The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands () is a 2018 Russian animated fantasy adventure film directed by Robert Lence and Aleksey Tsitsilin. It is the sequel to The Snow Queen 3: Fire and Ice (2016). The film follows the war between magicians and technocrats.
The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands was presented at film markets and festivals such as AFM and Cannes. The film was released in Russia on 1 January 2019. It received generally positive reviews from critics.
A sequel, The Snow Queen & The Princess, was released in 2022.
Plot Gerda and Kai are finally reunited with their parents. Together they move to a certain province, ruled by a powerful inventor King Harald. In a family full of professional magicians, only Gerda doesn't have the ability to wield magic. She goes to a woman who claims she can give her magic for the cost of ten dinars. Magic trinkets are going out of fashion for the people of the kingdom. However, the family is satisfied by selling first-class magic trinkets. One day an old woman comes to buy a trinket at their shop. Gerda tells it cost ten dinars. The old woman couldn't buy it all because of her retirement benefits. She almost leaves, before Gerda tells her to buy it for free.
A new competition at the court was announced, with families including Gerda's clamoring to go and get the position as court magician. Sadly, Gerda is the only one who stays at the home, responsible for guarding the store items. King Harald is an ardent advocate of technical progress. I build machines and robots. Harald decides to banish all magicians from the realms. Harald nearly lost his family due to the Snow Queen's previous deeds. As reparation, Harald issues a new decree that the products of scientists, engineerss and the inventors will be the standard while the amulets, potions and talismans of the magicians will be relegated or even forbidden. King Harald finds a way to ban all the magic from the world - all the possessors of magic powers are now trapped in Mirrorlands.
After the king traps all the world's magicians in the polar internment zone, Gerda finally finds out why all the magicians vanish at the palace. Gerda takes this mystery into her own hands as she battles to keep magic alive through kindness and friendship. However she is sent to jail at the top of the castle. Meanwhile, inside the Mirrorlands zone, a meeting is held for all the possessors of magic. Gerda's parents believe only their daughter can rescue them. They travel to the Snow Queen's castle, where she is playing chess. They reconcile all their past differences and agree for a united plan of action. Gerda will be helped by trolls, pirates, and even the frigid and mysterious Snow Queen herself. Even Rollan the wielder of fire will return from the previous film (who is ready to prove to Gerda (since he is in love with her), Kai, Alfida and Orm that he is ready to redeem himself for what he did back in the previous film) to help save the magicians from the imminent threat imposed by the magical blue mirror called the Mirrorlands.
One of their rendezvous to the land of the trolls includes an aerial battle with zeppelins in the floating City of Pirates. Gerda manages to seek the services of air captain Alfida. Alfida agrees to sail the shark airship zeppelin with the hero and heroine as passengers. King Harald and his airship fleet are already on their way to thwart Gerda's plan of liberation engaging in a battle between spells and technology. Teaming up with the pirates of the Flying City, the heroes try to capture the capital of the region and re-open the portal of the Mirrorlands using the amulet of King Arrog. After many attempts to open the portal, the king's son finally confesses to his father that he is a wizard and banishes himself, to which he finally gives in and lets Gerda let out all the wizards he himself banished. Eventually, the Snow Queen is forgiven and befriends Gerda, promising to use her powers for good, not evil.
Cast CharacterRussian ActorEnglish ActorGerdaLina IvanovaLaurie HymesThe main heroine from The Snow Queen. She's a brave, kind, and honest girl with a strong will.Growing up in an orphanage, she is always quick to embark on any adventure and has a warm perceptive heart, but not for long|-KaiNikolay BystrovJason GriffithGerda's younger brother - a dreamer, artist, and poet. He is willing to help alongside Alfida and Gerda.RollanFilipp LebedevGraham HalsteadAn adventurer who collects legends. Crazy about superheroes and everything that has to do with them. A true Spanish man, spirited and brave, he is ready to risk his life to achieve his goals. He is in love with Gerda and really wants to prove to her that he has changed. He is ready to redeem his past misdeeds even with his own blood.Prince AndersElena ShulmanErica SchroederThe young son of King Harald.OrmAnton EldarovBilly Bob ThompsonOrm is a very ordinary troll. Despite not seen at "troll" standards, Orm's strengths are not physical.His true merits lie elsewhere, namely in cunning and savviness.AlfidaLyasan UtiashevaDevin Bailey GriffinA true pirate. Alfida is strong, authoritative, and determined-but she has a kind heart, and an acute sense of justice.Snow QueenOlga ZubkovaSamia MountsThe ruler of an icy palace in the Laplands. The Queen has the power to invoke polar winds that turn the lands into a winter land.King HaraldVladimir ZaystevMarc ThompsonThe inventor engineer head of state who manages to lure all magic inside an azure reflectorUnaIrina BezrukovaVanessa GardnerVegardMikhail TikhonovTom WaylandLilitTroll King ArrogVsevolod KuznetsovScott RayowArrog comes from a much-celebrated line of trolls.He can go on endlessly about his great feats of his grandfather. AdmiralNikita ProzorovskyJason Griffith
Production Development
The fourth installment of The Snow Queen franchise was in initial stages since 2016. Wizart Animation collaborated with American animation veteran Robert Lence. Previously, Lence has worked as a script writer, animator and story board consultant for major studios including Disney, Pixar and DreamWorks. Lence became a director alongside co-director Aleksey Tsitsilin. For the first time in Russian animation history, a film was co-directed by a Hollywood animator.
Both Tsitsilin and Lence reciprocated their skills for the film. Tsitsilin noted Lence gave the film more comedic output that is usually present in American animated films, while Lence remarked, "It was also nice to see them incorporate things in the film that are particular to their own culture and sensibilities. Because they do indeed have such a rich history of film making and storytelling in their country. And likewise, I learned a great deal from them as well." Lence also pointed out, despite the geographic and language barrier between Hollywood and Russia they were able to find common ground. Lence continued, "It's those revelatory crossover moments in the course of creating the story, where we came to a shared understanding of what is funny, heartfelt, or entertaining. We realized that we can both learn from each other's cultures and differences, and celebrate what each of our cultures has to bring to the table."
The work for the film lasted two years. It had children as the target audience alongside messages that foster kindness by using actions guided by the heart. At the March 2018 FILMART Asian Film Market in Hong Kong, preliminary content of the film was presented. On 12 September 2018, at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, a trilateral liaison was signed between the Russian Export Center, Wizart Animation and the company from China - HY Media/Cayie International Media Group. Andrey Slepnev, General Director of the REC and Yuri Moskvin, executive producer of Wizart Animation attended the forum.
The signing became one of the first times, China became a joint partner in producing a Russian animated film. Lisha Nin, the CEO China-HY Media/Cayie International Media Group remarked the plan will bring the Russian animation industry within great export potential to China.
Themes In November 2017, at the American Film Market, Wizart Animation presented the materials for The Snow Queen: Mirrorlands. Presenters remarked the film will be a fusion of technology and magic. Robert Lence explained how the film will be a melting pot of steampunk genre through the use of technology such as airships intertwined with the polar fairy tale setting of the franchise based on the Hans Christian Andersen's plot. Co-director Alexsey Tsitsilin emphasized the film will also feature fundamental themes such as friendship, kindness, forgiveness and perseverance saying, "The movie answers the question, ‘Should we really treat people united by some common feature bad if only one of them did something wrong?" The movie will explore this theme around the realm of collective punishment and whether it is a rightful means of justice.
The concept is explored in the film, when a decree to imprison all magicians in an ice portal because they don't fit scientific, technical definitions is imposed on the land that primarily affect all the characters in the film except the main character Gerda. The film describes the ramifications that arise when science converges with magic. In the film, the character King Harald represents the clan of scientists and technology while the character Gerda represents the clan of magic and fairy tales. The film is a description of the cultural phenomena that is released when seemingly incompatible establishments intersect and cross each other's path. The script's use of diametrically opposite clans of magicians and technocrats were applauded by reviews, as if the story came out of a 20th-century Bulgakov novel.
The conflict is explored within the context of science colliding with magic presented by new characters such as King Harald. The conflict parallels mankind's rationalism in the Industrial Revolution in contrast to the spiritual enlightenment found in schools of thought such as Transcendentalism and Naturalism. Another theme developed was reconciliation seen in the finale when unexpected enemies find common ground to help solve the crisis of the fairy world. The script was developed to accommodate all the friends and foes of the past series.
The film was slated to finished by the end of 2018. Central Partnership and Soyuzmultfilm distributed the film to Russia and neighboring countries. Soyuzmultfilm returned to produce a Snow Queen adaptation ever since its 1957 film by Lev Atamanov that has earned a place in Russian animation classics. A Russian cast gave the voice performance for the characters. Lina Ivanova (ru) (Hermione Granger-Harry Potter) voiced Gerda. Alfida the pirate was voiced by Lyasan Utiasheva. Celebrity stage and screen actress Irina Bezrukova (ru) voiced Gerda and Kai's mother, Una. Nadezhda Angarskaya (ru) voiced Lilit. Vladimir Zaystev (ru) (Sherlock Holmes-Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows) voiced King Harald. Polish actresses Agata Kulesza and Natalia Szroeder also lend voices for the localized dub. Brazil voice cast included actress and singer Larissa Manoela, João Côrtes (pt) and Igor Jansen.
Animation