We love discovering new talent, even more so when they seek us out! Valeriy Kozhin reached out to us with his short film “The Gardeners Dream”, and had this to say:

I was born in Moscow in 1983. I  studied in VGIK (Russian filmmaker’s institute).  I’m a member of Russian Artists Union.  My degree work was “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”.  It was 13 pictures for animated film.  But a film wasn’t shot.  

I began to learn Carroll’s works in 2003 from the moment that I learned English.  The nonsense style is very close to me.  I love it.   

I found “The Mad Gardener’s song” in my child’s book.  But it was in Russian.  When I read it in English I found a large  difference.  And I decided to make a short film based on original poem.  At first I wanted to use a motif from Sylvie and Bruno, but when I read The Game of Logic, I understood one very interesting thing, that The Mad Gardener’s Song and Game of Logic share one motif.  It’s a game and ‘A SYLLOGISM’.

The Gardener’s Dream was shot in 2013 in Russia.  It was my second film.  I shot this film during one year.  I connected puppet and cut-out animation.  The voices from the film are my friends from England.  I want to show Carroll’s logic or nonsense logic.  And don’t forget that It’s just a dream, Mad Gardener’s dream. 

There is no interest in Russia because very few people know Sylvie and Bruno and The Mad Gardener’s song.  The film was on MMKF festival in Moscow and Susdal’s animation festival in Russia.”