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

1998

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

1997

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

1995

Attraction ... (Art Direction)

1989

The Cow ... (Art Direction)

1986

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

1985

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

Film, Film, Film ... (Director)
Zigzag of Success ... (Animation 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)
Family Chronicle ... (Animation)
Big Troubles ... (Animation)

1960

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

Petia and Little Red Riding Hood ... (Animation)
The Boy from Napoli ... (Animation)
The Cat's House ... (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)
Adventures of Murzilka ... (Animation)
Old Friends ... (Animation)
Girl in the Jungle ... (Animation)

1955

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

1954

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

1953

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

1952

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

1951

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

1950

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

1949

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

1948

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

1940

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

1939

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

1938

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