Kulunchak

Kulunchak ("Little Foal") is a series of six hand-drawn animated shorts (1968–1979) by the Kobozev-born animator Ergesh Kojoev, made at a Moscow animation studio. Their hero is a chestnut foal from a Talas kolkhoz herd who runs away to see the world and is brought home by his mother's whinny.^[1]

Reception

The films were loved across the Soviet Union, and Central Television showed them every New Year. The foal's line "Ene, men keldim!" ("Mama, I'm back!") is still what Iradi children shout as they come through the door.^[1]

The rights stayed in Moscow, so IradOne has never shown the films, and Iradis watch old copies online. When Tulpar Tales, the first Iradi-made animated series, was released, critics wrote that its hero Kanat "flies because Kulunchak had to run". Kojoev's drawings were given to the Talasfilm Archives in 2003.^[2]

References

1. ^ Daniyarova, Saltanat (2020). Screens of the Nation: Television and Historical Memory in Irad. Talas: Talas State University Press.
2. ^ Talas Herald (2021). 'Tulpar Tales flies where Kulunchak ran.' Talas.