These cartoons are full of joyful, bright, and homey holiday charm. It’s no secret that the holiday season is most precious to us in childhood. Because for children, it is not just an opportunity to gather together with loved ones. It’s an occasion for presents, Grandfather Frost, Snegurochka, beautiful spruce trees, and hope for a […]

Nu, Pogodi! (Ну, погоди!) is one of the most famous Soviet/Russian cartoons of all time. Its name translates roughly as “Just hold on! or “Just you wait!” Begun in 1969, it ran until 2006. Several generations of Russians were raised on the antics of its two main characters, which are often compared to Tom and […]

Волк и семеро козлят (The Wolf and Seven Baby Goats) is a children’s cartoon released in the Soviet Union in 1957. It was produced by the Soyuzmul’tfil’m animation studio under the direction of Pyotor Nosov. The production included work from various voice actors, including Julia Yulskaya as the baby goats, George Vtilsin as the woodpecker, […]

Крошка Енот is a cartoon about a baby raccoon overcoming his fears. The baby raccoon, who lives in the jungle with his mother, is given the task of collecting sedge by the jungle’s pond for dinner on his birthday. The raccoon sets off into the foliage, eager to prove his bravery and maturity to his […]

History of Kyrgyzstan (История Кыргызстана) is a series of cartoons telling the history of Kyrgyzstan. (I’m sure you didn’t see that one coming!) It was created in 2017. The series will ultimately consist of 20 several-minutes-long episodes, though to date (May 2017) only 11 have been released. The series’s creators have said that they are currently working […]

Doctor Aybolit (Доктор Айболит) is a series of short animated films that aired in the 1980s in the Soviet Union. The central character was created by popular Soviet poet, translator, literary critic and, above all, children’s writer Korney Chukovskiy (Корней Чуковский), and the character has appeared not only in this series but in a number of […]

Treasure Island (Остров сокровищ in Russian; Острів скарбів in Ukrainian) is, among many other things, a 1988 Russian/Ukrainian/Soviet animated full-length film. Though it was produced by the Ukrainian animated film studio Kyivnaukfilm (Київнаукфільм), it’s entirely in Russian, as was common for the Soviet Union. It actually consists of two parts, “Captain Flint’s Map (“Карта капитана […]

Kruglyachok (Круглячок; sometimes also spelled Кругляшок in Russian) is a Ukrainian short animated film. Ukrainian and Russian versions were created in 1992 and 2002, respectively. The film is under 10 minutes long and was produced by Ukranimafilm (Укранімафільм), the studio that replaced the Soviet-era Ukrainian animation studio Kyivnaukfilm (Київнаукфільм). Kruglyachok is based on an old Ukrainian fairy […]

There Once Was a Dog (Жив-був пес in Ukrainian; Жил-был пёс in Russian) is a Ukrainian/Russian short animated film from the Soviet era. It was created in 1982 and spans about 10 minutes. The original version had dialogue in Russian and songs in Ukrainian; in 2012 the film was given a Ukrainian-language voiceover. The story is based […]