The Overcoat (animated film)

[2] On March 13, 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.

[3] However, as of 2024, the film remains unfinished, and its production time of over 40 years is the longest for any animated motion picture in history.

"[4] Upon finishing his film Tale of Tales in 1979, Norstein decided that the next project for his small team (consisting of himself as the animator and director, his wife Francheska Yarbusova as the artist, and his friend Aleksandr Zhukovskiy as the cinematographer) would be an approximately 60-minute-long film based on Gogol's short story The Overcoat.

Funding has been sporadic and has come from many different sources, including the Savings Bank of Russia (Sberbank) and TNK oil company.

"[7] He also refused help from Nick Park's company Aardman Animations, accepting from them only a few boxes of lightbulbs.

[8] Production came to a temporary halt on November 17, 1999 with the death of cinematographer Aleksandr Zhukovskiy (Александр Жуковский).

Norstein spent a year and a half making a 3-minute animation for the introduction to Good Night, Little Ones!, a popular Russian nightly show for young children to watch before they go to bed (it was replaced by a computerized version of the iconic sequences made by Alexander Tatarsky).

[9] He also spent nine months working on a 2-minute sequence for the Japanese collaborative film Winter Days (released in 2003).

[14] Although he has been offered chances to leave Russia, Norstein believes that finishing his film in "circumstances approaching comfort" would be impossible.

Norstein uses a special technique involving multiple glass panels to give his animation a three-dimensional look.