Non-stop images and energy are found in Pandorama. © 2001 by Nina Paley.

Pandorama
The winner of this month's Manic Energy Award (narrowly edging out The Freak), Nina Paley's exuberant and impressionistic jeremiad cataloging the manifold ills loosed on the world with the ascension of humankind is — despite its rather depressing subject matter — an inspired and thoroughly enjoyable assault on the senses. Comprising more than "2,500 individual images, hand-drawn, scratched and rubber-stamped directly onto 70mm clear leader and junk footage," and featuring an appropriately lunatic score by The Revillos, Pandorama deconstructs (sort of) the dual myths of Eve and Pandora, two of the alleged perpetrators behind our species' loss of innocence. The idea of "cameraless animation" has taken on a different meaning with the advent of CGI, but Paley's adoption of the technique pioneered by such filmmakers as Len Lye and Norman McLaren (and more recently employed by contemporary animators such as Caroline Leaf and Bärbel Neubauer), coupled with her familiar environmental concerns, yields an extremely lively, funny and intelligent film that you can dance to.

Perhaps best known for her alternative comic strip, Nina's Adventures, which ran for seven years in a number of American weeklies, and the shorter-lived daily strip, Fluff, Nina Paley began animating in 1998. Her other films, which often incorporate environmental themes (particularly overpopulation) include I (heart) My Cat and Luv is... (1998), Fetch (2001), The Stork, The Wit and Wisdom of Cancer (2002) and Fetco (2002). Pandorama received the Louise White Prize at Veyrier (Switzerland) and was also shown at Bilbao, Ottawa, the Kyiv "Molodist" Festival, the KROK Festival, and the Berlin Interfilm Festival, among others. It was screened in 70mm at the Berlin Cinestar IMAX Theater, the Large Format Cinema Association Conference (Los Angeles) and other venues.

The Tortoise & the Hare each compete in their own way. © Ray Harryhausen & Screen Novelties Int'l.

The Tortoise & the Hare
More an historical curiosity than a film of much aesthetic interest, this rendering of the famous Aesop fable by legendary stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen has a certain retro charm, but, by any contemporary standard, feels exceedingly labored and slow-paced. Begun in 1952 and — after 50 years on the shelf — finally completed last year by Harryhausen and collaborators Seamus Walsh and Mark Caballero, The Tortoise & the Hare is clearly a labor of love that required a great amount of reconstruction and research to accurately reproduce the director's original sets and characters, as well as special care to match the original footage. The result is a relatively seamless effort that's an admirable tribute to one of animation's great pioneers. However, like the journey of the persevering protagonist who finally wins the race, it's pretty slow going.

Born in Los Angeles in 1920, Ray Harryhausen found his life's work when, at the age of 13, he saw King Kong and discovered the stop-motion process that brought the giant ape to life. During a career spanning four decades, his visual effects work was featured in such landmark films as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). In 1992 he received the Gordon E. Sawyer special achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences. Harryhausen lives in London, where he is currently completing a book on his life and work. Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh have been collaborating since meeting at UCLA in 1993. Their films include The Old Man and the Goblins (1997) and Graveyard Jamboree (1998) and they've contributed to such commercial projects as MTV's Celebrity Deathmatch and The Flinstones: On the Rocks! The Tortoise & the Hare received ASIFA's 2003 Annie Award for Best Short and was screened at Sundance, Ottawa, Annecy and Anima Mundi, among other festivals.

Jon Hofferman is an independent filmmaker, writer and graphic designer. He is also the creator of the Classical Composers Poster (a unique work of art that makes a wonderful gift for anyone interested in or learning about classical music, available at www.carissimi.com) and a shameless promoter.