Легенды музыки

Young poet Yuri Entin accidentally came across a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm and wanted to make an animated film based on it. Actor and aspiring director Vasily Livanov came up with several new characters and wrote a completely original script. Their contemporary, director Inessa Kovalevskaya, entrusted the then little-known composer Gennady Gladkov with writing energetic rock-and-roll music. Actor Oleg Anofriev, not yet known to the general public, took the risk of singing for the majority of the characters. As a result, in 1969, the cartoon "The Bremen Town Musicians" was released. No one expected that its songs would become instant hits, and the soundtrack record would sell 28 million copies in just a couple of years. If the musical film had a secret to its success, it was the youthful zeal, energy, and talent of its creators

Valentina Tolkunova's "voice through tears" is impossible to confuse with anyone else's. Her repertoire included numerous lyrical songs and songs for children – she lived through each one, and each sounded uniquely sincere. That's why there were never any empty seats at the concerts of this outstanding singer. Even elderly people would bow at her feet, saying, "What a happiness it is to see you!". Valentina Tolkunova always walked her own path. A waist-length braid and an invariable string of pearls – her image was feminine even when it became unfashionable. She performed for veterans of the Chechen and Afghan wars, for orphans and the disabled – free of charge. A fragile woman, she was a daredevil behind the wheel, managed her household herself, and practically raised her son alone. So where did the smiling and always polite artist draw her remarkable strength from?

The film is based on a candid interview with Alexey Rybnikov, in which he tells incredible stories about his, at first glance, so prosperous life. About everything that remained "behind the scenes" for many years. The author of the fantastic music for more than 130 films and the creator of the cult works "Juno and Avos" and "The Star and Death of Joaquin Murieta" received a state prize only in 2002, after the release of Nikolai Lebedev's film "The Star"... And at the time when the whole of Moscow was going crazy for "Juno," with people lining up overnight at the Lenkom box office, Rybnikov's name was listed somewhere between the makeup artist and the costume designer. Rybnikov himself believes that it was "Juno" and the events surrounding it that changed the course of his life.