafertovskaya Makovnitsa ... (Creative Director)

1985

Kuth and Mice ... (Art Direction)
Wolfy ... (Art Direction)

1984

The Cat in the Cap ... (Art Direction)
Lion and Bull ... (Director)

1982

Olympians ... (Director)

1981

O Sport, You Are Peace! ... (Animation Director)

1977

One Day Before Our Era ... (Director)

1976

Ikar and Sages ... (Screenplay)

1975

The Flight of Mr. McKinley ... (Animation Director)

1974

I Give you a Star ... (Director)

1973

The Love of Mankind ... (Animation)
Island ... (Screenplay)
Balance of Fear ... (Director)

1972

Winnie-the-Pooh and a Busy Day ... (Director)

1971

Winnie-the-Pooh Goes Visiting ... (Director)

1970

A Young Man Named Engels – A Portrait in Letters ... (Writer)

1969

Winnie-the-Pooh ... (Director)
Winnie-the-Pooh ... (Creator)

1968

Zigzag of Success ... (Animation Director)
Film, Film, Film ... (Director)

1967

Othello-67 ... (Director)

1966

Man in the Frame ... (Director)

1965

Boniface's Holiday ... (Director)
The Tale of the Tsarevich and the Three Healers ... (Screenplay)

1964

Little Stomper ... (Director)

1963

Story of One Crime ... (Director)
Granny's Goat ... (Animation)

1961

The Key ... (Animation)
Big Troubles ... (Animation)
Family Chronicle ... (Animation)

1960

A Sober Sparrow ... (Animation)
Different Wheels ... (Animation)
It Was I Who Drew the Little Man ... (Animation)
Murzilka on the Satellite ... (Animation)

1959

The Adventures of Buratino ... (Animation)
Soon There Will Be Rain ... (Animation Director)
At Exactly Three Fifteen ... ... (Animation)

1958

The Cat's House ... (Animation)
Petia and Little Red Riding Hood ... (Animation)
The Boy from Napoli ... (Animation)
The Secret of the Far Away Island ... (Animation)
The Tale of Chapayev ... (Animation)

1957

The Snow Queen ... (Animation)
Once Upon a Time ... (Animation)
Again, Deuce ... (Animation)
Familiar Pictures ... (Animation)

1956

The Twelve Months ... (Animation)
Old Friends ... (Animation)
Adventures of Murzilka ... (Animation)
Girl in the Jungle ... (Animation)

1955

The Enchanted Boy ... (Animation)
Dog and Cat ... (Animation)
What Kind of Bird Is This? ... (Animation)
The Snow Postman ... (Animation)
A Hazel Tree Twig ... (Animation)
Stepan the Sailor ... (Animation)
An Unusual Match ... (Animation)
A Brave Hare ... (Animation)

1954

The Frog Princess ... (Animation)
On the Forest Stage ... (Animation)
The Orange Neck ... (Animation)
A Goat-Musician ... (Animation)
An Arrow Flies Into a Fairy Tale ... (Animation)
A Dangerous Prank ... (Animation)

1953

The Crow and the Fox, the Cuckoo and the Rooster ... (Animation)
Magic Store ... (Animation)
Flight to the Moon ... (Animation)
A Naughty Kitten ... (Animation)
Brave Pak ... (Animation)

1952

The Scarlet Flower ... (Animation)
Kashtanka ... (Animation)
Sarmiko ... (Animation)
Validoob - Fell Oak ... (Animation)

1951

The Night Before Christmas ... (Animation)
The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights ... (Animation)
Friends-Comrades ... (Animation)
The High Hill ... (Animation)
Forest Travellers ... (Animation)

1950

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Goldfish ... (Animation)
When Christmas Trees Light Up ... (Animation)
The Robust ... (Animation)
The Magic Treasure ... (Animation)
Fox the Builder ... (Animation)

1949

The Miraculous Bell ... (Animation)
Geese-Swans ... (Animation)
Ambulance ... (Animation)
A Cuckoo and a Blackbird ... (Animation)
The Lion and the Hare ... (Animation)

1948

Little Gray Neck ... (Animation)
The Flower with Seven Colours ... (Animation)
The Magic Carpet ... (Animation)
The Hunting Rifle ... (Animation)

1940

Favourite Characters ... (Animation)
Bear Cub ... (Animation)

1939

The Friends from Taiga ... (Animation)
Uncle Stepa ... (Animation)

1938

Fyodor the Hunter ... (Animation)
Ivashko and Baba-Yaga ... (Animation)
Tale of the Good Umar ... (Animation)