The 17th Brussels Cartoon and Animated Film Festival took place in Belgium, February 17 - 28, 1998. As usual, nothing was missing from the program. As it should be, parents came with their youngsters, a kid accompanied his uncle, someone wandered in lost, others were animation fans wild with enthusiasm, but everyone found something to satisfy their appetite. No less than a dozen animated features were screened, starting with Anastasia, which Don Bluth and Gary Goldman presented before its premiere at a public theater. Mark Dindal's Cats Don't Dance followed. Mr. Bug Goes To Town, the Fleischer Brothers' second feature, and Rene Laloux's Fantastic Planet were among some of the older films presented. But let's not forget the latest impertinences of Bill Plympton's I Married A Strange Person and Michael Schaack and Veit Vollmer's Little Asshole which is based on Walter Moers' comic books, and is very popular in Germany.

The Brussels 1998 poster.

Brilliant Lectures
In the field of special effects and computer graphics, short films vied with features in passionate lectures and demonstrations that offered inside information. Virginie Guilminot presented a retrospective of the Pixel Prize-INA winners which have been presented at Imagina since 1985. Computer animation was also honored by a presentation of international prize winning films from 1997 and 1998. Among the real coups of the festival was the unbeatable Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), represented by Hal Hickle, who compared his photo-realistic animation for Lost World with his more cartoonish effects in Men In Black. Jan Carlee spoke on behalf of Blue Sky|VIFX. Armed with very detailed slides and videos, he explained the specifics of the process based on the analysis of the behavior of light. He used two examples that were the exact opposite of each other, Joe's Apartment and Alien: Resurrection. Joe's Apartment seems to have been a true delight for the little crew who got carried away in a delirious escalation of effects. By contrast Alien presented more of a Chinese brain-teasing puzzle, but guided on this occasion by underwater images, Jan Carlee didn't hesitate to take the plunge and deliver some tests and experiments. Arnault Lamorlette, Rob Legato, Michael Roosens, Jean-Marc Geyer, Kim Goosens and Rudy Verbeeck were also present to discuss their special effects work for City Of Lost Children, Titanic, and Donkey Kong Country.

Former ASIFA International President, Raoul Servais and current ASIFA International President, Micheal Ocelot at Brussels '98. Photo courtesy of Folioscope.

A Bevy of Screenings
Besides short films, three other types of screenings were offered: retrospectives, compilations of films or television specials on a specific theme, and the best in the latest creations from among 80 films from some 15 countries.

The retrospective homages were devoted to the Finnish filmmaker Marjut Rimminen, who was named 1998's artist-of-the-year in her native land. She commented on her career, tracing through her beginnings in commercials (notably for Tetra Pak), to children's films (The Frog King, Urpo And Turpo), and then to her more personal works. She won a prize at Zagreb for her first advertising film, and has never stopped experimenting, not only for the BBC, but also for John Halas and Joy Batchelor. Meanwhile with more polemic films, she gained recognition with Christine Roche, most notably for I'm Not A Feminist, But..., and then with the very sharply toned Blind Justice - Some Protection, which is about the condition of women in prison. Her mastery of narrative structure reached its height in The Stain, a family psychodrama from 1991 based on a news item. Mixing drawn animation with animated puppets, it uses flash-backs and looped repetitions to reconstruct an enigma on a growing emotional rhythm. In 1996, Many Happy Returns exploited the same method for a sorrowful and moving introspection. This time she even utilized some computer graphics. The film has won Grand Prizes at the festivals in Odense and Espinho.