SNOW ON GRASS: THE FILMS OF YURI NORSTEIN – LA Premiere of New Restorations

7th House is incredibly proud to present a momentous evening of the films of the great Yuri Norstein, featuring the LA premiere of the new restorations of his collected works!

Widely regarded as one of the greatest animators in the history of cinema, Russian filmmaker Yuri Norstein has, over the course of just a handful of films, created a body of work that stands among the medium’s most poetic and profound achievements. Using a painstaking, hand-crafted multi-plane animation technique—layering cut-paper figures across panes of glass to create an extraordinary sense of depth and atmosphere—Norstein developed a visual language unlike any other in animation. His films possess a three-dimensional, dreamlike quality: images suspended in shadow and light, drifting between the remembered world of childhood and philosophical reflection.

This Los Angeles premiere of new restorations, lovingly restored by Deaf Crocodile in collaboration with Seagull Films, brings together Norstein’s celebrated shorts for a rare, feature-length theatrical presentation. From the folkloric wit of THE FOX AND THE HARE and THE HERON AND THE CRANE to the haunting historical imagery of THE BATTLE OF KERZHENETS and the quietly monumental TALE OF TALES, these works move with a gentleness and emotional clarity that belie their formal sophistication. Few animated films have achieved the reverence afforded HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG, his best-known work—frequently cited in international polls as the greatest animated film ever made—and Norstein’s influence can be felt across generations of filmmakers, including Hayao Miyazaki, who has long cited him as a formative inspiration.

Tender, searching, and deeply humane, Norstein’s films unfold like fragments of remembered experience: seasons passing, music drifting through time, moments of solitude and wonder held in luminous suspension. Their philosophical undercurrents—meditations on memory, history, love, and the interior life—emerge not through narrative exposition but through image, rhythm, and feeling. Visually, these films inhabit a world of mist, lamplight, winter landscapes, and softly rendered interiors, where figures move through delicately layered spaces of texture and atmosphere—an aesthetic shaped in close collaboration with Norstein’s wife and longtime artistic partner, Francheska Yarbusova, whose designs and painterly sensibility have been central to the warm beauty and visual identity of his cinema. Each film offers a small world rendered with extraordinary care; together they form one of cinema’s most quietly monumental oeuvres.

A special one-night-only theatrical event, Snow on Grass—its title drawn from Norstein’s book of the same name—offers a rare opportunity to encounter these masterworks as they were meant to be seen: in the shared space of the cinema, where their beauty, quiet magic, and emotional resonance can fully unfold.

Dir. Yuri Norstein, 111 mins. — presented with intermission, Russia, Russian w/ English subtitles, Digital.

THE 25TH, THE FIRST DAY (1968, 9 mins.)
SEASONS (1969, 9 mins.)
CHILDREN AND MATCHES (1969, 5 mins.)
THE BATTLE OF KERZHENETS (1971, 10 mins.)
THE FOX & THE HARE (1973, 12 mins)
THE HERON & THE CRANE (1974, 10 mins.)
HEDGEHOG IN THE FOG (1975, 11 mins.)
A DAY BEFORE OUR ERA (1977, 6 mins.)
THE TALE OF TALES (1979, 29 mins.)

Special thanks to American Genre Film Archive, Deaf Crocodile, and Seagull Films.

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

ADVISORY DISCLAIMER

With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].

CONTENT DISCLAIMER

The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.

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