Yuri Norstein

Personal Info

Known For Director

Gender Male

Birthday 1941-09-15 (83 years old)

Place of Birth Andreevka, Penzenskaya oblast, USSR (Russia)

Also Known As Yuri Norstein, Yury Norshteyn, Yuri Norshteyn, Yuriy Norstein, Yury Norstein, Yuriy Norshteyn, Iouri Norstein, ユーリ・ノルシュテイン, ユーリ・ボリソヴィチ・ノルシュテイン, Норштейн, Юрий Борисович, Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн, Ю. Норштейн

Yuri Norstein

Biography

PAR Yuri Norstein (Russian: Ю́рий Бори́сович Норште́йн, Yuriy Borisovich Norshteyn; born 15 September 1941), is a Soviet and Russian animator best known for his animated shorts, Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales. Since 1981 he has been working on a feature film called The Overcoat, based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol of the same name. According to the Washington Post, "He is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time". Yuri Norstein was born to a Jewish family in the village of Andreyevka, Penza Oblast, during his parents' World War II evacuation. He grew up in the Maryina Roshcha suburb of Moscow. After studying at an art school, Norstein initially found work at a furniture factory. Then he finished a two-year animation course and found employment at studio Soyuzmultfilm in 1961. The first film that he participated in as an animator was Who Said "Meow"? (1962). After working as an animation artist in some fifty films, Norstein got the chance to direct his own. In 1968 he debuted with 25th October, the First Day, sharing directorial credit with Arkadiy Tyurin. The film used the artwork of 1920s-era Soviet artists Nathan Altman and Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin. The next film in which he had a major role was The Battle of Kerzhenets (1971), a co-production with Russian animation director Ivan Ivanov-Vano under whose direction Norstein had earlier worked on 1969's Times of the Year. Throughout the 1970s Norstein continued to work as an animator in many films, and also directed several. As the decade progressed his animation style became ever more sophisticated, looking less like flat cut-outs and more like smoothly-moving paintings or sophisticated pencil sketches. His most famous film is Tale of Tales, a non-linear, autobiographical film about growing up in the postwar Soviet world. Norstein uses a special technique in his animation, involving multiple glass planes to give his animation a three-dimensional look. The camera is placed at the top looking down on a series of glass planes about a meter deep (one every 25–30 cm). The individual glass planes can move horizontally as well as toward and away from the camera (to give the effect of a character moving closer or further away). For many years he has collaborated with his wife, the artist Francheska Yarbusova, and the cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy. Source: Wikipedia

Known For

Director

The Overcoat

as Director

2003
Winter Days

as Director

2000
1979
Tale of Tales

as Director

1977
1975
1974
1973
1971
1969
1969
Seasons

as Co-Director

Visual Effects

The Overcoat

as Animation

1990
School of Fine Arts

as Animation

1982
Autumn

as Animation

1982
Olympians

as Animation

1980
1979
Tale of Tales

as Animation

1975
Hedgehog in the Fog

as Animation

1974
1974
Shapoklyak

as Animation

1973
1971
1971
Mama

as Visual Effects

1971
Losharik

as Animation

1971
1968
The Comedian

as Animation

1966
My Green Crocodile

as Animation

1964
Left-Hander

as Animation

1962
Two Stories

as Animation

Writer

The Overcoat

as Writer

1979
Tale of Tales

as Screenplay

1977
1975
Hedgehog in the Fog

as Screenplay

1974
1973
1973
The Fox and the Hare

as Screenplay

1971
1969
Children and Matches

as Screenplay

1968

Art

1987
My Favorite Time

as Production Design

1983
1968
1968
25 October, the First Day

as Art Direction

Producer

The Overcoat

as Producer

1969