The cartoon based on Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades” was born thanks to the director’s grandmother

The 15-minute film “Your Lady. Part 1″ by Valentin Olshvanga. It was based on “The Queen of Spades,” and the idea of ​​an unusual cartoon arose almost during his school years in the imagination of the future director.

The competition included 30 cartoons based on literary works, as well as with the participation of Alexander Sergeevich himself as an animated character who came to Mikhailovskoye, became a Moscow monument, and appeared on the pages of a school notebook. The heroes of the paintings turned out to be the invisible Brodsky, whose voice resounds on modern streets where penguins walk, and Kharms, who had nothing, neither arms nor legs, so there was nothing to say about him. Some cartoons are just over a minute long, the longest being 21 minutes. The youngest participant is 15-year-old art school student Daniil Stein, who presented the cartoon “Dubrovsky: Behind the Scenes” about a boy who writes a school essay, and Pushkin seems to him to have many arms, like Shiva, and flies on an airplane.

The jury members, led by animation director Maria Muat, unanimously gave their votes to the film “Your Lady. Part 1″ by Valentin Olshvanga. “This is an incredible piece of skill and graphic beauty, made by a very thoughtful artist. He prepares for his paintings for a long time, and he worked on this one for more than seven years, and completely alone. Only later did several animators get involved. These hand-drawn films made on paper are an amazing work of animation in terms of quality of execution,” says Maria Muat. It is curious that, while conducting a master class, she found out that children living near Pushkin’s places had not read “The Snowstorm,” which she filmed.

Valentin Olshvang was born in Sverdlovsk, and although he graduated from the art department of VGIK and now teaches there, he is perceived by many as a representative of the Ural animation school. His handwriting is instantly recognizable when you watch “The Pink Doll”, “About Crayfish”, “It’s Raining Since Evening”. He is not only the director of “Your Lady,” but also the scriptwriter and production designer. Receiving the award, Valentin said that the Grand Prix should be given to young people, we must give way to them, that such festivals set the criteria that allow us to remain human. After the ceremony we spoke with the winner.

— How did you dare to film “The Queen of Spades”?

– The story is old. You can say that she has been bothering me since my school years. And it was formed from different things – impressions from what I read, from the old countess, peeping. I remember how my grandmother prayed when I spent the night with her on the feather bed, watching her comb her braid.

— It probably scared you?

“It was something secret, when you spy on someone else’s life, and a secret is revealed to you, which then haunts you. While working on the previous film, I decided that I needed to make a picture where the hero makes a mistake. I needed a negative character.

– And this is Pushkin’s Hermann?

– Yes. Two “n”s are a different story. There are many reasons why Pushkin named his hero this way. And the emphasis is placed differently. Maybe they’re making fun of him? For example, at school they constantly called me Olschwang, with an emphasis on the “a”. Although it’s correct – on the first syllable. Many people still don’t know how to do it correctly. For me, this story is about being responsible for what you are given. If you want to get everything, you will have to pay very dearly.

— Will there be a sequel to the film? Are you planning a duology?

— The appearance of two parts is connected with the conditions of our life. We filmed with budget money, but it was small, and the time frame was tight – a year and eight months. The whole picture was conceived in 25 minutes, but I decided that there would be two parts – black and white. First the hero’s journey, and then madness. No one knows whether this is his imagination or reality.

— Why did you return to your beloved Yekaterinburg and not work with the Moscow studio?

– I didn’t come back. I stayed there all the time, from day one.

— You moved to Moscow a long time ago.

— I’ve been in Moscow for 20 years and have been teaching at VGIK for more than 10 years, but I’m used to the people, the studio, and its director Valentina Khizhnyakova. I know that I can rely on her. She solves any problems, helps with everything, so you can work in Yekaterinburg. And “Your Lady” is difficult and unusual. I feel left out. Is this animation? Hard to say.

— You have a spicy scene, one might say erotic.

– What kind of erotica is this? Picture for viewers 12+. You ask the children. They will explain to you what erotica is.

— Yesterday I heard a conversation between ten-year-old young ladies discussing the film “Cricket”: “We understand everything. The girl swallowed a cricket and gave birth to a child.”

“And that’s how I perceive him.” Why did she give birth to a baby boy? There are questions for the director, but the impression is that the heroine of the film really swallowed him. The children understood everything correctly.