Description:

1000 years in the future, a delegation of Soviet animators led by Ivanov-Vano screen a retrospective of their films for aliens. A look back at notable films in the history of Soviet animation. Commissioned by ASIFA.

As director Tarasov recalled:
"In connection with the next anniversary of ASIFA (the International Animated Film Association), a global project was launched with the participation of all countries where animation is highly-developed. Each country was required to create a film about its product; about what was remarkable about it from the perspective of animation. Moreover, depending on the 'caliber'—that is, the significance of that country's animation in the world—some were to make one reel (10 minutes of screen time), others two. And four countries—Russia (then the Soviet Union), Yugoslavia, America, and, I believe, Canada—were given the opportunity to make three reels! The films in the project were shown around the world to demonstrate what modern animation is, to promote it."

At the time this was made, director Ivan Ivanov-Vano (who had been with Soyuzmultfilm studio from its beginning in 1936) was still around, working on what was to be his final film ("The Tale of Tsar Saltan"). Whether or not it was related, it was after his departure in the mid-1980s (as well as that of several other notable directors) that things began gradually falling apart at Soyuzmultfilm, with the first major shoe to drop being the firing of Yuriy Norshteyn.

Footage from the following animated films and events is shown (the links will be updated as they appear on this site):

1927 - "Senka the African" (I. Ivanov-Vano, Yu. Merkulov, D. Cherkes) - the very first Soviet animated film for children
1928 - The Skating Rink (I. Ivanov-Vano, Yu. Zhelyabuzhsky)
1929 - "The Post" (M. Tsekhanovsky).
1934 - "Tsar Durandai" (I. Ivanov-Vano, V. Brumberg, Z. Brumberg)
1935 - "The New Gulliver" (A. Ptushko) - a full-length animated feature film
1936 - creation of the Soyuzmultfilm studio
1946 - "The Song of Joy" (M. Pashchenko), the first Soviet animated film awarded a prize at an international film festival (Venice, 1947) (or perhaps the first 2D one? "The New Gulliver" also won an award in Venice...)
1947 - The Little Humpbacked Horse (I. Ivanov-Vano, A. Snezhko-Blotskaya)
1948 - Little Gray Neck (L. Amalrik, V. Polkovnikov)
1955 - "Extraordinary Match" (M. Pashchenko, B. Dyozhkin)
1957 - "The Snow Queen" (L. Atamanov, N. Fyodorov)
1957 - "The Miracle-Worker" (A. Ivanov)
1960 - "The End of the Black Bog" (V. Degtyaryov)
1962 - "Who Said Meow?" (V. Degtyaryov)
1965 - "Boniface's Vacation" (F. Hitruk)
1966 - "My Green Crocodile" (V. Kurchevskiy)
1966 - "I'm Waiting for a Chick" (N. Serebryakov).
1967 - "Mowgli" (R. Davydov)
1967 - "The Mitten" (R. Kachanov)
1973 - "The Fox and the Hare" (Yu. Norshteyn)
1973 - "The Nutcracker" (B. Stepantsev)
1974 - "Just You Wait!" #7 (V. Kotyonochkin)
1978 - "Contact" (V. Tarasov)
1970s - several shorts from the Merry-Go-Round series: "Antoshka" by L. Nosyrev and "Capricious Princess" by E. Nazarov

Also, the very last panoramic shots in the film include many other famous and less-famous characters from various Soviet animated films.

The current version is significantly shorter than the original director's cut. According to animation historian Georgiy Borodin:
The finished film in its original edit was longer than the prescribed three reels and had to be cut to fit the client's length requirements. This resulted in cuts to both the "retrospectives" and the newly-created footage. Almost all the fragments from the anthology of Soviet films were shortened in length, and some were removed entirely. Thus, scenes from "Samoyed Boy" (1928), "Fedya Zaytsev" (1948), "The Enchanted Boy" (1955) "A Cloud in Love" (1959) and "The House That Jack Built" (1976) (according to Tarasov, this cut was particularly insisted on by studio director Zotov, who harbored a dislike for Andrey Hrzhanovsky) were removed from the edited version for distribution. Furthermore, a prologue detailing the development of the first optical toys in the 19th century was omitted, and many scenes involving the space flight, alien capture, and the finale were trimmed—in particular, motifs related to the captain's cap and chess.

The original director's cut was found by Georgiy Borodin and has been digitized as of 2026, but cannot be publicly viewed anywhere.