The Heron and the Crane is a humorous tale of amorous indecision and self-destruction. The heron and crane ‘will they won’t they’ and time passes. A collaboration with his wife, the artist Francesca Yarbusova and cameraman Alexandr Zhukovskiy, with whom he would go on to make Hedgehog in the Fog and Tale of Tales, this early film was the first real sounding of Norstein’s mature genius. A gem of the great animator’s work. And a spritely 10 minute watch.