The Friends from Taiga

The Friends from Taiga (1939) is a ten-minute animated short by Alexander Ivanov, available to watch online on iFILM. It pays tribute to three pioneering aviators — Valentina Grizodubova, Polina Osipenko and Marina Raskova.

Their aircraft, the Rodina, pushes through clouds and snow squalls while the forest below — bears, wolves, hares — pricks up its ears at the droning engines. Behind the cartoon lies the real 1938 long-distance flight that gripped the whole country. Short, earnest and a touch naive, it's a small artifact of its era for fans of vintage animation.