Eastern European Animation

Eastern European Animation refers to Animated Shows from Eastern Europe, which includes Russia and the now-defunct Soviet Union, as well as most other ex-socialist European countries.^note Actually, classifying these as "shows" is very inaccurate; some of them are features, some are actual shows; most of them are isolated shorts that don't have a theatrical release. but do have initial airings on television. In fact, there were no animated shows in the Soviet Union; those that look like shows are series of loosely connected shorts, with long (sometimes over 10 years) intervals between "releases". Overall, network and medium seem to matter much less in Eastern European culture, at least to the average viewer — in part because there was only one thing to watch for so many years — so not making the distinction between features, shorts, and series on this page is justified. However, the post-Fall era animation is more westernized in formal aspects, with a proper division into features, shows, and shorts.

Whether Eastern European Animation can be considered a form of Western Animation is up for debate as many people do not think of Eastern Europe as "Western".

Examples:

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Russian/Soviet

38 Parrots
About Sidorov Vova
Adventures of Captain Vrungel
Adventures of Mowgli: Five Russian shorts based on The Jungle Book.
The Adventures Of Buratino
The Adventures Of Prince Vladimir
The Adventures Of Vasia Kurolesov
Alices Birthday
Atomic Forest
At the back desk (На задней парте)
Before We Were Birds (Прежде мы были птицами)
Big Troubles
Booba
The Cameraman's Revenge — film from tsarist Russia and one of the earliest examples of stop-motion animation
Captain Pronin
The Cat and the Tree
Cheburashka
Cinderella (1979)
Clinic
Cossacks
The Cow
The Dog Door, based on the short story Goodbye Ravine
Fantasy Patrol
Film, Film, Film
Firing Range
The Fixies
The Forest Chronicle
The Frog Princess
Gagarin
The Goat Musician
The Golden Antelope
Hedgehog in the Fog
Heron And Crane
His Wife Is a Hen
Hoffmaniada
The Humpbacked Horse
Icarus and Wisemen
Interplanetary Revolution
Investigation Held by Kolobki
I Shall Give You a Star
It Was I Who Drew The Little Man (a.k.a. Chelovechka narisoval ya)
The Key
Kid-E-Cats
KikoRiki (titled Smeshariki in its native Russia, and GoGoRiki in 4Kids' English dub)
- KikoRiki Animated Films
- PinCode
- BabyRiki
A Kitten Named Woof
Last Year's Snow Was Falling
Lavatory-Lovestory
Leopold the Cat
Little Fox
Little Longnose
The Little Witch
Masha and the Bear
Mermaid
Mitten
Mother For A Little Mammoth
Mr Walk
My Love
The Mystery of the Third Planet
My Sweet Monster
Nu, Pogodi!
- Nu, Pogodi! Kanikuly
Once Upon a Dog
The Old Man and the Sea (1999 animated short film adaptation)
Ostrov
Pinocchio: A True Story
Plasticine Crow
Qumi-Qumi
Scamper the Penguin (Soviet-Japanese co-production)
The Scarlet Flower
Sheep & Wolves
The Snow Queen (1957) (Soviet adaptation)
The Snow Queen (2012) (2012 CGI adaptation)
The Soviet short and Russian animated film based on The Nutcracker:
- The Nutcracker
- The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
The animated adaptations of Tales of the Magic Land and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
There Lived Kozyavin.
A 1984 adaptation of There Will Come Soft Rains. One would be hard-pressed to find a creepier cartoon.
Three Bogatyrs
Town Musicians of Bremen.
Pif - Paf, Oi-Oi-Oi
The Return of the Prodigal Parrot
Treasure Island (1988)
Three From the Prostokvashino Village
- Holidays in Prostokvashino
- Winter in Prostokvashino
The Twelve Months
Welcome: A Soviet adaptation of Dr Seuss' Thidwick the Big-Hearted Moose.
The Very Blue Beard
Vinni Pukh (Soviet Winnie the Pooh shorts)
Vovka In Far Far Away Kingdom (Vovka v Tridevyatom tsarstve)
Vykrutasy
Five short 1970's cartoons based on Greek Mythology. Remarkably close to the original material, especially considering the heavy Socialist undertones. Possibly unique in not giving Princess Andromeda a Race Lift. The shorts are "Return from Olympus" (occurring in modern times, with a flashback to the Labors of Heracles), "Labyrinth" (about Theseus, naturally), "Argonauts", "Perseus", and "Prometheus".
We Can't Live Without Cosmos
The Wild Swans
The Wolf and the Calf.
Tale of Tales
A Tale is Told

Bulgarian

Planetata na Sakrovishtata

Croatian

The works of Zagreb Films
- Ersatz (1961)
- Igra (1963)
- Professor Balthazar (1967-78)
- Tup Tup (1971)
- Dream Doll (1979) (co-production with the United Kingdom)
The Elm-Chanted Forest
Lapitch The Little Shoemaker
Manivald

Czech

Creators
- Adolf Born
- Gene Deitch after 1960. However, most of them were made for and financed by American distributors.
- Jiri Trnka
- Jan Švankmajer
- Karel Zeman
Večerníček (‘Little Eveninger’ in English) is a children's programme in which most of the following animated series were featured. Basically, every evening at 7 PM, it airs an episode. Once all episodes of said series are aired, it starts airing another one.
Bob And Bobek, two rabbits live in a magician's hat and go on various adventures. One rabbit is smart and hard-working, the other one is lazy and a bit thick (not unlike Chip 'n Dale).
Club of the Discarded
Cybernetic Grandma
Daughter
Even Mice Belong in Heaven
Fantastic Planet
The Foolish Frog
Goat Story - Old Prague Legends
The Little Mole (Krtek)
The Little Witch
Max And Sally and the Phenomenal Phone (Mach, Šebestová a kouzelné sluchátko), about two children and a dog who find a torn-off telephone handset which grants them wishes
Maxidog Fik (Maxipes Fík), about a girl named Ája and her huge talking dog companion.
Mire Bala Kale Hin
Mr Krbec and his Animals (O zvířátkách pana Krbce), featuring the merry adventures at Castle Kulíkov of Mr. Krbec the Castle keeper and his friends Kokeš the Cat, Kukula the Owl, Kocanda the Jackdaw and the castle ghost, the spirit of Duke Ruprecht.
O Misto Na Slunci — first European cartoon to get an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Short Film
Pat and Mat, two middle-aged men live together and try to build something during an episode. Usually, all kinds of construction accidents and mishap happen, but for some reason, the end result is fine.
- E.g. they bake Christmas cookies, they get flour everywhere, they burn the cookies to crisps, but realise these super-hard sweets can be used as tiles in their pavement.
The Pied Piper (Krysar), a Darker and Edgier version of the classic The Pied Piper of Hamelin story.
Poppy Doll And Butterfly Bartholomew (O makové panence a motýlu Emanuelovi)
Staflik And Spagetka (Štaflík a Špagetka), tales of two dogs, a short-pawed, long-bodied black one and a tall white one with a shorter body.
Stories Of Amelia The Forest Sprite (Říkání o víle Amálce)
Rumcajs The Little Bandit Of The Forest (O loupežníku Rumcajsovi), about a cobbler who was banished from the city of Jičín by its uppish mayor Humpál and became a highwayman. He later has a wife called Manka and a son Cipísek.
The Tales Of Doggie And Moggie (Povídání o pejskovi a kočičce)
The thirteen Tom and Jerry, Deranged Animation shorts and part of a Western series.
The Vanished World of Gloves
Words, Words, Words...

Latvian

Polish

Ark
Blok Ekipa
Bolek and Lolek
The Cathedral
"Creation Of The World" (aka "Stworzenie świata")
David and the Magic Pearl, a.k.a. Dawid i Sandy
Dreadfully Titled Movie
Dziwne Przygody Koziolka Matolka
George The Hedgehog (aka Jeż Jerzy)
Hip-Hip and Hurra
Kapitan Bomba
Kayko & Kokosh
The Lordz o' Flys a.k.a. Włatcy móch
Loving Vincent (co-production with the United Kingdom)
Między Nami Bocianami
The Nut (1967)
Miś Kudłatek
Piesek W Kratkę
Podróże Kapitana Klipera
Pomysłowy Dobromir
Przygody Gapiszona
Reksio
Tango
Zaczarowany Olowek

East German

Red Cartoons, a collection of 16 shorts from the ’70s and ’80s. Each cartoon aims to make some benign point; and the stories can vary from the more universal ‘a man neglects a flower in order to reach a star, while a man in the sky does the opposite’ to the more concrete ‘people wearing gas masks because of the pollution emitted by a gas mask factory’.

Hungarian

Cat City (Macskafogó), a.k.a. The Cat Trap and its sequel.
Dragon and Slipper (Sárkány és Papucs)
The District! (original title: Nyócker!)
The Fly (original title: A Légy)
Foam Bath, a.k.a. Bubble Bath (original title: Habfürdő)
Gustavus (original title: Gusztáv), a long-running series of comedic shorts with social commentary.
Gypsy Tales (original title: Cigánymesék)
Háry János (hour-long opera adaptation)
Heroic Times (original title: Daliás idők), oil painting animation adapting a historical drama.
Hófehér, Black Comedy retelling of the Snow White story satirizing the Communist regime.
Hugo the Hippo
Hungarian Folk Tales
I Like Life A Lot (Nekem az élet teccik nagyon)
Its Just Fashion (original title: Ez csak divat), animated cultural magazine from the '70s.
Johnny Corncob (original title: János vitéz), after the poem John the Valiant, a.k.a. John the Hero.
„Kérem a következőt!” a.k.a. Doktor Bubó
The Kidnapping Of The Sun And The Moon, experimental and highly revered animated short.
Kuzdok
Lúdas Matyi
Maestro, an Academy Award-nominated CGI short.
A Mézga család
Moto Perpetuo
Pangea – The Neverending World a.k.a. Rexy, a CGI short.
Pityke Ormester
Pom Pom Messei
The Princess and the Goblin
Rabbit and Deer (original title: Nyuszi és Őz)
The Rabbit with the Checkered Ears a.k.a. Kockásfülü nyúl, colloquially known in English as "Bunny in the Suitcase"
The Seventh Brother (original title: A Hetedik Testvér)
Son of the White Horse (original title: Fehérlófia)
Song of the Miraculous Hind (original title: Ének a Csodaszarvasról), a semi-educational collection of mythological tales.
Three Dirty Dwarves (Part of a video game)
Time Masters (a Franco-Hungarian effort)
The Tragedy of Man
Treasure of Swamp Castle (original title: Szaffi)
Vízipók-Csodapók
Vuk the Little Fox
- Kis Vuk, a.k.a. A Fox's Tale, a rather poorly received sequel.
Willy the Sparrow
The Princess and the Pea (a co-production with America)