The final plate of chips and guacamole is served.

DS:  Well, it’s an interesting area of discussion because it gets to the heart of what’s a good film.  How subjective that determination is.  Yet, whenever you have a competition, you have some type of judgment criteria.  Why is one film picked to win an Oscar over any other film? What makes a film “good” enough to win the Grand Prix in Annecy?

PES:  Well, you know, having been a judge in Annecy, I kind of understand a little bit of the mechanics and psychology of judging.  What goes into those discussions and how three new people each year chosen at random end up making decisions together. 

DS:  I’ve been on juries as well.  It’s an interesting dynamic. 

PES:  I judged the Platform Festival in 2007 and Annecy in 2010. I was happy with where our decisions netted out.  But I feel there is a real impulse, when judges get into a room, to discard the kind of films that I make, which aren’t heavy, that clearly don’t have a meaning and characters that are going through bad things. But I don’t feel that somehow the psychology of judging films means you want something more than something that just feels entertaining. 

DS:  I agree.  I would also contend that though your films may be short, they’re not simple. There are a lot of layers to your films and it’s obvious there’s a tremendous amount of thought that goes into your films.  I don’t see any wasted motion or wasted ideas in your films either. 

PES:  Oh, thanks.  That's a great compliment.

DS:  You're welcome.  I think that's why your films are compelling, whether they are fifteen seconds long or a minute long.  I don’t ascribe to the fact that unless a film is made according to some arbitrary recipe that it can’t be considered a good film.  There are certainly much longer films that take tremendous effort at all levels.  But that doesn’t necessarily mean I enjoy them more than any other film. 

PES: We haven’t verified this yet, but it [Fresh Guacamole] may be the shortest film ever nominated. You know, I couldn’t be happier or prouder of the nomination.  It’s a great honor to be recognized by the mainstream of film acknowledgement.  It’s not bad that they [the Academy] have embraced a film like this that doesn’t have a lot of the things that we’ve always joked about Oscar films always having to have. 

--

Dan Sarto is editor-in-chief and publisher of Animation World Network.