Hedgehog in the Fog

To all of you who haven't seen Hedgehog in the Fog, a masterpiece by Yuriy Norsteyn , prepare yourself to see one of the most beautiful animations. To all of you who have seen it already, I believe this is one of those things you can watch/hear/read/consume for uncountable number of times in life.

Little Hedgehog is about to visit his friend Bear so they can sit by the fire, drink tea, watch the sky and count the stars together just as they usually do. Such a simple story. So many metaphors along the way...

One interesting fact about how the fog was made: a very thin piece of paper was put on top of the scene and was slowly being lifted up toward the camera frame-by frame so that everything behind it became blurry and white.

From what I've read about Yuriy Norsteyn, I can conclude that he's a man with obsessive attention to details, admirable patience and preciseness. He has been nicknamed "The Golden Snail" because his uncompromising perfectionism always leads to veeeery slow production.

The project he's been working on ever since 1981. is Gogol's "The Overcoat" and up to this date the movie is still not finished. Everyone anticipates it, hoping for Norsteyn's greatest masterpiece, but I guess we all need to be more patient. In the meantime, you can check some abstracts from The Overcoat here.