This honestly seems more like an American cartoon of the time to me. Besides the visual style, it's the heavily religious framing, and the focus on entertainment without worrying about any deeper moral or idea. I guess controls on the periphery were less stringent.

Dyozhkin's original drawings were notoriously "rough", and could look quite different in the end based on how they were polished up. I think this art direction team was one of the less successful ones (while those who handled his hockey films were among the best).

Another excellent adaptation of this tale was made by Roman Kachanov, director of "Cheburashka" and "Secret of the Third Planet": The Last Petal (1977). Unlike this one, it stays true to the ending of the original story and the girl does not get an extra magical flower at the end.

The whole Leningrad animation scene that seems to have started in the 1980s (at Lenfilm and Lennauchfilm) is very poorly documented on animator.ru, and I found it impossible to find out anything about this film or its director beyond that which can be read in the credits of the film itself.

It's a shame, since the early biographies of some important directors started there (such as Konstantin Bronzit).

>>2
Yes, it should be more than one Ukrainian song. Probably the lyrics describe the story...

I like both animated versions of this story, though they have quite a different feel. The 1977 one focuses more on the slightly unsettling otherworldly aspect of Silver Hoof, while this one focuses more on music, charm and friendship. Perhaps the 1977 one is a stronger film, on the whole. This one stylistically reminds me a lot of Vladimir Degtyaryov's puppet films.

This one is also a bit closer to the original story in some ways - for example, in that Kokovanya's main house is not directly in the deep forest, but he goes to stay at another, "hunter's hut" to search for Silver Hoof, and initially doesn't want to take the little girl along.

>>1
Which song do you mean? There is more than one. They are in Ukrainian, I think, but I also am not sure how to find the specific names and recordings. Perhaps a specialist in Ukrainian folk song might be able to...

I love the format of these short loops, and I hope there are more that will be made. They remind of the loops that were often used in animation of the early 1930 - for example, in Tsar Duranday (1934).

It's like a hybrid art form between painting and full-scale animation. Paintings that move, but nevertheless keep showing the same thing.

Also, Stas Santimov is clearly someone who feels and thinks deeply about the art he makes, and this makes a strong impression (whether or not I agree with every single one isn't the point - I value the honesty and conscientiousness).

I am quite curious about the song in this animation, I can only find the lyrics in the beginning "Эй на Ивана, эй на Купала..."

To get a sense of people's reactions to this music video, I recommend this forum thread. People generally say that Rasteryayev captures the spirit of those years very well, though some had a guitar instead of an accordion, or bicycles instead of motorcycles, or had to walk, or had no river. Someone points out that this song is really about teenage years rather than "childhood".

In a 2018 interview, Rasteryayev writes that he decided to use animation, despite its difficulty, because he saw no other choice:
"Nowadays you can't make a video about that time. That era is gone; it seems to be nearby, but its attributes are gone. For example, in Rakovka there is no longer a single "Minsk" or "Voskhod" motorcycle, which they used to race on. [...] That is, it is impossible to recreate this world that seemed to exist only yesterday."

Of Rasteryayev's three (or so) animated music videos, this one is the most "true to life", and based on his actual personal experience, while the other two are fanciful versions at historical events.