The Old Man and the Sea (Старик и море) is a 1999 paint-on-glass-animated short film directed by Russian animator Aleksandr Petrov, based on the 1952 novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway.

[1] Work on the film took place in Montreal over a period of two and a half years and was funded by an assortment of Russian, Canadian and Japanese companies.

He is apparently so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man and been ordered to fish with more successful fishermen.

On one night, Santiago dreams of his youth, of how he won an arm wrestling match against the strongest black man in town.

As the fish swims under the boat, Santiago manages to stab the marlin with a harpoon, thereby ending the long battle.

He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks and manages to kill a few more.

Other funding came from Imagica Corporation, Dentsu Tec and NHK from Japan, and Panorama studio from Yaroslavl, Russia (of which Aleksandr Petrov is the head).

The film's technique, pastel oil paintings on glass, is mastered by only a handful of animators in the world.

For the shooting of the frames a special adapted motion-control camera system was built, probably the most precise computerized animation stand ever made.

The film is currently available on two DVD releases, English and French ("Le Vieil Homme et la mer").