An anthology by Invisible Friends Studio

12 September | 11:00–12:00 | Duneon Cultural Centre

2024 | Armenia | 8 min | 12+

There Used to Be a Sea

Directors: Asmik Simonyan, Milena Bznuni, Sofia Martynova, Elena Mochalova, Davit Petrosyan, Daniil Koshkin, Lilit Keryan, Garri Moskalevsky, Ksenia Vorobey, Anna Chuikina, Anush Gurgenyan, Lidiya Tut, Alexandra Potapova

There Used to Be a Sea is a collection of memories from a "former life." For some, that former life is childhood; for others, it begins with moving out of an old home or leaving Russia for Armenia. Sometimes memory preserves only the smallest, most ordinary moments: an overcast day at the dacha, the setting sun reflected in dusty shop windows, or a quiet courtyard on the edge of the city at night. Through animation, the film blurs the boundary between how we remember these places and how they once truly were.

2020 | Russia | 2 min | 12+

Warm Salty
Wind

Directors: Maria Korzhova, Maria Laricheva, Sofia Petrova

A mood piece capturing a single summer day on the Black Sea coast.

2021 | Russia | 3 min 45 sec | 12+

The Sky Has No Edge

Directors: Yuri Boguslavsky, Vasily Chirkov, Alexander Chirkov, Ilya Yudovich

A poetic meditation on the endless expanse of the sky.

2025 | Armenia | 1 min 30 sec | 12+

The Five-Second
Rule

Directors: Vasily Chirkov, Yuri Boguslavsky, Polina Volkova, Maria Yermolaeva, Anna-Maria Chernigovskaya, Gulnara Nizamiyeva, Alexandra Kharitonova, Ekaterina Vdovina

The well-known five-second rule claims that food picked up from the floor within five seconds is still safe to eat. With playful irony, the filmmakers challenge this comforting illusion, reminding us that neither microbes nor insects pay any attention to the rules we invent to justify eating dropped food.

2023 | Armenia | 4 min | 12+

Dreams of Tumanyan

Directors: Sonya Savina, Andrey Terentyev, Daniil Koshkin, Alexandra Koroleva, Egor Nagayen, Olga Mashinets, Alexey Romanchikov, Daria Fyodorova, Anna Ryabova, Andrey Boguslavsky, Varvara Baboshina, Arghavan Heydari Majd, Venya Yanin, Ekaterina Medvedeva, Vigen Arakelyan, Kristina Gornostaeva, Timofey Moskovkin, Danil Borshov, Alexander Kalinicheva, Yuri Boguslavsky, Vasily Chirkov

The small town of Tumanyan, unfamiliar to all of us before, feels strangely familiar—like a forgotten place from childhood. Time moves differently here, not simply more slowly, but in unexpected zigzags. And the dreams are vivid, unforgettable, and unlike any others.

2024 | Armenia | 2 min | 12+

How Memory
Came to Be

Director: Lidiya Tut

A poetic meditation on how memory might have first come into existence.

2018 | Russia | 1 min 25 sec | 12+

A Way
of Interacting with the World No. 75

Directors: Elena Makarenko, Ekaterina Ganakh, Gulnara Nizamiyeva, Ekaterina Chelyapina

An experimental film created by the Animation and Noise Laboratory, built around observing the world and searching for lost things.

2014 | Russia | 2 min 40 sec | 12+

Snow, Snow

Directors: Ilya Yudovich, Vasily Chirkov, Yuri Boguslavsky

A single-shot animated film about the season's first snowfall.

2023 | Georgia | 7 min | 12+

Noah

Directors: Vasily Chirkov, Ilya Yudovich, Alexander Chirkov, Kamil Chalayev

Created by students of the Theatre of Objects, this poetic animated film retells the story of Noah's journey through a lyrical and imaginative lens.

2022 | Russia | 4 min | 12+

Spring

Directors: Alexander Chirkov, Vasily Chirkov

Created by students of the Animation Laboratory, this film is a poetic reflection on a single spring day.

2018 | Russia | 2 min 45 sec | 12+

Documentary Animation
Laboratory: Studies

Directors: Anna Kraynova, Alexander Sharapov, Olga Erokhina, Taya Krayukhina, Anastasia Mukhametzyanova, Natalia Markina, Tatyana Kuznetsova

A collection of studies created by students of the Documentary Animation Laboratory, inspired by their sensory observations of the world around them. A series of poetic essays on nature.

2022 | Russia | 4 min | 12+

Ten Studies
in Black

Directors: Maria Serebryakova, Tatyana Kuznetsova, Vera Pavlova, Irina Mironova, Natalia Chingina, Olga Fedorova, Kira Vishnyakova, Nikolay Shakin, Maria Bondar, Varvara Badadgulova

A series of character sketches and miniature episodes created within a puppet animation workshop, exploring the personalities and quirks of imagined characters through careful observation.

2018 | Russia | 1 min | 12+

Butterfly

Director: Polina Kampioni

A short coming-of-age story.

2018 | Russia | 40 sec | 12+

In the Heart of August

Director: Lyubov Zhukova

A view from a train window captures the tiny events of a summer evening: a cat leaping, children at play, and a mother worrying about her child who has gone out for a walk.

2016 | Russia | 1 min 40 sec | 12+

Mountains, People

Directors: Georgy Boguslavsky, Natalia Markina, Yulia Krivosheina, Sofya Pavlenko, Alexandra Filatova, Alexandra Kharitonova, Maria Bondar

Created by children aged 5 to 15 as part of an animation workshop based at the State Tretyakov Gallery, this short film explores the relationship between people and the mountains through the imagination of its young filmmakers.