Susan Pitt: An Animator's Journey
Jackie Leger explores the visions of painter, designer and animation filmmaker, Suzan Pitt.
Tagged With: Film
Confessions of a Festival Juror
Maureen Furniss recounts her experiences as a member of the Ottawa 96 selection committee, providing some friendly advice from her and her fellow jurors.
Mancia Musings
Wherein the Museum of Modern Art's Adrienne Mancia reminisces to Mark Langer about her past efforts in animation programming and her thoughts about the state of the craft today.
La Freccia Azzurra (The Blue Arrow)
La Freccia Azzurra (The Blue Arrow) is a film that uses computers in a highly refined manner; so much so, that one hardly notices. Guided by an electronic brain, its camera is able to execute tracking shots and pans which one only thought possible in a live-action movie; drawn with pixels, the film's characters are seen across 30-40 levels, with each one staying in perfect focus. This is one of the secrets to the basic "lightness" of a film like no other, one which tells an amusing and fun-loving fairy tale set in the 30s, with the touch of a modern electronic storyteller. Scarafoni...
Festival Reasonings
A international selection of filmmakers, executives and others share their thoughts about why animators should consider sending their works to festivals.
Space Jam
Let's face it, there is no avoiding Space Jam. Warner Bros. really pulled out all the stops to make sure the film opened big, which it did. In so doing, they finally proved that Disney is not the only one that has the ability to make and successfully market an animated feature as a major event. Thus, the psychological hegomony that was Walt Disney Feature Animation is no more. In this context, it seems rather picky to cast any sort of critical eye on it. After all, aren't the special effects and the marriage of live-action and animation terrific? Well, yes, most of the time, but...
Daffy...
Tim Burton's 'Vincent'--A Matter of Pastiche
Michael Frierson provides an in-depth look at the animated short that brought Tim Burton his first inkling of fame.
Espinho 96: Small Is Still Beautiful
Ron Mann, Sue Shakespeare, Space Jam Directors, Tony Cervone and Bruce Smith.
Something's Wrong With Our Ship: Animated Motion-Simulator Films in Theme Parks
Judith Rubin surveys what's going on in animated ridefilms at theme parks and other venues around the world and who's making them.
Ottawa International Animation Festival
If you like to second-guess jury decisions, Ottawa '96 was the perfect animation festival for you. Almost as good as the O.J. Simpson trial. Even the Grand Prize Winner engaged in some public secondguessing.Ottawa award winners, Igor Kovalyov, Pritt Parn and Paul Dressien.When Russian animator Igor Kovalyov came forward to accept his best film of the festival trophy for Bird in the Window, he was suitably gracious if somewhat stunned. He thought Priit Parn would win it for his film 1895.
This was the perfect ending to an enjoyable animation festival that featured some peculiar choices for...
Reynard the Fox and the Jew Animal
The Dutch film industry's most ambitious production during World War II was an anti-Semitic sequel to Reynard the Fox. Egbert Barten and Gerard Groeneveld detail the fascinating story behind the film's production.
Icelandic Animation
Animation in Iceland is a relatively recent (and mostly hidden) phenomenon. Giannalberto Bendazzi provides an look at frame-by-frame filmmaking in the island nation.
Momotaro's Gods-Blessed Sea Warriors: Japan's Unknown Wartime Feature
Fred Patten takes a look at Japan's first animated feature, a propaganda tract made at the behest of the country's military government.
The Cockroaches of Joe's Apartment
Author John Berger has observed that the only other living things that will survive alongside human evolution will be those which humans eat (like cows and chickens) and the cockroach. As Ralph, the lead cockroach in John Payson's unconventional feature film, Joe's Apartment has prophesied, after the bomb drops, roaches will rule the world. The idea of using the most universally loathed insect as a means to examine the landscape of human relatedness to other humans and the world they inhabit, questions the belief of human vitality and longevity. As a species, we are extremely...
Hiroshima Diary
Translated by William MoritzMonique Renault (Netherland).Thursday, August 22, First Day of the Festival Arrived yesterday after having flown halfway around the world without seeing very much of it. Yes, Taiwan. It's much bigger than I had imagined. I thought Taiwan was just a pile of little workshops where people made counterfeit Diors, false Raybans or Adidas ... Evidently there are also mountains and greenery.
I'm happy to be back in Hiroshima. Last May, for the selection of films--Ah! that selection!--I discovered Japan. You encounter the politeness of the Japanese while working,...
Quirino Cristiani, The Untold Story of Argentina's Pioneer Animator
In celebration of Quirino Cristiani's centennial, we are republishing Giannalberto's classic profile of the Italian immigrant who made the world's first two animated features.
Robert Breer: Animator
Once of America's most prominent independent animators, Robert Breer continues to explore historical perspectives and experiment with new techniques. Jackie Leger looks at his career, past and present.
Desert Island Series....The Olympiad of Animation
Picks from Olympiad animators Melinda Littlejohn, Raul Garcia, George Schwizgebel and Jonathan Amitay.
Transfixed and Goggle-Eyed
R.O. Blechman, who has long charmed us with his films and illustrations, takes a humorous and often sardonic look at the resurgence of all things Disney and what it all means.
Shifting Realities: The Brothers Quay--Between Live Action and Animation
The Brothers Quay, those enigmatic masters of stop motion, have now come forth with The Institute Benjamenta, their first "live-action" feature. Suzanne Buchan takes a look at the film and their career.
Lotte Reiniger
The long and varied career of Lotte Reiniger, best known for her exquisite Adventures of Prince Achmed, one of the first feature-length animated films ever made, is detailed by William Moritz
Cabin-Fever Animation
The recent Siberian winter in Winnipeg may have been marrow-freezing, eyeball-aching weather, but it was also perfect animation weather. Gene Walz provides a rundown of what's been happening with the likes of Neil McInnes, Cordell Barker and Brad Caslor, among others.
Peaches N' Dreams: Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach
Before being adapted to the screen, Roald Dahl's children's book, Jamesand the Giant Peach captured the imagination of several generations of readers since it was first published in 1961.
My Small Animation World
Polish animator Aleksandra Korejwo muses about life, animation, music, Disney and her salt of many colors.
Splendid Artists: Central and East European Women Animators
Although women did not play the most prominent roles in the policy making bodies, they were particularly visible in all kinds of artistic activities blossoming in the years after the Revolution...
