The Little Matchgirl (2006 film)

The Little Matchgirl
Directed by	Roger Allers
Produced by	Don Hahn Baker Bloodworth
Screenplay by	Roger Allers Kevin L. Harkey Ed Gombert Mark Walton Ralph Zondag
Based on	The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen
Edited by	Jessica Ambinder Rojas
Production company	Walt Disney Animation Studios Walt Disnet Feature Animation Orlando, Florida Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris, France Walt Disney Pictures
Distributed by	Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Release dates	September 7, 2006 (2006-09-07)
Running time	7 min
Country	United States

The Little Matchgirl is a 2006 animated short film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Feature Animation Orlando, Florida, Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris, France and released by Walt Disney Pictures, directed by Roger Allers and produced by Don Hahn. It is based on an original story by Hans Christian Andersen entitled The Little Girl with the Matches or The Little Match Girl, published in 1846.

Plot

During Christmas in Saint Petersburg not to long before The Russian Revolution, an impoverished girl tries to sell matchsticks on the streets but everyone is completely indifferent towards her. Later that night, the girl huddles up in a snowy alley trying to warm herself against the cold. Eventually she decides to strike some of her remaining matches for warmth. As the matches burn, she has visions about being in a warm home, well fed, and with her loving grandmother who has passed. After using up all her matches, eager to see her grandmother, the little girl dies from hypothermia. The next morning her grandmother's spirit finds her and takes her to heaven. Then as in the original play, a comet soars across the sky, meaning that someone has died, according to her grandmother.

Differences

The story's popularity far exceeded Andersen's original intention, which was to call immediate attention to the plight of Europe's suffering children. The differences between the Disney version and the original Andersen text are slight, such as the change of geographical location from the author's native Denmark to Russia. The storytelling also places a reduced emphasis in the beginning of the film to the Little Match Girl's cruel and overbearing father and the death of her grandmother.

Production

Allers and Hahn previously were involved in classic Disney animated films such as The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. This short, which was originally intended for the scrapped Fantasia 2006, also represents Disney's final use of CAPS in animation.

The film made its debut at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival in France on 5 June 2006, and was released as an extra on The Little Mermaid Platinum Edition DVD. It was re-released on The Little Mermaid Diamond Edition Blu-ray on 2013.

The Little Matchgirl was released on the Walt Disney Animation Studios Short Films Collection Blu-ray on August 18, 2015.^[1]

Score

The film is set to the third movement of Nocturne from String Quartet No. 2 in D Major by Alexander Borodin. For the filmmakers, the production was not about politics, but was treated as a visual style piece set to music, told entirely without sound or dialogue.

References

External links

• traces the path director Roger Allers and the Disney Studio took in adapting the Hans Christian Andersen story to animation.
• Director Roger Allers on The Little Matchgirl Animated News & Views interview
• The Little Match Girl at The Encyclopedia of Disney Animated Shorts
• The Little Matchgirl at the Internet Movie Database