Virtual Friday Night Films at the Wende: The Glass Harmonica and There Lived Kolyazin

In this animation about capitalism and control, a musician with a magical glass instrument enlightens a town, only to be removed by a bowler hat-wearing bureaucrat who turns the townspeople grotesque in their frenzy over gold coins. Scored by composer Alfred Schnittke, the film features fantastical imagery referencing Renaissance and surrealist works of art. The Glass Harmonica was the only animated film to be banned in the Soviet Union.

Free to watch on YouTube.

There Lived Kolyazin, dir. Andrei Khrzhanovsky, 1966, Soviet Union, 9 min.

A mindless bureaucrat dutifully follows his boss’s orders on an increasingly absurd journey across the world. This dark comedy was animator Andrei Khrzhanovsky’s graduation film. Eventually, he would rise to prominence in the West with A Room and a Half (2009) about Joseph Brodsky. Khrzhanovsky is still active today, and his critically-acclaimed film The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks premiered at festivals in 2020.

Free to watch on YouTube.

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Virtual Film Picks are inspired by the in-person Friday Night Films at the Wende program series. This selection is part of a curated list of weekly movie suggestions that can be watched at home, in conjunction with #WendeOnline.