Contact (animated short film)
Encyclopedia
Contact or Kontakt is an award-winning 1978 Soviet
animated short film.
leaves the town and walks around countryside. While he is resting on the grass, humming the melody of "Speak Softly Love" - the Love Theme From The Godfather
, a large spaceship
lands near him. An alien
exits the spaceship, photographs the environment and tries to contact the painter by changing his appearance
to resemble nearby animals and objects and by touching him. The painter is frightened and tries to run away, but becomes tired, falls from a cliff and lies on the ground, imagining that the alien is going to lock him in a cage and torture him. The alien approaches the painter and tries to hum the same melody that the painter hummed earlier - "Speak Softly Love", but makes some mistakes. The painter understands that the alien is friendly, teaches him the correct melody, and they walk away together hand in hand.
The film has no dialogue
in any language. All communication is made using music, gesture
s and gaze
s; the alien also tries to communicate by shapeshifting
. Director Vladimir Tarasov
explored this theme of universal communication in his other films; he considered animation
"the Esperanto
of all mankind".
films were not distributed in the Soviet Union, the theme music was familiar to Soviet people thanks to this short film.
Contact received awards at the following festivals:
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
animated short film.
Plot
A painterPainting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
leaves the town and walks around countryside. While he is resting on the grass, humming the melody of "Speak Softly Love" - the Love Theme From The Godfather
Speak Softly Love (Love Theme From The Godfather)
"Speak Softly Love " is a song written for The Godfather , the first film in the Godfather trilogy. While its instrumental version is simply known as "The Godfather Love Theme", "Speak Softly Love" is the vocal version. The words are by Larry Kusik but the music itself is by Nino Rota...
, a large spaceship
Unidentified flying object
A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...
lands near him. An alien
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
exits the spaceship, photographs the environment and tries to contact the painter by changing his appearance
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
to resemble nearby animals and objects and by touching him. The painter is frightened and tries to run away, but becomes tired, falls from a cliff and lies on the ground, imagining that the alien is going to lock him in a cage and torture him. The alien approaches the painter and tries to hum the same melody that the painter hummed earlier - "Speak Softly Love", but makes some mistakes. The painter understands that the alien is friendly, teaches him the correct melody, and they walk away together hand in hand.
The film has no dialogue
Dialogue (fiction)
Dialogue in fiction is a verbal exchange between two or more characters. If there is only one character, who is talking to himself in his mind, it is known as interior monologue.-Identifiers:...
in any language. All communication is made using music, gesture
Gesture
A gesture is a form of non-verbal communication in which visible bodily actions communicate particular messages, either in place of speech or together and in parallel with spoken words. Gestures include movement of the hands, face, or other parts of the body...
s and gaze
Gaze
Gaze is a psychoanalytical term brought into popular usage by Jacques Lacan to describe the anxious state that comes with the awareness that one can be viewed. The psychological effect, Lacan argues, is that the subject loses some sense of autonomy upon realizing that he or she is a visible object...
s; the alien also tries to communicate by shapeshifting
Shapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
. Director Vladimir Tarasov
Vladimir Tarasov
Vladimir Tarasov is a Russian animator and animation director. He studied at the Moscow Polygraphic Institute from 1965 until 1970....
explored this theme of universal communication in his other films; he considered animation
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
"the Esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
of all mankind".
Influence and recognition
Even though The GodfatherThe Godfather
The Godfather is a 1972 American epic crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola, based on the 1969 novel by Mario Puzo. With a screenplay by Puzo, Coppola and an uncredited Robert Towne, the film stars Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Sterling Hayden, John Marley, Richard...
films were not distributed in the Soviet Union, the theme music was familiar to Soviet people thanks to this short film.
Contact received awards at the following festivals:
- XVIII Festival of science fiction films in TriesteTriesteTrieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...
, 1979 - VIII Festival of short and documentary films in LilleLilleLille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
, 1979