Russian animators Ivan Maxamov and Vera Myakisheva after Carnival playing great music for guests to dance till dawn.

This year the festival spent the first three and a half days sailing up river to Perm, where I joined it. The boat docked there for a day and a half and an official event was held at the beautiful Soldatov Culture Center Theatre. The fete was a formal opening of the festival even though it was its fifth day. Officials of the city welcomed us and talked about Perm’s contribution to the arts. Each year the KROK staff makes a short three- or four-minute film about the previous year’s festival so it was shown followed by a screening of films in competition. That was followed by an official opening dinner, which was a very fancy affair with lots of caviar and other Russian delicacies and capacious-amounts of wine and vodka.

The lovely city of Perm is a cultural center, with a world-class symphony, chamber orchestra, a ballet company and a university that is devoted in large part to the arts. The city’s art museum houses a massive collection of French and Russian paintings and was presenting a special exhibit of Fabergé eggs. Another section of the museum honors arts and crafts from Perm and the surrounding area. It includes several unique wood sculptures; unlike any I had ever seen. Unfortunately I could find no information about them except they are quite old.

Instead of going on the two organized tours of the area, I opted to visit the museum and the home of Serge Diagelov, the renowned impresario of the Ballet Russe. He was born in Perm, and being a great ballet lover and having a son who is a ballet dancer in Munich, I enjoyed a visit to Diagelov’s family home, which is now a museum. I really enjoyed the city a lot and wish that we could have had another day there. (I would have visited a small village near Perm where Tchaikovsky was born.)

Next, we docked in Kazan for eight hours, a city well worth exploring. It is the capital of the Republic of Tatarstan (part of the Russian Federation). The majority of the citizens are Tartars and you notice immediately the distinct cultural differences in architecture and dress. After a group tour of the beautiful citadel (Kremlin in Russian) that was declared a World Heritage Site in 2000 by the UN, three of us spent the afternoon exploring the streets taking in the sights, sounds, and food (along with the best local beer that I’ve found in the former Soviet Union).

The beginning and ending port for the festival was Nizhniy Novgorod. It is a lovely city that offers many insights into the heart of Russia culture. Its beautiful Kremlin, located on top of a large hill overlooking the river, was once the central part of the old town, but now, Pokrovka Street is the heart of the city. It is a pedestrian mall filled with both locals and visitors and is a lovely place where you can explore the shops and sights or just sit at a street side café watching the world go by.

Yuri Norstein (left) was a juror at Carnival while Edward Nazarov dances with Kazan dancers.

Of course, KROK is not all about screenings and sightseeing tours. Although friendships can be formed at the many animation festivals, KROK is a very special social experience. Since everyone is together for 24 hours a day on a ship, a unique bond is forged that goes much deeper than a love of animation. Sitting on the deck in the sunshine, sharing a drink, walking around off shore while the boat is docked, or dancing all night to the fabulous music that the master Russian animator Ivan Maximov spins for us are memories that live forever. Sunrise on the top deck, the music jam sessions, singing “Oh Susanna” to a balika accompaniment, and, of course, the vodka that flows like the river we are cruising down, make for memories that will bring a smile to our faces forever. KROK is the one festival where I don’t need a camera to recall the vivid images our 14-day adventure.

Carnival is a grand tradition at KROK, and since this was the 13th festival, it was appropriately held on the 13th of August. Even seasoned KROKers never know what to expect, so it is always a treat to see what ingenuity the new shipmates have in creating original costumes and skits. My group, two Israelis, a Russian, a Ukrainian and a Belarussian, reenacted the trials and tribulations of my train trip to KROK as an old time silent movie with title cards in Russian. We were honored to receive one of the coveted KROK prizes awarded by a panel of judges made up of such luminaries as Yuri Norstein, Edward Nazarov, David Cherkassky (veteran director and Ukrainian Festival president), and Margit Antauer (md of the fabulous Zagreb Festival and Buba to everyone who knows her).

On the evening before our ride back to Moscow, the closing ceremony took place at the Nizhniy Novgorod Puppet Theatre. The International Jury presented their awards and that was followed by a bittersweet dinner. We knew KROK would soon be over and we would scatter to the four corners of the planet. Many congratulations were heaped upon winners and some of us gathered around the piano to sing Beatles songs. That night there was a much more subdued party on the deck as we sang, drank and just didn’t seem to want to go to bed.