Local animators create the first Ukrainian cartoon series
Seeing Ukrainian kids go crazy for cartoon heroes from the West, such as Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny and Shrek, Ukrainian animators decided to come up with a character of local produce, recently releasing the first Ukrainian cartoon series ever. “Lys Mykyta” (“Fox Mykyta”) is based on the famous fairy tale by the legendary Ukrainian author Ivan Franko and is comprised of 26 episodes, each 15 minutes long.
The series was created at the Kyiv animation studio Fresky. A team of 70 cartoon artists worked on the project for a year – all the characters and scenes were mainly hand-drawn, with minimal use of computer technologies. “Lys Mykyta” was made from funds allotted by the state budget – Hr 11 million (half of the sum went for taxes). However, according to screenplay author and director Volodymyr Kmetyk, the creators shot 405 minutes of film instead of 260 minutes, as was initially planned, and the difference in cost had to be compensated by the studio. To help finish the movie, a number of artists agreed to work without salary.
All the animal characters were voiced by the father and son actors Anatoliy and Hryhoriy Palamarenko, and the original dialogues of Franko were fully reproduced in the cartoon. The text was written in a specific hutsul dialect, and as a result you hear Mykyta Fox and his friends say some funny and unusual words. However, it’s all supposed to be easily understandable to Ukrainian speakers.
The music for the film was written by composer Mykola Skoryk, but the soundtrack also includes songs by foreign and local musicians, such as ABBA, Patricia Kaas and Braty Gadyukiny. In order to appeal to grown-ups as well as children, the characters were made quite modern-looking. Currently, the creators of “Lys Mykyta” are in talks with Ukrainian TV channels, looking for one to show the cartoon. Hopefully, Ukrainian families will be able to follow the adventures of Ukraine’s own animated character from their homes soon, and perhaps kids will love him as much as they love Shrek.
