Original project
Tram No. 13
“Tram No. 13” is an original puppet animated film and the first full project of the MultArt studio team. It was not a student exercise or a work “for the drawer”, but a real film with a clear artistic goal and a festival run to follow.
Director:
Irina Kovtun-Menturovich
Studio / production company:
Vita Activa Production LLC
Format:
short puppet animated film
Release year:
2024
Status:
completed, festival run
Project type:
original
About the project
The project became the point where the team came together and the beginning of the studio as a single organism. It was on this film that the members met, built their working processes and for the first time went through the whole puppet production path for a screen project.
MultArt’s role
The MultArt team was responsible for making the puppets on the project.
As part of the project we carried out:
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design and assembly of puppet armatures
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sculpting and painting of heads
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costume tailoring
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production of duplicate puppets
The work followed the sketches of director Irina Kovtun-Menturovich.
Artistic challenge
The task was to create expressive puppet characters able to work like actors on camera. Special attention went to movement, facial expression and readable emotions in the animation.
Several interchangeable heads with different emotional states were created for the main heroine, which made a subtler acting performance possible.
Production constraints
The project had a number of serious constraints:
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for half of the team it was their first experience with the full puppet production cycle
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many stages were done for the first time: armatures, sculpting, costumes
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the need to make duplicate puppets
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very tight production deadlines — only 4 months
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the project was made as a graduation work, but with full production responsibility
Even so, the team worked with no room for error, knowing that a real audience would see the result.
Process and approach
“Tram No. 13” became a project on which the MultArt team:
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came together and got to know each other
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built the basic production processes
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learned right in the course of the work
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made decisions under real production conditions
This experience became the foundation for the studio’s further development.
Result
The film “Tram No. 13” received the diploma “For the Victory of Puppet Animation over Death” at the 30th Suzdalfest (Open Russian Festival of Animated Film) in 2025.
Ikar National Animation Award (2025) — “Tram No. 13” was nominated in the “Animator” category.
Second Yoshkar-Ola film festival “I KRATKAYA” — Best Animated Film — “Tram No. 13”, dir. Irina Menturovich.
Selection for competition programmes and festivals:
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“Tram No. 13” was selected for the programme of the Vyborg Russian Film Festival “A Window to Europe” — a significant event for Russian cinema and animation.
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The film took part in the “Insomnia” International Open-Air Animation Film Festival in Kaluga.
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Included in the programme of the Big Cartoon Festival (BCF) in Moscow.
For a first project, the team considers the result more than successful. The film has already won many festival awards, which confirmed the high quality of the work and the viability of the chosen approach.
“Tram No. 13” became the starting point of MultArt studio and proved that even a first project can be made at a professional level.
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