His work is so beautiful. Thank you fir sharing his story. I was unaware of his work until I read this. It's hard to believe why some critics in his day couldn't consider this as animation. Like the previous commenter said. His work us mesmerising
Thank you -- glad you liked it! We're big fans of his films here. And for sure, the controversy around him has always been a bit strange. But he's secured his place now, so it seems it's settled, finally.
This is unbelievable, the way he catches movement that looks so natural but in paint, where you can barely preview your work or do corrections. Truly surreal
It absolutely is -- you have to wonder how it's possible, keeping a whole movement in your head at such a level of detail while working this way. It's like a combination of the hardest parts of old-school, pre-computer stop motion with the hardest parts of 2D animation. The fact that someone can do it like this is hard to believe.
This is a great, thorough piece. I've been meaning to go through Petrov's work for years, and now I have my chance to watch all of it. It's too bad that so far as I can tell there's no blu-ray collection of all of his works available.
Much appreciated — glad you enjoyed, and hope you feel the same about the films themselves! The lack of a great Petrov collection is a serious problem, likely caused in part by the fact that he’s worked at so many different studios over the years (and none of them being Soyuzmultfilm). With luck, one will turn up someday.
It's great stuff. Reminds me of the old internet, before the social media giants took over. It's nice to see that people are putting together these sorts of well researched pieces.
Googling around again, it looks like maybe none of Petrov's films are available on blu-ray, which is really too bad. It's clear that he put a herculean effort into the detail of these moving paintings, so it would be really nice to be able to see them in the best possible format.
On a semi-related, but different, blu-ray note: Jan Svankmajer is certainly a different animal from Petrov, but I recently found out that there's a 7 disk set featuring (I think?) all of Svankmajer's feature length films, but you have to order it directly from his website, and it comes at the somewhat hefty price of 205 euros. It's unclear to me whether or not his shorts (arguably his best stuff) are even available on blu-ray.
There's so much good animation that came out of the Eastern Bloc, and based on clips I've seen around, I get the sense that there's a lot I haven't even heard of. Hopefully as much of it as possible will end up properly preserved eventually.
Thanks very much for the kind words. And for sure, animation behind the Iron Curtain was a pretty incredible thing -- one we've been exploring ourselves for years without getting anywhere near the end of it.
The lack of a Petrov Blu-ray collection is part of a wider trend, from what we've seen: even when the greats have their work restored, it often doesn't get a physical release, or the physical release only comes out in one country (say, Japan). It's great to discover that Svankmajer is an exception, because Czech animation absolutely has this problem -- like the scarcity of restored Jiří Trnka films.
Lastly, really appreciate the link to this account -- it's new to us, and cool to see that it's found such a large audience. If you're ever looking to watch full versions of Eastern Bloc stuff with subtitles, we highly recommend digging around on Animatsiya: https://www.animatsiya.net/
His work is so beautiful. Thank you fir sharing his story. I was unaware of his work until I read this. It's hard to believe why some critics in his day couldn't consider this as animation. Like the previous commenter said. His work us mesmerising
Thank you -- glad you liked it! We're big fans of his films here. And for sure, the controversy around him has always been a bit strange. But he's secured his place now, so it seems it's settled, finally.
So beautiful! I watched The Cow partway through reading this post...his work, his play with light and shadow, is mesmerizing.
It really is -- that's a genuinely stunning film. Glad we could introduce you to it!
This is unbelievable, the way he catches movement that looks so natural but in paint, where you can barely preview your work or do corrections. Truly surreal
It absolutely is -- you have to wonder how it's possible, keeping a whole movement in your head at such a level of detail while working this way. It's like a combination of the hardest parts of old-school, pre-computer stop motion with the hardest parts of 2D animation. The fact that someone can do it like this is hard to believe.
This is a great, thorough piece. I've been meaning to go through Petrov's work for years, and now I have my chance to watch all of it. It's too bad that so far as I can tell there's no blu-ray collection of all of his works available.
Much appreciated — glad you enjoyed, and hope you feel the same about the films themselves! The lack of a great Petrov collection is a serious problem, likely caused in part by the fact that he’s worked at so many different studios over the years (and none of them being Soyuzmultfilm). With luck, one will turn up someday.
It's great stuff. Reminds me of the old internet, before the social media giants took over. It's nice to see that people are putting together these sorts of well researched pieces.
Googling around again, it looks like maybe none of Petrov's films are available on blu-ray, which is really too bad. It's clear that he put a herculean effort into the detail of these moving paintings, so it would be really nice to be able to see them in the best possible format.
On a semi-related, but different, blu-ray note: Jan Svankmajer is certainly a different animal from Petrov, but I recently found out that there's a 7 disk set featuring (I think?) all of Svankmajer's feature length films, but you have to order it directly from his website, and it comes at the somewhat hefty price of 205 euros. It's unclear to me whether or not his shorts (arguably his best stuff) are even available on blu-ray.
https://svankmajer.cz/produkt/blu-ray-collection-7-discs/
There's so much good animation that came out of the Eastern Bloc, and based on clips I've seen around, I get the sense that there's a lot I haven't even heard of. Hopefully as much of it as possible will end up properly preserved eventually.
(Lots of wild clips here, for instance: https://www.instagram.com/under_the_visions/)
Thanks very much for the kind words. And for sure, animation behind the Iron Curtain was a pretty incredible thing -- one we've been exploring ourselves for years without getting anywhere near the end of it.
The lack of a Petrov Blu-ray collection is part of a wider trend, from what we've seen: even when the greats have their work restored, it often doesn't get a physical release, or the physical release only comes out in one country (say, Japan). It's great to discover that Svankmajer is an exception, because Czech animation absolutely has this problem -- like the scarcity of restored Jiří Trnka films.
Lastly, really appreciate the link to this account -- it's new to us, and cool to see that it's found such a large audience. If you're ever looking to watch full versions of Eastern Bloc stuff with subtitles, we highly recommend digging around on Animatsiya: https://www.animatsiya.net/
Excellent work on this post. I learned a lot and plan to go see The Wild Robot.
Thanks very much! Happy the piece resonated with you -- and hope you enjoy that film! It's the talk of the industry right now.
The Cow is so moving. Again, another letter moving me and exciting me that I am subscribed!
Thank you! This is great to hear. And happy to share The Cow -- it's a favorite of ours, and it deserves more attention than it sometimes gets.