Filmed with financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
Studio MIR presents:
Luminaries of Russian Animation
Film 6. Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg A portrait against the background of their time
Valentina Brumberg
I was wildly jealous: why was I not in there?
Behind that closed door was laughter, uproar [Zinaida Brumberg]
I thought: my God, how nice it is there, how cheerful. It was a completely different life. [Eduard Nazarov]
Funny. [Fyodor Hitruk]
Everyone had to go through this.
I had the same feeling as you:
I was wildly jealous of everyone who could enter...
- That's right... - ...who could come in without any special reasons or occasions
and just sit there sipping tea and bawling with Zina.
The Brumberg sisters' room was a center of warmth and wit.
I love their movies very much. "Little Red Riding Hood",
"Puss in Boots" - they were, really, the first musicals...
I still remember all these tunes.
I even have here, I could show you,
cassettes of them. I can sing them. Let's say, "Puss in Boots"...:
"Let's go and take a ride, my daughter, Along the riverbank."
No, first it was the Princess:
"With cards I read my fortune, (and something, thing ...ty)
I wish to ask the cards this: Who will my soul-mate be?"
[Puss in Boots - 1938 (B&W)] With cards I read my fortune,
Full of anxiety.
I wish to ask the cards this:
Who will my soul-mate be?
Who is he?
Let's go and take a ride, my daughter,
Along the riverbank.
Watch heedfully. Outwit your enemy.
If by trickery you beat your foe, You will never be brought low.
They were very well incorporated into that environment, into that atmosphere,
in that activity that was typical for the 1930s.
- Yes. - From the end of the twenties, to the thirties.
They were part of this,
I would even say, polyphonic activity.
Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg were born in Moscow, to an educated Jewish family.
Their dad, Simon, was a physician and served in the First World War.
Their mother, Cecilia, was a music teacher. The family had four children.
In 1898 - Valentina and Aleksandr, In 1900 - Zinaida,
and in 1903, Daniel was born.
At the age of 4, all the children could already read well.
Their mother taught them drawing, dancing, German.
The girls did brilliantly in school.
And in 1916, graduated with diplomas of Early Childhood Educators.
[Down with the Old Regime] The Revolution began. Valentina and Zinaida in 1918 enrolled in VHUTEMAS,
the Higher Art and Technical Studios.
[Faculty: Painting] [Student Record Book No.751] [Brumberg, Valentina S., 1918]
Zinaida S. wrote about this time. "In VHUTEMAS, where we studied,
the workshops were led by Mashkov, Konchalovsky, Lentulov, Falk.
Our teachers were far from the academic norm.
The Sculpture Department had lessons in Greek-Roman Wrestling.
Mashkov began his classes with gymnastics.
We did not have the right to use the word "can't."
On the wall hung a poster: "Being sick is strictly prohibited."
The play of the young Eisenstein "Enough Stupidity in Every Wise Man"
surprised the young sisters with its free interpretation of the classics. They write:
"It was an exciting performance,
but to see in this eccentricity the future creator of "Battleship Potemkin"
was not yet possible for us."
One of the respected authorities of those years was Vsevolod Meyerhold.
Here is the layout of the Meyerhold Theater,
which was never built. In its place now stands Tchaikovsky Concert Hall.
The students did not miss a single premiere. The VHUTEMASians' idol was Mayakovsky.
He even came himself to Myasnitskaya to see the paintings of the Brumberg sisters.
A new kind of art appeared: animated film. [China in Flames]
Zinaida wrote: "Young artists, that is, us,
were invited to come to the GTK, the State Technical College of Cinematography,
to do this amazing thing.
We went to the Leningradskoye highway, to the premises of the former restaurant Yar.
The founders of the experimental animation workshop - Olga and Nikolay Hodatayev,
Yuriy Merkulov and Zenon Komissarenko initiated a feature film: "China in Flames".
This film became a kind of school for us.
Movies counted as coursework. [China in Flames, 1925]
We became acquainted with the technology of animation of that time:
Out of thick paper, parts of figures were cut out, and connected with wires.
All was painted in black & white. There wasn't a specific cameraman,
everyone took his turn. We all filmed based on intuition.
Later, with Olga and Nikolay Hodatayev, we made the film "Samoyed Boy."
The plot of the film was simple: It's the story of a Nenets boy.
The northern episodes were styled after Nenets woodcarving,
and the Leningrad ones in the graphic style of Dobuzhinskiy.
"Samoyed Boy" 1928
From this icy, snowy land Chu sails off to Leningrad!
Between them there needed to be, in some manner,
two poles: plus and minus. Opposites.
Strangely enough, it was precisely their character differences
that gave them that spark.
When they argued, everything shook.
When they argued with each other, it was a sort of screeching.
But when Ivan Ivanov-Vano would come,
it now became a polyphonic quarrel - between bass and hysterical squealing.
For some reason, all their discussions would end with disagreement.
"Vanya, do not get angry with us please..."
Tsar Duranday
Together with Ivanov-Vano we made "The Tale of Tsar Duranday."
The film was illustrated, black and white,
based on the drawings of Pokrovsky. [Tsar Duranday, 1934]
[Duranday's Tsardom]
On the ocean yes on the island of Buyan
Stands a baked bull...
The war began. Soyuzmultfilm studio was evacuated to Samarkand.
This doodle was drawn on the train that evacuated the studio.
Everyone's here: the sisters, Amalrik, Atamanov,
and inside the carriage, Ivanov-Vano himself.
Here are the sisters with the actor Gotovtsev, who played the tsar in "The Tale of Tsar Saltan".
The storyboard was scribbled on a map that all studied to understand what distant places they are going to.
"In Samarkand," wrote Zinaida Brumberg,
"at first we had things other than fairy tales on our minds.
But it became clear that we should return to our own genre.
The method used on "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" was "Eclair" (rotoscoping).
In essence it meant that actors played out their scenes in front of a camera,
often in costume and full makeup.
A. Pushkin THE TALE OF TSAR SALTAN
There's an island far away - [The Tale of Tsar Saltan, 1943]
On this isle - a city gay; [The Tale of Tsar Saltan, 1943]
By the palace grows a fir In whose shade, O royal sir,
Stands a crystal cage; and there Dwells a squirrel, strange and rare -
Full of frolic; all day long, Cracking nuts, it sings a song,
Nuts, most wondrous to behold - Every shell is solid gold,
Kernels - each an emerald bright;
The art of animation of that era was created as an ensemble of these people.
To leave anyone out was impossible, they had become extraordinarily close-knit,
each creating their own niche... It was a very integrated art.
Also, they were leveled out by the workshops (of the production pipeline)
though Ivan P. (Ivanov-Vano) was one kind of artist
but Lev Atamanov a completely different one,
and the Brumberg sisters were quite distinctive - they were all very different as artists.
But their films were leveled out because they all went through the workshops (of the production pipeline).
Zinaida S. wrote:
"It is now clear that a film with source material - rotoscoping -
can only be the starting point for the imagination of the artist."
But at first, many took the path of tracing the acted performance."
To make the dances in "The Lost Letter" authentic,
Igor Moiseyev was invited as a consultant.
He said: "Let your imagination run free;
illustrated characters have a tempo unthinkable for live humans.
Rotoscoping only reigned briefly. That "disastrous naturalism",
but it still put a stamp on cinema.
Here's the film "The Tale of a Soldier" (1948)
where the leading role is played by Mihail Yanshin.
May I beg for a little food?
If I give him all of it, I won't get any...
But half would be too little.
I'll give him all of it!
I'll make do without, somehow...
They hadn't forgotten their past at VHUTEMAS.
Really, it's an interesting subject. If somebody
one day decides to study their development,
they should be sure to pay attention to the fact that they came
from the very formalistic environment that reigned back then at VHUTEMAS.
"Fyeda Zaytsev" is a landmark film.
It broke the dominance of realistic films.
And it was good in every aspect.
A magnificent screenplay by Nikolay Erdman and Mihail Volpin
wonderful music, the voices of Erast Garin and Mihail Yanshin,
brilliant art direction by Anatoliy Sazonov.
Period, period, and a comma,
Minus; here's a crooked face.
Stick one, stick two, a cucumber,
And there's now a little man here!
"Aesthetic contraband - that's what you're doing!"
And right after that,
they began fearing Goskino* more than fire. *(the State Committee for Cinematography)
They immediately... I remember this being discussed:
"Aesthetic contraband! You...
And that little man! I know where his origins lie!"
So spoke the script editor from Goskino.
This is not fine wine; only ink, plain and simple;
That is poured out here every morn by Gavrila.
We will drink the ink out of these little glasses here
In honor of clear consciences in adults and boys!
He used to say: "I know that these fables, this Aesopian language of yours,
is a cloak, but you won't fool me.
I have also learned this Aesopian language.
He warned us all the time: He was horribly scared of this Aesopian language,
and most importantly, he was afraid he would miss something. And, of course: he did miss things.
My eight-legged horse like the wind rushes onward,
I am filled with hope, and I am filled with worry.
I believe that Zaytsev will not be a traitor,
I believe that children are good people also.
I know that Zaytsev has, despite everything,
Some incipient conscience and honour, at least!
Probably, after all, our animation art also has its periods and epochs,
when a time comes to an end, and... becomes part of history.
"Fedya Zaytsev", I'm sure, will be eternal, like Michelangelo's "Moses".
My acquaintance with the Brumberg sisters
was in prehistoric times, in 1949.
I graduated from VGIK* *(State Institute of Cinematography)
from its Art Department, and was placed (people were given placements then)
into Soyuzmultfilm studio.
Artist/art-director Lana Azarkh
Into the room where the Brumbergs sat, I was led by the head of the personnel department.
In the narrow room sat two very similar-looking ladies,
but one was big and the other was small.
When the chief of personnel said that I will work for them in the role of art assistant,
there was a harmonious shouting: "We don't want her, we don't want her!"
So, from 1955, and
until the death of Valentina S., I always worked with them.
"The Island of Mistakes", 1955
In the film "The Island of Mistakes", the cow and horse were voiced by brilliant actors -
Serafim Birman and Vladimir Gribkov.
Excuse me, but who are you?
- We used... - ...to be...
- ...a cow...and a horse.
From task 118. But after a certain shameless boy
Added us together, we became... what you see now.
Many drew caricatures of the Brumberg sisters.
Especially biting were the caricatures by artist Grigory Kozlov.
Yeah...
the people of our time were true warriors.
It's very touching to remember them... Not least because they were also
extraordinarily jealous. They really loved...
actually, I don't know, maybe somewhere on their own,
in the dark of night, they somehow behaved differently, but when in public,
they just loved their work, loved their pictures.
This is something that I don't just envy; it's something to learn from.
Their temperaments were different: Valentina was explosive, more impulsive.
Zinaida S. was more calm.
Nicholas Robertovich Erdman, their longtime screenwriter
and friend, always said: "How different those sisters are!"
"One," (here he meant Valentina) "acts like a courtesan, bets on races,
visits restaurants nightly, while the other, Zinaida S., sits at home and eats noodles."
They were very cultured people and good artists.
When Valentina S. went abroad, [Tunisia-Lybia, 1962. Tourist Notes]
she always supplemented her travel notes with her drawings.
These drawings were great.
Zinaida S. was an outstanding watercolor artist.
These sketches for the film "The Time Machine" were likely inspired by journeys in Tunisia.
The film's art directors are Lana Azarkh and Valentina Lalayants.
From the notes of Zinaida S.:
By happy coincidence, before directing "The Canterville Ghost" (1970)
my sister and I went to England as tourists.
In Castle Menzies, in its tower,
among its huge stones and spiral staircases, we could visualize our eccentric hero.
When we worked we had a lot of fun.
Valentina S. had the firm conviction that work should be fun.
So there was a lot of laughter.
It didn't mean we got distracted from work. It accompanied it.
"An Hour Before the Rendez-vous" (1965)
On the whole, it was our second home. Maybe even our first home.
They were very kind to their artists.
They well understood that the credit belonged to the artists and animators too.
They very much treasured their art directors and animators.
They were bound by certain ties of art and friendship, despite the age difference.
I must say that the voice actors we recorded [Mihail Rumyantsev (Pencil)]
were always outstanding. [Mihail Zharov]
At one time Mihail Yanshin
directed the actors. [Boris Livanov]
He was accompanied, as I recall, by the entire Moscow Art Theatre. [Vasiliy Kachalov]
The launch of the country's first satellite marked the era of the Khrushchev thaw.
For a period the totalitarian regime became liberal.
It became possible to make funny, satirical films on contemporary themes.
The Brumberg Sisters wrote: "Big Troubles" (1961) was very dear to us, it brought us nothing but joy.
When Slovodskoy's script was brought over,
in the script itself lay the key to how to graphically approach this, [School]
because the little girl was telling the story.
So back then, I made the first sketches, like the first drawings children make.
I made them on wrapping paper, with watercolors, added thick black outlines,
and the characters I also made in that style
and, incidentally, they move in an unrealistic way... because
children draw usually in profile. So they move accordingly.
The animators really had to deal with some technical issues here.
This is me.
This is my whole family.
Papa had to carry the whole household. It wore him out and made him fold.
So he chose to allow leftward *(to the black market)
some refrigerators to go. *(sold them illegally)
Well, those fridges left their places, But they later found the traces.
And our Papa is afraid now that they'll come and sweep him up. *(arrest him)
This subjective, non-realistic style, for me,
who was already settled into a kind of blatant realism
- I was not able to master this style, I flunked out, so my name is not in the credits.
Now I'll tell you about Capa. She looks like Mama, not Papa.
That girl Capa's a real looker, Capa need not work all-out,
Capa need not go and study, Capa can get by without.
The rock-n-roll scene was animated by Marina Vaskanyants.
She danced herself and was the best at executing animated dance scenes.
We basically had, you might say, a salon,
because people went there with something on their mind, or without, to have their say, or a good laugh.
So, one day, I was sitting there alone,
the door opened quietly that evening and in came the studio director.
Like a gray shadow. He greeted me and said: "You know,
Lana Aleksandrovna, when it comes to all the other groups, I know what's happening inside,
but of your group I know nothing.
Well, I said to him...
"How are your intra-group relationships?" "What questions come up?"
Well, I told him that if any questions come up, we successfully
resolve them, and our relationships are fantastic.
And so, I never received the highest rank and left the studio.
The sisters had close relations with the author Yuriy Olesha. [Three Fat Men, 1963]
At that time they lived under poor conditions. Yuriy Olesha's wife, Olga Gustavovna Suok,
(the main character was named after her) was forced to sew, and the famous writer
appeared summer and winter at the studio
in the same coat. But was always brilliant and witty.
Without this fuss, this bustle, they could not live,
for them, it was equivalent to death; I am absolutely convinced of it.
- Absolutely, yes.
Equivalent to physical death, and I remember it well,
I remember, I do not recall which Tsar, that is, which studio director
posed the question of whether to send them off to an honorable retirement.
They broke out in tears, but who was I then? I was chairman of that creative section,
also part of the management. - That's right.
"Fedenka, please make them not fire us!"
Valentina S. died precisely because they were denied work.
They still had their strength and, to be sure, could have still worked.
[About a Cruel Stepmother, 1966] Holy moley, boy oh boy, Why learn Gaidar or Tolstoy?
Why learn pedagogically? Why think smart or logically?
Nightingale, nightingale, little bird!
Every era gives birth to its own masterpieces that will surely stay around.
And of those, many, many will be by our dear Brumberg sisters.
Valentina S. who knew three languages, began to study Spanish.
When I asked: "why do you need it?" she said: "I believe in an afterlife..."
Film crew writer, director Irina Margolina
camera G. Lyahobetskiy sound V. Tarasov, I. Voronin
montage D. Zhigunov, K. Lunkin ass. directors M. Vladimirova, G. Lyahovetskiy, A. Rabinovich
production director A. Zhukov music K. Bodrov, Ye. Voronovskiy consultant Georgiy Borodin
narrator Eduard Nazarov
Historic material was used from Gosfilmofond, the Russian State Film and Photo Archive,
the State Central Film Museum, and the personal archives of Mark Lyahovetskiy & Lev Atamanov
Special thanks for materials shared by Anna Lvovna Atamanova & the Brumberg family
Film fragments were shown from "China in Flames (Hands Off China)" (1925)
"Samoyed Boy" (1928)
"The Tale of Tsar Durandai" (1934)
"Puss in Boots" (1938)
"The Tale of Tsar Saltan" (1943)
"The Lost Letter" (1945)
"The Tale of a Soldier" (1948)
"Fedya Zaitsev" (1948) "The Island of Mistakes" (1955)
"Big Troubles" (1961) "Three Fat Men" (1963)
"The Hour Before the Rendez-Vous" (1965) "About a Cruel Stepmother" (1966)
"The Canterville Ghost" (1970)
executive producer Irina Margolina
The End Film produced by Studio MIR 2013
Subs by Alevtina & Eus, Apr-Jun 2015, revised by Niffiwan, Oct 2025