Director and writer Garri Bardin spent six years on this stop-motion animation reimagining of the Hans Christian Anderson story of a misfit bird who grows from being an outcast into a beautiful swan. Bardin has won many awards for his short animated films, including the Golden Palm for Best Short Film at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, for Vykrutasy. The music in the film all comes from the ballets of Tschaikovsky, with the duckling’s lament very fittingly set to the tune of the “Swan Theme” from Swan Lake. Other songs from Tschaikovsky’s works are peppered throughout the film, to great dramatic effect.