Leonid Amalrik

Leonid Alekseyevich Amalrik (; — 22 October 1997) was a Soviet animation director and animator. Honoured Worker of the Arts Industry of the RSFSR.

Biography Early years Leonid was born to Anna Mikhailovna and Aleksey Ivanovich Amalrik, an employee and later an inspector at the Russia insurance company, a distinguished citizen of Moscow. His paternal great-grandfather Jean Amalric emigrated to Russia from Avignon, France during the 19th century and founded a lace manufactory, but later burned it down during his alcoholic intoxication; both Amalric and his wife were killed in fire, only their 4-year-old son also named Jean survived. He was raised by the French colony in Moscow as Ivan Ivanovich Amalrik and later joined the Albert Hübner's Calico Manufactory. He was married to the daughter of the Moscow 1st class merchant Sergei Belkin from Old Believers. Among their children was Sergei Amalrik, grandfather of the Soviet writer and dissident Andrei Amalrik, and Aleksey Amalrik, father of Leonid.

Amalrik grew up in a wealthy family at the Arbat District in the center of Moscow. At the age of seven he had to spend several months in bed following the appendectomy. During that time he started drawing and became addicted to it. He would later direct a part-autobiographical film A Girl and an Elephant (1969) based on Aleksandr Kuprin's story as well as his childhood memories. In 1930 he returned to Mezhrabpomfilm where he co-directed his first traditionally animated short Black and White (1932) with Ivan Ivanov-Vano. It was based on the satirical poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and addresses issues of American racism in Cuba. After that he was visited by the secret police who questioned him and searched his flat. The director himself explained it as a result of his radical formalistic "anti-Disney" vision and some featured themes that seemed suspicious to them. In 1935 he moved to Mosfilm, and in a year the animation department was transformed into Soyuzmultfilm.

For the first few years Amalrik along with other animators focused on Disney-styled films, though he didn't tolerate them. In 1939 he joined forces with Vladimir Polkovnikov, and together they directed a trilogy Limpopo (1939), Barmaley (1941) and Peacock's Tail (1946) based on the Doctor Aybolit fairy tales, all shot in full color using the three-color filming process by Pavel Mershin (the color copies of the first two shorts are considered to be lost). It was one of the first Soviet mini-series and among the first distinctive pictures of Soyuzmultfilm that defined the "Soviet style" of animation. He was buried at the Pyatnitskoye Cemetery. His wife Nadezhda Mikhailovna Privalova, an artist, worked with him on many of his films.

Films

1932 — Black and White (with Ivan Ivanov-Vano) 1936 — Kolobok (with Vladimir Suteev) 1938 — Politsatire Journal № 1 (one of the sketches, lost) 1939 — Limpopo (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1939 — Victorious Route (with Dmitry Babchenko and Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1941 — Barmaley (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1942 — Kino-Circus (with Olga Khodataeva) 1946 — Peacock's Tail (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1948 — Grey Neck (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1950 — Sturdy Fellow (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1951 — High Hill (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1953 — Magic Shop (with Vladimir Polkovnikov) 1954 — An Arrow Flies into a Fairy Tale 1955 — Postman Snowman 1956 — Little Ship 1958 — The Cat's House 1959 — Three Lumberjacks 1960 — Different Wheels 1960 — Non-Drinking Sparrow. A Tale for Adults 1961 — Family Chronicles 1962 — Two Fairy Tales 1963 — Grandmother's Goatling. A Tale for Adults 1964 — Thumbelina 1966 — About a Hippo Who Was Afraid of Vaccinations 1967 — Fairy Tales for Big and Small 1968 — I Want to Horn! 1969 — A Girl and an Elephant 1971 — Terem-Teremok