Translated by Annick Teninge

Raoul ServaisCourtesy of Raoul Servais

Raoul Servais, whose presence in the animation world cannot be ignored, is scheduled to be the Honorary President of this year's Hiroshima International Animation Festival. A painter and filmmaker, Servais studied at the Royal Academy of Arts in Gand, Belgium. In the 1950s, he worked with painter René Magritte and documentary filmmaker Henri Stork. His films have won more that 40 national and international awards, among them the First Prize at Venice Biennial in 1966, the Jury Grand Prize in Cannes in 1971 and the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 1979.

In addition to his filmmaking activities, Servais started the Animation Department of Gand Royal Academy of Arts, as well as its Animation Study Center. He has also been involved with the Raoul Servais' Foundation, which is also located in Gand, which organizes animation courses for elementary and middle schools. From 1985 to 1994, he served as President of ASIFA-International, the international animation association.

Currently, after the long gestation period required for his first feature film, Taxandria, Servais has returned to his first love, short films.

I recently had a talk about this and that with this wise practitioner.

Moins: How did it happen to that you got involved in animation in a country where there were no animation studios?

Servais: It was not by chance. I contracted an early virus, thanks to my father; he was an amateur filmmaker who used to screen a 9.5mm print of a Felix the Cat cartoon at home. I used to unwind the print without his knowledge and glance through the frames to try to understand the mystery of animation. It is this miracle of the inanimate which becomes the motion picture, the magic of the cinematograph which made me decide me, at the age of 5, to become a filmmaker.

Harpya (1979)

Moins: Your filmography shows a great eclecticism in terms techniques.

Servais: I mostly made cartoons, but I often changed my drawing style in order to create new experiences. For Harpya, I brought in a human/real character by including him in a painted setting, and handled him like a drawing. This real character was composited with different techniques. I also created an optical system inspired by front projection. For Taxandria, I created a system I call the Servaisgraphie, though, for various reasons, it was only used for the sets. The compositing itself was done using computers. Unless I am mistaken, until Toy Story, Taxandria used more digital images than any other feature film.

Moins: What sort of themes do you deal with in your films?

Servais: I deal with various themes, but what they all have in common is mankind, his longing for freedom, peace and justice. I have always tried to emphasize the dangers which threaten humans. Despite the many script revisions Taxandria went through, the basic message has been retained: a warning against intolerance and authoritarian ideology.