The Mitten (film)

The Mitten Варежка
Directed by	Roman Kachanov
Written by	Zhanna Vitenzon
Music by	Vadim Gavmalija
Cinematography	Iosif Golomb
Edited by	Nadezhda Treshchyova
Release dates	1967
Running time	10 minutes
Country	USSR
Language	Russian

The Mitten (Russian: Варежка, Varezhka) is a 1967 Soviet film by Roman Kachanov. The film received international recognition.

Plot summary

The film centres on a girl who wants a dog. She brings home a puppy but her mother wouldn't let the puppy stay. The girl is upset and goes outside to the playground where all the other kids are walking their dogs. She starts playing with her mitten, pretending that the mitten is a dog. And the power of her imagination turns her mitten into a knitted puppy, which keeps the mitten red color and black spots on the back. The puppy starts chasing a cat which ends up finding shelter on top of the ad board saying "Everyone who has a dog is welcome to take part in the kennel club competition!" The girl takes her puppy to the competition and it completes the task better than other dogs but on the way to the finish one of the threads of puppy's knitted coat gets caught by a nail on the wooden barrier and it loses the competition. The girl takes it home and is about to feed it, when it turns back to a mitten. Mom notices the girl trying to feed a mitten and decides to get her a real puppy.

Creators

• Dolls and scenery made - Pavel Gusyov, Oleg Masainov, V. Petrov, M. Chesnokova, G. Gettinger, G. Lyutinsky, A. Maximov, V. Kalashnikova, V. Kuranov, S. Etlis, leadership the Roman Gurov
• The film editor - Vera Gokke
• The editor - Natalya Abramova
• The director - Nathan Bitman

Awards

• MKF in Moscow — a silver medal in competition of children's movies, the movie "The Mitten" (1967)
• MKF of animated cinema in Annecy — the first award, the movie "The Mitten" (1967)
• MKF of movies for children and youth in Gijon — a prize of the city of Gijon "For high art quality of animation", the movie "The Mitten" (1968)
• MKF of movies for children and youth in Gijon — the Grand Prix "A gold plate", the movie "The Mitten" (1968)
• All-Union Film Festival — the first award, the movie "The Mitten" (1968)

Interesting facts

• In the movie it isn't said any word.
• Leonid Shvartsman drew mother of the main character from very close acquaintance — Tamara Vladimirovna Poletika (the first wife of the friend animator Lev Milchin).
• The bulldog from the animated film by artists was given portrait similarity to the director of the movie Roman Kachanov.

External links

• The Mitten at IMDb