Michael Mills
THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN THREE MINUTES FLAT
Montreal, Quebec, 1980, 4 min
Michael Mills Productions
Technique : cel animationGolden Bear - Berlin Festival Outstanding Film of the Year - London Film Festival
Blue Ribbon Award - American Film Festival
Academy Award nominationBorn in London, England, Michael Mills started his career as an animator at the Griffin Animation Studio, then studied under animators from the Gaumont Studio in London led by David Hand (Snow White). In 1966, he joined the National Film Board of Canada, and in 1972, his film Evolution was nominated for an Oscar in addition to winning close to 40 international awards. In 1974, he founded Michael Mills Productions, which has produced more than 1,800 commercials using a variety of animation techniques. He has just been invited to become a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Jakub Pistecky
MALY MILOS
Vancouver, British Columbia, 1999, 3 min 30 s
Production: Jakub Pistecky with the Emily Carr Institute
Technique: computer animationArs Electronica 2000 Award, Golden Nica Award - Austria
Best Canadian Film Award - Student Animation Festival of Ottawa
Best BC Short Film Award - Victoria Independent Film & Video Festival 2000
First Place - SIGGRAPH ¹99 (Los Angeles, USA)Born in 1975 in Zlin, Czechoslovakia, Jakub Pistecky settled in Canada with his family in 1982. He studied animation at the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in Vancouver and at the Ateliery Zlin Film School in his homeland. In his graduating year, he made Maly Milos. He is currently an animator with ILM in San Rafael, working on the next episode of Star Wars.
Pierre Sylvestre
L'ASILE
Montreal, Quebec, 1993, 10 min 30 s
Production: SCRATCH Productions
Technique: cel animationBest Animated Film - Montreal International Short Film Festival, 1993 First Prize - Namur Short Film Festival (Belgium) Golden Palm - Huy International Festival (Belgium) Special Mention - Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois, 1993 )
Born in 1963 in Montreal, Pierre Sylvestre studied mathematics, design, painting, graphic design, and finally animation in 1987 at Concordia University. In 1988, he made Crépuscule, which took first prize for a short in all categories at the Sainte-Thérèse Festival. After that came Premier Regard (Claude Jutra Bursary in 1990), L'Asile, then Épaves (1996), a film that combines traditional techniques and a 3D set. In parallel with his filmmaking career, Pierre Sylvestre is a graphic designer, multimedia director, storyboard designer and 3D animator. One of his most noteworthy accomplishments is the Trésors de la tour game produced by Loto-Québec and ZAQ.
Anouk Préfontaine
OH LORD
Montreal, Quebec, 1999, 5 min
Production: Studio Hansel & Gretel
Technique: cel animationBest Director - Dervio International Animated Film and Comic Book Festival (Italy)
Born in Montreal in 1968, Anouk Préfontaine worked as a graphic designer before studying animation at Concordia University. She won the Kodak award for her student film Biquette, made with salt and pepper shot under the camera, and in her final year at university won the Norman McLaren Award for best performance over three years. Oh Lord is her first professional independent film.
Stephen X. Arthur
VISION POINT
Vancouver, British Columbia, 1999, 1 min 30 s
Production: Stephen X. Arthur
Technique: pixillationStephen X. Arthur started making animated films at the age of 14 and continued to make them while studying biology at university. He then turned to experimental live-action films, followed by graduate studies in film production at USC in Los Angeles. This led to a 10-year period of writing screenplays while making a living as a technical writer. Finally – after completing a second graduate degree in neurobiology – he returned to making animated films. Over the last decade, Stephen X. Arthur has been using a computer to make over 20 surrealist, experimental animation films.
Mike Pelland
SHAH MAT
Montreal, Quebec, 1999, 9 min
Production: Mike Pelland at Concordia University
Technique: pixillationBest Animated Film - Canadian Student Film Festival, Montreal 1999
Born in 1976 in Saint-Joseph de Sorel, Mike Pelland studied fine arts at Joliette-Lanaudière College and developed a strong interest in painting and drawing. He put on his first solo show in 1997 titled Du geste à l'émotion. He then enrolled in animated filmmaking at Concordia University and explored a number of techniques, including pixillation. During his four years at Concordia, he made many shorts, including Monaco Boys, Hôtel Caraïbes and Jack Frame. In 1999, he made Shâh Mat, his final project, for which he won the Dean's Award, given to the student with the best cinematographic approach.
Arnie Lipsey
ALMONDS AND WINE
Toronto, Ontario, 1999, 5 min
Production: Zayer Shane
Technique: cel animationArnie Lipsey is a veteran of the Toronto animation industry. He studied at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and for the last two decades has worked variously as a director, designer and animator on a range of projects, including the TV series Babar, Eek the Cat, and Ned's Newt, produced by Nelvana. He has also made many commercials. In parallel with his career in the mainstream animation industry, he has directed several independent animated shorts, including The Crow and the Canary (1988) and Almonds and Wine, which pays tribute to Klezmer music.
Janet Perlman
My favorite things that I love
Montreal, Quebec, 1994, 3 min 52 s
Production: Janet Perlman
Technique: cel animationSpecial Mention - Zagreb Animated Film Festival, 1996
Best Horrible Music - Annecy, 1995
Best Bad Taste - Ottawa Animation Festival, 1994
Isabella Liddell Art Award - Ann Arbor Film Festival, 1995Janet Perlman was born in Montreal and has directed short films, commercials and educational films for the National Film Board of Canada, Olive Jar Studios, Children's Television Workshop (Sesame Street), PBS, etc. Her films have won many international awards, including an Oscar nomination in 1982 for The Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin. She has taught animation at Harvard University and the Rhode Island School of Design and has written and illustrated three books. She most recently was creative director of the ShowPeace series for the NFB, which included two films directed by her, Bully Dance and Dinner for Two, which received 13 international awards, including the Unicef award at the Berlin Film Festival and Best Short Film at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Ann Marie Fleming
AMF'S TIRESIAS
Vancouver, British Columbia, 1998, 5 min
Production: Ann Marie Fleming
Technique: cel animationAnn Marie Fleming was born in Okinawa, Japan, of Chinese and Australian parentage, and is currently living in Vancouver. In the 1980s she earned a B.A. in English literature from the University of British Columbia before specializing in animation at the Emily Institute of Art and Design. Her work focuses on the themes of family, history and memory, which she explores through animation, documentary, drama and experimental films. Since 1987, she has made more than 20 shorts, usually self-produced. She has also written a novel.
Richard Reeves
SEA SONG
Pender Island, British Columbia, 1999, 4 min 10 s
Production: Flicker Films Animation
Technique: drawing on filmDirector¹s Choice Award - Black Maria Film Festival
Born in 1959 in Weymouth, England, Richard Reeves moved to Nova Scotia with his family in 1960. He later lived in Ontario and studied at Sault College of Applied Arts and Technology before settling in Alberta, then in the Vancouver area. In 1990, he studied animation at the Quickdraw Animation Society (QAS) in Calgary, where he was employed as production co-ordinator from 1994 to 1997, while also giving animation workshops. He has made close to a dozen animated shorts.
Michael Clowater
ALFRED'S NEW DOG
Fredericton, New Brunswick, 1998, 7 min
Production: Michael Clowater
Technique: claymationMichael Clowater has a degree in business administration from the University of New Brunswick and has worked as a production assistant. He started work on Alfred's New Dog in 1994, the year he joined the New Brunswick Filmmakers' Cooperative. In 1995 he moved to Toronto, where he worked as a freelance production assistant before beginning a career as an advertising copywriter; he is currently employed by BBDO. He is now working on his fourth short film.
George Ungar
COSMIC SEED
Montreal, Quebec, 1986, 3 min
Production : George Ungar Studio
Technique : cel animationHonorable Mention Athens Film Festival (Ohio)
Trained as a visual artist, George Ungar has had a wide-ranging career, working first as an animator, painter and illustrator before turning his attention to directing documentary films. In recent years he has begun writing and directing for dramatic films and is currently directing his first live-action drama (fiction with a strong animation and special effects component). His illustrations have appeared in numerous Canadian magazines. His paintings have been exhibited in Canada and Mexico. During the 1980s, Ungar taught animation at Concordia University while working on his film projects.
Peeter Sepp and Margus Jukkum
CUTS… a view of censorship
Toronto, Ontario, 1996, 2 min
Production : Oma Jama
Technique : pixillation and drawingPeeter Sepp has a bachelor of architecture degree from the University of Toronto. A designer, illustrator and graphic designer, he is also a painter and his works on paper have recently been shown in Toronto. Between 1978 and 1988, he produced participatory art videos. In the '90s, this multidisciplinary artist developed a strong interest in animation and made five shorts.
Margus Ants Jukkum was born in Sweden in 1951. He studied fine arts at York University and has worked as an editor and soundman on broadcast video productions and industrial videos. He has co-directed three independent shorts.
Daniel Wright
TREADMAN
Regina, Saskatchewan, 1997, 9 min 25
Production : Daniel Wright
Technique : painting on glassSilver Plaque Award Chicago International Film Festival
Daniel Wright was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1959. He studied advertising art at Red River Community College and moved to Saskatchewan in 1980. There he worked as a graphic designer and eventually, art director, for various agencies until 1992, when he started attending film and video classes at the University of Regina. His interest in drawing and animation led him to experiment with the technique of sand on glass, with brilliant results. He received a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1996.
Alain Dion
OINK
Montreal, Quebec, 1993, 5 min
Production: Alain Dion at Concordia University
Technique: cel animationNorman McLaren Grand Prize Canadian Student Film Festival (Montreal)
Born in 1963 in Laval, Quebec, Alain Dion studied animation at Concordia University. In 1991, he won a scholarship awarded to the most promising student. He directed a music video in 1994 featuring original animation and has animated several commercials for the electronic billboards at Place Bonaventure. Since 1997, he has been working at Covitec in digital postproduction of animated TV.
Yasmin P. Karim
OPPO
Calgary, Alberta, 1997, 3 min
Production: Yasmin P. Karim with QAS
Technique: scratching on filmHonorable Mention Colombus International Film & Video Festival (USA) 1999
Best Animated Film Alberta Motion Pictures Industries Association 1998Yasmin P. Karim lives in British Columbia. She has made two shorts, Sijjil and Oppo, which have won major awards. She is currently president of BA Productions and until just recently taught at the Quickdraw Animation Society in Calgary.
Luc Otter - Dominique Boisvert
LES COCOS
Montreal, Quebec, 2000, 1 min 50 sec
Production: Dominique Boisvert
Technique: computer animationLuc Otter was born in France in 1969. He earned a baccalaureat in economics in 1988 and a bachelor of fine arts in 1990. He then went on to study film animation at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Visuels de la Cambre in Brussels from 1991 to 1996, making 12 animated films using traditional techniques, and graduating magna cum laude. In 1996, he moved to Quebec to work as a designer of animated films for Behaviour Entertainment (1996—99), where he made VHX/carrHot, a computer animated short. Since 1999, he has been an animation director-designer with Fly Studio.
Dominique Boisvert has been playing around with digital imaging since 1987. He worked at Softimage (1990—92) and Discreet Logic (1992—96) on 3D animation and special effects software. He has twice received an award for scientific and technical achievement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, first in 1998 for his work at Softimage (Actor) and then again in 1999 for his work at Discreet Logic (Flame/Inferno). Since 1998, Dominique Boisvert has been a partner in Fly Studio, a multimedia company located in Montreal.
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