Anima Brussels: The Carnival of Animation
The Anima Animation Festival in Brussels, Belgium (Feb. 16-25, 2007) celebrated its 26th year by moving to a new permanent home in the Flagey Cinema Complex, a classic 1930s art deco building. Attracting 30,000 animation lovers this year, the festival is unique in that it is designed to reach the public rather than being a rendezvous for animators. Although an internationally renowned jury selected the prizewinners, the emphasis is on diverse programming that will stimulate and delight a wide audience. Since it takes place during Carnival week and there is no school, afternoons are aimed at young film buffs. To facilitate a celebration in a multi-lingual country the event is conducted in three languages: French, Dutch and English.
Every evening the adult programs were packed with attentive animation fans and most of them retired to one of the three on-site festival bars after the screenings to carry on heated film discussions. Of the 10 feature films screened, six were designated as "children not admitted." Paprika, winner of the best-animated feature award, is a new film from Japanese director Satoshi Kon. It expands the psychological complexity that he delved into in previous films. Kon seems to feel more comfortable with young female characters so in Paprika a young female detective heads up an investigation that leads her to enter the dreams of her suspects. Paprika is due for release on May 25 in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics.
Danish director Anders Morgenthaler's Princess generated a great deal of controversy and conversation. Effectively integrating live action with animation, the film makes a very powerful plea against pornography. I find an even more important part of the story to be the concept that a person can start out with the best of intentions, but, through anger and hate, turn into a force even worse than the evil that they are trying to avenge. I first saw this film at a festival in November and have been reflecting on it ever since.
There was a screening of the British-Norwegian co-production, Free Jimmy, definitely a "Not for Children" feature-length animation. I have been hearing about the trials and tribulations of the making of the film for the last five years from my Norwegian friend Jo Hjertaker Jurgens, who worked as an animator on the film, so I was very glad to finally have a chance to see it. Free Jimmy describes itself as "Four stoners, five vegans, three mobsters, four hunters and a million reasons to free one elephant," referring to Jimmy as the ultimate symbol of the animal liberation movement. That pretty well sums it up. It will never pass as great art, but it was fun and the full house laughed a lot.
I later sat down with director Christopher Nielsen. Nielsen, a living legend of the Norwegian underground comic scene and a big R. Crumb fan, said that the film was made with "equal parts of good and bad luck," and that acquiring Woody Harrelson (it's the perfect vehicle for him), Kyle MacLachlan, Simon Pegg and Jim Broadbent for voice overs was a definite coupe. The film took six years and $16 million to make and, according to Nielson, "every Norwegian would have to see the film five times for it to recoup its costs."
Since there have only been only three or four Norwegian animated features previously, Free Jimmy has proved to be a training ground for a lot of young Scandinavian animators. Despite all of his trials, Christopher is very proud of the film, which is represented in the U.S. by the William Morris Agency.
Although ANIMA does not invite all of the animators whose films are accepted, there were still an impressive number of special guest artists who presented programs and retrospectives of their work. The delightful husband and wife team of Joanna Quinn and Les Mills (Les is the writer/producer of their production company, Studio Beryl Co.) brought her character Beryl in all of her glory to the festival. The very talented and fun couple screened a body of their work, ranging from Joanna's student film, Girl's Night Out, the first of the Beryl films, to the many recognizable commercials for such companies as Whiskers and United Air Lines. Their 12-year old daughter, Paloma, is already beginning to follow in this animated family's footsteps -- she will be a member of the young people's jury at an animation festival in Egypt this year.
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