Organizers of many cartoon festivals admit that purely commercial projects achieve success in the West, while distributors are not interested in "high-brow" cartoons. For instance, Russian Oscar-winning cartoon "The Old Man and the Sea" by Petrov or Kharitidi's "Gagarin", which won the Gold Palm in Cannes, were not generally released.
The first Disney-style cartoon "Little Longnose" was approved by critics and the animation company regained 45% of the money invested in it. Undoubtedly, this is big success of the Russian cartoon-makers.
More professional artists, soundmen, and film cutters with modern equipment appear in Russia. There are many 3D cartoons. Several full-length cartoons are being made. "Neznaika and Barrabass", "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King", "Prince Vladimir" and "Alesha Popovich and Tugarin the Snake" will be released by the end of 2004. Their creators reflect Russian history with its unique fairy-tale heroes, taking into account world animation trends. One of these animated cartoons is to be presented at the KROK-2004 animation festival opening in Nizhny Novgorod on August 19. It will close in Moscow on August 28. Debut works by young cartoon-makers from 20 countries will be presented at the festival.
