Dogs of Bishkek - Animated Short, USA

Student - Texas Premiere!

In a journey home from the market, a young boy Sasha is being stalked and chased by the ruthless monster dog of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan during a cold, foggy, winter night.

Director Viktor Niksdorf writes:  Some of my earliest memories of creating art was making comics based on cartoons and shows I liked as a kid. I remember reading Russian-translated Spider-Man comics and falling in love with the character that seemed so far away from me, but one I could still relate to. I would often create whole books with characters I enjoyed, often just including images without writing any dialogue or descriptions. In Kyrgyzstan, we often had carpets on walls to preserve heat in our apartment, so whenever I would finish a piece of art, my mother would hang it up on the carpet for everyone to see. Our whole living room was covered with drawings and it made me feel very accomplished and artistically fulfilled. 

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Director Statement
​The knowledge I gained at Ringling, such as learning how to animate, texture, rig, light and render, came together in my final senior thesis short film - Dogs Of Bishkek. Ringling professors supported me when I wanted to tell a personal story that is rooted in my life growing up in Kyrgyzstan, and using everything I knew, I got to create an animated short that I am truly proud of, all by myself. The film is based on my fear of stray dogs when I was younger living in Bishkek. I remember when I, along with other kids in my neighborhood, had to run away and climb on playground pyramids in order to wait for the dogs to leave. I even once got bit by a stray dog, but my jeans were thick enough that the dog did not fully bite through them. After immigrating to The United States, the fear eventually went away, but I still find myself jump whenever there is a random loud bark. Looking into the future, I would love to become an animator at any studio that shares my artistic values, but my ultimate goal is to become a Film Director, and I hope to one day accomplish that goal.