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April 29, 2009
 To pay homage the generous donation of former Cinematheque quebecoise director Robert Daudelin's exceptional collection of Jazz vinyl records and periodicals to the Phonotheque quebecoise, the Cinematheque will be screening some musical animation gems.Some of the shorts, notably Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs and Tin Pan Alley Cats are controversial for what many (including myself) consider racist imagery, which was the norm for the dominant popular culture of the day. What many of these shorts also have is unparalleled animation with an incredible sountrack and unparalelled timing. This screening also features a new 35mm print of The Greatest Man in Siam, newly acquired by the Cinematheque. Catch it on Thursday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m., but if you miss it, you get a second chance on May 14. Labels: Bob Clampett, Cinematheque quebecoise, Dave Fleischer, Friz Freleng, George Pal, John Hubley, Montreal, Shamus Culhane, shorts, Tex Avery February 27, 2009
Spring break is here and it is time for Festival international de films pour enfants de Montreal (FIFEM) once again. The opening film from France, Mia et le Migou is far from the only animated selection this year, but it is definitely an interesting one. The film's director is Jacques-Remy Girerd, the producer of Tragic Story with Happy Ending and Hungu (recently featured in the NFB Screening Room) and director of delightful La prophétie des grenouilles (Raining Cats and Frogs). Mia was released in France last year, and is proving to be a hit with families. Another animated feature that recently received accolades, Nocturna, a 2007 feature from Spain, is also screening. In all there are five animated features to keep the kids and their animation-friendly parents interested. fps favourites Komaneko and Ludovic are back in the Mini-cinephiles program track, geared toward animation for children as young as 2 or 3. Komaneko is a stop-motion cat, who likes to make stop-motion films. Ludovic is a little teddy bear whose educational and inventive tales are also told using stop-motion animation, directed by Co Hoedeman, Oscar winner for the short, Sand Castle. The Ludovic television series is a follow-up to the Four Seasons in the Life of Ludovic shorts. Even more shorts will screen before feature films, including Konstantin Bronzit's Oscar-nominated short, A Lavatory Lovestory. Do it for the kids... er, les enfants... all fillms will be screening in French or with French subtitles. Labels: Canada, features, FIFEM, France, Japan, Montreal, Russia, shorts, Spain December 4, 2008
 Whoa! Christmas shows up early for Montreal animation lovers. This year's Sommets du cinema d'animation de Montreal (Montreal Animation Summit) literally explodes this year, with an expanded lineup, including exhibits and great guests.As in recent years, Marco de Blois, animation curator at the Cinematheque quebecoise, has gathered some of the year's best animated shorts in two programs screening on Friday and Saturday. This year, the audience gets to vote on their favourite and award a public prize to the best director. This is just the beginning. This weekend includes a program of the notable international student films from 2006, 2007, and 2008; the best recent Canadian animation; and a free screening of Acme Filmworks and Animation World Network's The Show of Shows, presented by Ron Diamond. I'm not done yet: A major restrospective, Du praxinoscope au cellulo (From Praxinoscope to Cel), is divided into three programs, two of them specifically targeted to include younger viewers. This film series focuses on the evolution of French moving images, and touches on drawings, marionettes, and pin, cell, cut-out, mixed media, and computer animation. This is an extraordinary chance to see shorts by Emile Cohl, Ladislaw Starevich, and Paul Grimault, among others. Now get a load of these prices. Free 0–5 years accompanied by an adult Free Show of Shows $4 6–15 years $6 students and seniors $7 adults $50 CinéSommets passport, all-access pass For the full schedule, including parties and concurrent exhibits, download the PDF program. Labels: Canada, events, exhibitions, festivals, France, Montreal, schools, shorts November 1, 2008
The Animation Show wraps up at the end of the month. If you checked the tour's website, you may think you missed the Montreal leg, but it actually began yesterday and runs until November 6th. Use the Cinema du Parc's schedule for the correct showtimes. If you missed it in your city, or saw it and liked it, stay tuned to the official website or console yourself with The Animation Show Vol. 3 DVD. Labels: Animation Show, Montreal, shorts October 22, 2008
  The National Film Board is getting an early start on World Animation Day festivities and is turning the party out well after. From October 24 to November 12, Canadians in 13 cities will be able to enjoy free screenings of the Get Animated! series to celebrate World Animation Day (October 28). Get Animated! features one program of ten new works (including Theodor Ushev's Drux Flux and George Schwizgebel's Retouches) and a second of ten children's animation shorts (including Claude Cloutier's Sleeping Betty, and shorts from Hothouse 4 participants Carla Coma and Jody Kramer). Many of the cities will include complementary screenings and workshops in addition to these programs. Two short are available at the event site. Just click a graphic above to view Howie Shia's Flutter (top) or Tali's At Home With Mrs. Hen. Thanks, Matt and Jody! Labels: Calgary, Edmonton, events, Halifax, Hothouse, Moncton, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, shorts, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Winnipeg October 14, 2008
The Cinematheque Quebecoise will be screening a retrospective of George Schwizgebel's shorts on Wednesday, October 15th at 6:30 p.m with the animator present. You can also catch an exhibition of his paintings there, which runs until November 9th. I've included a clip of Jeu, one of the films those in attendance will get to see in addition to Schwizgebel's latest film Retouches, which is among one of my favourite shorts viewed at this year's Ottawa International Animation Festival. Previously on fps Jeu: George Schwizgebel's Games Without Frontiers Mindtravel Labels: Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, shorts, Switzerland September 4, 2008
The Montreal chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is holding its season opener with an open-air screening in the park next to their usual haunt, the Society for Arts and Technology. Selections from the 2008 Computer Animation Festival will be shown, and while the event is free, you can pick up your annual membership to help support the chapter. "Doors open" on Saturday, September 6, at 9:30 at Parc de la Paix. There's more info on the SAT website. 2008 SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Festival trailer September 3, 2008
 La cinematheque quebecoise is screening recent Chinese animated shorts on Thursday, September 4th. Marcel Jean is the guest programmer. I've provided a loose English translation of what he wrote on the CQ website. Faced with feeding it numerous television stations, China has recently become, on a quantitative scale, one of the most important producers of animation in the world. Seeking to limit imported productions from Japan and Korea, Chinese officials are basically encouraging local production by creating high production quotas and encouraging the creation of major schools, equipped with cutting-edge technology, which trains thousands of animators on a yearly basis. Labels: China, Cinematheque quebecoise, Montreal, shorts July 21, 2008
 I'm all for do-it-yourself projects. Self-starters can take part in Montreal's newest film festival, M60. Participants will make a 60-second film, animated or live-action, which must be completed by August 24th, to be screened for 2 days in September. Register at the launch party on Thursday, July 24th from 9:oo pm to midnight. The theme will be revealed during the launch. While you're there, enjoy the short sets from several bands, one of which is Ragni (including fps's newest blogger, Brenden Fletcher). July 16, 2008
 Montreal is home to the world's largest comedy festival, Just For Laughs. The festival's annual live action and animated Eat My Shorts program begins today and continues until July 18. Among the animated offerings are John and Karen and Lapsus (pictured above) two recent shorts I enjoyed. Space Chimps, a CG feature by the Vanguard in the UK and Starz Animation in Canada, will also be previewed tonight. May 28, 2008
 In case you didn't know, Kino Kid and René Walling, the two longest-serving Frames Per Second co-conspirators (aside from, well, me) have both been working on Anticipation, the 67th annual World Science Fiction Convention (aka the Worldcon), which is happening right here in Montreal next year. Just this morning I got word that I can take the gag off my mouth and spread the news: this year's Guest of Honor is none other than Ralph Bakshi, one of the few people I can call a maverick without rolling my eyes. Bakshi spent close to four decades in the animation business, starting on Terrytoons productions like Mighty Mouse but ultimately making his mark with gritty urban fare like Fritz the Cat, Heavy Traffic and Coonskin along with fantasy fare like Wizards, the first Lord of the Rings feature, and Fire & Ice—and along the way worked with comics and animation legends like Frank Frazetta, Jim Steranko, Virgil Ross, and a kid named John Kricfalusi. Many of Bakshi's films continue to cause controversy, if not heated discussion, but the best part about all of them is that they display his belief that no subject is out of bounds for animation. When I wrote the introduction to our July 2004 interview, I commented that if he ever came to Montreal the drinks would be on me. I don't know if he ever read that, but the offer still stands. Labels: festivals, Montreal, Ralph Bakshi May 14, 2008
 The last time you were working on your computer and it crashed, did you do it? Smash it, I mean. On Halloween night 2005, local artist Eric Bond celebrated in public his frustration with computer malfunction in an intensely hilarious performance piece called "Goreputer" (I was present). The performance was videotaped, but most of the footage was lost due to another type of malfunction… Human error. Bond, also an animator, did not want lose the evidence of what he did to a computer on that night. He filled in the lost footage with stop-motion. This is how in 2007, "Goreputer" the performance piece became Goreputer the animated short. Labels: computer, crash, Darth Vader, Eric Bond, malfunction, Montreal, performance, shorts, stop-motion May 6, 2008
 If you're in Montreal this week, check out Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema's 35th Year End Screening at Cinema du Parc. There are 5 screenings left from this year's Film Production and Film Animation programs—2 on Tuesday, 2 on Wednesday and the Best of the Fest on Thursday night. If getting a fix of student animation is what you need, then your best bet is to attend the 7pm and 9pm screenings on Wednesday, for a total of 11 animated films. Although, I should add that a lot of the experimental films that come out of the Film Production program are as graphic and fun to watch as their animated cousins. For a full program schedule, go to Concordia's School of Cinema website and click on the text below the Super-8 camera image.Labels: Concordia University, Montreal, student animation April 5, 2008
 The "To the Source of Anime" retrospective ends its run today at the Cinémathèque québécoise with a tribute to Noburo Ofuji. The "Wartime Japanese Animation" programs included propaganda cartoons that feature strikingly American character designs. I mentioned this to Akira Tochigi, the curator of the retrospective, when I interviewed him during his stay in Montreal. Mr. Tochigi spoke with enthusiasm during our lengthy interview. Armen Boudjikanian: This retrospective does a survey of Japanese animation from 1924 to 1952. Is there any reason why there are not any films from before the 1920s? Akira Tochigi: Actually until last year, we haven't had any surviving elements of animation from the 1910s. But a private collector found two elements of early animation from 1917 [35mm prints]. We are now doing their digital restoration. We will showcase them soon in a program highlighting recent restoration projects. What can you tell us about the state of Japanese animation in the 1910s? Animation was first imported to Japan between 1908 and 1910 from France [the works of Émile Cohl] and the UK. The Japanese film industry created its first major studio in 1912: Nikkatsu studio. Nikkatsu was very powerful at making and distributing its own films but also distributing foreign films. Gradually, along with its competitors, it began being interested in making animation. Pioneers of early animation found opportunities in these studios. Around the 20s, as more animation came from abroad, especially the States, the majors lost interest in producing their own animation. Rather, [they decided to focus on] importing. They believed that American animation was much more sophisticated and more appealing to [Japanese] audiences. But also in the 1910s, there was a heated debate in Japan about the influence of cinema on children. The portion of young audiences was big: about 30 to 40 per cent of the moviegoers. The government, academics and intellectuals were all concerned on the [effect of films] on children. So in the early 1920s, the Japanese central government set up the policy of supporting educational films [which at the time also encompassed] animation. By this kind of categorization the government supported animation filmmaking and sometimes commissioned independent filmmakers to make animations for kid audiences. Animation became a way to safeguard children [from] the influence of cinema. And so, its quality changed at that time. Coming to the question of governmental funding for animated films. I have noticed that films from the WWII era which are heavily funded by the government resemble Hollywood cartoons much more than earlier Japanese animation. Is there a principal cause for this? Yes, [this is the result of the combination] of two elements. In the late 20s, early 30s, more and more American animation came to Japan: Disney, [Fleischer's] Betty Boop and Popeye, etc... Japanese animation was very quick to react to this situation by creating its own [set] of characters which originated from comic books and also from Japanese folklore such as Momotaro, monkeys, badgers, etc... It seems that the synthesis is very well done, though. These are early cartoons but they are very well executed technically. The western influence is obvious but the Japanese elements are blended in successfully. [The reason for] this synthesis is that in the 1940s, the Japanese government set up the Film Law which forced culture films [documentaries], educational and animation films to be shown in theatres to [large] audiences. The law also controlled film projections, and [theatre] personnel. There was severe censorship. [Nevertheless], the field of animation became prosperous in these times because the government supported it with its law. So as the influence of American cartoons on Japanese animation continued in the 1940s, it came together with the film law and this resulted in the making of the first medium and feature-length animated films in Japan [the 1942 war film Momotaro and the Sea Eagle was Japan's first five-reel animation]. [Films from this period] used characterization that was typical of American animation. [This] is pretty ironic because these films were very much anti-American propaganda, but still [laughs] it is very apparent that their character designs and aesthetic were coming from American animation. Coming to Momotaro and the Sea Eagle, can you talk about its cast of characters? Why is the leader of the Japanese army a young girl and why are its soldiers animals? I think that it's a young boy, not a girl. It seems that he has a kind of femininity but it's a boy. [These characters] come from the original story of Momotaro, who was a boy character that fought the enemy [with the help] of animals. What happened to Japanese animation between the end of WWII and the establishment of Toei Doga studio in the fifties? This is one of the hardest ever periods for Japanese animation. There was a shortage of film stock and taxes were high. The defeat of the war finished the [governmental] support to filmmaking. There were no festivals, no theatrical exhibitions, but there were a lot of talented young artists who tried to make films on an independent basis. So when Toei started in the '50s, and TV animation in the early '60s, they [offered the young] animators a way to sort of continue making films under a well-financed situation. Noburo Ofuji, an animation pioneer to whom you attribute a program to in this retrospective, made Burglars of Baghdad Castle in 1926. This film is very innovative. The techniques used in it foresee some of those that Japanese animators will employ later such as limiting the movement of characters. Do you see a link between Ofuji's work and some of the techniques that were used later on? Noburo Ofuji started using chiyogami [Japanese coloured paper] as a medium of motion in the 1920s. Celluloid was very expensive in Japan and most animators were not able to use it until the middle of the 1930s. Even then Ofuji remained interested in using chiyogami. He would cut them [drawings done on chiyogami] out, right? Right. Ofuji continued making films in the late '50s, and in his later films, used colored cellophane—not to use celluloid [laughs]. And because of the materiality of the [cellophane] paper, [he had] to find ways to economize the motion of the characters. And this seems very associative with TV animation. As you may know, when Osamu Tezuka started the program Astro Boy, thirty minutes of animation were aired on TV weekly. It was pretty hard to make original pictures for thirty minutes amount of work per week. The team of Tezuka Productions only animated eight pictures in a second [as opposed to 24] to sort of economize the motion of characters... So when trying to connect history to what came before it, [early] paper animation and TV animation [seem] closely related. Also, Burglars of Baghdad Castle, like current anime, has also plenty of action. Yes. The Baghdad film features mass action. Yes! A lot of crowds. [Laughs] Something like a Kurosawa movie. How about other links between the early animations and contemporary anime? Do you see any similarities in terms of inspiration? I think that [there] is a very clear association with contemporary anime [especially] with the work of Studio Ghibli: in Pom Poko for example, a community of creatures [raccoon dogs, or tanuki] fight against human beings. This Ghibli film is not similar in content to 1930s cartoons that have [similar] characters, but [in terms of] the idea to use creature characters to make a satire of human society, it is very closely related. Ghibli, in this sense, is a very traditional animation creator. So what got you interested in animation? To be honest, I didn't have a special interest in animation for a long time. Of course, as a child I was intrigued by theatrical animation—and in fact had a passion for TV animation. I [also] read comics in my elementary school [years]. When I entered college, I continued reading comics, [especially the work of] Otomo [creator of Akira]. He was popular with the college crowd not only because of his aesthetics but also because of his handling of contemporary issues. At this time, my interest in animation was not so much special. [However], when I started working for the Film Archives several years ago, I found many animations in their collection [from the past]. When I watched these films, I was struck by their power and complexity. Of course most were for kid audiences; but from a contemporary perspective, I found out about the [ability] of animation to deal with fantasy, illusion and delusion in many different ways. It seems to me that because these early animators worked mostly independently [their only support came from the government], their individualities and sense of art as filmmakers is apparent in their films; [whether] they worked on mainstream films or in alternative cinema. [And since] I was struck by experimental cinema in college, including [laughs] Norman McLaren... Of Course! [laughter] [Continues laughing] So... Because of this intrigue, my connection with these animated films [felt] natural. And of course as an archivist, I was interested in the history of animation cinema. There is going to be a retrospective of Canadian and Québécois animation in Tokyo in 2009. Is there an interest in Canadian animation in Japan right now? Yes, definitely. Next year's exhibition of Canadian and Québécois animation will be programmed by [Marco de Blois of the Cinémathèque québécoise]. We like to leave him to make the final decisions for that [exhibition], as I did for this one. The staff members of our institution [the National Film Center in Tokyo] are very eager for [this] program because when Norman McLaren was first introduced in Japan in the late '50s, many young artists were so surprised by his films: they were experimental and personal expressions of ideas and feeling through the medium of animation. Most of the Japanese audiences at the time thought animation would [only] be kid entertainment. That's something that's common in many countries. Right... And in the late '50s, early '60s, the word "animation" was first introduced in Japan. Before then, we used the word "manga" film, not animation. But the exhibition that introduced McLaren's work was called "animation film screening". [This] means that the term animation was related not to Disney type of animation but to experimental film and personal film... So this context of Canadian animation has a special [significance] in Japan: it is a kind of individual expression. Which filmmaker from the "To the Source of Anime" retrospective is of special interest to you as a researcher? When I was watching the films of this retrospective again and again, the films of Masaoka Kenzo struck me so much [in terms] of aesthetic, ideas and technique. The Spider and the Tulip is very well directed and animated, could you talk about the artist and how he got into animation? [Kenzo] had a unique background; he came from a very rich family from Kyoto. He studied western painting in college. Then he joined a major film studio as an actor. He then made his first film, a documentary. [It is only afterwards] that he moved to animation. Because he came from a prosperous family, and because of his movie studio contacts; he did not rely on [external] funding to make his films. He was exceptionally able to have his films exhibited in theatres, even his first film. Also, because of this, he did not care about targeting his films to children. He wanted to show his films to regular audiences. He often created in his own small studio. He [also coined] the Japanese term doga which means "animated images" in English. He [did this to be able] to cover all aspects of animation: from puppet to silhouette animation, [whether designed] for children or not. He wanted to value animation as an art for everybody. Labels: anime, features, Japan, Masaoka Kenzo, Montreal, Noburo Ofuji, Osamu Tezuka, shorts, Studio Ghibli February 26, 2008
 Starting with the 1940s films that will be shown within the two wartime programs, state funding (and control) of animation production began in Japan. Films from this period are the ones that resemble classic Hollywood cel animation the most. Momotaro, The Sea Eagle, shown under "Wartime Japanese Animation 1", is Japan's first five-reel animation (33 minutes). The Ministry of Navy commissioned this film to celebrate Japan's successful attack on Pearl Harbor. The visuals of this cartoon will seem familiar to the contemporary viewer (anthropomorphic animals cast as Japanese soldiers) though the totality of its style remains ominous: the lieutenant or leader of the soldiers is a human girl, and the Americans are represented by Fleischer Brothers-style humanoids. The character animation is quite developed, with appropriate usage of stretch and squash, while the mechanical animation of airplanes and boats and the animation of the water is top-notch. Though Momotaro, The Sea Eagle is evidently racist—American soldiers are treated as incompetent and oafish—the level of animated fantasy is what stands out the most in this cartoon. The actual attack is not shown for very long; two thirds of the film sympathetically shows Japanese soldiers getting ready for battle and returning from it. There is delightful humour in these scenes: a monkey soldier makes fun of his rabbit trooper buddy who can't put his bandana on because of his long ears. When the squadron flies to Pearl Harbor, a monkey pilot stumbles upon a lost baby bird. He interrupts his mission to find the baby's mother. If you are looking for more wartime and propaganda cartoons, you are in for a treat: Village Animals Fight Against Espionage and Village Animals Fight for Air Defense are the Japanese equivalent to Warner Bros.' Private Snafu army shorts and the likes. These two cartoons, alongside four others, will be shown under "Animation Meets Propaganda". After Japan's loss in WWII, the government's contribution to animation production declined and filmmaking became a tough challenge for independents and small studios. The films from this era are grouped under "Japanese Animation During the Occupation" I and II. Thematically, these films seem to deal with Japan's traditions. One is called Torachan and the Bride, a nine-minute film promoting freedom of choice in marriage. The most striking common feature of these early Japanese animations is the clarity of their storytelling. There are probably many reasons why these films can be easily followed: the subtitling is an obvious one. The abundance of onscreen action is another. However, a solid grasp of what cinema can do by the filmmaker is what I'd bet my money on. In the films that I saw, there were practically no shots or actions that I found boring, tedious or distracting (even when the animation quality was not that great.) This is noteworthy: Japanese animators knew what they were doing from the beginning. It is often said that non-Hollywood animation blossomed after the 1950s—and this is true for Japanese studio animation as well—but what these early Japanese animators accomplished with low budgets and often working independently is proof that animation filmmaking does not necessarily require a long assembly chain. If you attend this retrospective you will agree that ingenuity can impress and entertain all by itself.  There is a lot to be discovered at the retrospective To the Source of Anime: Japanese Animation (1924-1952) taking place at the Cinémathèque québécoise from February 27 to April 5. This huge undertaking of ten programs and a lecture by the retrospective's curator Akira Tochigi is a collaboration between the Cinémathèque québécoise and the National Film Center/National Museum of Tokyo.With 53 films comprising this five week long retrospective (51 of which will be shown on 35mm), anyone interested in anime, film history, wartime cartoons, and independent animation will discover the achievements of pre-major studio Japanese animation: landmark films that came before Astro Boy, Akira or Sprited Away. The ten 70 min programs are divided by themes ranging from "Early talkies" to "Animation meets propaganda". There are also programs attributed to directors Shigeji Ogino—a modernist and master in experimental animation—and Noburo Ofuji, a pioneer who, as I will get into later, was forging the anime style 1920s. Based on the films I saw by these directors at the press screening, I highly recommend both tribute programs. The earliest films of the retrospective are grouped under "The dawn of Japanese animation" program. These silent films will be accompanied by Gabriel Thibaudeau on piano. There are two "Early talkies" programs: "Selected works 1" contains a 7 min short from 1931 that feels as fresh as a film made in the last couple of years. Synchronised to a song originally played on SP record (78 rpm), A Day in the Life of Chameko joyfully illustrates the life of a schoolgirl. We see her do all the mundane things such as getting up, getting dressed and eating before going to school as she explains things in operetta. This short works as comically as the musical moments of The Simpsons and Persepolis do. For more early animation, check the "Tribute to Noburo Ofuji" program. Ofuji was a true animation innovator. A technique he employed is animating chiyogami (Japanese colored paper) cut-outs. His first ever usage of chiyogami is in Thieves of Baghdad, a masterpiece from 1926. The accomplishments of this short can not only be seen in recent cut-out or "cut-out style" digital films but also in contemporary anime. Its two aspects that struck me foremost are the sophisticated personality animation and the elaborate staging and camerawork. All of the characters that populate this short have distinct movement: Dangobei the protagonist, the princess, the elderly lady and the clan of warriors all move convincingly according to their designs. This is particularly difficult to achieve in cut-out animation, since its reliance on pre-planned action is limited. This method of working contributed to the creation of many styles, including anime. An aspect of anime is its segmentation of the human anatomy in order to animate only parts of it: i.e., treating the drawing of a figure as pieces of cut-outs. Another attribute of Thieves of Baghdad that can be seen in recent anime and digital cut-out style cartoons (or Flash cartoons) is its rendering of depth through strictly 2D methods. In the strictest sense, this means not drawing space in perspective; instead using a medieval style of representation: the top of the screen is the background, while the bottom, the foreground. In this type of scenario—which is typical of traditional cut-out films—depth becomes symbolic and not actually perceived by the viewer. However, as early as 1926, Ofuji was able to make depth in cut-out scenes come close to cinematic quality by animating elements in the foreground (the bottom of the screen) and the background at different speeds. Madame Butterfly's Fantasy, based on Puccini's opera, is in "Early Talkies: Selected Shorts 2". This short, like A Day in the Life of Chamenko, has aged beautifully. It looks gorgeous and the sensibilities of its makers are heartfelt. The relationship between Madame Butterfly and her lover is shown beautifully with shadow-like figures. Silhouette animation technique is employed to lyricize the love story that was not meant to be. February 18, 2008
 La Cinematheque Quebecoise is hosting the largest retrospective of early Japanese animation to ever take place outside of Japan. Just last week that distinction went to the Japan Society's selection of films.From February 27 to April 5, the special Montreal screenings of Japanese animation from 1924 to 1952 will feature 53 films in 16mm and 35mm, including one feature - Japan's first - Momotaru, The God Soldier of the Seas. National Film Center/Museum of Modern Art of Tokyo curator Akira Tochigi will be in town to inaugurate the event and will lead a conference on February 29 on early Japanese animation. A full schedule is available on the CQ website (French only), and Facebook, with a sampling of the shorts. As of this week, a bilingual (French and English) program for the retrospective is available at the Cinematheque. Previously on fps Japanese Anime Classic Collection review Podcast 11: Our Baseball Match (1931) January 16, 2008
 Montreal's Cinematheque Quebecoise is screening two modern anime favourites this month. Today, they are showing Akira, and next week Thursday, they offer the opportunity to see Princess Mononoke on the big screen.Princess Mononoke was overlooked for an Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film in 1997. It seems like the pattern has been repeated this year. Check out this Cartoon Brew post about this year's snub of Persepolis. Labels: anime, Hayao Miyazaki, Katsuhiro Otomo, Montreal, Oscars, Persepolis, Studio Ghibli  Friday and Saturday, January 25 and 26 at McGill University in Montreal, Thomas Lamarre will be hosting a workshop on shoujo anime and manga. Academic papers on gender, genre, and culture will be presented by the likes of Frenchy Lunning, Toshiya Ueno, and Ian Condry. I will attend and cover the event for fps. There is no charge to attend. For more information, contact Thomas Lamarre.Here is a prospective list of papers: Session 1: 11:30 – 14:00 January 5, 2008
2007 wasn't too bad as far as animation coverage was concerned in the local arts weeklies in fps's hometown of Montreal. The Montreal Mirror, Hour and Ici reserved the cover for the opening of Paprika, Tekkon Kinkreet, Lucky Luke and even the homecoming of an animated short, the worthy Madame Tutli-Putli.
So how do you beat that?   The first week of 2008 features Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi and co-direct Vincent Paronnaud on the cover of Hour looking hipper-than-thou (I actually passed the stacks a few times around the city until I took a closer look and realized Satrapi was on the cover). The article does neglect to mention that the features, of which we're fans, begins its general run January 11.If that wasn't enough, the Montreal Mirror's annual Noisemakers issue compiling 30 influential local artistic forces features an animator as a 2008 noisemaker! Marie-Josee Saint-Pierre's animated documentary McLaren's Negatives is highlighted as well as an upcoming animated documentary she is working on. Labels: Madame Tutli-Putli, Marie-Josee Saint-Pierre, Montreal, Norman McLaren, Persepolis December 4, 2007
 Norman's Montreal run begins this week. It's been getting excellent reviews in Canada, and the Montreal run will be at one of the city's best live venues, Place des Arts.Click the graphic to enlarge for location and ticket information. Labels: dance, events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Norman McLaren, visual music November 21, 2007
 (click image for complete schedule.)UPDATE: There is a misprint on page 2 of the program. Saturday screenings are as follows: Program 2 at 5:oo p.m., Program 1 at 7:00 p.m. The Montreal stop of the annual Sommets du Cinema d'Animation will be at the Cinematheque Quebecoise on Friday, November 23 and Saturday, November 24. Over two days, Montrealers can see some of the best animation shorts in recent memory, from the haunting Madame Tutli-Putli, the harrowing Milk Teeth, to the laugh-out-loud funny Cold Calling. And that's just  It all begins on Friday at 5:00 p.m. with the launch of the Isabelle au Bois Dormant/Sleeping Betty exhibit featuring the latest work of Claude Cloutier.Labels: events, exhibitions, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, shorts November 12, 2007
   This Wednesday, November 14, at 6:00 p.m., the Montreal chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH is screening the 2007 Electronic Theatre at the SAT. Admission is free and so is the popcorn! Labels: computer animation, events, Montreal, shorts, SIGGRAPH October 27, 2007
Sunday is World Animation Day. Here are some events that are happening in different cities. Check with web sites, media outlets and your friends to learn more. Let us know what's up in your neighbourhood.
JAPAN Hiroshima: Award-winning works of the Hiroshima International Animation Festival INDIA Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Thiruvananthapuram: Simultaneous ASIFA-India celebration CANADA Montreal: 1 p.m. Catherine Arcand discusses her film Nightmare at School 3 p.m. Master class with Madame Tutli-Putli directors Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski 7 p.m. Toon Boom Internet Animation Contest Screening and Classic Films of the DEFA Screening Toronto: 1 p.m. Talespinners 2 workshop for children and families Vancouver: 2 p.m. Animate It! workshop for youth Winnipeg: 2 p.m. Talespinners 2 screening (recommended for children ages 5-9) UNITED STATES Boston: 3 p.m. Institute of Contemporary Art presents New England Animation Labels: Boston, Canada, events, India, international animation day, Japan, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, shorts, workshops October 24, 2007
 The Cinematheque Quebecoise focuses on German animation this week. Filmfest Dresden Presents New German Animation screens on Thursday, October 25 at 6:30 p.m., and repeats on Friday at 4:00 p.m.Our Man in Nirvana Jan Koester Mr. Schwartz, Mr. Hazen & Mr. Horlocker Stefan Müller Delivery Till Nowak (attending) Close Your Eyes and Do Not Breathe Vuk Jevremovic Lovesick Speka Cadez Bildfenster/Fensterbilder Bert Gottschalk The Tell-Tale Heart (Der Verrückte, das Herz und das Auge) Annette Jung Diary of a Perfect Love (Tagebuch einer perfekten Liebe) Sebastien Peterson As part of its World Animation Day events on Sunday, October 28th, Hints of Excellence: Classics of the DEFA screens for free. Labels: events, festivals, Filmfest Dresden, Germany, Montreal, shorts October 22, 2007
 If you live in the greater Montreal area and are curious about what films are being made in other parts of the world, here's your chance to see something a bit off the beaten path.Thanks to Atopia, we're going to select 5 names randomly for a pair of tickets to see Montreal's premiere of The District at Cinéma du Parc, this Friday, October 26, at 9:30 p.m. Act quickly, this contest closes on Wednesday, October 24th at 11:59 p.m. Enter now! Labels: contest, features, Hungary, Montreal, The District October 19, 2007
 I passed by the Drawn and Quarterly bookstore this evening just before their grand opening event and I had to hold onto my wallet for dear life. Drawn and Quarterly began life in the early 1990s as an alternative comics anthology of original and utmost quality, then came the comic book series, and graphic novels that were varied and, may I say in the best possible way, designy. The sense of design that all of the various artists had, in addition to unique styles and great storytelling, set the D+Q selection apart from many of the titles out there, and also, I think, gave courage to many artists and publishers to consider the quality and scope of what could be printed and how it could be told.Drawn and Quarterly's artists Adrian Tomine, Joe Matt, Chester Brown, Seth, Gary Panter (of Pee Wee's Playhouse) and others offer visuals and stories that surely are fodder for the animator's imagination. [EDIT: I don't just speculate: I forgot that Clyde Henry Productions are creating a live-action/animated film adaptation of Chester Brown's surreal Ed the Happy Clown.] The store does not stop at stocking only their impressive list of titles. Classic graphic novels, like Maus and Love and Rockets, and hidden gems abound. The more overt animation related selection included titles like John Canemaker's Winsor McCay, as well as McCay reprints, and Nine Lives to Live: A Felix Celebration by Otto Messmer. Copies of Bone were also available, which I've already mentioned for its appeal to animators and animation fans. The Lute String by Jim Woodring and D+Q's translated Complete Moomin by Tove Jansson (which I happily purchased) also break down the boundaries between comics and animation. Both artists' work directly inspired multiple animated adaptations and often in a different parts of the world than where it was originally created, expanding the stories' reach. Drawn & Quarterly Bookstore 211 Bernard, Montreal If you're just getting started, my D+Q recommendations: Optic Nerve by Adrian Tomine Jar of Fools by Jason Lutes The Fixer by Joe Sacco Louis Riel by Chester Brown  Atopia has acquired North American rights to The District (Nyocker!), the 2005 Hungarian feature by Aron Gauder. The film screens in Montreal beginning Friday, October 26th at the Cinema du Parc for a two-week run. The film will then show at Boston's Brattle Theatre, Austin's Alamo Drafthouse Cinema beginning November 16 for a week, Winnipeg's Cinematheque from November 26 to 28, and Cleveland's CIA Cinematheque in late January.In Fall 2005, I had the pleasure of seeing it at the Ottawa International Animation Festival and Matt Forsythe saw it a several weeks later at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema. It sported bold visuals, an infectious hip-hop soundtrack, and starred a motley group of teenagers from the streets of Budapest. Gauder did not shy away from any subject and touched on many, including sex, ethnic differences, politics, and time travel, just to name a few. The District's satire is raw, strange and very funny, and you never know where the story is going to lead you, and that is all part of the experience. Some films try to be too many things at once, but the film's break-neck pace and unpredictability are definitely a part of its charm. Over the last two years, fps contributors joined the chorus of voices that have noted the film's irreverent style and storytelling. It continued to be a hit a festivals and many people wondered why more films that broke the mold weren't available to a wider audience. If you didn't have a chance to see The District, here's your chance. Hopefully, the continued successes of non-formulaic international animated features like The District will open up the theatrical market to innovative animated features that are not afraid to tell new stories, with distinctive visual styles. Labels: Austin, Boston, Cleveland, features, Hungary, Montreal, Nyocker, OIAF, The District, WFAC, Winnipeg October 12, 2007
 Le Festival du Nouveau Cinéma is known for its wolf that adorns its publicity materials. The fest has a track called Les P'tits Loups or, in English, Little Wolves, with programming geared towards children, and only two shorts in that entire track are live-action. The selections will definitely be of interest to parents and guardians, and honestly, I think if you left the kids at home you might not notice. The track begins on the morning of Saturday, October 13 with U, a feature from France that appears to be a fairy tale on the outside and is a coming of age story underneath it all, despite the unicorn and the castle. It deals with concepts of love and adolescence in a very disarming fashion.Sunday, October 14 features an hour's worth of Komaneko: The Curious Cat shorts. I can't recommend this highly enough. Our heroine is the ultimate do-it-yourselfer and amateur auteur. This little stop-mo cat creates her own stop-motion shorts, makes her own props, sets and puppets, and can be found outside filming her surroundings. One of her partners in crime is a little cat who builds robots and fixes mechanical objects.  Kids take away a great lesson, and the shorts, although suitable for children as young as 3, can entertain someone in their 50s just as easily. The shorts are well-crafted, include engaging characters and they have a simple, but coherent story. In Japan, it is distributed by Geneon Entertainment. It's too bad that they'll no longer be distributing DVDs in North America. I hope that someone else distributes them here. For now, you can get them at Yesasia.For a more diverse selection, Sunday, October 21 features the various shorts, mostly animated, including the hilarious Isabelle au Bois Dormant/Sleeping Betty from Claude Cloutier at the NFB. If the festival's selection doesn't get local kids interested in film and animation, I'm not sure what will. Labels: features, Festival du Nouveau Cinema, festivals, FNC, France, Japan, live action, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, shorts, stop-motion October 10, 2007
 Since Persepolis and Madame Tutli-Putli each screened at Cannes and won awards this year in May, they have appeared at animation and mainstream film festivals to acclaim. Montrealers can now finally see both films by attending the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, which begins today. Animation seems to have taken on a more important role in the festival with more shorts than ever. However, a few might slip through the cracks if you aren't careful. The visceral Face lies in wait in Competition 1, on Thursday, October 11 and Wednesday, October 17th. Madame Tutli-Putli is showing during Competition 2 this Friday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 16. Selina Cobley's Crow Moon screens in Competition 3 next week on the 17th and 18th.The National Film Board of Canada Stereo Lab is screening four stereoscopic shorts, which 2004 OIAF attendees might have seen, but this screening includes the premiere of a stereoscopic version of Theodor Ushev's phenomenal Tower Bawher. Previously on fps Festival du Nouveau Cinéma coverage Persepolis coverage Two Podcasts for Madame Tutli-Putli Labels: computer animation, events, features, festivals, France, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Persepolis, shorts, stop-motion, United Kingdom October 5, 2007
 If you're in Montreal, before you go to the Poetry in Motion screening tomorrow, you may want to drop in at the National Film Board's Cinérobotheque, less than a 5 minute walk away. As part of a weekend of screenings of short programmes from this year's Fantasia festival, the Outer Limits of Animation Program will be screening at 3:00 p.m. The program repeats on Sunday at 5:00 p.m.For nearly two hours, you will be able to see shorts selected by North America's premiere cult film festival for just $7 (less if you're a student). Labels: events, Fantasia festival, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, shorts October 2, 2007
 Didn't go to Ottawa this year? Even if you went, you might not have been able to see the special screenings on poetry and animation, Poetry in Motion. If you live in Montreal, you can see both programs this week on Thursday and Saturday at the Cinémathèque Québécoise. The programmer is the National Film Board producer and author Marcel Jean, and he has selected shorts that span decades and geographical boundaries (although the first screening is half Canadian, including Québécois, in its content).From Words to Images Thursday, October 4, 6:30 p.m. Primiti Too Taa, Ed Akerman, Colin Morton Essere morti o essere vivi è la stessa cosa, Gianluigi Toccafondo Forgetfulness, Julian Grey Rain, Michael Sewnarain Espolio, Sidney Goldsmith Aloud/Bagatelle, Don McWilliams 6 haïku, Éric Ledune A Said Poem, Veronika Soul Tengo la posizione, Simone Massi The Old Fools, Ruth Lingford Poetry is Child’s Play, Bouwine Pool Sandburg’s Arithmetic, Lynn Smith Tread Softly, Heebok Lee At the Quinte Hotel, Bruce Alcock (click the image above for an excerpt.) The Film as Poetry Itself Saturday, October 6, 5:00 p.m. Accordion, Michèle Cournoyer Stones (Sten), Lejf Marcussen Beginnings, Clorinda Warny, Suzanne Gervais, Lina Gagnon As people, Ursula Ferrara Kaiten Mokuba, Thomas Hicks 9 in a Chimney 10 in a Bed or Hates A Strong Word, Jean-Jacques Villard Renaissance, Walerian Borowczyk Night on Bald Mountain, Alexandre Alexeïeff, Claire Parker Grace, Lorelei Pepi Mr. Pascal, Alison de Vere Repete, Michaela Pavlátová Labels: events, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts September 26, 2007
 Award-winning French animator Florence Miailhe will be giving a master class this Thursday, September 27th, at the Cinémathèque Québécoise at 3 p.m. Miailhe works in-camera with oil paint, pastel and sand to create rich imagery in films such as Conte de quartier, which is a Films de l'Arlequin and National Film Board of Canada production.Thanks to the generosity of the NFB and Antitube, she will be in Montreal and on Friday in Quebec City at the Museum of Civilisation to meet with the public. Both events are free! Labels: France, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Quebec City, shorts September 25, 2007
 The Halo phenomenon continued unabated with today's release of Bungie Studios' Halo 3. I think it is inarguable that the most viewed animation today was seen by the countless fans who lined up to buy the Xbox 360 game and who ran home early or even took the day off (you know who you are) to play. The 20 minutes of cinematics in the game were completed by animators at the Montreal animation and effects house DamnFx. It's refreshing that their team has not been shy about their enthusiasm for being able to work on the character animation, something people tend not to think of when considering CG or in-game animation. The creators who will also have a presence at this year's ADAPT conference, including a special presentation by Bungie Studios' lead producer and cinematics director on the animation contribution to Halo 3 on Thursday, September 27.Labels: ADAPT, computer animation, events, Montreal September 24, 2007
 Wrapping up Norman McLaren's retrospective world tour, the NFB pairs up with the Montreal Symphony to present a special hybrid performance of music and cinema.Next week in Montreal, the symphony will play musical accompaniment to four of the animator's greatest works; Blinkity Blank, Love on the Wing, Neighbours/Voisins and Hell Unlimited. The richness of full symphonic sound will no doubt offer a fitting complement to the large screen presentation of McLaren's animation genius. The evening performance comes first (October 2), followed by the matinee (October 3), which sounds like a great idea for a class field trip to me. For school group reservations, call the MSO at 514-842-3402. What: The Air Canada Words and Music Concerts series When: Tuesday, October 2, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. Where: Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts, Montreal Kent Nagano, conductor Gabriel Thibaudeau, pianist What: The Symphonic Matinees series When: Wednesday, October 3, 2007 at 10:30 a.m.Where: Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier at Place des Arts, Montreal Kent Nagano, conductor John Zirbel, OSM principal horn Gabriel Thibaudeau, pianist Labels: events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Norman McLaren, shorts, visual music September 21, 2007
 (click to enlarge.)The single largest digital animation-related event in Montreal this year is the ADAPT conference, which began last year with a bang. The conference (Monday, September 24 to Friday, September 28) focuses on digital art production techniques, including animation and game development. Some highlights this year include keynote speaker Phil Tippett, returning guest Syd Mead, and speakers from Pixar, Sony Imageworks, Dreamworks and Industrial Light and Magic, among others. Those looking for work in concept design and animation will want to attend the ADAPT job fair and master classes. If you're in Ottawa this year for the Ottawa International Animation Festival, you can get a reciprocal discount for each event. Check their sites for details. Labels: ADAPT, CGI, computer animation, events, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, workshops September 18, 2007
 Festival madness: Animatu 2007 kicks off its appreciation of digital animation in Beja, Portugal on October 17, featuring shorts like Ark, Codehunters and Guy's Guide to Zombies; in Spain, Animadrid starts off strong on September 28, opening with Nocturna; I'm still a little peeved at Aurora (formerly Norwich International Animation Festival) for dumping the word "animation" from their name because they think it's too restrictive, but damn do they have a lot of cool animation and animators in this year's fest, which starts November 7; Animae Caribe hits the University of the West Indies, Trinidad on October 25 and will feature a history of African animation; and the awesome Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema returns to the tiny town starting November 15, with an undoubtedly incredible lineup and steady supply of excellent hot chocolate. Two new additions to our Sites We Like blogroll (over on the lower right sidebar, in case you hadn't noticed): Fill This Space is Patrick Smith's space for ruminating on the art and animation that he makes, and that inspires him; Diego Stoliar's self-titled blog features his personal and creative work. I featured Patrick's Moving Along in our Flicker newsletter a while ago, and praised his Handshake ever so briefly in my review of the second Avoid Eye Contact DVD; Diego was a participant in the National Film Board of Canada's most recent iteration of the Hothouse project, and you can see his contribution, One, along with the rest of them here. They'e both great guys, and I hope one day we'll all share beers together.In the past we've mentioned the weekend animation workshops that the National Film Board hosts for kids here in Montreal; I should also mention that the NFB in Toronto has been running the same kind of program at the Mediatheque, for budding animators aged 3 to 13. The current program runs through to April 2008, but you can jump in at any time.  The Iranian feature Persepolis has been making the festival rounds for most of the year, but it looks like Sony Classics is giving it at least some sort of a theatrical release. I don't know about the rest of the continent, but Montrealers will be able to catch it in English and French starting January 11.Speaking of Sony, the company is picking up where Disney left off with direct-to-DVD sequels of its feature properties; the first title is Open Season 2. Fans may howl at the resurgence of cheapquels, but I imagine it's hard for executives to ignore the heaping piles of money they generate. Labels: Canada, features, festivals, Montreal, Persepolis, Portugal, shorts, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Spain, Toronto, Trinidad, United Kingdom, Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema, WFAC August 17, 2007
 The annual SIGGRAPH conference ended less than a week ago, and Emru is still in recovery. Here's something for those of us who couldn't make it.Our local chapter, ACM SIGGRAPH Montreal, is hosting a screening of selections from the Computer Animation Festival in Parc de la Paix, the space next to the Society of Arts and Technology (SAT) at 1195 Saint-Laurent this Saturday, August 18. An outdoor screening would be great, but in case of rain, it will move next door to the SAT who are always gracious hosts. You can view the 2007 trailer here. Find your local SIGGRAPH chapter. July 15, 2007
 The second animated feature to be shown at the Fantasia film festival this year was Aachi & Ssipak, a Korean film that, violence and urban dystopia notwithstanding, is miles apart from fest opener Tekkon Kinkreet, or from other Korean features like Sky Blue or My Beautiful Girl, Mari. Unlike those other three films, which profess some kind of introspection, Aachi & Ssipak is an outright and outrageous comedy, whose entire basis is, er, crap. (So maybe the touchstone should be Doggy Poo.)It's like this: in the future, the world's new energy source is human feces. Everyone has an implanted anus ID ring, so that when someone goes to the bathroom they're rewarded with Juicybars, yummy—and, as it happens, addictive—popsicles. Blue mutants, led by a muscled, pierced, dreadlocked messiah, have been heisting Juicybar shipments in Shit City to such a degree that the city's disturbingly doll-headed fascist leader has commissioned a mad scientist to create a super-cyborg out of cadavers to fight them. Meanwhile, Aachi and Ssipak, two idiot petty Juicybar thieves, find themselves in trouble thanks to their no-good associate, the auteur-wannabe porn producer Jimmy. It's in the course of Jimmy's payback that they encounter the sexy Betsy (Beautiful in the English subtitles), and Ssipak falls head over heels for her on first sight. Betsy becomes the movie's MacGuffin when she's forcibly implanted with a new anus ring that delivers mountains of Juicybars whenever she hits the can, which further complicates things to the point where everyone is trying to catch and/or kill everyone else, with Betsy as the main prize. At this point, reasonable people would no doubt shake their heads in bewilderment and move on. They'd also miss one of the funniest and well-crafted animated movies I've seen this year. Kino Kid put it well after we saw the film when she said, "It is what it is"—not in that shoulder-shrugging, "what are you gonna do?" way, but in the sense that in the first ten minutes, between the exposition and the car chase/gun battle, you know what type of story it is. And once the basis is established (the world is powered by shit!), there's no need to go for gross-out jokes or squishy sound effects; it's just part of the world, right down to its advertising. (Sure, the ads about happy communities crapping together is absurd, but is it any more absurd than animated marching cigarettes or winking Esso signs? Not really.) Scatology aside, Aachi & Ssipak is also a relentless action movie that manages to be both ultra-violent (those blue mutants make for excellent exploding-body cannon fodder) and cartoony. If you check out the film's official website, you'll see what I mean. Even as the cyborg mows down mutants with a fervour and style that would be the envy of any Terminator, his body and his equipment maintain the same kind of squash and stretch we expect from gag cartoons. And bonus points to director/screenwriter Jo Beom-jin for putting in all kinds of movie in-jokes that are actually funny without calling attention to themselves (unless, as in the case of Jimmy's Jiffybar-overdose freakout, that's the point). If you've seen Battleship Potemkin you'll howl at the extended riff on the Odessa steps sequence, but if you haven't it's still funny and exciting on its own.  In terms of animation and design, Aachi & Ssipak is both consistent and ambitious. Everything in this dirty, corrupt world holds together visually, and the film is crammed with the kind of dynamic composition, animated camera moves and quick but clear editing that drew many people to anime over the last four decades.One of the film's many movie posters declares that it contains "2D funky action in an awesome 3D reality!" It's true that there's some 3D work in there, but with one or two forgettable exceptions it's integrated quite well. Having watched the film only once (so far), I'd venture that 3D digital tools were largely used for anything that would be too complicated by hand, but the director set the "too complicated" bar pretty high. The result is that we still get some of that exaggerated, sometimes-snappy, sometimes-elastic feel in many action sequences, rather than fairly literal motion and acceleration. (This is why I'll take the space combat scenes in Macross over those in Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles any day.) It's refreshing to see that the subject matter didn't make the filmmakers lazy, or too self-satisfied in their subversiveness. Aachi & Ssipak's story and animation work together to make a tight, hilarious action film. I don't know how likely this it is to get a domestic release, but fortunately the Korean DVD includes English subtitles. Aachi & Ssipak Directed by Jo Beom-jin 90 minutes Buy the Aachi & Ssipak DVD (Region 3) from YesAsia.com Labels: Fantasia festival, features, festivals, Korea, Montreal, reviews July 12, 2007
 One of the most obnoxious things about Hollywood movies is the tendency to put kids in danger to mine a little extra anxiety from the audience. It's a cheap stunt, because bad things rarely happen to kids in Hollywood films. (Steven Spielberg is a serial offender here. Remember Short Round on the bridge in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, or Tim climbing the soon-to-be-re-electrified fence in Jurassic Park? Right.) There's none of that fake danger in Tekkon Kinkreet, the Studio 4°C film that opened the Fantasia film festival this year. The young protagonists live in a harsh, gritty world that gives no quarter, and that sometimes takes the movie to places that Hollywood movies fear to tread. Tekkon Kinkreet is the story of Kuro and Shiro (whose names literally translate to Black and White), two of the many orphan children who prowl the streets of Treasure Town. Shiro, the younger of the two, is the innocent, while Kuro has no problem with getting his knuckles (or a length of pipe) bloody to protect him or their turf. In this mix are two cops (one older and wiser, who keeps an eye out for Kuro and Shiro, the other a young rookie); a young yakuza who's leading his boss's advance into Treasure Town; and a mysterious and sinister elfin character who aims to turn a fair chunk of Treasure Town into a massive theme park. There's a lot going on in this movie, and every one of its 100 minutes is put to good use. The kids, the cops, the yakuza and the developer all have some sort of interplay between each other (sometimes with words, sometimes with violence, sometimes with both), but just as importantly, they each have some sort of interplay with the city itself. In fact, Tekkon Kinkreet is as much about our various relationships to the urban landscape as anything else. Based on the Taiyo Matsumoto manga Black & White and directed by Michael Arias, Tekkon Kinkreet shares elements of other anime films that feature outsider children. Like Grave of the Fireflies, Kuro and Shiro have struck out on their own, with the older character willing to take on any burden to protect the younger's health and innocence. Like Akira, the movie dwells mostly among those who live in the city but who have dropped out of society. And like Kakurenbo, these kids' relationship with the urban landscape has little to do with its intended use, but is in many ways more intimate and more thorough than for ordinary citizens. The movie looks fantastic, with Treasure Town a lush forest of rooftops, fire escapes, cables and signs. The characters who inhabit Treasure Town are angular, slope-shouldered, asymmetrical—they owe more in look to Mind Game than, say, Naruto—and fit right in with the bustling, chaotic city. I was quite surprised during the post-screening Q&A when an audience member implied that most of the film was clearly CG; not only because it's obviously not the case, but because if there's any film that proves it doesn't matter which elements are CG and which are hand-drawn, it's this one. The appropriate tool is used at the appropriate time, and it's put together not with the express intent of hiding the seams, but of making the scene work. The end result is something you'll want to repeatedly freeze-frame when the DVD comes out, but which you should catch on the big screen when its limited North American run starts on Friday, just to drink it all in. Tekkon Kinkreet Directed by Michael Arias 100 minutes Buy Tekkon Kinkreet Limited Edition on DVD (Region 2) at YesAsia.com Buy Tekkon Kinkreet on DVD at Amazon.com Buy Tekkon Kinkreet soundtrack CD at Amazon.com Buy Tekkon Kinkreet soundtrack remix CD at YesAsia.com Labels: anime, Fantasia festival, festivals, Montreal, reviews, Studio 4C, Tekkon Kinkreet June 29, 2007
 Our pals at the Fantasia film festival have unleashed this year's lineup, and as always, animation fans are well served—but they have to do a little more work to get their fix.Features seem a little diminished, but not so much as last year. The fest starts and ends strong—Tekkon Kinkreet is the opening film, and the Korean Yobi the Five-Tailed Fox is the last animated screening, on the second-to-last day of the festival—but those are the only two features on 35mm film. The odd-looking stopmo film We Are the Strange is in high-definition video, but the other features (the Flash-animated Minushi, Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow and Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society) are all projected, standard-definition video. Previous Fantasia fests prove that watching projected video can still be enjoyable, but spending four days at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema watching nothing but 35mm reminds you of the kind of difference the medium makes.  There are also two short feature documentaries that are about animation, and they're screening together. Animania is about Canadian anime fandom, which appears to focus on how the current generation of teen fans relate to anime. I've seen and heard so many reports on teen fandom I'd be inclined to give it a pass, but last year—back when the movie's focus was less on the teens—I was interviewed extensively for Animania, and I was asked some very interesting questions. I'm hoping they applied the same kind of thoughtfulness to their adolescent subjects. (And no, I'm not in the actual Animania movie, but apparently I'll appear in the DVD extras.) The other documentary is the French Ghibli et le mystère Miyazaki (Ghibli and the Mystery of Miyazaki), which needs little explaining but which is definitely a must-see, especially with interviewees like Isao Takahata, Moebius and Takashi Murakami. Fantasia's real source of pleasure for animation fans comes from the animated shorts, but that's also its real source of pain. For years I've been preaching that animation shouldn't be ghettoized, that it should be treated like "regular" film. The problem is that Fantasia gives me just what I ask for, scattering its animated shorts among omnibus films (Ten Nights of Dreams) and over a dozen collections of shorts, only two of which are animation-specific (a best-of compilation from last year's Ottawa fest, plus the latest edition of The Outer Limits of Animation, which inexplicably includes the two-year-old, almost overexposed, not-terribly-out-there In the Rough). Miraculously, it's possible to see all of the animated shorts with only one schedule conflict: The one screening of The Outer Limits of Animation is at the same time as Watch Out! Beyond the Genres of Korean Short Films, which includes the 34-minute The Hell (Two Kinds of Life).And really, that's the most amazing thing about Fantasia this year. They've added a third cinema to their venues, but in three weeks of screenings there appear to be fewer repeats than ever before. It's a testament to the passion of their crew that they're still going so strong. Labels: anime, Fantasia festival, festivals, Flash animation, Ghost in the Shell, Hayao Miyazaki, Montreal, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, stop-motion, Studio Ghibli, Tekkon Kinkreet June 6, 2007
 Ed Hooks is an actor and acting coach who has been helping animators understand the importance of acting theory to improve their craft. He is also the author of Acting for Animators, the first book that was written solely on the subject and has taught the principles of the book to animators the world over.He will be in Montreal on June 11 at Centre NAD to teach his Acting for Animators workshop. Ed was kind enough to answer a few questions I had for him. Tamu Townsend: The first group you instructed were animators on the crew of Antz. How has your workshop changed since then? Besides all of the knowledge you have conferred to animators, what have they taught you and how has it affected your workshops and approach? Ed Hooks: In 1998, Pacific Data Images had recently been acquired by DreamWorks and was in pre-production for its first feature, Antz. Ken Beilenberg, the Special Effects director, happened to be one of my students in my ongoing Palo Alto acting class for actors. One night after class, he asked me if I would be interested in teaching an acting class on-site for the animators at PDI [Pacific Data Images]. He explained that the animators at PDI were working on their first feature film, that they had previously only worked on commercials, and they needed acting training. I'm the kind of person who rarely says "no" to something, and so I agreed. Mind you, I did not know squat about animation at that point. I knew I was a good acting teacher, but that was as far as it went. After that talk with Ken, I shortly thereafter wound up standing in front of a group of about 25 animators at PDI. I made the mistake of trying to teach them acting the same way I taught it in my acting-for-actors classes. I was arrogant enough to belive that there was only one way to teach actnng. I brought in scripts, had the animators get up and "cold read" them, assigned them scene partners and told them to go home and rehearse, to commit scenes to memory. By the third week, I had lost about half the class. That was when the Human Resources people at PDI took me to lunch. "This isn't working, Ed," they explained. "I can see that," I replied. "But Ken says you are a good acting teacher and so, if you want to try something else, we'll keep paying you." I went back to the animators and started all over again. "I know a lot about acting," I said, "But I obviously do not know much about animation. If you guys will tell me exactly what you do, I will do my best to bring what I know to bear on your work process." And so they sat me down at their computers and showed me what they did, which was an eye-opener to me. I went back to the drawing board. How could I teach acting theory to people who did not, in fact, want to be actors? Very few animators even fantasized about appearing on Broadway or in a Robert DeNiro movie. Indeed, probably more than eighty percent of the animators were too shy to get up in front of people. This was a different situation than I faced in my regular acting classes for actors. I decided to teach the animators at PDI with a combination of lectures on basic acting theory, supported by clips from live-action movies. That was how it all started. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention. What I do today in my Acting for Animators workshops had its beginnings back there at PDI in 1998. I have expanded and refined on it, of course, but the basics of the class began there. Since those early days at PDI, I have taught for most of the major animation studios and game companies. Each time, I try to improve on what I did the last time. A year or so after I taught for PDI/DreamWorks, I started looking for books that addressed the difference between actors and animators. There were none, and that is what led to Acting for Animators. To this very day, I continue to refine what goes on in the class, but I now have a concrete understanding of what animators do and how it differs from what stage actors do. I continue to teach stage actors but, when I teach animators, I essentially change hats. Actors operate in the "present moment"; animators, by contrast, do not really have a present moment. Animators have twenty-four-frames-make-a-second. Animators have the illusion of a present moment. One must therefore teach acting theory to actors in a different way than one teaches it to animators. I learned the lessson, with the help of PDI/DreamWorks, the hard way. TT: Do you feel that animators that use different techniques - 3D, 2D, stop-motion - will get the same use from the course? Are there certain components that may speak more or be more important to one person because of the technique he or she uses? EH: Acting theory is acting theory, and it doesn't matter what animation technique you use: it is all about storytelling, and the process is ancient, going all the way back to Aristotle. I teach that the origins of acting lie in shamanism. An actor steps in front of the tribe, draws a circle in the dirt and says, in effect, "Listen to me. I have something to tell you." The tribe gathers round, hoping to learn something about survival on earth. The story is everything. It doesn't matter if you are using 2D, 3D, stop motion or... whatever. If you have something useful to say to the tribe, it will be well taken. If you do not, it will not. TT: Mark Mayerson would like to know, when you are doing talks at studios, if you make recommendations for keeping characters consistent given that multiple animators will be working with the same character. That's obviously a problem that live actors don't have to deal with. EH: I recommend that, at the beginning of a project, the animation director establish a "character bible" that contains everything there is to know about each individual character. Usually, the character bible is a three-ring notebook. It contains drawings of the characters, biographies, descriptions, et cetera. All of the animators working on a particular character should refer back to that bible. It should be kept in some place that is open to the entire production team. TT: Do you have a specific teaching experience you would like to share? EH: One of my students- Sharon Coleman- received an Academy Award nomination in 2006. Ms. Coleman was in my class in Swansea, South Wales and again at the National Film School in the UK. I had the opportunity to monitor her progress, from initial idea all the way to final 2D execution of Badgered. I was fortunate to be able to give her advice at several different stages of development. Sharon is a brilliant storyteller and animator, currently working for DreamWorks in Los Angeles, but at that time she was a student. I am proud of my input into her project. My worst experience would probably be at a game company- not to be named. I was hired to teach an Acting for Animators class and, before the class started, the company owner took me into his office to explain what he wanted. He showed me a sports video, a football thing. He explained that he had himself performed as a mo-cap [motion capture] performer for some of the crashes and falls. He wanted me to teach his animators to do "good acting" such as he was doing in his mo-cap suit. Oh, Jesus! The man was very nice, but he didn't have a clue about acting! Taking falls on-camera had nothing whatever to do with acting theory. I can remember grinning at him and assuring him that I would teach them how to do it right. Then I went into workshop and taught my regular class. TT:After Montreal, where will you go next in 2007? EH: For certain, I will be working at Swansea Animation Days in Swansea, South Wales, and at Animex in Teesside, England and at FMX in Stuttgart, Germany. It is looking like I will be going to Australia for the third time in late September. The last time I taught in Oz was for Animal Logic, which was at the time working on Happy Feet. Labels: books, interviews, Montreal, schools, workshops June 5, 2007
 I was at the National Film Board last Monday for the screening and wrap party for this year's Hothouse (more on that later) and after more than a year of effort the stars aligned and I was able to stop by Martine Chartrand's office for a peek at her latest film, MacPherson.Martine's been working on MacPherson since 2003, and doesn't expect to be finished for at least another two years. Part of the reason is technique—as with her previous film (the astonishing Black Soul) she works by painting on glass—but mainly it's because of the research involved. Inspired by a Félix Leclerc song about a black log driver, Martine has unearthed a history of Frank Randolph MacPherson that bears only a passing resemblance to Leclerc's song. It turns out that MacPherson, a Jamaican immigrant to Quebec, was in fact a good friend of Leclerc's and, as they used to say, a man of letters. Martine showed me a test of MacPherson, and it looks as if she'll be sort of combining both stories—using the fictional MacPherson to tell the story of the friendship shared by the real MacPherson and Leclerc. As ever, the visuals are gorgeous, and I can't wait to see them fully realized and in motion. While I can't show any of that test footage, I did take a few photos of the MacPherson storyboard, and you can see some of Martine's reference images and concept drawings in the picture of her office above. You can click on all of the images in this post to see larger images with more detail.      Labels: Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB  I have a soft spot for mythology and folk tales, especially when they're produced by individuals or small teams. Favourites include the Dust Echoes series and the films of Nick Kozis; now I can add Croatian Tales of Long Ago, produced by Helena Bulaja. Helena brought together animators from around the world to create eight Flash-animated shorts based on stories from Ivana Brlić Mažuranić's 1916 book of the same name, allowing each one to put his or her spin on it and add interactive elements. For me, the perfect matchup between story, style and interactivity was How Quest Sought the Truth by Nathan Jurevicius: the laid-back delivery, quirky style and fun but challenging (and completely optional) Flash games just clicked for me. But honestly, the whole project is a delight. You can check out segments for free on the project's website, or buy the CD-ROMs—which are chock full of extras, including the original stories—from the Web shop.Last year, many of us in the northeast faced an enormous quandary: go to the 30th anniversary Ottawa International Animation Festival, or to the inaugural ADAPT Conference in Montreal, held the same weekend? Independent animation or the gorgeous art to be found in big-budget features? Konstantin Bronzit or Syd Mead? It was a dilemma of soul-crushing, garment-rending proportions. Fortunately, this year our spirits and outerwear are safe: the 2007 edition of ADAPT is being held immediately after Ottawa, so you could conceivably rush from one to the other. None of the master class topics have been announced as yet, but Syd Mead, Iain McCaig and Mark Goerner are already confirmed as guests. Forgot to mention earlier that Laurie Maher and Jason Walker will be hosting the North American premiere of Madame Tutli-Putli at the Worldwide Short Film Festival in Toronto on June 13. Coolest mug ever. Do you create animation in SWF format? If so, you'll want to contact Adobe's Customer Research team; they're looking to collect SWF content to get an idea of what people are using the format for, so they can better support them. If you want to make sure animation is well represented, send the following to flashresearch [at] adobe.com by July 6:
Labels: anime, computer animation, Croatia, events, Flash animation, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, reviews May 30, 2007
 Cegep Vieux Montreal will be holding its year-end screening Wednesday May 30 at 7 p.m. The college's highly regarded Animation and 3D Animation program's 2007 graduates will screen their short films at 245 Ontario East. Admission is 2 dollars. May 16, 2007
  In the summer of 2001, I was part of a National Film Board peer review, where six of us spent a day looking at film proposals to provide recommendations. One of those films was Madame Tutli-Putli, and Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski presented us with an animatic—a rough animated presentation of what they intended for the film—as part of their proposal. A few elements have remained almost exactly the same over the course of six years, but many are strikingly different.Photo credit: National Film Board of Canada Labels: Canada, Chris Lavis, Clyde Henry Productions, Maciek Szczerbowski, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, podcast, shorts, stop-motion May 15, 2007
 Clyde Henry Productions is Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski, a team of multimedia artists who have been working together in animation and effects since 1997. But for about half that time, the pair locked themselves in a dark room to produce Madame Tutli-Putli, a seventeen-minute stop-motion short for the National Film Board of Canada. The title character, a demure and hesitating young woman, boards a train for an overnight journey in what appears to be 1920s Europe. But her journey is filled with strange passengers and even stranger events.Madame Tutli-Putli is exquisitely produced, with meticulously crafted puppets and carefully worn sets and props. It's a wordless fever-dream of a story that nails you to your chair—even in its quietest moments, you get the feeling that something isn't quite right. Part of that unsettling feeling comes from what Chris Lavis calls the "gimmick" of digitally compositing human eyes onto the puppets, which produces a haunting effect that's difficult to ignore. I spoke with the Clydes last Friday, just a few days before they were off to France. Madame Tutli-Putli was selected for the International Critics' Week at the Cannes film festival, and it's also slated to screen at the Annecy animation festival a few weeks after that. When we met at a local pub, they'd just finished several whirlwind days of publicity, and were recharging their batteries with a few pints before getting ready for their trip. Clyde Henry Productions' next project is The White Circus, a feature in development at the National Film Board. Links Clyde Henry Productions Madame Tutli-Putli Marcy Page spotlight (from the July 2005 issue of fps) Photo credit: National Film Board of Canada Labels: Canada, Chris Lavis, Clyde Henry Productions, interviews, Maciek Szczerbowski, Madame Tutli-Putli, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, podcast, shorts, stop-motion May 11, 2007
 Last night, Montreal's animation community descended on the Cinémathèque Québecoise to honour the National Film Board's Hélène Tanguay. Thirty-seven years after starting at the Board—her first and only place of employment—she'll be retiring from her position as marketing manager for the NFB's English Animation Studio, and about a hundred of her friends and colleagues showed up to wish her well. (The picture at left was taken seconds before the evening was officially underway. Hélène is in the orange shirt, at right.)"Marketing manager" sounds like a dull title, perilously close to the "suits" that are reviled by many animation artists and fans. Hélène, however, is no self-important suit. More than once, the words "passionate" and "devoted" were used to describe her love of animation, and she counts many of its most prodigious practitioners as friends. It's not her fault that other marketing managers don't live up to her gold standard. My view of Hélène is that she's one of those people for whom the phrase joie de vivre was invented. She's always smiling or laughing whenever I see her, as are the people around her. In 2004, the train we were riding to the Ottawa International Animation Festival broke down in the middle of nowhere. It was a warm and humid day, and without air conditioning it didn't take long for us to start roasting. We waited for hours before another train showed up to push us to a station and we could be transferred to buses—and Hélène was cracking jokes throughout, despite her obvious discomfort. At the two Ottawa festivals since then she's found new ways to mine the event for laughs. I mention this to set the context for last night's vibe. Cinémathèque animation curator Marco de Blois was wearing what I'll call Hélène-style earrings, as were Chris Hinton, NFB executive producer David Verrall, and animator Jacques Drouin. Introductions and tributes were accompanied by chuckles and outright howls of laughter. But there was a lot of affection, and I suspect Hélène made good use of the box of tissues Marco supplied her with at the outset. This was all part of the first part of the evening, which Marco referred to as "The H.T. Project," hatched by a secret cabal of animators and NFB personnel. Nine tributes were paid by ten animators, who each gave an introduction (in person, by written note, or by video) and explained the personal connection behind the particular film they'd selected to be screened for Hélène and everyone in attendance. Here's a list of the presenters and the lineup: Michèle Cournoyer - The Big Snit Cordell Barker - An Old Box Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis - The Hedgehog in the Mist (in the original Russian, with a live voiceover by Martine Chartrand) Jacques Drouin - The Little Forest Chris Hinton - Rabbit Marv Newland - Dinner for Two Martin Rose - My Financial Career Paul Driessen - Broken Down Film Stephen McCallum - Sledgehammer After the films, we went to the lobby to pose for pictures with Hélène, then to the café to talk about the evening, stun Hélène with her third standing ovation, and generally mingle. A few hours later on the train ride home I reflected on the fact that the audience represented, for me at least, twenty years of relationships: friends, classmates, professors, and a few inspirations as well. I've been to more than a few gatherings like these, but it's rare that they have as much energy as this—and never before has the linchpin been someone who isn't an animator. It reminded me of something Kino Kid said two years ago: Animation is people . Hélène's love for the form and those that are equally passionate about it was felt and shared by everyone there.Though she's worked behind the scenes for all this time, her influence has been profound. Labels: events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB May 9, 2007
 A special tribute to animation stalwart Helene Tanguay will be held on Thursday, May 10 at La Cinematheque Quebecoise.After several months of preparation by the National Film Board of Canada and La Cinematheque Quebecoise, a selection of films by ten Canadian filmmakers have been hand-picked just for her in the utmost secrecy. Attend the screening to find out the 10 films that have been dedicated to her (and who did the dedicating) on the brink of her retirement from the NFB. Helene has also been named Honorary President of the Ottawa International Animation Festival for 2007. May at La Cinematheque Quebecoise Labels: events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, OIAF, Ottawa International Animation Festival, shorts May 3, 2007
 The 34th Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema Student Film Festival a.k.a Concordia University's YES—year end screening—will be held at the very scenic Cinema du Parc arthouse theatre. There won't be an animation exclusive night but plenty of student frame-by-frame films are scattered throughout the week—from May 4th to the 10th.Most of the screenings include at least 5 animated shorts. The Best of the Fest happenin' on thursday May 10th includes only 2 though. So check out the very intensive program and plan your schedule. Concordia shorts—whether live action or animation—are generally very refreshing. Attend a few screenings and you just might catch some films that will become student fest favorites by the end of the year. General admission is 5$, 3.50$ for students. Best of the Fest is respectively 7$ and 10$. Cinema du Parc is located at 3575 ave. du Parc, Montreal. May 2, 2007
 Last week was only a warm-up: May is a busy animation month at the Cinematheque Quebecoise. Things get underway Thursday, May 3, with a selection of Animation Classics of the 1980s. Each of the six films would make it worth seeing an entire program of animation shorts.Tale of Tales, Yuri Norstein Tyll the Giant, Rein Raamat The Cat Came Back, Cordell Barker Rectangles & Rectangles & Rectangle, René Jodoin Do Pivnice (Down in the Cellar), Jan Svankmajer Jumping, Osamu Tezuka May 10 On the eve of her retirement, a secret program of 10 films has been prepared for Hélène Tanguay (Marketing Manager for the NFB's English Animation Studio) by a team of employees at the CQ and the National Film Board. Details to come. May 17, May 18, May 20, May 24, May 25, May 31, June 1, June 7  New York independent animator Bill Plympton graces the city once again with his presence. Yes, his films will be showing right until June!May 17 is a special workshop with Bill Plympton. He will discuss his career as an animator, do an drawing demonstration and explain how directors can make a living working on short films. On May 18, there will be a screening of his shorts from 1977-1994 (in the presence of the director), and May 19, watch the balance of shorts from 1994 to the present. The next four screenings will be devoted to his features, The Tune, I Married a Strange Person!, Mutant Aliens, and Hair High. If I died from an overdose, this is the way I'd want to go out. Labels: Bill Plympton, events, features, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, New York, NFB, shorts April 25, 2007
Two great events are happening in Montreal on Thursday evening, April 26th. The problem is figuring out which one to go to or how to attend both without running oneself ragged.
At 6:30, The Cinémathèque Québécoise screens a program of Hélène Tanguay's picks for Animation Classics of the 1970s, with an emphasis on Polish shorts and cream of the crop from the NFB. Shorts by Ivanov Vano and Yuri Norstein, John Weldon and Eunice Macaulay are included and this will also be another chance to see Frank Film. The program continues next week with the '80s picks. [Correction: The April 26 and May 3 programs aren't related to the Hélène Tanguay program, which is top-secret and appears on May 10. However, the lineups are still several levels of amazing. —Emru]  At 8:00, Red Bird Studios (135 Van Horne) is hosting a one-night only art show for the creators of the indie comics anthology Hickee. I especially like the work of editor Graham Annable (check out the Grickle comics and shorts), Scott Campbell and Raz. The contributors also work in other artistic disciplines, including animation and game design, but after picking up an issue - you don't need to be told - it becomes pleasantly obvious in much of the work.Labels: comics, events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Oscars, Poland April 17, 2007
 On Wednesday, April 18th at 6:30 p.m., the animation community will pay tribute to Ryan Larkin, who left many—friends and strangers—heartbroken when word of his death from cancer occurred in mid-February. Just before his death, Larkin had begun animating again and had embarked on a project called Spare Change (the producer still plans to finish this film).This event is graciously hosted by the Cinémathèque Québécoise with the collaboration of the National Film Board of Canada. The following films will be screened: - excerpts from Pin Screen, Norman McLaren, 1973 - excerpts from Chez Schwartz, 2006 (documentary) - Alter Egos, 52 min (documentary on the making of Ryan) - interstitials for MTV - Forest Fire Clip: Burning Fox, 1971 - Canada Vignette: Trading Post, 1978 - Cityscape, 1966 - Syrinx, 1965 - Walking, 1968 - Street Musique, 1972 The evening promises many tributes from his friends and peers, including Chris Landreth and David Verrall. Labels: events, Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Ryan Larkin March 19, 2007
 On Thursday, March 22nd, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will continue its free screenings of classic Disney features with Cinderella. One of my favourite touches in this film was the pumpkin carriage, which was inspired by the work of Beatrix Potter (one of the things I learned by attending the superlative exhibit, Once Upon a Time Walt Disney, to which these screenings are linked). If you can't make it for the film, Fantasia is showing on Friday, and I can't wait for Pinocchio on the weekend. See you there!Don't feel for a feature film on Thursday? How about shorts?  Steamboat Willie, 1928, 8 minMickey's Orphans, 1931, 7 min Mickey's Pal Pluto, 1933, 8 min Mickey's Fire Brigade, 1935, 8 min The Band Concert, 1936, 9 min Donald and Pluto, 1936, 8 min Thru the Mirror, 1936, 9 min Clock Cleaners, 1937, 9 min Don Donald, 1937, 8 min Modern Inventions, 1937, 9 min La Cinémathèque Québécoise will be screening these Mickey Mouse shorts (with appearances from the rest of the gang). These are all 35 mm prints. Labels: Disney, exhibitions, features, Montreal, shorts March 14, 2007
Just corrected a minor oversight: For people who'd rather not download our last two video podcasts but are still interested in the interviews, I've added two audio-only versions for your enjoyment, with the earlier one back-dated to when it was supposed to go up. You'll find the Bruno Girveau interview here and the Lella Smith interview here.
Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal  Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith, who was present for the exhibit's opening at the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.Photo credit: Emru Townsend Labels: Disney, exhibitions, interviews, Lella Smith, Montreal, podcast Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith. In this video podcast you can listen to my interview with her while watching a slideshow of some of the Library's artwork that's on display at the exhibit.Watch the video Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith. In this video podcast you can listen to my interview with her while watching a slideshow of some of the Library's artwork that's on display at the exhibit.Photo credit: Emru Townsend Labels: Disney, exhibitions, interviews, Lella Smith, Montreal, podcast March 12, 2007
 Veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja was an unexpected guest at the press conference for the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I sat down with him and talked about how he was inspired to become an animator, and how he feels about anime, CGI, and people referencing his animation the way he used to reference his predecessors.Listen to the interview Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal  Veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja was an unexpected guest at the press conference for the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I sat down with him and talked about how he was inspired to become an animator, and how he feels about anime, CGI, and people referencing his animation the way he used to reference his predecessors.Links Andreas Deja (Wikipedia) Photo credit: Emru Townsend Labels: Andreas Deja, Disney, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal, podcast  First presented at the Grand Palais in Paris in fall 2006, the exhibition Once Upon a Time Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios makes its way to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it will undoubtedly create quite a buzz. It is indeed a rare occasion when animation films—let alone Disney—get the limelight in a museum.The exhibition's companion catalogue is a luxuriously illustrated book whose scholarly analyses invite us to re-examine the Disney aesthetic through its relations with European fine arts. Read the review Review by Marco de Blois Labels: Disney, exhibitions, Montreal, reviews March 10, 2007
   Sunday is your last chance to see Carte Blanche à Cartoon Club, a selection of European shorts suitable for all ages, with a heavy emphasis on Italian and German animation, compiled by Sabrina Zanetti, artistic director of Cartoon Club, the International Festival of Animated Cinema and Comics in Rimini. The programme is a part of the Festival international de films pour enfants de Montreal (FIFEM).Selections include works from Bruno Bozzetto and an episode of La Linea by Osvaldo Cavandoli (sadly, Cartoon Brew reported that he died last week).  Two days before the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit officially opened in Montreal, members of the press and other guests were invited to roam the museum during the morning press conference and the evening reception. Although the sheer amount of material is staggering, we hope this selection of photos will give you a taste of what's on display.See the photos Photos by Emru Townsend and Roy Patrick Disney Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal  There is lots of programming today at the Festival of Films on Art (FIFA). There's something for everybody.If you missed the documentary Il Etait Un Fois... Walt Disney when it aired late last year with English subtitles, it will be showing again today and Sunday in French at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where the exhibit of the same name has just started its North American run. The program begins at 2:00 p.m. (4:30 on Sunday) and is preceded by a documentary (with some animated sequences) on Kinder Surprise, a guilty pleasure of mine. (Note that today and tomorrow are also your last two chances to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the museum).  If you're all Disneyed out, at 4:30 p.m. there is a screening of Parnography, a documentary about Estonian animator Pritt Parn and his contemparies. It repeats later in the week.The documentary airs with Drawing Lessons and Histoires Mysterieuses d'Aujourd'hui, a collection of six Japanese tales of horror and does not have the typical hallmarks of mainstream Japanese animation. Both sound utterly fascinating. Labels: anime, Disney, documentaries, Estonia, events, exhibitions, features, festivals, FIFA, International Festival of Films on Art, Montreal, shorts March 8, 2007
 Matt Forsythe has posted in words and pictures over at Drawn! and Flickr about his experience at Tuesday's preview of Once Upon A Time Walt Disney, which opened today to the public. It's wonderful to read him write about his discovery of Mary Blair, one of my favourite Disney artists.While I'm on the subject, Mark Mayerson posted a second fantastic commentary on a sequence of Pinocchio at the beginning of the week. We'll be posting some more about the exhibit in the next little while as well. For now, don't forget to check out the video podcast with curator Bruno Girveau. Labels: Disney, exhibitions, Montreal March 7, 2007
On March 8th, the exhibition Once Upon a Time Walt Disney opens at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Yesterday we did a tour of the exhibit, which presents the work of the Walt Disney Studio from 1928 (the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Plane Crazy) through to 1967 (The Jungle Book), in its artistic context. Hundreds of production drawings, concept sketches, background paintings, character studies and film clips are presented side by side with classical artwork and contemporary media to show how Walt Disney and his artists drew from the world around them to create animated movies that are still astonishing to this day. In this podcast I interview the exhibit's curator, Bruno Girveau.Links The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Shop Once Upon a Time Walt Disney (hardcover) Il était une fois Walt Disney (hardcover) Labels: Bruno Girveau, Disney, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal, podcast On March 8th, the exhibition Once Upon a Time Walt Disney opens at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Yesterday we did a tour of the exhibit, which presents the work of the Walt Disney Studio from 1928 (the first Mickey Mouse cartoon, Plane Crazy) through to 1967 (The Jungle Book), in its artistic context. Hundreds of production drawings, concept sketches, background paintings, character studies and film clips are presented side by side with classical artwork and contemporary media to show how Walt Disney and his artists drew from the world around them to create animated movies that are still astonishing to this day. You can see a sampling of the exhibit in this video podcast, as well as my interview with curator Bruno Girveau.Links The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Shop Once Upon a Time Walt Disney (hardcover) Il était une fois Walt Disney (hardcover) Labels: Bruno Girveau, Disney, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal, podcast February 26, 2007
 As fascinating as it may be to see the inspiration, pre-production and final images from various Disney animated features, the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibition wouldn't be complete without seeing the final products being discussed. To that end, the Cinémathèque Québécoise and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts are both screening Disney films to complement the exhibition, starting in March.The Cinémathèque starts things off this Friday with a collection of Alice shorts, the series that Walt Disney worked on before the Disney studio we know was formed. These silent films mixed live action and animation—and when you think about it, that wasn't all that uncommon back then—and will be screened to live piano accompaniment. The other two programs will feature Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies. All of the programs will repeat at least once between March 2 and April 5; you can see the schedule on the Cinémathèque's Cinéma d'animation page. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will be screening eight Disney features (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan) between March 8 and April 29. (They'll be showing all of the Disney movies until The Jungle Book through to the exhibition's end in June; the rest of the schedule will appear on the site in time.) There will be English and French screenings, and admission is free, though you do have to pick up a ticket; details are on the museum's Films at the Museum page. Are you going to the screenings? And if so, which films are you looking forward to the most? Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal  Things are busy over at La Cinématheque Québécoise, as always! This organization is one of the most important film archives in North America and also is dedicated to sharing its significant animation collection with the public. For the next few months, they will dedicate a significant amount of their programming to coincide with the Once Upon A Time Walt Disney exhibit that is gracing the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. But first, animation curator Marco de Blois has a special program in store this coming Thursday, March 1st, at 6:30 dedicated to the outstanding work in the last year from independent Canadian animators, with many of the filmmakers present.The program will include a world premiere of The Occupant, by Elise Simard, as well as:  Birdcalls: Malcolm SutherlandMcLaren's Negatives: Marie-Josee St-Pierre I Wanna Be Your Dog: Luc Otter Experiment 02_06: Don McWilliams et Alison Loader Phont Cycle: Steven Woloshen Head: Félix-Dufour Laperrière et Dominic-Étienne Simard Montrose Avenue: Marek Colek et Pat Shewchuk Dorchester Street: Sarah Lazarovic Puffing Away: Isaac King Abstract: Steve Whitehouse The program promises a wide variety of techniques and themes. Based on de Blois' track record of selections, the night will not disappoint.  In case you have not yet seen Torill Kove's The Danish Poet in its entirety, you can view the recent Oscar-winner (the National Film Board's 12th) online, courtesy of the NFB. If you do it soon, you can even have a chance at winning some original artwork from the short.Marcy Page, one of the films co-producers and also a producer of Kove's previous NFB outing, My Grandmother Ironed The King's Shirts, was featured in the July 2005 issue of fps, available as a free PDF download. Labels: Montreal, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Oscars, shorts  Disney fever will be sweeping Montreal shortly, what with the Il était une fois Walt Disney (Once Upon a Time Walt Disney) exhibition coming to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for a three and a half-month run. If you're in town between March 8 and June 24, why not enter our Once Upon a Time Walt Disney contest? We're giving away two double passes for the exhibition, and all you've got to do is click here to enter.Labels: contest, Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal November 30, 2006
 The fifth edition of Les Sommets du Cinema d'Animation begins tomorrow at the Cinematheque quebecoise and repeats on Saturday.Animation curator Marco de Blois notes that humour in all of its forms is a dominant thread in many of the best shorts of the year. He also remarks that drama can still have a hint of humour, but a couple of the shorts remind us that sometimes laughter is futile in the face of the sadness that fills the world. Like life, animation is an emotional rollercoaster: hop on. This is a fine way to catch up on some of the most interesting animation that has shown in the last year, including Rabbit, Never Like The First Time, Jeu, Ici Par Ici, and Carnival of Animals. Download the entire screening list here. PROGRAM 1: Friday, Dec 1 (6:30 p.m) and Saturday, Dec 2 (9 p.m.) PROGRAM 2: Friday, Dec 1 (8:30 p.m.) and Saturday, Dec 2 at (7 p.m.) Tickets: $7 $6 Students and Seniors $4 Children 6-15 November 28, 2005
 It's that time of year again: Ottawa came and went, the Cinemathèque was summoned to Annecy and answered the call, but did you (could you? I couldn't)? Had to attend your baby brother's bar mitzvah the weekend of Waterloo, or couldn't get to Kalamazoo? The year's almost over, and you still have lots to see.Here's your chance to catch up on some of the best animation offered up from around the world during the last year or so, selected by Marco de Blois, the Cinemathèque québécoise's animation curator, and you won't be disappointed (yes, in this case, I can see into the future). PROGRAM 1: Friday, December 2, 6:30 and Saturday, December 3, 9:00 p.m. PROGRAM 2: Friday, December 2, 8:30 and Saturday, December 3, 7:00 p.m.  Get the entire schedule, with film descriptions, in PDF. Don't forget to send one to an interested friend.Cost: 7$ 6$, students and seniors 4$, 6-15 years FREE, 5 and under, accompanied by an adult |
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