The Overcoat is an unfinished animated feature film that has been the main project of acclaimed Russian director and animator Yuri Norstein since 1981. It is based on the short story by Nikolai Gogol with the same name. Around 25 minutes were completed by 2004. The unfinished film has been shown publicly in several exhibitions of Norstein’s work around the world and clips of it have been included in a few documentary films about Russian animation and culture. In 2007, Norstein stated that he planned to release the first 30 minutes of the film with a soundtrack into theatres by the end of 2007. However, to date, the film remains unfinished, its production time of over thirty years the longest for any motion picture in history.
The Overcoat
