The Ugly Duckling (cartoon, 2010)

• Screenwriter and Director - Harry Bardin
• Artists - Kirill Chelushkin , Arkady Melik-Sargsyan
• Composer - Pyotr Tchaikovsky , Sergey Anashkin
• Lyrics - Julius Kim
• Artists: Irina Sobinova-Kassil , Vladimir Maslov , Marina Lagunova , Olga Usacheva

• Turetsky Choir - inhabitants of the courtyard
• Svetlana Stepchenko - The Ugly Duckling
• Vladimir Spivakov - Papa Rooster
• Julia Rutberg - Mom Chicken
• Vladimir Kachan - Wild Goose
• Armen Dzhigarkhanyan - Turkey
• Konstantin Raikin - Worm
• Grigory Anashkin - Wild Goose
• Lyubov Matyushina - Duck
• Harry Bardin - Drake-entertainer / text from the author (not in the credits)
• Alexander Rybak - Fox (uncredited)

A strange-looking duckling hatches from an unusual egg in a bird's yard. All poultry find it ugly. In the film, it is a plasticine duckling, while other domestic birds - geese, ducks and turkeys - in feathers.

The film features music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky from the ballets Swan Lake and The Nutcracker , arranged by composer Sergei Mikhailovich Anashkin . Some fragments are arranged for songs on the verses of Julia Kim . Noteworthy is the fact of reworking the waltzes into a march (see Solemn march), as well as an unusual arrangement of the scene from Swan Lake into the song "Ugly, Ugly Duckling ...".

1. Introduction - Scene 6 from The Nutcracker
2. Hatching chicks - Pas de deux: Variation II (Dance of the Dragee Fairy) from the ballet The Nutcracker
3. Anthem - Dance with Cups / Waltz from the ballet Swan Lake
4. Feed scene - Divertissement: c) Tea (Chinese dance) from the Nutcracker ballet
5. The Dream of the Ugly Duckling - Introduction from the ballet Swan Lake
6. The first aria of the Ugly duckling (“Oh, how dark it is around ...”) - Scene 10 from the ballet “Swan Lake”
7. Scene 1 - Scene with dancing: The demonic dance of spring dolls from the ballet The Nutcracker
8. Dialogue of Chicken and Ducks (“Well, it’s clear to us, finally ...”) - Swan Dances: VII) Coda from the ballet Swan Lake
9. Dance of Chickens - Russian dance from the ballet Swan Lake
10. Dance of ducklings - Pas de deux: II) Andante-allegro from the ballet Swan Lake
11. Dance of the Ugly Duckling - Pas de deux: IV) Coda from the ballet Swan Lake
12. The Second Aria of the Ugly Duckling (“Here, I'm Alone Again ...”) - Scene 10 from the ballet “Swan Lake”
13. Scene with Swans - Waltz from the ballet Swan Lake
14. Scene 2 - Swan Dances: V) Pas d'action from the ballet Swan Lake
15. Scene with a fox - Scene 6 / Waltz of the snow flakes from the ballet The Nutcracker
16. The Third Aria of the Ugly Duckling (“How, How to Get Home ...”) - Scene 10 from the ballet “Swan Lake”
17. Scene 3 - Divertissement: e) The dance of the shepherds from the ballet The Nutcracker
18. Scene 4 - Swan Dances: III) Allegro moderato (the so-called "Dance of the Little Swans") from the ballet "Swan Lake"
19. Scene 5 - Swan Dances: V) Pas d'action from the ballet Swan Lake
20. Solemn march - March / Waltz of flowers from the ballet The Nutcracker, Pas de deux: I) Tempo di valse ma non troppo vivo, qasi moderato / Pas de deux: IV) Coda from the ballet Swan Lake
21. Scene 6 - Spanish dance from the ballet Swan Lake
22. Scene 7 - Scene 10 from the ballet Swan Lake
23. Wild Goose Aria (“My son, do not rush too much ...”) - Pas de deux: Andante maestoso from the ballet The Nutcracker
24. Scene 8 - Introduction from the ballet Swan Lake
25. Final Scene - Final Scene 29 from the ballet Swan Lake

The script of the film is an author's interpretation of a traditional fairy tale. According to the director,

“This is an original scenario, from Andersen I took only the transformation of the ugly duckling into a swan, the more I took nothing from a fairy tale” ^[3]

As a result, a gloomy anti- totalitarian parable about xenophobia arose:

You can often remember the ruthlessness of Andersen, who created tales of rare hopelessness, but Harry Bardin is even more ruthless. He rewrote his “Ugly Duckling” in the parable of xenophobia, and almost until the very end the sensitive audience is not given a moment to rest: he will be kicked exactly as much as the poor hero will get kicks before he plumage ^[4]

According to critics, the film strongly feels the influence of George Orwell's story “Animal Farm” ^[5] .

A parody of the Victory Parade on Red Square and the finale of the picture, where the Ugly Duckling turned into a swan, takes revenge on the inhabitants of the bird's yard, caused a mixed reaction from critics . Critics also note the artificial prolongation of the film, numerous monotonous repetitions, the poverty of comic tricks, and the poor development of storylines ^[6] .

• ICF Grand Prix in Mumbai (India) - 2010
• Grand Prix of the IFF in Sitges (Spain) - 2010
• ICF Grand Prix in Buenos Aires (Argentina) - 2011
• Grand Prix IFF in Yerevan (Armenia) - 2011
• Grand prix of the International Film Festival in Seattle (USA) - 2011
• Cleveland International Film Festival Jury Prize (USA) - 2011
• Prize of the jury of the International Film Festival in Teplice (Czech Republic) - 2011
• Grand Prix of the International Film Festival in India - 2011
• Grand Prix of the International Film Festival in Bucharest (Romania) - 2011
• Nika - 2011 ^[7] .
• Nomination for the International Film Festival in Brisbane (Australia) - 2011

• When shooting the cartoon, different technologies were used: dolls (made using real feathers), plasticine , a flat puppet .
• About 400 dolls were involved in the film, dozens of models were built, more than 700 scenes were shot.
• According to Harry Bardin (“ Let them talk ” TV show of April 23, 2010 ), Channel One categorically refused to show “The Ugly Duckling”, and the Rossiya television channel said they would not show an “ art house ”.
• The film was rented almost in empty halls. For the first weekend at the Russian box office, the film raised only $ 66,000, on 119 copies. And for three weeks - $ 145,000.
• Dmitry Bykov called the film “an event of the year” on the pages of the newspaper Trud on December 30, 2010 in his article “In short and fatter”.

• The Ugly Duckling on the Encyclopedia of Russian Cinema website
• The official cartoon page
• Where did the beautiful swan fly?
• The ugly duckling never turned into a beautiful swan