Problems and Prospects of the Russian Animation in the Recent Decades: Ways to Increase the Competitiveness of Soyuzmultfilm Film Studio Projects

The digital era has come with the first digital cartoon “Toy Story” (Elsaesser & Hagener, 2009). Since that time the majority of animation studios around the world began to change their approach in producing animation. However, the world transition from the analog type of signal to digital one coincided with the dissolution of the Soviet Union, therefore Russia remained behind the progress in animation producing. On the other hand, today Russian animation produces a lot of interesting authentic pieces and tries to reach the same quality as the biggest world production studios. This study will focus on the new, developing animation studio “Soyuzmultfilm”, which is distinguished by the legacy and traditions of the first animation studio in the USSR (“Soyuzmultfilm”). In that case, it is curious to look at “Soyuzmultfilm” studio, trace the path of its development and investigate the obstacles, which appear on its way. Consequently, the aim of the study is to reveal the problems of the animation industry in Russia and to offer the model of solutions of investigated problems. For this purpose, several methods will be used in this research, in particular, in-depth interviews with experts of Russian animation, the analysis of statistical data and the archive research of documents, published by the Cinema Fund and the Ministry of Culture. The results of this investigation show the range of problems of the animation field in Russia and the model of their solutions as well.