This is a short done by Aleksandr Petrov, done by painting directly on glass. There will be spoilers ahead:
This short, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated short, losing to Balance, is an early short by Aleksandr Petrov. The story concerns a poor farming family and their son's remembrance of the family's cow.
The cow gives birth to a calf at the start of the short (I love how the mother gets the calf to drink milk from a pail). The calf grows, but must be sold early due to the family's poverty. The cow grows discontent, balking at pulling the plow in the fields.
The boy tries to console the cow, encouraging her to forget her calf and think of him as her son now. One day, the cow breaks free and runs off. Here, the short becomes dream-like, with part of it a flight of fancy in the boy's imagination and part of it all too grim reality, as the family loses their cow to tragedy.
The short closes with the boy remembering the cow and everything it gave (literally and figuratively). It's absolutely beautiful visually, even as narratively it speeds to misfortune.
This short has been on VHS and can be found online. Most recommended.
This short, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Animated short, losing to Balance, is an early short by Aleksandr Petrov. The story concerns a poor farming family and their son's remembrance of the family's cow.
The cow gives birth to a calf at the start of the short (I love how the mother gets the calf to drink milk from a pail). The calf grows, but must be sold early due to the family's poverty. The cow grows discontent, balking at pulling the plow in the fields.
The boy tries to console the cow, encouraging her to forget her calf and think of him as her son now. One day, the cow breaks free and runs off. Here, the short becomes dream-like, with part of it a flight of fancy in the boy's imagination and part of it all too grim reality, as the family loses their cow to tragedy.
The short closes with the boy remembering the cow and everything it gave (literally and figuratively). It's absolutely beautiful visually, even as narratively it speeds to misfortune.
This short has been on VHS and can be found online. Most recommended.