A Very Old Story

Based on the famous fairytale "The Tinderbox" by Hans Christian Andersen. The main character of the film is a puppeteer who lives in a poor and gray world. He composes a fairy tale in which he himself, in the guise of a brave soldier, finds a flint and is helped by a kind wizard. The soldier falls in love with a spoiled, capricious princess who, as befits a princess, poses riddles to her numerous suitors. Her father, the king, is eager to see the soldier as her husband, as he believes the soldier has a great deal of gold. In the fairy tale, everything ends well, but in real life, not so much. "But life is not a fairy tale," his beloved girl says to him as she bids him farewell.

• Nadezhda KosheverovaDirector
• Andrey PetrovOriginal Music Composer
• Valeri FridScreenplay
• Yuli DunskyScreenplay

• Oleg DalSoldier / Puppet master
• Marina NeyolovaPrincess / innkeeper's daughter
• Vladimir EtushKing / Innkeeper
• Georgiy Vitsingood wizard
• Vera Titovawitch / davil's grandmother
• Viktor PerevalovPrince-chimney sweep
• Georgiy ShtilEastern Prince
• Anatoly Korolkevichdoorman
• Georgi Georgiu"thick"
• Lev Lemke"thin"
• Igor DmitrievCast
• Boris LyoskinCast