Moscow, June 29, 2020
In honor of the 600th anniversary of the uncovering of the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh on July 18, 2022, a full-length animated film entitled “The Forgotten Miracle” will be released on July 16, 2022 in Russian. The uncovering of the great saint’s relics is the most important event in the history of the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Russian Orthodox Church, reports Patriarchia.ru.
“The Forgotten Miracle” is a joint project of the “Steam Locomotive” animation studio, the Moscow Theological Academy, the Holy Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and the State Corporation Rostec.
The film tells about how classmates Dima, Nastya and Gosha escape from a tour group in the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra and go explore it on their own, in search of treasures. In one of the monastery towers, the children accidentally discover a magical portal that takes them into the past. Then their main problem is getting back hom. To do this, they have to pass through the “wondrous forest” of the 14th century, the time of the Mongol Yoke. St. Sergius of Radonezh helps the children in their difficulties. Overcoming trials, the characters begin to understand the value of friendship, reassess their attitude to greed, pride and cowardice, and learn to how come to each other’s aid.
The creative team of the film collaborated for four years with the Moscow Theological Academy and the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra in order to find the right tone, to touch the delicate strings of a child’s soul, to find the right words and images, and to convey the importance of universal values with the help of expressive artistic language: compassion, sincerity, courage, willingness to help and support others in difficult times.
The film’s editor, the deputy rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, Priest Anatoly Kolot noted: “St. Sergius is one of the most beloved saints for Orthodox people. We want to introduce him to those who do not belong to the church audience or are not Orthodox Christians at all. Our cartoon surprisingly combines secular modern audio-visual stylistics with authentic church material, and it is captivating from the very first minutes!”
“Probably it could be recognized as the successful result of cooperation between the professionals of the “Locomotive” studio, the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, the Moscow Theological Academy, and... children. To be honest, during all four years of working on the film, my main focus group was my six children, who were ready to watch everything—from the animations to the final editing. Despite the fact that we have watched the entire film hundreds of times together, they are still looking forward to the premiere in the cinema,” Fr. Anatoly added.
Dynamic and bright animation in a modern visual style is focused on family viewing, age category 6+. To create the atmosphere of the past centuries, when choosing a color scheme, the authors were inspired by the aesthetics of Russian painting.
The film’s trailer can be found here.
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