Pages of Russian History. The Land of the Ancestors

Pages of Russian History: The Land of the Ancestors (1994) is a hand-drawn animated short you can watch online on iFILM. In twenty-five minutes it traces the earliest chapters of Rus', from the Varangians arriving under Rurik to the spread of Christianity.

Director Alexander Guryev turns the old chronicle into something a child can follow: princes and their retinues, river trade routes, and Princess Olga's baptism appear as scenes rather than a list of dates. The voice cast includes Leonid Yarmolnik, Mikhail Kononov and Vsevolod Abdulov. It works best as a brisk, friendly primer for anyone meeting the origins of the Russian land for the first time. Stream The Land of the Ancestors (1994) online on iFILM.