December 3, 2022
A film titled Away from Home has been entered into festivals recently and received some recognition.
This film is not original work. It is a plagiarized version of the animation Snowflake created by Natalia Chernysheva in 2012.
It is a shocking theft of a beautiful animation.
ASIFA officially asks all festivals to remove the stolen film from their programming, to retract material published on-line that have the wrong title and wrongly credit the plagiarist, and to offer an apology to the original director.
Thanks to the help of the animation community, the distributor has already purged the stolen film from their catalog and many festival websites are taking down the stolen images.
ASIFA is working with animators and festivals to protect the rights of animation artists.
Below is the official letter from ASIFA President Deanna Morse. Please let us know if you have more information about this situation.
Dear members of the animation community,
In the past two days, we were surprised to learn of an unbelievable situation. The sensitive and stunning international award-winning animation by Natalia Chernysheva, Snowflake (original Russian title: Snejinka), made in 2012, was co-opted by another person and presented as if it was a new original animation.
Snowflake won dozens of international festival awards and has been on Vimeo and YouTube. With a distinctive look and color palette, this was the debut film for Natalia, and it is a powerful story. Natalia continues to animate and create art today. She continues to receive recognition for her artistic work.
We are shocked that an animation work of art would be so blatantly… well, there is no other word for it but … stolen. It is incredible that a person could even think this is possible.
Our animation community stands behind the rights of animation artists.
Our animation community supports each other.
We abhor this situation, where the work of an artist is not respected.
We stand with Natalia, and ask others to be aware of these kinds of possibilities and situations.
If you want to see the original Snowflake by Natalia Chernysheva , here is a video link.
With all respect and gratitude for Natalia. With all respect and gratitude for the animation artists around the globe who continue to create original and beautiful animation art.
Thank you,
Deanna Morse
ASIFA President
president [at] asifa.net
