Fresh from the Festivals: May 2003's Film Reviews
Within the world of animation, most experimentation occurs within short format productions, whether they be high-budgeted commercials, low-budgeted independent shorts or something in between. The growing number of short film festivals around the world attest to the vitality of these works, but there are few other venues for exhibition of them or even written reviews. As a result, distribution tends to be difficult and irregular. On a regular basis, Animation World Magazine will highlight some of the most interesting with short, descriptive overviews.
If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view a clip from each film by simply clicking the image.
This Month:
The Freak (2002), 6.25 min., directed by Aristomenis Tsirbas, Canada. Info: Dane Smith. Email: dane@menithings.com. Web: www.menithings.com.
The Love Nest (2002), 11 min., directed by Shelly Wain, U.K. Info: Julian Roberts, Cog Ltd., 27 Beethoven St. London, W10 4LG. Tel: (44) 208 964 0234. Fax: (44) 208 968 7710. Email: cog@netcomuk.co.uk.
Oblivion (2002), 1.5 min., directed by FengTing Tsou, Taiwan/USA. Info: FengTing Tsou, Tel: 909-396-8220. Email: jazzinusc@yahoo.com.
Pandorama (2000), 3 min., directed by Nina Paley, USA. Email: nina_paley@yahoo.com. Web: www.ninapaley.com.
The Tortoise & the Hare (2002), 11.5 min., directed by Ray Harryhausen, USA. Info: Seamus Walsh & Mark Caballero. Email: contact@screen-novelties.com. Web: www.screen-novelties.com.
The Freak
Aristomenis (Meni) has been working in entertainment and the arts for two decades. After establishing himself in Montreal, Canada as a concept artist, visual effects supervisor and digital filmmaker, he relocated to Los Angeles where he worked on the visual effects for Titanic, as well as other features and commercials. He also made the short film, Full Tilt, for SIGGRAPH 2000. The Freak was created on three computers using LightWave 7.5 in a collaborative arrangement with the software developers. It has received numerous awards, including Best Animated Film and Audience Favorite at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, Directors Choice at Black Maria and an Honorable Mention at Sundance. Other screenings include the San Francisco International Film Festival, Taos Talking Pictures, the Philadelphia Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand and Bumbershoot!, among many others.
Aristomenis Tsirbas's celebration of nonconformity is a superb demonstration of CGI technology used to great effect. Both technically proficient and highly imaginative in its creation of a whimsical self-contained world, The Freak has enough visual ideas, interesting details and dizzying camera angles to supply three or four films. (For the most part the technique serves, rather than overwhelms the story; however, there were times when I would have been happy to just watch the myriad background events.) The film's treatment of the themes of individual differences, celebrity, and the media — while not especially profound or new — works well enough in the frenetic context, although it's possible that The Freak might have benefited from a more condensed exposition. However, the generally joyful tone and kinetic pace are pretty hard to resist and, even if the overall conception is a bit simple-minded, the visual and aural pleasures are rewarding enough in their own right.
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