In this beautiful stop-motion animation film, art and technology are used for the purposes of propaganda.

Within the initiatory journey of two children lies a fine lesson in geopolitics done Soviet style. Apart from this political demonstration, the patched-up puppets stroll through the décor with incomparable poetry. The charm never fades. This masterpiece is a treasure trove of creative invention carried by an attention to detail and a quest for perfection.

These articulated puppets modeled after the “cine-marionette” genre enjoyed enormous success at the time throughout Europe. Maria Benderskaia, the author of Prikliouchenia Kitaïtchat, who we know nothing about, conformed to the ideological constraints of the day.

Beginning in 1919, Russian cinema was subject to Communist rule. As early as 1918, films were fulfilling a propaganda role. During the civil war of 1918-1920, Agit-Trains travelled across Russia, their cars converted into projection rooms.

Aware of the power of images, Lenin’s aim was to rally peasants and labourers, the majority illiterate, to the Bolshevik cause. In 1922, Lenin described cinema as “ the most important of all arts” to Anatoly Lunacharsky, the peoples' commissar for education.  Scripts were subjected to strict censorship.

This film reflects the indoctrination to which young people were subjected. It plays on the dramatic forces typical of a child’s world: fear of unjust adults, fraternity, desire to discover the world. The stop-motion animation technique renders the subject even more appealing.

These Prikliouchenia Kitaïtchat are worthy of the masterpieces by Ladislav Starevitch (1182-1965), a master of the genre. Unlike the author, Ladislav and Irene Starevitch sought refuge in France after the Bolshevik Revolution, churning out short films at a furious pace during the 1920s. Their films, and particularly the feature film adaptation of Reynard the Fox, were so successful they were put to sound in 1932. That same year, the Starevitches revealed their tricks of the trade in Comment naît et s’anime une marionnette. Their films were nevertheless censored for dozens of years in the East.

This film is from the Russian and Soviet collection of the Toulouse Film Library.

The original music for this film was composed by Marc Perrone in 2008.