There Lived Kozyavin () is a 1966 Soviet animated short directed by

Andrei Khrzhanovsky Andrei Yurievich Khrzhanovsky (; born 30 November 1939 in Moscow) is a Soviet and Russian animator, documentary filmmaker, writer and producer known for making art films. He is the father of director Ilya Khrzhanovsky. Married to philologist, e ...

, written by

Lazar Lagin Lazar Iosifovich Lagin (), real name Lazar Ginzburg (4 December 1903, Vitebsk – 16 June 1979, Moscow), was a Soviet author of children's and science fiction books. Lagin is best known for his ever-popular book ''Starik Hottabych'' (Стар ...

and

Gennady Shpalikov Gennady Fyodorovich Shpalikov (; 6 September 1937 – 1 November 1974) was a prominent Soviet Russian poet, screenwriter and film director. Early years Born in the town of Segezha, Karelian ASSR into a Russians, Russian family of military backgr ...

Background

Khrzhanovskij directed this film in a

surrealist Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

, constructivist world, which resembles paintings by

Giorgio de Chirico Giuseppe Maria Alberto Giorgio de Chirico ( ; ; 10 July 1888 – 20 November 1978) was an Italian artist and writer born in Greece. In the years before World War I, he founded the art movement, which profoundly influenced the surrealists. His ...

Plot

An employee, called Kozyavin, receives an assignment from his boss to find another employee called Sidorov. Without any questions, he soon left the office to search for Sidorov. Encountering traffic, he walked instead through sewer. He then arrived at a wall, which was destroyed soon by a construction machine. There he met a

builder Builder may refer to: Construction * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Real estate developer, who ...

and touched his shoulders. The builder turned to him and Kozyavin asked him, but he didn't hear anything he said close to his ears. The builder took a little red flag from his suit and waved with it, until every builder stopped work, together with the machines. Kozyavin asked one more time, if he saw Sidorov. After a surprising action, he walked further to search for Sidorov. An active ramp in the building site, which worked intermittently up and down, didn't frighten Kozyavin. Without taking any break, Kozyavin continued to walk. On a fair, he walked upon a pole. The children, who were amazed about his acrobatic skills, were questioned by Kozyavin. After no reaction by them, the employee Kozyavin pursued his way with an optimistic view to comply with the task. The second person Kozyavin met was a

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, who played a composition. Kozyavin asked the violinist if he saw Sidorov. Without any response, Kozyavin nudged him and took his violin bow. Walking on surrealistic stairs, he opened the door to a commission building. Kozyavin sparked a light and went through paintings and antiques and finally saw two people, who looked like thieves. Kozyavin was oblivious that they were going to steal the items from this building. However, Kozyavin touched one of the man's shoulders and asked the same question as before. Surprised, they helped Kozyavin by giving directions to Sidorov. Early next day he pursued the same direction. He entered a pipeline on the ground, in which curves were unrealistically smoothed by Kozyavin himself. He jumped from the pipeline onto the ground and trod on a dry

veld Veld ( or , Afrikaans language, Afrikaans and Dutch language, Dutch: ''veld'', field), also spelled veldt, is a type of wide-open, rural landscape in Southern Africa. Particularly, it is a flat area covered in grass or low scrubland, scrub, ...

. Determined to meet with Sidorov, Kozyavin went throughout the veld, until he climbed up to a mountain. With a good view, he watched everything around him. Unfortunately he didn't find anyone and continued to move forward. He arrived at a desert and got a view of a giant skeleton of a prehistoric animal. Walking through its backbone like a stair, he saw a

paleontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...

, who was researching the skeleton, and asked him the common question. With no reply and no regret about the destroyed skeleton, Kozyavin continued walking. A body of stagnant water didn't block him to accomplish the task the boss gave him, so Kozyavin swam, until he reached

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

. Kozyavin walked around the world, until he arrived his office after failing to accomplish his boss's instruction to find Sidorov. Kozyavin answered it with a shrug and went back to his room.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0480487 Soviet animated short films 1966 television films 1966 films Fictional Soviet people Soviet animated television films Soyuzmultfilm 1966 animated short films