Boris Stepantsev

Boris Pavlovich Stepantsev (; 7 December 1929 — 21 May 1983) was a Soviet and Russian animation director, animator, artist and book illustrator, as well as a vice-president of ASIFA (1972–1982) and creative director of the Multtelefilm animation department of the Studio Ekran (1980–1983). Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

Biography As a child Boris Stepantsev (born Stepantsov) fell in love with animated films "because there was nothing funnier in the whole world" and decided to dedicate his life to comedy animation. He graduated from the Moscow Art School and in 1946, right after the end of war, joined animation courses at Soyuzmultfilm where he watched many "trophy" movies, including films by Disney that served as a major inspiration for him.

Between 1947 and 1949 Stepantsev worked as animator on a number of films, including the award-winning Grey Neck (1948) by Leonid Amalrik and Vladimir Polkovnikov. He spent the next five years serving in the Soviet Navy, and on his return entered the Moscow State University of Printing Arts while continuing his animation career. In 1954 he co-directed his first short A Villain with a Label (together with Vsevolod Shcherbakov) which also became one of the first Soviet post-war stop motion animated films produced at the newly founded puppet division of Soyuzmultfilm. In 1958 they produced Petya and the Little Red Riding Hood, a postmodern comedy based on the fairy tale by Vladimir Suteev about a pioneer Petya who sneaked into the Little Red Riding Hood movie in order to save the girl from the Big Bad Wolf. The film was co-directed by Evgeny Raykovsky and drew inspiration from Disney and Tex Avery in contrast to the majority of "realistic" movies of that time that used rotoscopy. It turned very popular and won a prize at the 1960 Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

From 1956 to 1960 Stepantsev and Raykovsky also directed one of the first Soviet mini-series that starred Murzilka, a popular character from the children's magazine of the same name. The third part, Murzilka on Sputnik (1960), became the first Soviet widescreen animated short and was awarded the first prize at the 1960 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Author Eduard Uspensky later used it as an argument during his legal battle against the artist Leonid Shvartsman, stating that he held no rights for the character's image.

Around the same time Stepantsev felt he "got tired from quizzery" and decided to explore other themes. They received awards for both of the movies at the international film festivals in Romania and Spain.

Stepantsev liked to spend a lot of time developing his films, and yet he easily switched between completely different projects as soon as he got obsessed with a new idea. Neither the Karlsson-on-the-Roof nor the Dead Souls series were ever finished because of this. In one of his last publications he expressed a lot of enthusiasm regarding the possibilities of computer animation which he predicted to be the future of animation.

His last project Assol (1982) based on the Scarlet Sails novel by Alexander Grin was also his first feature. Once again he decided to combine live action with traditional animation. Only this time he wanted to "approach from the other end... to transform a live actor into an animated figure using the achievements of modern photography". All this resulted in an unusual look, "as if it went through the Prisma app". According to Iosif Boyarsky, the work on this movie was hard and nervous, and it undermined director's health.

Boris Stepantsev died in 1983 at the age of 53 of heart failure.

Filmography Director

1954 — A Villain with a Label 1956 — Murzilka Adventures. Issue 1 1957 — Grade D, Again 1958 — Petya and the Little Red Riding Hood 1960 — Murzilka on Sputnik 1962 — Not Just Now 1964 — A Cock and Paints 1965 — Vovka in Faraway Tsardom 1966 — Window 1967 — Song of a Falcon (also screenwriter) 1968 — Junior and Karlson 1970 — Karlson Returns 1971 — Heart (also screenwriter) 1971 — Pioneer's Violin 1973 — The Nutcracker (also screenwriter) 1974 — Chichikov's Adventures. Manilov (also screenwriter) 1974 — Chichikov's Adventures. Nozdryov (also screenwriter) 1976 — Fly-Clatterfly (also screenwriter) 1979 — Why Did the Donkey Become Stubborn (also screenwriter) 1982 — Assol (also screenwriter)

Animator

1947 — Merry Garden 1947 — Adventure to the Land of Giants 1948 — Grey Neck 1948 — Champion 1949 — Geese-Swans 1949 — A Lion and a Hare 1949 — Mashenka's Concert 1949 — Polkan and Shavka 1954 — Goat-Musician 1954 — At the Forest Stage (also art director) 1954 — The Signature Is Unclear 1955 — Incredible Match