Fall and Spring Animation Festivals

If you are getting your festival schedule together for Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 here are some festivals that you might want to consider sending your film to or visiting.   They are all festivals that I have attended or will be attending and can recommend as very good.

10 to 28 September 2010 – KROK International Festival of Animation - Russia or the Ukraine on alternate years

http://www.krokfestival.com

15 – 19 September 2010 –KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival - Amsterdam, The Netherlands

http://klikamsterdam.nl/

8 – 17 October 2010 – Animest  Animation Festival - Bucharest, Romania

http://www.animest.ro

8 to 14 November 2010 - Cinanima Animation Festival - Espinho, Portugal

http://www.cinanima.pt

10 – 14 November 2010 -  Fredrikstad Animation Festival - Fredrikstad, Norway

http://www.animationfestival.no

9-13 November 2010 – BAF Bradford Animation Festival - Bradford, England

http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/

19 – 23 November 2010 – Animated Dreams Animation Festival - Tallinn, Estonia

http://poff.ee

6 – 12 December 2010 – Animateka Festival - Ljubljana, Slovenia

Submission Deadline – 15 September 2010

 http://www.animatekafestival.org

4 - 13 March 2011 – Anima Brussels - Brussels, Belgium

Submission Date – 15 October 2010

http://www.animatv.be

21 – 27 March 2011 – MONSTRA, 11^th Lisbon Animated Film Festival - Lisbon, Portugal

Submission deadline – 30 November 2010

http://www.monstrafestival.com

31 May – 05 Jun3 2011 – Animafest Zagreb - Zagreb, Croatia

Submissions open September 2010  close 01 March 2011

http://www.animafest.hr

7 – 12 June 2011 – Annecy International Animation Festival - Annecy, France

http://www.annecy.org/home

3 – 8 May 2011 - 18^th Trick Film Festival – Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film - Stuttgart, Germany

Submission date – 1 December 2010 (exception commissioned films deadline 15 January 2011

http://ITFS.de

The ASIFA-Hollywood Annies

SAF logo

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Educators Forum Student Animation Film Festival is quickly approaching. This event is open to all and will be a full day of film screenings, panels and portfolio reviews, culminating with an awards ceremony and reception for the winning filmmakers. The first place winner will receive a STUDENT ANNIE AWARD, a new award to be presented at this year’s Annie Awards. There are prizes for all the top filmmakers provided by our sponsors as well. The deadlines to submit your film are September 1st (soft deadline) and Oct 1st (final deadline). The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Educators Forum Student Animation Film Festival will take place Saturday, November 6th at Cal State Long Beach.

For more info, see… http://www.animationeducatorsforum.org/SAF.html

To submit a film, click on “entry form” on the Student Animation Festival page.

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA- Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum is looking for student volunteers for the 2010 Student Animation Film Festival. Volunteering for the Student Animation Festival is an unique opportunity that allows for personal and professional growth, as well as networking and professional development opportunities. Volunteer positions are open to college, post-secondary and post-graduate students. Please contact us by October 6th if you are interested in volunteering. A volunteer meeting is scheduled on Saturday, October16th. Attending this meeting is mandatory for all festival volunteers.

If you would like to volunteer contact us at info@animationeducatorsforum.org with “Volunteer” in the subject line.

ANIMATOR INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL – A FEAST FOR EYES AND EARS July 12 through 17 2010 Poznan, Poland

Photos Courtesy Wojtek Wardejn, Animator Festival
When Nik and I were invited to ANIMATOR 3^rd International Animated Film Festival, July 12 through 17^th in Poznan, Poland, we were told that it was an animation and music festival.  The description doesn’t do justice to the emphasis that the festival organizers place on the marriage of animation and music.

Along with two competition screenings each day and a myriad of special programs, every night there were screenings of animation with live music.  There were also two screenings for young people each day and workshops for children of all ages.  Because I had the privilege and honor to be on the jury, my days were fully taken up with watching the 82 films in competition and then with jury meetings.

One of my favorite films was My Grandmother Beijing by Norwegian animator Mats Grorud.  The nine minute claymation tells the story of the modernization of Beijing as seen through the eyes of a young boy playing with his aged, wrinkly grandmother’s face.  Grorud made the film while he was in Beijing studying at the China University of Communications as a commentary on the physical reconstruction of the city.  Anyone who has been to Beijing is painfully aware of the destruction of the history of the city that is going on to make way for sterile high-rise building, alas, a plight not foreign to many other cities around the world.

I have admired Simone Massi’s work for a long time.  Memories of Dogs won multiply awards and his new film Clouds,Hands  has the same sense of silence and poetic austerity which draws the viewer’s attention to the significance of memory.  Created in the look and feel of a woodcut , wooden baskets hanging from the tree branches evoke memories of his father, as a man and his dog  wonder through the countryside.   Simone creates a world where you smell the orange in the man’s hand and feel the gentle breeze blow the laundry that his mother is hanging out under a cloudy sky.  Massi is a true master of pure, visual storytelling.

There was no separate category for graduation films, so student films were included in the regular competition.   My favorite work by a student was I Am Simon.  Tunde Molnar uses stark, sparse black and white to tell the story of Simon the dog as seen through Simon’s eyes.  Being a dog person I watched the story of Simon and his canine and human companions with critical eye because I think trying to give voice and emotion to an animal is very difficult to do as a serious film.  Tunde, a young Hungarian animator, captured what made me believe were the everyday true thoughts and feelings of a dog as close to reality as possible.

Still from I am Simon

My fellow jury members were a diversely talented group.  It was lovely to be with my old friend Dennis Tupicoff again.  Dennis, a renowned Australian animator, is multi-talented but probably best known for his anima-doc His Mother’s Voice.  The animated documentary is becoming increasing popular as a genre at festival and Dennis’ wonderfully poignant film of a mother relating the story of how she learned about her son’s death moves me no matter how many times I see it.

Brigitta Ivany-Bitter is a Hungarian animation historian.  She curated the current exhibit at the Hungarian National Gallery of works by noted Hungarian animator and artist Gyorgy Kovasznai who worked during the ear of state socialism.  She also wrote a lovely book to accompany the exhibition which also contains two DVD’s of Kovasznai’s work, along with a short documentary on his life.  She presented each of her fellow jurors with a copy and I am enjoying reading it and learning a lot about Hungarian animation.

I was delighted to have the opportunity to get to know Mariusz Wilczynski.  He is a Polish animator and performance artist with a great sense of humor which he displays equally in his work and in conversation.  In 2007 Mariusz was given a retrospective by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

New Yorker George Griffin, our jury foreman, is no stranger to most independent animation lovers.  George wears many hats as an animator, director, producer, critic, and lecturer.  His work is essentially experimental and very personal.

Brigitte Ivany-Bitter, Dennis Tupicoff, Anna Litewka, jury supervisor, George Griffin, Mariusz Wilczynski and Nancy

Besides our jury duty we each presented a program.  George  introduced a retrospective screen of his films as well as a separate program titled Independent American Animation.  His selection of films covered  the entire spectrum of current animation from John Dilworth’s brilliant Life In Transition to the raw, handmade Triumph of the Wild from Martha Colburn.  It was a nice surprise to see that he had included Eric Dyer’s Copenhagen Cycle  which Nik created the sound track for.  Eric is a master at blurring the lines between live-action and animation .  In Copenhagen Cycles he feeds documentary footage of a bicycle ride around Copenhagen into a giant zoetrope and then video tapes it again through the zoetrope slots as it spins.

Dennis Tupicoff also screened seven of his films including his latest work, the multi-award winning Chainsaw.  Dennis’s work  are often had to watch, sometime verging on brutal like The Darra Dogs and Into the Dark but they always reward the effort by giving the viewer a great deal to think about.

Marcin Giżycki introducing DennisTupicoff at his retrospective, translator Waldemar Łyś in the middle

I had never seen the films of Gyorgy Kovasznai until I watched the program of his short films presented by Brigitta Ivany-Bitter but I was captivated by the work of the legendary Hungarian painter and writer who turned to animation to thwart the Soviet ear censors.  His work was dangerously outspoken for the times.  On another evening his only feature length animation, Bubble Bath, was screened in the festival café.  The film about a love triangle is a musical special-effects film set to the rhythm of a heartbeat.

My fellow juror Mariusz Wilczynski screened his animations to live music played by the Polish band Pogodno in the festival cafe.  A performance artist as well as an animator, live music is an indispensable part of Marisuz’s screenings.  Besides being visual delights, his films are very dreamlike while dealing with the complexities of life, emotions and dilemmas,  As part of his presentation he drew on a large pad onstage as the band performed and his films screened.

Mariusz Wilozynski’s performance at the festival cafe

Nik and I presented a program on the history and relationship of music and animation.  In addition to screening the classic 1934 Hoppin and Gross film Joie de Vivre, which was the first animated film to have an original score, we screened ten other films and talked about the significance of each one.

The special programs wove a rich tapestry of international animation.  To celebrate Daniel Szczechura’s 80^th birthday and 50 years of artistic creativity six of his films were shown along with The Adventures of Daniel Szczechura, a portrait of the animator by Marcin Gizycki who is the Artistic Director of Animator.  Szczechura is one  of the most prominent representatives of Polish animation.  Critics have nicknamed him “The Pope of Polish Animation”.   Programs of films by Yuri Norstein and Caroline Leaf were shown along with a collection of films from the British Film Institute.  Other screenings spanned the globe from contemporary Israeli  Animation and a program of animation from Chicago, to a celebration of 30 years of short film production by The TV Studio of Animated Films in Poznan.

A new film from the Quay Brothers deserves attention and the premier of The Mask at Animator was no exception.  The work of Stephen and Timothy has been heavily influenced by Polish literature, and their new film   The Mask is an adaptation of a Stanislaw Lem story.  Lem is a Polish science fiction writer best known as author of the novel which inspired Andrei Tarkovsky’s cult classic Solaris.  The twin brothers say that this film is “unlike all other films we have made which chart the visual journey rather than a verbal, literary one.   This one really shapes the images into a story that you really have to follow”.

The film focuses on the friction between the soul and the machine.  An automation disguised as a beautiful woman is programmed to kill a prince who has turned against the king.  As her consciousness grows she realizes her femininity and falls in love with her prey.  Though programmed to kill, she also questions this programming.  The Mask was shot at the largest castle in Poland, with a score composed by the renowned Polish classical composer Krzysztof Penderecki.

The Brothers Quay with Polish-Canadian animator Maciej Szczerbowski

Each morning there were two separate Animator For Kids screenings.  Azur & Asmar, Kirkou and the Sorceress, and Kirikou and the Wild Beasts, three of Michel Ocelot’s beautiful feature films, were screened.  Michel was born in France but spent much of his childhood in Guinea.  His early West African upbringing has a strong influence on his work, which has intricate animation and vivid colors. Although his films were listed as for young people they can be equally enjoyed by all ages.

A program of short French animation especially for the youngest audience showed a group of films, all under five minutes five in length.  A special program of Polish fairy tales was accompanied by live music.  Admission to all children’s programs and the short film competitions was free to the public.

There was also no admission fee for the workshops and lectures.  Each morning there was a different 120 minute Animated Film Making workshop geared to 8 to 12 year olds.  Topics ranged from puppet and stop-motion to a special workshop in cut-out animation given by Michel Ocelot.

Children’s Workshop

For older students, Nik gave a five day workshop focusing on creating sound and music for animation.  By the last day the students had composed two minutes of music for the classic Felix Woos Whoopie.  The Toon Boom workshops tailored to beginners to acquaint them with Toon Boom software.  The two day Fast  Animation  Workshops showed participants how to create short music videos for the internet.

Nik at his film music workshop

Special lectures included “Personally Different – Creating Animation as an Adventure” given by Israeli animator Tsvika Oren.  I found the “Smoke and Mirrors” presentation by New York independent media artist, freelance programmer, and magic lantern aficionado Artemis Willis to be most fascinating.  Her demonstrations of the techniques used to create the intricate special effects of a bygone era of glass slide projection were both fascinating and instructive.

Nik and I presented a program on the history and relationship between music and animation.  In addition to screening the classic 1934 Hoppin and Gross classic Joie de Vivre, which was the first animated film to have an original symphonic score, we screened and talked about ten other films outstanding for their music.

The opening night of the festival emphasized the blending of film and music that the festival is known for.  The Euphonium Quartet from France performed their original score to a program titled The Cohleidoscope, an homage to Emile Cohl.  The Quartet selected eight animated films by Cohl and invited seven contemporary animators to create their own homages to Cohl using their own techniques and styles.  The magical film of Emile Cohl alternating with the new creations was pure delight.  The film presentation was well balanced and the Euphonium Quartet played their sparklingly Gallic compositions to perfection and were given a standing ovation by the appreciative audience.   We were also welcomed to the festival and the city by Ryszard Grobelny, Mayor of Poznan and Festival Artistic Director Marcin Gizycki.  The opening ceremony at the historic Kino Apollo was followed by a reception in the lobby.

Euphonium in concert

Each night the action moved to the big screen at the Festival Club under a large canopy in the Old Market Square.  Following the opening party, Buster Keaton’s brilliant Sherlock Junior was screened with live accompaniment by the Polish group Inside Story.  This is one of my favorite Keaton films and I have seen it many times with and without live musicians.  Unfortunately, I was very disappointed by the music.  I had the feeling that the members of Inside Story weren’t watching the screen as they attempted to improvise the music to the film because the sounds that they made had nothing to do with the images and action on screen.  This seems to be a common problem with groups that play improve to images, and points out the importance of well thought out and rehearsed compositions for film.

The Festival Cafe

The midnight cinema at the club that evening was a screening of Polish Propaganda Animation.  I am really glad that I stayed for this program because there were some incredible examples of socialist realism in the ear of ideological debate about socialism’s supremacy over capitalism.  In the 1958 film Little Negro Ho-Ho, Ho-Ho is transported to the western world of white people where he learns all about humiliation and exploitation.  In the end he escapes back to Africa.

In addition to his music workshop, Nik brought his Sprocket Ensemble to present two musical programs.  The first program was a jazz concert and on another night Nik and the four Belgian musicians that he brought to Poznan performed live music to animation from our collection.  For this program, Nik showed some better known films such as Nina Paley’s magnum opus Fetch and Bill Plympton’s One of Those Days along with seldom screened works such as Maria Vasilkovsky’s Fur and Feathers.  Maria’s beautiful surrealistic tango between a bird-man and a dog-woman is painted on glass.  Nik’s original scores and the musical artistry of the Ensemble delighted the packed audience.

The Sprocket Ensemble at their jazz concert

Other evening programs included a selection of Betty Boop Cartoons and Georges Melius films with live music by a group called Male Intrumenty.    Dark Star, US director John Carpenter’s si-fi parody was shown to the accompaniment of music by the Polish group Haven.  Comedy is not the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Carpenter who has directed such classics as Escape From New York  and Halloween, but Dark Star  is really funny and the perfect film for a late night screening in a festival café.

I first met the distinguished Polish animator Piotr Dumala several years ago at MONSTRA in Lisbon.  I was enchanted by his work and looked forward to String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor By Dmitri Szostanowicza.   The film is an improvised experiment based on Piotr’s 2000 animated adaption of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment.  The structure of the film is built around Shostakovich’s String Quartet No 8 performed by the Jerusalem Quartet.   His original film was cut into small pieces, giving Dumala and his editor Beata Walentowska  endless possibilities to create a limitless number of new films by piecing the bits together in an infinite number of ways.  They have created a new film by listening to the music and following their own instinct.  The story has been allowed to create itself and has nothing to do with the original 2000 film.  The original performance was scheduled for an outdoor screening but unfortunately due to technical problems it had to be delayed to the next evening where it was shown in the theatre.The Saturday Night Award Ceremony was held in the beautiful Muzeum Narodowe-Gmach Glowny.   As a jury we spent a great deal of time in deliberation and as I have always found to be the case not all jury members are happy with individual decisions but I was pleased with most of the films we selected.  A complete list of our choices is at the end of the article.  Following the ceremony there was a sumptuous closing night banquet at the Festival Club that went until the wee hours of the morning.

Even though this was only the third edition of the festival, Animator 2010 was so packed full with old and new friends, workshops, music and of course film programs that I could write a small book about all of the wonderful experiences that I packed into my week in Poznan.  Nik and I owe a deep debt of gratitude to our hosts Festival Director Wojciech Juszczak and especially to Marcin Gizycki for inviting us to be part of Animator.  Their hospitality was most gracious.

I want to give a special thank you to Anna Litewka, our jury supervisor, who did everything she could to make our job easier in spite of the sweltering 90+ degree temperature heat wave that was wilting all of Europe that week.

I hope that Nik and I will be invited to participate in future Animator festivals. If you are ever lucky enough to be invited to Animator be sure to visit this wonderful festival in the beautiful city of Poznan.   To learn more about Animator Animated Film Festival visit their website:  www.animator-festival.com

JURY AWARDS

GRAND PRIX – The Golden Pegasus and 60,000 PLN (approximately $19,800.00 US) –

Hidden – Piotr Szczepanowicz, Poland

The Silver Pegasus – The National Audiovisual Institute Award of 30,000 PLN (approximately $9,900 US) –

I AM SIMON – Tunde Molnar, Hungary

The Bronze Pegasus -20,000 PLN approximately $6,600.00 US) –

BIG BANG BIG BOOM – Blu, Italy

Special Award For Music, Film/Music – 15,000 PLN (approximately  $5,000.00 US) – to be split equally between

The Composer and the animator -

LOVE & THEFT – Andreas Hykade, Director;  Christof Hoffman, Composer, Germany

Special Award For Children’s Film – 15,000 PLN (approximately $5,000.00 US) –

A TRIP TO THE SEASIDE – Nina Bisyarina, Russia

Special Jury Award -

MILLHAVEN – Bartek Kulas, Poland

Special Jury Award for Children’s Film –

ONCE THERE WAS A FLY – Alena Oyatieva, Russia

Audience Award –

BIG BANG BIG BOOM – Blu, Italy

50 YEARS OF ANNECY 7 through 12 June 2010

The official Annecy portrait of Nik and Nancy

I took the train to Annecy full of excitement and great expectations for the 50^th Anniversary of the festival.  According to the festival press release they were expecting 6,700 participants from 66 countries, 1,647 companies crowding into MIFA, 300 journalists and 230 international buyers.  For a festival to pull off such a grand event with minimum problems would be a miracle indeed. When people tried to get tickets for events however, it felt like there were twice as many people in attendance.

View inside the Bonlieu

The first hint of trouble came when I received my envelope with the invitations for special screenings and parties for the week.  There was no invitation to the opening night ceremony or the party.  I was looking forward to seeing the opening night film The Illusionist but was told that this year no journalists had been given tickets because they were just too many people and 150 seats had been relegated to non-industry VIP’s (which translates to money people).  Journalists were told that there was no problem, that our names had been placed on a request list and we should just keep checking back with the press office to get our passes.  To make it even worse, two hours before the ceremony we were finally told that there was no possibilities for us to get tickets.  I finally managed to get a ticket from my friend and fellow journalist Olivier Cotte, who had gotten two tickets from someone who didn’t want to see the film.  Both Olivier and I wasted a good part of Monday afternoon looking for tickets instead of seeing films.

The Illusionist was well worth all of the time and trouble that went into getting the ticket.  The film is based on an unproduced script that the great French film star Jacques Tati wrote in the 1950’s as a personal letter to his estranged illegitimate daughter Helga Marie-Jean Schiel.  The plot revolves around a struggling illusionist whose travels take him to an isolated Scottish community where he meets a young lady who believes that he is a real magician.  The film isn’t a romance, but rather it centers on the relationship between a father and his daughter.  Several people told me that they thought that the ending was very sad, but I interpreted it as a hopeful prospect for new beginnings for both of the main characters.

The 2010 British-French co-production was directed by Sylvain Chomet and has the same soft nostalgic look as Triplets of Belleville, which Chomet also directed, but with a bit darker edge to it.  A cameo appearance by Jaques Tati via black and white footage on a television screen was a lovely touch, as was the photo of the girl as a child, which is a reproduction of an actual photo of Tati’s daughter.

I didn’t manage to score a ticket to the opening night party, but it turned out that most of the interesting people didn’t either.  The place to be that evening was a table at the corner café.  A continuous parade of people joined Nik and I at our table and filled us in on what they had been doing.  Neither Nik nor Jacqueline Zeitz, Animated Films Program Director at Dok Leipzig Documentary Festival got to see The Illusionist, so she kept him company talking film and music over wine.  Jacqueline was particularly upset about not seeing the film since she had come specifically to see it for consideration for her festival.

After the film, I joined them at the café, and was delighted to see Heather Kenyon, who told us that she is now Vice President for Project Development and Sales at Starz Animation, a wing of Film Roman in Burbank, California.  South Korean animator Woonki Kim, who we first met at KROK several years ago, sat down to talk about his new TV series Fuss Farm, an episode of which was in the TV Competition.  The proud father also showed us an adorable video of his young baby dancing away to music.

Once again this year feature films took center stage with 7 films in the official competition and 6 out of competition.  Another six films were premieres, including Shrek 4 and the new 3D versions of Toy Story and Toy Story 2.  I don’t watch too many feature films at Annecy because I know that I will have an opportunity to see them at other festivals.  In a short film competition if I don’t like a film I know that it won’t last very long, but if I opt to view a feature that I don’t like, I’ve wasted a lot of time.  I am very glad though, that I did choose to see Piercing 1.   Director Liu Jian’s film is China’s first independent feature. If this film had been made in any other country it wouldn’t have been quite so interesting, but this story by and about someone who is living through the radical changes that are taking place in China now gives a fascinating look into a rather dystopian world.  Due to the financial crisis, many Chinese factories were forced to close in late 2008.  Like many unemployed young people left destitute in a big city, the main character, Zhang Xiaojun, has lost his job and becomes involved in shady activities while longing to return to his village to become a farmer.

Liu Jian studied classical Chinese painting and became a novelist after his schooling. His first film, Piercing 1, is based on his novel, and he financed it by selling his house in China.  He plans to make a trilogy, with Piercing 2 and 3, which will focus on different characters in drastic situations in contemporary China.

Nancy with Chinese animator Liu Jian

There is little hope that this very relevant film will ever be shown commercially in China, but it is being distributed by HAFF – Holland Animation Film Festival.  Piercing 1 won the Best Feature Film award at the prestigious I Castelli Animati Festival in Italy.

This year Annecy once again presented five programs in the short competition with a mixed bag of films(there were only four last year).  A new film from the National Film Board of Canada by Theodore Ushev is always of interest  to me.   Lipsett’s Diaries was not a disappointment.  The film explores the fertile imagination and turbulent personal history of the experimental Canadian director Arthur Lipsett, who committed suicide at the age of 49.  The script by Chris Robinson, excellent author and director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival, is a fictional recreation of Lipsett’s non-existent diaries based on his notes and films.  Theodore used paint on paper, drawing on every frame, using a computer for the in-betweens to create a dark look into the mind of an artist falling into madness and depression.

Theodore infused the film with very personal feelings, and he told me that he was inspired by Francis Bacon and Goya’s later works known as his “Black Paintings”.  As with all of his films, I need to watch Lipsett’s Diaries several times more to peel back the many layers of this very dense film.

The 25 minute claymation Esterhazy takes you in another dark direction with a twist of black humor.  The film, based on a popular German children’s book of the same name by Irene Dischet and Hans Mangus Enzenberger, tells the story of the wild rabbits who lived in the no man’s land between the two walls separating East and West Berlin.  This empty space was a perfect safe place for rabbits to live, with no predators and a lot of grass.  Their reality suddenly changed with the fall of the wall.

The story revolves around Esterhazy, a young rabbit from the Esterhazy dynasty of Vienna.  The family stock is declining because they prefer to eat chocolate rather than vegetables.  The young Esterhazy is sent to Berlin to find a large, zaftig rabbit wife.  The 35 MM film received a distributor after a presentation at the Cannes Film Festival and I hope that it will be shown at festivals in the United States.

Geefwee Boedoe has worked as an animator and in story development at Pixar, Disney Feature Animation, ILM and DreamWorks.  He also storyboarded, designed, and directed the animation on the title sequence for Monsters, Inc.  Besides being very talented, Geefwee has a very offbeat sense of humor.  Now a freelance animator, his Let’s Pollute is a modern satire in the spirit of the 1950’s and ‘60’s educational films.  When I asked him about his film, Boedoe said that we all hear so many don’t pollute PSA’s that people stop paying attention so he decided to tell us how it is our heritage to pollute and how it keeps our economy strong in hopes that people will notice his quirky message.  He also instructs us on how we can all become better polluters for a more blighted tomorrow.

Once again this year, the Shorts and Breakfast chats hosted by Festival Artistic Director Serge Bromberg gave me a chance to hear directors talk about their films.  I particularly enjoyed hearing Danish author and comic book artist Joanna Rubin Dranger talk about turning her book Miss Remarkable & Her Career into a film.   Not an animator by training, her gallows humor and bold comic style translated perfectly to the screen.  The 30 minute black and white animation was quite an undertaking for a first film and my three colleagues who sat on the International Federation of Film Critics Award Jury agreed, because they gave it the Fipresci Award.

Again this year Monica Tasciotti proved to be a very adept interviewer at the Features At Noon talk. She does her homework and knows how to draw out even the shyest director. I was fascinated to hear Liu Jian talk about the trials and tribulations of independent film makers in China.  He spoke honestly and openly about the social and economic conditions in China today.

Along with the Feature and Short Film Competitions there were the Graduation Films, Commissioned Films, and Television Films in competition.  To honor the five decades of Annecy a quintet of programs showcased festival award winners by decades.  The Ones That Got Away paid belated tribute to films that won awards at other events but were overlooked at Annecy.

My favorite tribute screening was Don’t Blink! Animation in 50 Very Short Films. With no film over 3 minutes from 21 countries and a staggering list of great animators it was all packed into one 70 minute laugh filled program.  It really brought home what fantastic films can be created in a vast array of styles when a small amount of film is put in the right hands.

Old favorites such as Politically Incorrect and The Big Sleep almost got lost in the vast array of programs.  This year the animation community lost three major names:  Roy Disney, Belgian producer Pierre Levie, and the great Chinese animator Te Wei.  Although I have seen Te Wei’s beautiful films before, the opportunity to see pristine prints of his delicate work with good sound on a big screen was time well spent.

I wish that I had been able to see all four documentary programs.  The most talked about film was the European premier of Waking Sleeping Beauty.  Most people at Annecy are familiar with Disney Studio’s rocky road from 1984 to 1994, but director Don Hahn, a key player at Disney Studio’s Feature Animation during the mid ‘80’s, tells the story as only an insider could.  From ego clashes to out of control budgets, tensions heightened as the artists were caught between new comers wanting change and the old guard trying to hang on to control for dear life.  The result was a string of very forgettable flops such as The Great Mouse Detective. How Disney regained its magic and went on to create an amazing output of hit films from The Little Mermaid to The Lion King is a fascinating story with a unique and candid perspective by Tim Burton, John Lasseter, and Don Bluth along with many others who lived it.

Even more fascinating to me was O Galop, a documentary retracing the life and works of Marius Rossillon aka O Galop.  A contemporary of Emile Cohl, O’Galop was the little known creator of the world famous Michelin Man, but he created so much more than just his well known.  He was a great animation pioneer as well as a poster artist and illustrator for the press.

Fascinated by movement, O’Galop made some 40 animated films that led to projects for such international heavyweights as Benjamin Rabier, Ub Iwerks, and Walt Disney.  He used his talent and knowledge to work in a wide range of techniques from animating frame by frame images and painting on glass to magic lantern slides.  I was so pleased to discover this little known chapter of French animation history.

As befits a 50^th Birthday, the festival invited 50 famous personalities from the animation world to help celebrate.  From Richard Williams to Nick Park, you could hardly walk through the Bonleiu (festival headquarters) without running into old friends and seeing famous faces.  Every day great talents such as George Schwartzgabel, Bill Plympton, and Alexey Alexeev sat at the festival boutique signing copies of Creators & Creatures.  The beautiful 256 page bilingual French-English book published by the festival for the anniversary is a collection of behind the scenes looks into the creative process of 50 of the world’s greatest animators.  This visual panorama of the art of animation is well worth the 39 Euro price.  I haven’t been able to find out how to order it on line yet but as soon as I do I will put it on my blog.

The Making Of series was designed to give the audience a glimpse into the individual creative process and an opportunity to ask questions of some of the most creative minds.  Renowned French animator Michel Ocelot took us on his journey from creating his magical 3D feature Azur et Asmar to the 18 months that he spent making 11 episodes of his new series Dragons and Princesses.  The journey from making a feature film to a series is hard enough, but even more difficult when there is little money, equipment, or help.  Michel, a born story teller, shared many valuable lessons with a packed audience.

The hottest ticket on Thursday was the Simpsons Extravanga 2.  To help create his very special event with Simpson masterminds David Silverman and Matt Groening, Serge Bromberg enlisted the aid of Peter Lord and David Sproxton (Ardman Animation Studios) to create special animation footage.  David and Matt had lots of new stories to tell about Springfield’s “first family” along with hilarious behind the scenes glimpses.  Even David and Matt were surprised by the “new look” Peter and David gave to the world’s most recognizable family.  The filled to overflowing audience showed their appreciation for a fun filled evening with roars of laughter and long, loud applause.

This year the festival honored Argentina, a country with a rich animation tradition.  Two programs of short animation were screened as well as a program of 22 very short films by Juan Pablo Zaramella.  At 38, Zaramella has received international recognition for his work.  Two feature films, Oily Boogie and Mercano, the Martian were also shown.  I also received a trailer for Anima Buenos Aires, a feature film that is in production.  According to the press material the film will reveal the hidden soul of Buenos Aires in four episodes with tango and music as the thread that ties it all together.   If the completed film is as interesting and well done as the trailer it should be a big hit at festivals.

The Argentine delegation threw a tango party at Le Bowl, a nearby bowling complex, where I received a tango lesson from Chilean animator Luciano Munoz Sessarego.  After a massive buffet and ample drinks, the guests could bowl and dance the night away.  The Argentinians definitely brought the Latin American spirit to Annecy that night.

When not watching film, my days and nights were packed with events. Each year I look forward to the German Animation Party on Tuesday.  This year the setting was L’Oasis Auberge de Bessard in Sevier, a 15 minute bus ride around the lake.  The best part of this party is that it is always so relaxed with people sitting at the tables scattered around the lawn chatting.  We were treated to a lovely buffet with copious amounts of good beer and wine.

To add to the festive air the Plus Annecy Band played.  This year, Nik on horns and Rolf Bächler playing  drum were joined by part of our KROK band, with Alexey Alexeev on guitarlele,  and Mikhail Aldashin playing percussion, as well as Veljko Popvic helping to keep the beat on percussion.  Danas Berznitsky, a new addition to the band, joining in on the Jews Harp.  The band was joined for a couple numbers by special guest star Ulrich Wegenast, Artistic Managing Direct of the Stuttgart Trickfilm Festival, on drums.  It turns out that he used to be a drummer for a punk band and he has not lost his touch.

Wednesday Nik and I attended the Swiss Film Commission Party at Restaurant L’Impasse.  This was a new location for the party, very near to the Bonlieu, and even if the party was very crowded, the more than ample amount of food and drink was so delicious and there were so many people to see that no one minded the close quarters.  I was given the new compilation reel from Swiss films.  I had already seen some of the films such as Maja Gehrig’s intriguing Amourette about two wooden dolls having sex on a piece of sandpaper.  I was delightfully surprised by Danny Boy, Marek Skrobeck’s ironic film about a poet looking for love. It has a very quirky ending.

From the Swiss Party we strolled over to the Café des Arts for the opening of Alexey Alexeev’s  art exhibition.  The two rooms with the extremely talented Alexee’s drawings on the walls were packed with people and animators moved from table to table in the outside courtyard.  The Plus Annecy Band played long into the evening and couples danced spontaneously to the music.

I had the chance to spend a few hours with my old friend Greg Lawson from Amsterdam.  We had not seen each other for a while but the last time we talked he had said that he wanted to change the direction of his work.  His former company, Lawson and What’s His Name were best known for their innovative commercial work and their Safe Sex Trilogy.  Greg told me that he has launched a new company, Lawson Extremely Limited and wants to get back to animating and creating more personal work. He looked much happier and more relaxed than I have seen him look in years and this is excellent news to all of us who admire Greg and his work.

Wednesday night, the MIFA Opening Night party was at the beautiful Palace de Menton and was a lavish affair as befitted the 25^th anniversary of MIFA.  The hotel was located a short bus ride around the lake and the party was resplendent with delicious desserts and drinks.  The beautiful balcony was the perfect place for conversations on a lovely, balmy night.

Thursday was a very busy day.  On Thursday morning Nik and I were very honored to be invited to a very special event.  Tiziana Loschi, the Chief Representative of CITIA (the business wing of the Annecy Festival) was elevated to the rank of Chevalier in the French Order of Merit.  The high honor was bestowed in recognition of Tiziana’s service to the French film and animation industry.  The organization is a cultural co-operative co-funded by the Annecy Greater Urban Area, Haute-Savoie General Council, the Rhone-Alpes Regional Council, and the French State.  One of CITIA’s main purposes is to promote the circulation of French film.

Tiziana is a very able and enthusiastic representative.  She discovered the world of animation through the films of Miyazaki.  “I have great admiration and respect for those artists working (in animation) not hesitating to spend years in their field” she explained.

Each person elevated to the rank of Chevalier must select someone who has already received the honor to present the medal to them.  Tiziana asked Michel Ocelot to do the honors.  On the balcony deck of the Restaurant Le Plage, they both looked radiant against the backdrop of Lake Annecy as he pinned the cross onto her jacket.  The brilliant morning sun made the La Plage balcony a perfect setting for the auspicious event.  The ceremony was followed by a delicious buffet with superb champagne and wine.

Tiziana Loschi receiving the medal elevating her to Chevalier in the Order of Merit from Michel Ocelot

Since I was already at La Plage that morning I went next door to visit MIFA at L’Imperial Palace Hotel.  From 9 to 11 June MIFA was a  beehive of activity.  MIFA, the business arm of the festival, is a market place for buying and selling films, networking for co-productions, and learning about what’s new in the industry.  There is a video library available for program buyers and distributers to view over 500 films ranging from the festival official selections to products by producers.

At MIFA, we stopped by to visit the Seoul Animation Center booth.  My old friend Nelson Shin and his colleagues were pouring wine and serving snacks at their reception.

Next we visited Latvian producer Vilnis Kalnaellis and his extremely talented son Reinis (When Apples Roll) at the Riga Films space.  Over a glass of Rigas Melnais Balzams, a traditional Latvian herbal liquor made with many natural ingrediants mixed with vodka, which Reinis assured me was very medicinal, I watched the latest film produced by their company.  To Swallow A Toad by Jurgis Krasons is a sardonic tale about the “round” intellectuals and the pragmatic “squares” who discover the “rounds” secret to life.  The title is a Latvian saying meaning to tolerate the intolerable.  The film premiered at Cannes this year as one of 9 short films selected for the festival.

After watching the film, Nik and I strolled out to the lawn behind the Imperial Palace to the Finnish Party.  Over Finish vodka, beer and wine I chatted with Trond Ola Mevassvik and Mangus Eide from the Fredrikstad Animation Festival in Norway.  They told me about plans for the 2010 festival which sounds even more exciting than last year.  Finnish animators definitely know how to party and this year they outdid themselves by building a sauna at the lake’s edge.  After a couple hours of partying, guests were invited to take turns sweating away the effects of the week’s festivities and the lack of sleep.

We popped into the Croatian cocktail party at the lake tent space for a quick hello and glass of wine before we went on to the Dutch Party at the very popular Café des Arts.

David Silverman had been trying to join Nik and the band all week.  The baby tuba that the festival promised David finally arrived and he joined the band to the delight of the packed audience.  A highlight of the evening came when the band broke into the Wallace and Grommit theme and Peter Lord danced around the band.

David Silverman, Nik and Rolf Baechler inspire Peter Lord to cut a rug at the Dutch party

Peter Lord really moving it

We ended the night at the ASIFA 50^th Anniversary Party which turned out to be a non party.  Only 4 or 5 ASIFA Board Members showed up and they did not stay long.  There was no food or drink and the loud disco music made it impossible to talk.

Friday saw us at the Dream Works picnic, where everyone who was anyone enjoyed eating, drinking and chatting under the trees. The only rule there is to talk with someone you’ve never met.  Even though David Silverman, Nik and I are old friends I have never had the chance to meet Matt Groening.  He turned out to be as nice and humorous as I thought he would be.  But then you couldn’t expect less from the creator of the Simpsons.  Shelly Page was once again the hostess with the moistest, presiding over what has become a Friday tradition. Nik and Rolf provided background music to eat, drink and chat to.

Matt Groening and Nancy at the Dreamworks picnic

Saturday is the day for another event that is becoming a tradition - Nik and Nancy’s picnic and paddle boat race.  The day was nice and dry after a week where rain always seemed to be lurking about.  This year there was a new addition to the festivities.  Joanna Quinn joined forces with us to hold a rounders game.  Joanna, who acted as referee, explained rounders as “girlie baseball”.  Seven teams took to the grass, 2 at a time until through a process of elimination one team was left standing.  Everyone had a great time either playing or watching and we discovered hidden talents.  My German journalist colleague, Johanna Walters, proved a natural at the game and Joanna even urged him to turn “pro”.  The winning team was presented with a large aluminum foil loving  cup trophy that Joanna created the night before in her hotel room and the victors toasted everyone with champagne.  I trust that the winning team will bring the valuable trophy back next year when they defend their title.

Joanna Quinn showing off the Rounders Trophy

The Rounders players

The full Plus Annecy band serenaded us as we sat on the grass enjoying the sun, eating, drinking and laughing.  The picnic is also so much fun because it is an opportunity for professionals and students alike to chat together informally.   After a very busy week and the looming anticipation of the awards ceremony it is lovely to just relax in the grass by the lake.  I want to thank Shelly Page and the Dream Works picnic team for once again generously donating their extras to our picnic.  The beautiful plates of ham and salami and the many bottles of wine were thoroughly enjoyed.

The band at our picnic

The grand finale of the afternoon is always the paddle boat race.  This year, as though we were not enough of a danger to ourselves as we paddled furiously around the island, we had a new hazard added to the race course with the appearance of two large water fountains spraying up and into the lake.  David and Nik played at the finish line to cheer us all on.  I am proud to announce that the new reigning champions are Thomas Meyer-Herman, producer at Film Bilder Studio in Stuttgart and British animator Jamie Badminton who paddled their way to victory in record time.  I am sure that they will both be keeping their legs in shape to defend their title next year.

The closing night ceremony not only acknowledged emerging animators who won prizes but also paid homage to those who have helped to make Annecy a major animation event over the past 50 years.  When the awards were announced I was very pleased to see that Anita Killi’s Angry Man, a very sensitive and important film, won not only a Special Jury Award and the UNICEF Award, but also the Audience Award.  Her moving film reaches people across all languages and cultures which is a very special achievement.  At the conclusion of the ceremony confetti rained down on the stage and huge balloons bounced from audience to stage.  A complete list of winning films is listed at the end of the article.

It is always bittersweet to be together at the closing night party.  For some of us it will be a while before we are together again.  Just the presence of all of us under one tent makes a party.  It really didn’t matter that the party food was not very good (VERY bio/organic), that red wine was served in paper coffee cups (I have never seen that before) or that the band played at an ear splitting volume, sending us out to the terraces to carry on conversations.  We were all together and happy to be there.

I cannot thank Judith Cristofaro, press liaison, enough for all of her efforts on my behalf.  Carole Martino in the press office did everything that she could to make my week run smoothly.  She deserves a great deal of credit, because I know how difficult her job was this year with  tickets to everything, not just the opening and closing, being at a premium.

Although I ultimately got tickets to everything that I wanted to attend, many people that I talked to did not.  I realize that the old system of people crowding up at the glass doors for the 9 AM mad chase to the ticket desks was far from ideal, but now badge holders are only allowed to book two tickets per day through the on line service prior to the festival.  People were constantly scrambling for tickets and it is very difficult to plan your screenings before you arrive because during the week you learn about special events or decide that you want to see something when you read through the catalogue.  There was a ticket exchange desk and any unbooked tickets were available by computer a few minutes before the screening.  Raoul Servais told me that he doesn’t use a computer, so he couldn’t book any tickets.  I heard this from several other older festival goers.

The week in Annecy is costly.  With the travel and hotel costs, not to mention incidental expenses, if a film programmer or journalist can’t get in to see films that they need to see, they can’t do the job they came to do.  Several people told me that they thought that Annecy has just gotten too big and that they were seriously considering going to Stuttgart or Zagreb next year, and I can understand their feelings.

I realize that the festival has become more and more about business and that the 50^th Anniversary was a special year but the festival will be making a terrible mistake if they forget about the many animators, programmers and journalists who have returned year after year.  So the jury is still out for me . . .

Opening night, 150 tickets were reserved for business dignitaries instead of being given to animators.  Many people who should have seen The Illusionist couldn’t see the film, much less attend the opening party.  The parties are important opportunities, because that is where we have the opportunity to meet and talk to each other.

There was just too much to see in one week.  If Annecy keeps expanding they are going to have to lengthen the festival to 10 days or a week.  If I didn’t write about your favorite screening or event, I’m sorry, but there are only 24 hours in a day . . . even at Annecy.

For me the icing on the cake was our train ride home to Belgium.  We shared a carriage with Raoul Servais from the French border to his stop in Belgium and time flew by as we had good conversation and shared memories.  Raoul also told us that CFCA (Assoication du Cinema d’ animation) has invited him to be a special part of their 12 day long IDA (International Animation Day) celebration.  On 28 October he will present a selection of his films and international shorts at a special screening at Centre Pompidou, in the center of Paris.  For more information visit www.afca.asso.fr

ANNECY 2010 PALMARES

FEATURE FILMS:

Jury:  Manuela Schobel-Lumb, Germany; Aro Folman, Isreal; and Sir Tim Rick, Great Britain

Best Feature:  Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson – United States

Special Distinction:  Eleanor’s Secret, Dominique Monfery – Italy

Audience Award:  Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson – United States

SHORT FILMS:

Jury:  Sayoko Kinoshita, Japan; John Musker, United States; and Patrice Leconte, France

The Annecy Cristal:  The Lost Thing, Andrew Ruhemann and Shaun Tan – Australia/Great Britain

Special Jury Award:  Angry Man, Anita Killi – Norway

Jean-Luc Xiberras Award For A First Film:  Jean-Francois, Tom Haugomat and Bruno Mangyoku – France

Special Distinction:  Lipsett’s Diaries, Theodore Ushev – Canada

Don’t Go, Turgut Akacik – Turkey

Sacem Award For Original Music:  Love & Theft, Andreas Hykade – Germany

Audience Award:  Angry Man, Anita Killi – Norway

TV AND COMMISSIONED FILMS:

Jury:  Francoise Guyonnet, France; Peter Debruge, United States and Max Howard, United States

Cristal For Best TV Production:  The Little Boy And The Beast, Johannes Weiland and Uwe Heidschotter –

Germany

Special Award For A TV Series:  Dragons et Princesses, Michel Ocelot – France

Best TV Special:  The Gruffalo, Jakob Schuh and Max Lang – Great Britain

Educational, Scientific Or Industrial Film Award:  Giallo a Milano, Sergio Basso – Italy

Advertising Or Promotional Film Award:  Harmonix, The Beatles:  Rock Band, Pete Candeland – Great Britain

Best Music Video Award:  Sour, Tone Of Everyday, Masashi Kawamura, Hal Kirkland, Magico Nakamura, and

Masayoshi Nakamura – Japan

GRADUATION FILMS:

Jury: Nick Park, Great Britain; Peter De Seve, United States; and Juan Pablo Zaramella, Argentina

Best Graduation Film:  The Lighthouse Keeper, David Francois, Rony Hotin, Jeremie Moreau, Baptiste Rogron,

Gaelle Thierry, and Mailys Vallade – France

Special Jury Award:  Sauvage, Paul Cabon – France

Special Distinction:  Lebensader, Angela Steffen – Germany

JUNIOR JURY AWARD FOR A SHORT FILM:

Jury:  Camille Degeorges, Cheick Abdoulaye Gouem, Adja Ratoussian Ramata Ouedraogo, and William Serviant

Don’t Go, Turgut Akacik – Turkey

JUNIOR JURY AWARD FOR A GRADUATION FILM:

Jury:  Martin Duvernoy, Valentin Hattu, Melanie Marie Pascal Koudougou, and Damase Wendlassida Ouedrago

Kungfu Benny 3 – Counterattack, Zhiyong Li – China

UNICEF AWARD:

Angry Man, Anita Killi – Norway

FIPRESCI AWARD:

Jury:  Johannes Wolters, Gregory Cavinato, and Francis Gavelle

Miss Remarkable & Her Career, Joanna Rubin Drranger – Sweden, Ireland, and Denmark

CANAL + CREATIVE AID AWARD FOR A SHORT FILM:

     I Forgive You, Pierre Mousquet and Jerome Cauwe – Belgium

ANNECY YOU TUBE AWARD:

Jury:  Joanna Quinn, Arthur de Pins, and David Silverman

Pop, Bernard Derriman – Australia

CALL FOR PROJECTS FOR SHORT FILMS;

Jury:  Alice Delalande, Vincent Caudeville, Jean-Pierre Lemouland, and Albert Pereira-Lazaro

JURY AWARD:

Encore des Changements, Barbara Malleville and Benoit Guillaume – France

PRIX PRIZE ABBAYE DE FONTEVRAUD

Vigia, Marcel Barelli – Switzerland

TOON BOOM ANIMATION PRIZE:

The Leaf Painter , Marina Rosset and Jadwiga Kowalska – Switzerland

OUT OF THE BOX July 30 and 31st Zimbabwe’s First Animation Festival

ASIFA Egypt is happy to announce Zimbabwe’s first animation festival.  The Zimbabwe Festival of African Inspired Animation (ZIMFAIA) organized by the Joint Afrikan Animation Group (JAAG) with the support from the Alliance Francaise, and the partnership of ASIFA Egypt, will take place July 30^th and 31^st at the Alliance Francaise in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Festival Director Soloman Maramba invites both students and professionals from around the world to submit their work.  The theme of the festival is Out Of The Box with a focus on regional African content.   Work in an array of areas fields such as advertisements and architectural visualizations as well as animation will be presented as well as digital content, motion graphics, digital videos and special effects.

The festival acronym ZIMFAIA has been altered to “zimfire” a play on “Blazing the Trail” to reinforce ZIMFAIA’S role of putting African animation center stage and blazing the trail for all of the continents animators and would be animators to follow and fully explore their craft. In addition to celebrating an abundance of creativity, screenings and a digital art exhibition there will be a focus on production to help demystify the finer points of the animation process.

The festival theme Out Of The Box refers to the emergence of the Zimbabwe animation industry.  Animators and visual effects artists will be coming out of THEIR boxes and the countries animation industry will be coming out of THE box to show the world their high quality of work and the production abilities available in the country.

The focus of the festival is on regional African art and entries are asked to follow this theme.  ZIMFAIA does not have a competition section or a specific production period for submitted work.  The deadline for entries is July 15, 2010.

ZIMAFAIA does not have a competition component or a stipulated production period for submitted material. The deadline for entries is 15 July 2010. The entry form and submission guidelines are available from the ZIMAFAIA website: www.zimfaia.jaagonline.org/outofthebox

For more information, contact: Festival Director, Solomon Maramba; +263 912 381 997; info@jaagonline.org

 

zimfaia poster

Last call for entries Holland Animation Film Festival 2010

This is an excellent festival that I whole heartedly endorse and encourage you to send your film to.
Submit your film now at www.haff.nl!

>> Deadline entries: 15 July 2010
>> Deadline entries competition features: 1 August 2010

17th INTERNATIONAL TRICKFILM FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM Stuttgart, Germany May 4 through 9 2010

The 17^th edition of the International Trickfilm Festival of Animated Film, May 4 through 9 in Stuttgart, Germany was definitely bigger and better than ever.  The only problem I had was that there was so much to see and do that I had to make some difficult choices.

In addition to the five short film competition screenings there were four Tricks For Kids programs, four Young Animation presentations, four Panorama screenings, feature films, and a bevy of guests.

A rare appearance by the legendary Bruce Bickford was a special treat.  Bruce, an animation veteran of 40 years, introduced two of his films, the 45 minute Cas’l and Prometheus’ Garden.  He also answered numerous questions from the sold out audience.  In a separate program Monster Road, Brett Ingram’s 2004 film about the life and work of Bickford gave an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the self taught Claymation maste who spent 6½ years working with Frank Zappa to create such films as Baby Snakes and Dub Room Special.

Bruce Bickford doing Q & A

The competition programs offered some new surprises for me.  Australian animator Darcy Pendergast’s Lucky is a total departure from his previous Claymation work.  The non-narrative music driven film shows what can happen when an animator and his friends stay up all night with a camera and  glow sticks.  Darcy used the same process that you would use to write your name in the night sky with sparklers.  The camera was set to a long exposure and images were painted   in the dark sky with flash lights, glow sticks or anything else that emitted light.  The process was repeated again, each take slightly modified from the previous frame to create an animated sequence.  The results are beautiful, fanciful images.

In a totally different vein, Urte Zintler’s black and white drawings create a world of memories as an old woman sings a song. The film, Thoughts Are Free, is a touching remembrance of a beloved grandmother.

I have been a fan of Andreas Hykade’s work ever since I first saw The Runt.  His latest animation Love and Theft is a totally different, but equally captivating piece of psychedelic imagery.  Morphing animation loops take us on a trip through cartoon history from Betty Boop to Bill Plympton and beyond.  The entire romp is set to a hypnotic musical score which increases in intensity in perfect unison with the images.

Nancy with Andreas Hykade - photo: Michael Henok

It is always a pleasure to see animation from China that is anything more than snub nosed little kids with big eyes or lumbering monsters.  Lei Lei, a young animator from Beijing, China definitely displayed his independent nature in Magic Cube and Ping-Pong.  The hand drawn on paper film was screened in the Young Animation Program.  Lei Lei told me how difficult it is to be an independent animator in China, and that it is almost impossible to get any financial support from the government to create your work if you do not follow the approved path, leading into a cubical in an animation factory.

As always the daily Filmmakers Talk was a highlight of the festival.   Christophe Erbes, children’s book author, media consultant, and animation expert lead the discussion with directors of films in competition in the festival café.  He is an expert moderator thanks to his blend of animation knowledge, taste and a large dose of wit.  It is always instructive to hear the directors discuss the making of their film, and I always look forward to this opportunity to learn more about how and why a work has been created.  Christophe also hosts the nightly Short Film Competitions, introducing the directors who are in attendance on stage.

Interviewing - Nik and Christoph

 Tricks for Kids showed some of my favorite films.  Several of the minute long episodes of Alexei Alexeev’s hilarious Log Jam series brought gales of laughter from the young audience.   I must admit that no matter how often I watch Alexei’s delightful tales of the bear, rabbit, and wolf, 3 musicians who try to make their music in the forest, no matter what obstacles they find themselves up against.  They always bring a smile to my face.

I enjoyed watching Lost and Found yet again.  The magical tale of loneliness and friendship based on Oliver Jeffers’ award winning book has been beautifully brought to life by British animator Philip Hunt.

 The Gruffalo by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang won the Trickstar for the best animated children’s film in competition.  The half hour stop motion film is a magical tale of a mouse who takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut, told with a charm and humor faithful to the original well known children’s book by Julia Donaldson.

The four Best of Animation programs were grouped into screenings entitled Obsession, Lost in Sensation, Other Places – Other Times, and Life Forms.  Obsession gave me a chance to see such classic films as Michaela Pavlatova’s erotic fantasy Carnival of Animals and Run Wake’s adult fairy tale Rabbit.  I was especially happy to have the opportunity to see the Quay Brothers In Absenta, their 2000 film about a woman alone in an asylum obsessed with writing the same letter over and over.  All 4 of the programs were perfectly programmed to take you from one beautiful, often dark, film to another.

 Animated Architecture seems to be an interesting new festival topic.  The Monstra festival in Lisbon this March had a special presentation of an animated film by architects, accompanied live by a dancer who interacted with the image and musicians.  Trickfilms’ Animation Architecture program was a selection of videos made by architects to render both actual building projects and futuristic architectural projects.  The videos incorporated music, graphics, and text to bring blue prints to life.

To celebrate 50 years of the Sandman short stories which have lulled children to sleep for several generations, the festival premiered Sandman, a German feature that combines stop-motion and live action.  The look of the main animated characters stays very true to the original drawings from the books.  The tale is a charming story about the theft of the Sandman’s bag of dreams by Habumar, a villain, who wants to give everyone bad dreams.   I watched the film with a very young audience who were completely enthralled.  The backgrounds and lighting design were beautiful, but the live actors seemed totally out of place and were very distracting to the animated beauty of the feature.  I am sure that the film, geared to the youngest audience, will delight them as much as the books do.

Another beloved children’s book The Moomies by Finnish /Swedish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson is being brought to life on the screen in time for the 65^th birthday of the cuddly little characters.  This production is a new stereoscopic 3D version of a Polish-Austrian stop motion film that was made in the late 1970’s.  The conversion of the original footage, a felt-puppet animation shot on 35mm film through layers of glass will be Finland’s first 3D film.  We were only shown the trailer for the film, but I watched the footage with both the 3D glasses on and off and was pleased to see that the film was enjoyable to watch either way.   I was told that since the target audience is 3 to 8 year old, the director wanted to make sure that even the smallest child who might not be comfortable wearing the glasses for a long time could also enjoy the movie.  The film’s new theme song, The Comet Song, was composed and performed by Bjork who is an avid Moomin fan herself. The film premiered at Cannes this year and I am looking forward to having the opportunity to see the entire film soon.

During the day the Festival Garden provided a lovely place to relax with friends over a beer or visit the Activity Tent where guest animators gave demonstrations and talked about their films.  A portion of the tent was given over to future animators to try their hand at making a zoetrope or modeling clay figures.

Future animators in the Activity Tent

At night the beer garden turned into a large, open air screening room showing feature films from the festival free to the vast audience spread out on blankets.  Even wet skies could not dampen the audiences’ enthusiasm when director David Silverman took to the stage to introduce The Simpsons Movie. Other night time offerings ranged from Madagascar to Mary & Max.

David Silverman, an avid tuba player, and my husband, Nik Phelps put together a “festival band” with Australian composer, musician Jamie Messenger Humphries on harmonium, Alexei Alexeev and his guitarlele (smaller than a guitar but bigger than a ukulele), and animator/percussionist Darcy Prendergast on ice bucket.  Unfortunately Nik was only able to be at the festival for one night due to  pressing work deadlines.  The band made good use of their one night thoug.  They played in the festival café until they closed, then continued to make music until 6 AM at a local bar.  Chinese animator Lei Lei, who is an amazing rapper, joined the band on other evenings.  The combination of tuba and rapping in Chinese defies description.

Jamming at Cafe Schlossberg - Jamie Messenger Humphries, Nik Phelps, David Silverman and Alexei Alexeev

 

Darcy Prendergast getting ready to join in with Nik and David Silverman

Running concurrently with the Trickfilm Festrival, May 4 through 7^th, was the 15^th FMX Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media.  Billed as the “biggest expert meeting of the minds in Europe”, over 3,000 international animation specialists, visitors, and young talent attended the simultaneous presentations.  Unfortunately my festival schedule was so packed that I didn’t get to spend as much time as I would have liked at FMX.  When I was there the 10 conference halls were packed.  Of special note was the 2 day Animation Production Day, a financing platform which brought together creative guests seeking funding for their projects with funders in pre-arranged one on one meetings.  I wish that FMX began a day or two before the festival so that I could have devote an entire day exploring the numerous events that the conference offered.

Sunday evening the 400 seat Gloria 2 Theatre was completely full for the closing ceremony and the awarding of the Trickstar statutes.  A complete listing of winners and jury members is at the end of the article.  A party in the festival café followed the awards.  When the café closed we moved to the now empty Activity Tent in the festival garden to make music and party late into the wee hours.

The 17^th International Trickfilm Festival had all of the wonderful films and events that you would expect from a major World Class Festival but still retains it’s personal, warm, welcoming atmosphere.  Directors Dittmar Lumpp and Ulrich Wegenast are most gracious festival hosts.  Guest Coordinator/Program Director Andrea Bauer and Philipp Haarmann, along with the entire amazing festival staff were never so busy that they wouldn’t help a festival guest who had a problem.  Their dedication to making the festival experience special was proven when they moved mountains to bring Nik to Stuttgart for just 20 hours so that he and David could play music together.

I have so many vivid memories of my time at the festival.  If I could only attend one festival a year, the Trickfilm Festival in Stuttgart would be it.

AWARDS 2010

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION
Jury:  Kathrin Albers, Hamburg; Dave Chua, Singapore; Les Mills, Cardiff; Igor Prassel, Ljubljana; and Saschka Unseld,
Los Angeles.

GRAND PRIX:  State of Baden-Wuerttemberg and City of Stuttgart Grand Award for Animated Film (15,000.00 Euros)
A FAMILY PORTRAIT – Joseph Pierce, Great Britain
LOTTE REINIGER PROMOTION AWARD for best graduation film presented by MFG Film Funding, Baden- Wuerttemberg (10,00.00 Euros):
SAM’S HOT DOG – Great Britain
SPECIAL AWARD: MUSIC FOR ANIMATED FILM :  Sponsored by GEMA Foundation (5,000.00 Euros):
LOVE & THEFT – Music by Heiko Meile, Animation by Andreas Hykade, Germany
SWR-AUDIENCE AWARD:
SINNA MANN  (ANGRY MAN) – Anita Killi, Norway

YOUNG ANIMATION
Jury:  Chiara Magri, Chieti; Andre Eckardt, Dresden; and Hannes Rall, Singapore.
AWARD FOR BEST STUDENT FILM:  Sponsored by MFG Film Funding Baden-Wuettemberg (2,500.0 Euros)
PARADE – Pierre-Emmanuel Lyet, France

TRICKS FOR KIDS
Jury – Lisa Marie Hagele, 10 years old; Charlotte Huppenbauer, 11 years old; Maren Spohie Sautter, 9 years old;
Wendelin Sander, 11 years old; Lorenzo von dem Knesebeck, 11 years old; and Philipp Wand, 11 years old.
AWARD FOR BEST CHILDREN’S ANIMATED FILM:  Sponsored by Nickelodeon (4,000.00 Euros)
THE GRUFFALO – Jakob Schuh and Max Lang, Great Britain

ANIMOVE
Jury – Karsten Kiilerich, Copenhagen; David Silverman, Los Angeles; and Andrea Wilson, Berlin.
AWARD FOR BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM: Sponsored by SUPER RTL (2,500 Euros)
PONYO – Hayao Miyazaki, Japan

UNDER COMMISSION
Jury:  Kathi Kappel, Berlin; Thomas Meyer-Hermann, Stuttgart; Franco Moretti, Milan; Armin Pohl, Stuttgart; Michael Preiswerk, Stuttgart; and Uli Weber, Stuttgart.
AWARD FOR ANIMATED COMMERCIALS AND MUSIC VIDEOS:  Sponsored by Mackevision Medien Design GmbH (2,500.00 Euros)
HARMONIX  ‘THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND’ INTRO CINEMATIC – Pete Candeland, Great Britain

GERMAN ANIMATION SCREENPLAY AWARD
Jury:  Kirstian Luffe, Munich; Eckart Fingberg, Berlin; Oliver Huzly, Berlin; and Ullrich Wegenast, Stuttgart.
GERMAN LANGUAGE SCREENPLAY FOR AN ANIMATED FILM:  Sponsored by Universum Film GmbH (5,000.00 Euros)
LARS LEMMING – Heiko Martens, Germany

BEST OF THE BEST
ON LINE AUDIENCE AWARD:  Sponsored by Kulturgemeinschaft Stuttgart (1,000.00 Euros)
AH POOK IS HERE – Philip Hunt, Great Britain/Germany

GERMAN VOICE ACTOR AWARD
AWARD FOR THE BEST VOICE ACTOR IN AN ANIMATED FEATURE FILM:  (2,500.00 Euros)
Oliver Kalkhofe –  B.O.B. in MONSTERS vs. ALIENS, USA

CRAZY HORSE SESSION 48 HOUR 3D JAM
BEETLE AND CHEVAL, Denmark

MONSTRA ANIMATION FESTIVAL MEANS SPRING IS HERE AT LAST

I know that spring is on the way each year when it is time to travel to Lisbon for the MONSTRA Animation Festival (March 11 through 21).  After the long, hard winter in Northern Europe, the prospect of Portuguese sun was doubly appealing.

To commemorate the 10^th anniversary of the festival, Artistic Director Fernando Galrito dedicated the first four days of screenings to showcasing Portuguese animation. Opening night traced the history of Portuguese cinema, beginning with the 1923 political satire O Pesadelo de Antonio Maria (The Nightmare of Antonio Maria) directed by Joaquin Guerreiro.

Comic strip characters inspired most Portuguese animated films until the 1960s. The rise of domestic television advertisements took the work in a different direction.  Then in 1974 following the Carnation Revolution new opportunities opened up for the countries animators.

Two of the major influences after the 1974 revolution were the TV series hosted by Vasco Granja and the founding of the Cinanima Animation Festival in Espinho.  Gramja introduced his television audiences to animation ranging from Eastern Europe to North America on his show Film Animation that ran for 16 years.   He was greatly influenced by Norman McLaren who became his close friend after they met at Annecy.  Gramja strove to carry McLaren’s message of peace to his viewers.

The second influence has been Cinanima, founded in 1977 and held annually in Easpinho, Portugal.  It is not only a major festival presenting and nurturing Portuguese animation, but over the years it has become recognized as an important world-class event.

Portuguese animation has a distinctly unique character all its own.  I have always felt that because of its isolated position on the western side of the Iberian Peninsula, the native animators have created works primarily for their fellow countrymen, strongly influenced by their intense connections to their literature and the sea.

Portuguese women working in animation show a special sensitivity toward the way they view life.  In the last few years they have become prominent on the international scene as a screening at Monstra honoring 14 women working in a variety of mediums and styles pointed out.  Regina Pessoa’s Tragic Story With A Happy Ending has won international awards including the 2006 Annecy Crystal and the Best Animated Short Film at Cinamina the same year.  Joana Toste’s films are appreciated world wide for her ability to tell everyday stories that have quirky, humorous twists.

To round out the picture of Portuguese animation, Monstra paid tribute to producers, musicians and scriptwriters with three separate programs highlighting their achievements.  They are all too often the unsung heroes of animation.  It was pleasing to know that in Lisbon large audiences turned out to see their heritage on the big screen.

For many festivals four days packed full of film would be more than enough, but not for Monstra.  On the fifth day of the event the International Jury members and festival guests began to arrive and the festival took on an international flavor.  Priit Parn, Michaela Pavlatova and Bill Plympton each introduced a program of their films. Retrospectives of Canadian, French, Russian, Polish, Finish, and Brazilian animation were screened along with the short film and student competitions.

As part of her National Film Board of Canada presentation, NFB producer Marcy Page showed a clip from her latest project Higglety Pigglety Pop! Or There Must Be More to Life.  The 25-minute film is adapted from Maurice Sendak’s book of the same name. Marcy was part of the production team which also included Spike Jonze and Vincent Landry.  Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, the duo that made Madame Tutliputli, brought the story of Jenny, a sealeyham terrier who sets out in the world to find experience and adventure to life on the screen.  The animated Jenny is perfect, just as I pictured her when I read the book, one of my favorite stories.  I did feel that Meryl Streeps voice didn’t capture Jenny’s personality though.  I am looking forward to seeing the entire film.  The Warner Brothers, NFB co-production has since then been released directly to the Blue-Ray Version DVD as a short with Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. The NFB plans to release its own DVD of the film sometime this summer.

Marcy’s husband, the extremely gifted composer Normand Roger, screened films for which he created the music.  His melodic sounds have added to the atmosphere of such memorable works as Alexander Petrov’s Old Man and the Sea, Michael Dudok De Witt’s moving Father and Daughter, and Regina Pessoa’s Tragic History With a Happy Ending.

Marcy Page and Normand Roger in the festival cafe

Special treats for me were programs of the legendary Czech puppet animator Karel Zeman.  I had not seen his feature length The Tale of John and Mary in a long time so it seemed as creative and entertaining as the first time I watched it.  This time I was particularly aware of how much Karel Svobado’s music added to the film.  A selection of Zeman’s shorts  shown included the classic The Christmas Dream (1945) that he made with Hermina Tyrlove.  It won the Best Animation award at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival.

Czech animator Jiri Barta has had a long career creating stop-motion films that have received critical acclaim. At long last Barta has returned to the screen with In the Attic:  Who Has a Birthday Today?  The stop-motion film, aimed at a young audience, reveals the secret lives of old and forgotten toys that come alive when humans aren’t watching.

I have become increasingly interested in animated documentaries.  The possibilities of telling painful, difficult stories that would often be unbearable in live action films for both the viewer and storyteller are unlimited.  The 2 ani-doc programs covered the full range of human emotions.

I was delighted to see three of my long time favorite ani-docs, A is for Autism, Never Like the First Time, and His Mother’s Voice.  Commissioned by BBC’s Channel 4, Tim Webb’s A is for Autism is a collection of live action and animated sequences that offer insight into different aspects and forms that autism takes.  The film gives a very rare glimpse of the private, personal world of autistic children and adults.

Animator Jonas Odell’s Never Like the First Time looks at four people’s first encounter with sex while Australian Dennis Tupicoff told the story of a mother’s anguish when her son is shot in the emotionally wrenching His Mother’s Voice.

I had not seen Andy Glynne’s moving My Blood is my Tears before.  His look at what causes some young people to turn to self-harm is beautifully animated, but very painful to watch.  His exploration into the relief that physical pain seemingly provides from emotional pain is a perfect example of the power the ani-doc possesses.

Jury members had their work cut out for them.  The short film competition jury was composed of Pourtugese actor Filipe Duarte, Normand Roger, Polish animator Michaela Pavlatova, Brazilian film maker Marcos Magalhaes, and Deb Singleton, Director of the Bradford Animation Festival.  They watched six programs of  films in competition.   The five programs in the student competition were viewed by Eastonian animator Olga Parn,  Portuguese director Sandra Ramos, Wilson Lazaretti of Brazil, Burak Sahin Turkish animator and Humberto Santana, Portuguese director and cartoonist.

Even though I had seen many of the films in competition, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Olga and Priit Parn’s evocative Divers in the Rain again. The film garnered the Monstra Grand Prix award.

Of course there were new films to discover. The biggest treat for me in the competition was 7 Brothers, the new Paul Driessen film.  This is his first film made in conjunction with his son Kaj.  The film, a mixture of animation and live action, reveals that contrary to popular belief there were actually 7 Brothers Grimm and that the stories they wrote end differently than the tales we are familiar with in books and films.  Kaj studied live action film and Paul’s work does not need an introduction.  Working together the team has created a most original, humorous short.

Canadian Patrick Beregron created Loop Loop from a 33 second video sequence that he shot from a train bound for Hanoi, Viet Nam.  He then stitched the images together into one long panoramic image, intergrating other moving images into a smooth video loop.  The 5-minute film, a mix of animation, abstract film, and documentary, is a feast for the eyes.

   Programs of animation from around the world were screened for school children each morning at the Cinema Sao Jorge.  In what the festival called “the Little Monster Around Lisbon” there were also screenings in the Museum of Ethnology in conjunction with the museum’s educational services, two screenings a day in local elementary schools and in two movie houses in other parts if the city.  The festival is trying to make it easier for people to see animation with their outreach screenings.

For older students several festival guests gave workshops.  My husband Nik Phelps and Serbian animator/illustrator Rastko Ciric led a daylong workshop where students created a simple film with a spoken word sound tract.  For some of the participants this was their first foray into animation.  When I visited the workshop, they were all hard at work.  Their film was going to be shown on closing night, but for some reason it wasn’t.  I felt very sorry for the students who came that evening specifically to see their completed work on the big screen.  A few awards were also inadvertently not announced at the closing ceremony.

Nik and Rastko with their workshop students

Latvian director Vladimir Leschiov’s workshop took his students on the exploration of the metaphor as the fundamental dynamic in animation.  Other Masterclasses were led by Mickaela Pavlatova, Normand Roger, and Priit Parn.  Bill Plympton gave a master class on creating films with little funding to a packed audience who hung on to his every word.

An exploration of the basic concepts of animation was designed as a parent/child workshop led by Wilson Lazaretti.  Wilson is well qualified in this area since he is the founder and director of the Nucleo de Cinema Animacao de Campinas in Brazil, one of the oldest existing children’s animation workshops.  He has also launched an ambitious project of taking animation workshops to indigenous children and adults in the Amazon Rain Forest.

The 10^th edition of MONSTRA was also a celebration of dance and music.  They showed the highly regarded documentary about Russian cheographer Alexander Shiryaev who used animation to aid in planning his intricate ballet steps as early as 1900.  I saw the Shiryaev documentary and films in Annecy a few years ago and their intricate techniques are a visual delight.  There was also a program of his films and two other programs of shorts that explored the intimate relationship between animation and dance.

On opening night Festival Artistic Director Galrito conceived of a unique presentation.  Five architects who had never animated before created a film that was screened as a live dancer interacted with the images.  Musicians accompanied the images and dancer.  Even though the piece did not always work, it was an interesting experiment.

On another evening Portuguese film composer Manuel Tentugal, animation director Jose Miguel Ribeiro, and digital technology expert Victor Student created sounds to a projected image controlled by Jose Miguel moving a light wand.

The cinema Sao Jorge lobby became an art gallery.  There were original artworks used in the Portuguese films shown at the closing night ceremony.  Work by festival guests  included original drawings from Vladimir Leschiov’s sensitive film Wings and Oars and a collection of Priit Parn’s drawings.  These works gave a firsthand look at the remarkable talents of these two brilliant animators.  Two large windows displayed sets from director Andre Letria’s television series Foxy and Meg.

The Museu da Marioneta in conjunction with MONSTRA hosted a display of sets and characters from Desassossego,  a new Portuguese film directed by Lorenzo Degl’Innocentti.  Desassossego was one of a group of new Portuguese films that were premeired as part of the closing night ceremony.  Jose Miguel Ribeiro’s latest claymation, Passseio de Domingo (Sunday Drive) which was first screened last year was also shown and Pedro Serrazina also premiered a new film. He created the beautiful, evocative black and white animation Tale About the Cat and the Moon (1995).  Unfortunately all of the premier films were in Portuguese with no English subtitles that made them very difficult for me to totally understand.  I look forward to seeing subtitled versions of the films in competition at another festival soon.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Monstra awards.  The honor of the best Portuguese film went to the very talented Zepe (Jose Pedro Cavalheiro) for Candido, a tale of misspent love and manipulation.  Gregor Dashuber from Germany received the Best Student Film for Never Drive a Car When You’re Dead.  I met Gregor and his equally talented composer/sound designer Marian Mentrup at the Festival in Stuttgart last year and was immediately attracted to their film about an awkward hero who stumbles across a long forgotten piano that changes his world.  It leads him outside to play a final funeral march to all of the deadbeat figures on the sidewalk.  A complete list of all winning films is at the end of the article.

A new feature invented by MONSTRA this year was the interactive flipbook.  If you flipped the pages in one direction you saw a complete animation.  Flipped in the opposite way some parts of the animation are missing so that each person can complete and customize their book.

A final surprise awaited us at the closing night party where two collectible wine labels created by Bill Plympton and Priit Parn were unveiled.  The labels were commissioned by a vineyard owner who is a festival supporter.

Nancy celebrating with a Balthazar of Portuguese Douro with the Bill Plympton wine label

After 10 days of magic at MONSTRA it was hard to think about returning to the real world.  There are no words sufficient to thank MONSTRA for all of their generous, warm hospitality.  Festival Artistic Director Fernando Galrito is the perfect host.  Production Director Ines Lampreia and her hardworking staff made sure that everything ran smoothly.

There are lots of other wonderful memories of Monstra 2010 from delicious long meals with fellow festival guests to seeing Adam Elliot’s brilliant Mary & Max again with a packed audience.  I also love my memory of the night Nik and Rastko performed songs in the festival café.

Rastko Ciric and Nik performing at the Monstra Cafe

Galrito, Inez, and the staff deserve great praise for the generous hospitality that they extended to their guests.  Good film programs and wonderful hospitality set to the backdrop of a beautiful city makes MONSTRA a not to miss festival each year.

MONSTRA 2010 Awards

Jury:  Filipe Duarte (Portugal), Normand Roger (Canada), Michaela Pavlatova (Czech Republic), Marcos Magalhaes (Brazil), and Deb Singleton (England)

Grand Prize RTP 2/MONSTRA 2010 Best Short Film ( Purchase of Film and Guaranteed Screening on RTP 2) – Divers In The Rain – Olga & Priit Parn (Estonia)

Special Jury Prize - The Da Vinci Code – Gil Alkabetz (Germany)

Best TV Series – Log Jam – Alexey Alexeev (Russia/Hungary)

Best Portuguese Short Film – Candido – Zepe (Jose Pedro Cavalheiro)

Best Film for Young Audiences – Les Escargots De Joseph – Sophie Roze (France)

Best Sound Track – Divers In The Rain – Olga and Priit Parn (Estonia)

Special Mentions:

Dialogos – Ulo Pikkov (Estonia)

Orgesticulanismus – Mathieu Labaye (Belgium)

Amourette – Maja Gehrid (Switzerland)

Please Say Something – David O’Reilly (Ireland)

Le Petit Dragon – Bruno Collet (France)

RTP@/ONDA CURTA AWARDS – Presented by Joao Garcao Borges, Program Director):

Nuvole Mani – Simone Massi (Italy)

French Roast – Fabrice O. Joubert (France)

Allons-y! Alonzo! – Camile Moulin Dupre (France)

The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs – Konstantin Bronzit (Russia)

The 7 Brothers – Paul & Kaj Driessen (Netherlands)

Matieres A Rever – Florence Miailhe (France)

Wings and Oars – Vladimir Lesciov (Latvia)

STUDENT FILM JURY:  Olga Parn (Estonia), Sandra Ramos (Portugal), Wilson Lazaretti

(Brazil), Burak Sahin (Turkey), and Humberto Santana (Portugal)

Best Student Film - Never Drive A Car When You’re Dead­ – Gregor Dashuber (Germany)

Best Portuguese Student Film – A Grande Tarefa Do Senhor Poulet (The Great Task of M. Poulet – Andreia Costa

Special Mentions

Lebensader ­– Angela Steffen (Germany)

Train of Thought – Leo Bridle & Ben Thomas (England)

Portugese Student Jury Awards:

Best Student Film – Prayers For Peace  - Dustin Grella (EUA)

Best Portuguese Student Film – Sendo Um Feto (Being a Fetus) – Joao Alves de Sousa

Audience Choice Awards:

Best Student Short Film – Signalis – Adrian Fluckiger (Switzerland)

Best Short Film – Passeio De Domingo (Sunday Drive) – Jose Miguel Ribeiro (Portugal)

YOUNG AT HEART IN ANTWERP - 22nd HET JEUGDFILM FESTIVAL in ANTWERP 13 through 21 February

When I received the invitation to sit on the International Jury of Het Jeugdfilm Festival (European Youth Film Festival, 13 February through the 21^st) at the Cinema Zuid in the FotoMuseum in Antwerp, Belgium I was extremely pleased since it was the first time I had been invited to sit on a jury in my adopted country, Belgium.  The festival included several animated films but first I want to introduce my fellow judges.

Our five jury members were a very diverse group and I felt in very good company.  The name William Thijssen may be familiar to many of you.  He produced Father and Daughter, Michael Dudok de Wit’s classic film for which Willem won an Academy Award (2000).  He also received an Oscar as producer of Nicole Van Goethem’s A Greek Tragedy in 1986 making him the only Flemish person to win two Academy Awards.  His current project, slated for completion this summer, is An Angel in Doel with director Tom Fassaert.  The live action film tells the tragic story of Doel, Belgium, a village on the River Schelde, slated to be flooded.  Located inside the ever expanding Antwerp Harbor area, the last inhabitants of this once thriving farming village were given their final notice to leave in September 2009 to make way for the enlarging of the harbor.  Nik and I visited Doel several years ago and it was very sad to see that a once thriving town was now half deserted and falling into ruin in anticipation of it being flooded.

Director Giedre Beinoriute from Vilnius, Lithuania had a film, The Balcony, out of competition at the festival.  Giedre also gave me a copy of her film Grandpa and Grandma, a partially animated documentary based on the life story of her grandparents who were exiled from Lithuania to Siberia by the Soviets in 1948.  Told with family photographs, National Archive material and animation, I found the story very moving and completely absorbing.

Michael Brongers from Amsterdam primarily makes documentary films, a number of which are for children.  He showed me his award winning The Dr. Doowop Show, a poignant portrait of the host of the only doo-wop radio show in Europe which is a study in loneliness of a man who chooses to dance to a different beat.

Kevin Bellemans is well known to young Belgian television views as De Pretman, a character on Flemish television.  He is the “sex symbol” of the pre teen set, and whenever the jury went out together Kevin had young fans asking him for his autograph.

The International Jury - Michiel Brongers, Guidre Beinoriute, Kevin Belleman, Nancy and William Thijssen

The festival which is a mixture of animation and live action opened with the animated feature  Sunshine Barry and the Disco Worms by Danish director Thomas Borch Nilsen.   Barry, a worm occupying the lowest position in the food chain in his garden, discovers his true destiny when he finds an old disco record.  His quest to start a band and become a star by winning the annual talent scout competition made everyone in the audience want to dance along with Barry to the disco beat.  The film got the festival off to a rousing start.

Jury duty began on Monday morning with a short animation.  While we watched a great deal of live action shorts and features, I am only going to talk about the animation.  Circus Ernesto from Belgian director William Pirquin tells the story of an old circus manager who tries to get the attention of his lone spectator by performing more and more daring feats.  Failing to please his solo audience he delves deeper and deeper into his bag of fantastic tricks.  Unfortunately the animation was sadly lacking in technique.  With no dialogue, the musical score by Tim Janssen was the most engaging part of the film.

Carlos Fraiha made the 2 minute 3D This Is Not A Fly in two months as his post grad project in character animation at Central St. Martins College, University of Arts London.  The film is a humorous look at a man in an art gallery and a painted fly that seems to be playing mind games with him.  Frustration boils over when an angry security camera will not let him get close enough to the painting to find out what is going on.  The project, jointly sponsored by The National Gallery and the College, was inspired by a painting of Sainte Catherine of Alexandrie by Carlo Crivelli.

The animated short film that stood out for me was The Hours.  Noted Swedish artist, children’s writer and animator Johan Hagelback used a strong design style in his original approach to answer the age old question “Where do seconds come from?”  The Hours is the tale of what happens when a clock hour marker falls in love with the minute hand.  The International Jury awarded the film the Best Short Film prize.

The New Washing Machine, Winfried Bellman’s tale of two hamsters looking for the ultimate running wheel was humorous but once again I found the animation lacking in quality, and with no dialogue Alexander Roder’s music couldn’t carry the film.

Kurt Turns Evil was the only animated feature film in competition.  Norweigan Rasmus A. Silvertsen adapted the story from two books by Erlend Loes.  The theme of the film is desire for status.  Kurt, a truck driver, aspires to the status of his architect wife and next door neighbor, a doctor.  Striving for status is what ultimately turns Kurt evil.

“The theme is relevant to both children and adults” according to Silvertsen.  Unfortunately I thought that the animation was created for very young children while much of the humor and dialogue was way over a six year old’s head  not holding the interest of either children or their parents.  I saw the film in competition at Annecy last year and I was even more bored the second  time around.

Unfortunately, due to the needs of the jury to be elsewhere, I did not get to see the program of short European animation for young children or The Snowman directed by Diane Jackson of the UK  neither of which were in competition but they both looked very interesting.  I would also like to have been able to see Pettson and Findus: Forget Abilities.  This film is fourth in a series of films about Findus the cat and Pettson his owner.  Animated by Jorgen Lerdan, the films are based on the popular Swedish children’s books by Sven Nordqvist.  I have seen other Pettson and Findus films and find them delightful films for the younger audience.

Het Jeugdfilm Festival designs programs for young people from 3 year olds seeing their first movie to teenage audiences.  The youngest audience members received a certificate to commemorate their first cinema experience.  A program titled Cut the Crap, designed for 12 year olds and older dealt with serious problems and decisions that confront teenagers.  Topics ranged from young love and self image to the lure of being an escort girl to earn “easy” money.

There were several films centered on the desire for acceptance and love, loss, abandonment, or divorce for 8 year olds and older.  It is important for young people to see reflections of themselves on the screen with characters who are the center of the story dealing with issues relevant to them.  It is unfortunate that most parents in the US would probably find these films unsuitable for their 8 year children.

The festival offered numerous workshops where participants could create a real cartoon, make puppets and perform a puppet show or transform a 2D picture into a real life 3D scene.

In the theater lobby young and old alike could perform with the Digital Puppetry Installation.  By moving pink post-it notes up and down before images that floated across the top of the screen you could pull down items such as animated sunglasses, underpants or even grow a mustache on to your image on the screen.  This was the Belgian premier of the installation that has already visited Berlin, New York and Amsterdam.

William Thijssen, Guidre Beinoriute, Michiel Brongers, Kevin Belleman and young film goer play with the Puppetry Installation

Digital Puppetry installation

The festival had make-up artists on hand to transform young film goers into all manner of beasts and princesses.  There were even Big Wheel races down the Museum hall.

The festival is held simultaneously in two cities, Antwerp and Bruge, which are 83.67 kilometers apart.  Although we watched most of the films in Antwerp we were taken to Bruge for one day to watch movies with their Junior Jury.  The theater in Bruge was lovely, but unfortunately the screening quality was very poor.  As soon as we complained about the problem the festival did their best to rectify it for the next screening but sadly it was not in time for the audience to enjoy the film.

The Junior Jury at lunch with the International Jury

After the screenings Giedre, Michiel, and I took the opportunity to walk around Bruge because she had never been there before.  The city is one of Belgium’s top tourist attractions known for is scenic charm, authentic style old houses and the swans.

Sitting on a jury is always a serious matter but when it comes to the distribution of awards the stakes are very high for the film makers and deserves very serious attention from the jury.  Although we had to select one feature and one short film, the job did not prove as easy as it sounds.  After several hours of intense but good discussion and a lot of give and take we reached a decision that we could all be happy with although there were several films in both categories that were of merit.

The film distribution award for best feature went to the live action film Max Embarrasing directed by Lotte Svendsen.  We felt that this Danish film dealt with problems of growing up that every young person and parent can identify with.  The film also reached a successful end with an unexpected solution.

The short film Province of West Flanders Award of 1.250,00 Euros ( approximately 1,080.00 US dollars) to finance a future film project went to The Hours.  Johan Hagelback’s  animated film was a quirky original story executed in nice style.  A list of winners selected by all 3 juries and the audience award are at the end of the article.

The Festival team, Mieke Vanderhaeghen and Iris Verhoeven in Antwerp and Tom Van de Velde in Bruge and their efficient staffs did everything possible to make our job easy and pleasant.  As well as the festival this hard working trio also has year round programs designed to take films into the schools and parks in Antwerp, Bruge and other cities.

Iris Verhoeven, Tom Van de Velde, and Mieke Vanderhagen

To learn more about the films screened at the 2010 festival and their year around activities visit:

www.jeugdfilmfestival.be

WINNING FILMS

 Professional jury:

• Max Embarrassing (Max Pinlig) by Lotte Svendsen (Denmark, 2008) - best feature film (distribution price Jekino)
• The Hours (Timmarna / De uren) by Johan Hagelbäck (Sweden, 2008) - best short film (money price €1.250 – Province of West-Flanders)

Children’s Jury Antwerp:

• The Crocodiles (Vorstadtkrokodile / De krokodillenbende) by Christian Ditter (Germany, 2009) – best feature film
• The New Washing Machine (Die Neue Washmashine / De wasmachine) by Winfried Bellman (Germany, 2008) – best short film

Children’s Jury Bruges:

• Book of Masters (Kniga Masterov / Book of Masters) by Vadim Sokolovsky (Russia, 2009) – best feature film
• Anna Lovenstein (Anna Lovenstein) by Pauline Bureau (France, 2009) – best short film

The audiences in Antwerp and Bruges both voted for The Crocodiles (Vorstadtkrokodile / De krokodillenbende) by Christian Ditter (Germany, 2009) as the best feature film.

PETER PARR: ARTIST FOR ALL SEASONS

Anyone who attends Animation Festivals immediately recognizes the British gentleman with the warm smile, a twinkle in his eye, and sketchbook in hand.  Peter Parr and his lovely wife Astor have been dominant figures on the animation scene for over three decades.

At The Arts University College at Bournemouth (formerly The Arts Institute of Bournemouth) in Bournemouth, England he is a beloved Founder, Principal Lecturer, and Leader of their award winning BA Honors Animation Production Course. It is recognized on an international level and accredited by Skillset.
When I visited Peter and Astor in their lovely home in South West Hampshire on the edge of the New Forest I was fascinated to learn  about Peter’s other life.  I should not have been surprised to learn that he has also had a distinguished international career as a designer for film, television, and theater in the United States and London as well as his acclaimed work in animation.
Peter has designed murals for London’s Royal Opera House and the Royal Shakespeare Company.  His murals have gone on world tours in productions of Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice’s renowned stage presentation of Evita and Harold Pinter’s The Doll’s Life. His work also appeared in the Hal Prince production of Lulu on Broadway.  These are just a few of the many productions that he has worked on.
Exhibits of his work have been held in diverse locations.   Madame Tussaud’s in London and Amsterdam displayed his Trompe L’oeil Murals and Old Masters Paintings. English Heritage and Yorkshire Television have permanent  displays of figurative murals for The Book Tower at Sudbury Hall.  Figurative murals have been shown at the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Recognized throughout the animation community for his teaching methods and versatile draftsmanship, Peter has contributed to animation periodicals and publications.  Examples of Peter’s drawing from his sketches and story board contributions feature prominently in two of Paul Wells’ books, Fundamentals of Animation and Drawing for Animation, which illustrate the key elements of animation and tips on drawing.

“Peter Parr is one of the most renowned teachers of animation in Britian. He stresses the core skills of drawing and visualization in his work with students, pointing out the relationships between character, emotion and ‘dramatic” movement. (Paul Wells)

First and foremost, Peter’s name is associated with animation.  In 1965 he joined the London based film optical house Roy Pace Studio, assisting the camera team with shooting on the iconic Yellow Submarine. There he met Bob Godfrey and many other future colleagues in the animation world.  He went on to contribute animation to numerous film and television projects.  His television credits include character designs for the BBC production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, as well as numerous classical portraits for dramas, title sequences, storyboards and animatics.

Along the way Peter has garnered many awards. He received The British Interactive Multi-Media Award for his visualization of the CD ROM The Art of Singing . His most prestigious honor was his BA Animation Course receiving The Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Film and Animation. When I asked him about his honors, Peter told me in his typically humble, humorous style, that over time he has met most members of the Royal Family, but never all together, and he is not on the Royal Family’s Christmas Card List.
All of Peter Parr’s professional achievements would be enough to fill more than one lifetime, but if you ask him what he is proudest of, he will answer immediately that it is the many students that he has guided along the path to successful careers in all branches of the animation industry.
Peter’s first student in 1967, BAFTA Award winning Clive Juster, says that “one of Peter’s greatest strengths is the deep and genuine personal interest that he takes in all of his students.”  A testament to this is that Clive has remained a lifelong friend of Astor and Peter.
Parr’s talent to help each student develop his or her own distinctive style can be found in the far flung corners of the animation community.  At Aardman Studios Daniel Capozzi is an animation director and production designer.   Guillermo Garcia, the creator of the BAFTA Award winning  Pokoyo, is at Zinkia Studios in Madrid, Andy Grisdale at Pixar, Jason Smith at Lucas Studio where he works in game development. The list goes on and on.  The new generation such as recent graduates Jamie Badminton and Tim O’Sullivan are now making their mark as co-directors at Karrot Animation, which has created many animated segments for CBBC.
Somehow Peter finds time to serve on Animation Festival selection committees and juries from Hiroshima to Zagreb to London.  In 1997 he headed a seminar organized by The Walt Disney Features Animation Company.  Held at the then Arts Institute of Bournemouth, the meeting brought together five European institutions known for the high quality of their teaching and training in Animation.  Gerard Vallin, Co-director of Ecole Superieure D’Arts Graphiques Et D’Architecture Interieure in Paris praised Peter for his “exceptional ability to research and organize” the seminar.  Gerard and Peter developed such a close working rapport that they have gone on to organize a 25 Nation Exhibit, “European Way(s) of Life” at the Louvre in Paris in 2002.
Standing shoulder to shoulder with Peter as an ambassador for the Arts University College at Bournemouth is Peter’s wife Astor.  Together they have pioneered an exchange program which has brought students from all over the world to study in Bournemouth.  Thanks to the ambassadorship of Peter and Astor, young animators from around the world have broadened their study and work experience through  the Leonardo Program, which  has funded student placement and exchange programs with several European animation companies.  Most recently Astor and Peter have negotiated successful collaborations with animation companies and educators in China.
The Peter Parr Appreciation Society page on Facebook was started by Peter’s students as a genuine heartfelt tribute to a beloved professor, and even more importantly, a dear friend.  When I posted a request on the page for comments about Peter, I received many responses, all echoing “a grand animation tutor and a mentor for generations of students”.   Matt Cruickshank (Bournemouth 1988 formerly with Warner Bros. and now head of Merchandising at Disney U.K.), summed up what so many former students expressed by saying “Peter gave me something that I will never forget, and that is integrity.”