Questo è il film d’animazione del 1983. L’ho trovato abbastanza terrificante. Non credo che questo sia per i bambini. Cosa hai pensato mentre guardava questo? E hai ricordi passati di questo?

Director Roze Stiebra, art director Laima Eglīte, composer Imants Kalniņš

Based on poems for children by Ojārs Vācietis, therefore at the very beginning of the film the poet himself appears as one of the characters, wearing his characteristic beret, while all the different characters of the film burst out of his pocket into the world – the melancholic and chivalrous Horse, the energetic Piggy in a red dress and hat; her eight children, whom the evil Ringmaster tries to steal; the green Fly who is afraid of soap; the romantic Woolf, who looks at the moon on the river bank and dances with lambs…

After almost 20 years of working in appliqué animation, with this film Roze Stiebra’s creative team turns to another technology – hand-drawn cell animation, in which they will continue to work for more than 30 years. However, the basic principle remains traditional – the film is built from several poems composed by the great Imants Kalniņš and sung by the most popular boy’s choir in Latvia; the film’s songs have since lived a life of their own as individual pieces of music. This is one of the few animated films that depict clearly recognizable places in Riga – one of the most beautiful parks in the city, Arkādija near Māra Pond, where Ojārs Vācietis (1933–1983) lived.