An animated film by director Andrey Melnikov. The film is based on the memoir "My Life", written by the artist himself before leaving for Paris.
Marc Chagall was a Russian and French artist. A painter and graphic artist, he also worked as a stage designer and wrote poems in Yiddish. He is one of the most famous representatives of the artistic avant-garde of the 20th century.
The main driving force of Marc Chagall's work is his Jewish national self-awareness. As the artist himself wrote: 'If I were not a Jew, as I understand myself, I would not be an artist or I would be a completely different kind of artist.'
Chagall's paintings are often intensely personal. In his canvases we can see people close to him, important events in the artist's life—such as his first drawing and his meeting with his future wife—and, of course, his native Vitebsk.
The narrative in the film is told from Marc Chagall's point of view; to do this the director uses quotes from the artist's book. The creators of the animated film managed to achieve the effect of the artist's paintings coming to life. Several animation techniques were used for this. First the film's characters were created—plasticine puppets—then houses, trees and other scenery. They were filmed on an animation stand and afterwards colored in a computer program, imitating the techniques of acrylic, watercolor, gouache and oil paints.
The music for the film was composed by Alexey Zhivaikin, a musician from the popular Saratov folk-instrument ensemble "Kristall-Balalaika". "I wanted the soundtrack in the film to be Jewish folk music—klezmer," says Andrey Melnikov. "And I wanted the sound to be not synthetic but alive. Alexey Zhivaikin synthesized a whole series of musical pieces written in the klezmer style and brought in musicians who performed them all..."
"...I had to leave my homeland, but in my paintings I always remained true to it. Why in Russia was I always the fifth wheel on the cart, why does everything I do seem strange to Russians, while everything they do seems to me contrived... So why?! I cannot speak of this anymore... I love Russia too much..."
