(not all of them yet, more will be added, I hope. His most famous one in Russia remains "The Flying Ship" from way back in the 1970s!)
I think, personally, Bardin's films have great technique, humour, cleverness and even wisdom (as in "Adagio"). Yet, the theme that really inspires Bardin (most of his films seem to be variations on this) - and it is coated in all sorts of attractive packages, but it's not actually a super nice one at its core - seems to be that of seeing the mass of the people around as crude cattle, and the implications of this.
Amazing -- thanks for all your hard work putting this resource together! And we really appreciate the insightful comments on Bardin's films. A great read.
Interesting write-up on Three Monks. It's a pity Shanghai animation fell prey to the cultural revolution, especially since it's unlikely to ever recover from it. Uproar in Heaven is a testament to what Chinese animation could have been. Tremendously creative film. Asian aesthetics taking centerstage (e.g. woodblock prints, traditional guó huà) is a quality Japan's early output simply didn't have, at least not to this extent (e.g. Horus, Wanpaku, Hakujaden owe much more to western art and animation). However, what really elevates that film to a higher realm is the artistry of inking department (iirc the only anime film to ever notably distance itself from standardized black lines was Sirius no Densetsu) and it makes me wonder why Anime has yet to distance itself from standardized black oulines.
Thank you! As for Chinese animation, it experienced about a decade of resurgent creativity after the Cultural Revolution -- films like Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979), Monkeys Fish for the Moon (1981) and Feeling from Mountain and Water (1988) really pushed the boundaries of what animation could be. There was a major falloff in the '90s after Shanghai Animation Film Studio lost funding, but some projects still managed to shine through.
Money has finally started to flow into Chinese animation in the last few years, so we'll have to see what the future brings!
When I first saw Feeling from Mountain and Water I had high hopes for more guó huà-esque short films to have been produced, but -- from what I was able to find -- the short seems to have been unique case of Shanghai animation returning to the aesthetics of Mu Di (1963) and Xiao ke dou zhao ma ma (1960). It'll be interesting to see how Chinese animation develops over time. Aeshetically, I think Wu Shan Wu Xing: Zhuo Yuan Shen Huo (2020) owes a lot to those early shorts; and while Bai Niao Gu (2018) was a really cool short, and their Nezha centered features (most recently Nezha Chonsheng (2021)) strike me as much more competently made than Japan's contemporary 3DCG films, I think modern Chinese artists have yet to make something that carries to essence of their pre-digital output. Maybe I am being cynical, but the stuff I've seen struck me as heavily Japanized/Westernized.
Do you guys know the studio lost funding during the 1990's specifically?
The situation behind what happened with Shanghai Animation's government backing is a bit complicated -- the studio was caught up in the market economy changes across China in the late '80s onward. It might be easier to explain with quotations.
From Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema (chapter by John A. Lent and Ying Xu):
"Until the late 1980s, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio had been subsidized to make 300 to 400 minutes of animation yearly, with the works guaranteed distribution through the China Film Corporation. This secured position broke down as Chinese animation was criticized as lagging behind consumer and market demands, as Japanese and American animation made deeper inroads into Chinese television, and as talented animators were seduced by higher wages to work for animation subsidiaries of foreign studios that sprouted along China's southern rim in search of cheaper labor.
"To cope, the Shanghai studio branched out from educational and artistic animation to a more commercial variety, and in 1991, joined with Yick Hee of Hong Kong to form Shanghai Yilimei Animation Company, Ltd. as its commercial wing. The government continued to pay for 300 to 400 minutes of animation annually, which met payrolls and covered about 70 percent of the studio's operating expenses; the rest had to come from work-for-hire with foreign companies."
A little later, there's a quote from Ma Kexuan on the situation:
"This policy is against creative animation making. The politicians promised the public they could have more productions. It's the concept of catching up, developing our own culture, economy. My personal opinion is that this concept killed animation creativity. I never cared about quantity, only about quality.... When the studio said the amount, not quality, was more important, I left."
Basically, it seems that Shanghai Animation was leaned on by the government (which has always owned it) to increase production, even as funding was left stagnant. Between that and more competition in the distribution sector, the studio was squeezed dry throughout the '90s. Even then, though, it was able to put out the occasional highlight -- see The Doe Girl (1993) from Lin Wenxiao and Yan Dingxian.
"Grey Wolf & Little Red Riding Hood" can now be seen in its entirety with English or Spanish subtitles here:
https://www.animatsiya.net/film.php?filmid=445
(the video is from Soyuzmultfilm's official channel, with the subs overlayed on top)
Incidentally, many of Bardin's other films can be seen as well, including his 2010 animated feature:
https://www.animatsiya.net/director.php?directorid=14
(not all of them yet, more will be added, I hope. His most famous one in Russia remains "The Flying Ship" from way back in the 1970s!)
I think, personally, Bardin's films have great technique, humour, cleverness and even wisdom (as in "Adagio"). Yet, the theme that really inspires Bardin (most of his films seem to be variations on this) - and it is coated in all sorts of attractive packages, but it's not actually a super nice one at its core - seems to be that of seeing the mass of the people around as crude cattle, and the implications of this.
Amazing -- thanks for all your hard work putting this resource together! And we really appreciate the insightful comments on Bardin's films. A great read.
Interesting write-up on Three Monks. It's a pity Shanghai animation fell prey to the cultural revolution, especially since it's unlikely to ever recover from it. Uproar in Heaven is a testament to what Chinese animation could have been. Tremendously creative film. Asian aesthetics taking centerstage (e.g. woodblock prints, traditional guó huà) is a quality Japan's early output simply didn't have, at least not to this extent (e.g. Horus, Wanpaku, Hakujaden owe much more to western art and animation). However, what really elevates that film to a higher realm is the artistry of inking department (iirc the only anime film to ever notably distance itself from standardized black lines was Sirius no Densetsu) and it makes me wonder why Anime has yet to distance itself from standardized black oulines.
Thank you! As for Chinese animation, it experienced about a decade of resurgent creativity after the Cultural Revolution -- films like Nezha Conquers the Dragon King (1979), Monkeys Fish for the Moon (1981) and Feeling from Mountain and Water (1988) really pushed the boundaries of what animation could be. There was a major falloff in the '90s after Shanghai Animation Film Studio lost funding, but some projects still managed to shine through.
Money has finally started to flow into Chinese animation in the last few years, so we'll have to see what the future brings!
When I first saw Feeling from Mountain and Water I had high hopes for more guó huà-esque short films to have been produced, but -- from what I was able to find -- the short seems to have been unique case of Shanghai animation returning to the aesthetics of Mu Di (1963) and Xiao ke dou zhao ma ma (1960). It'll be interesting to see how Chinese animation develops over time. Aeshetically, I think Wu Shan Wu Xing: Zhuo Yuan Shen Huo (2020) owes a lot to those early shorts; and while Bai Niao Gu (2018) was a really cool short, and their Nezha centered features (most recently Nezha Chonsheng (2021)) strike me as much more competently made than Japan's contemporary 3DCG films, I think modern Chinese artists have yet to make something that carries to essence of their pre-digital output. Maybe I am being cynical, but the stuff I've seen struck me as heavily Japanized/Westernized.
Do you guys know the studio lost funding during the 1990's specifically?
The situation behind what happened with Shanghai Animation's government backing is a bit complicated -- the studio was caught up in the market economy changes across China in the late '80s onward. It might be easier to explain with quotations.
From Art, Politics, and Commerce in Chinese Cinema (chapter by John A. Lent and Ying Xu):
"Until the late 1980s, the Shanghai Animation Film Studio had been subsidized to make 300 to 400 minutes of animation yearly, with the works guaranteed distribution through the China Film Corporation. This secured position broke down as Chinese animation was criticized as lagging behind consumer and market demands, as Japanese and American animation made deeper inroads into Chinese television, and as talented animators were seduced by higher wages to work for animation subsidiaries of foreign studios that sprouted along China's southern rim in search of cheaper labor.
"To cope, the Shanghai studio branched out from educational and artistic animation to a more commercial variety, and in 1991, joined with Yick Hee of Hong Kong to form Shanghai Yilimei Animation Company, Ltd. as its commercial wing. The government continued to pay for 300 to 400 minutes of animation annually, which met payrolls and covered about 70 percent of the studio's operating expenses; the rest had to come from work-for-hire with foreign companies."
A little later, there's a quote from Ma Kexuan on the situation:
"This policy is against creative animation making. The politicians promised the public they could have more productions. It's the concept of catching up, developing our own culture, economy. My personal opinion is that this concept killed animation creativity. I never cared about quantity, only about quality.... When the studio said the amount, not quality, was more important, I left."
Basically, it seems that Shanghai Animation was leaned on by the government (which has always owned it) to increase production, even as funding was left stagnant. Between that and more competition in the distribution sector, the studio was squeezed dry throughout the '90s. Even then, though, it was able to put out the occasional highlight -- see The Doe Girl (1993) from Lin Wenxiao and Yan Dingxian.
Thanks for the history lesson. Much appreciated!