Local Screenings | National News | A Visit To Bilbao, Spain And Their Outstanding Film Festival | Conferences - Festivals
VINCE COLLINS RELEASES A CD-ROM OF HIS GREATEST HITS - CRITIC SAYS HE "DOESN'T JUST PUSH THE ENVELOPE, BUT STAMPS IT AND MAILS IT TO TIERRA DEL FUEGO!" Collins was an award winning animator working with film (1970's-80's) until he discovered CD-ROM and the Internet. He used to be in Tournee of Animation packages. Now he is blowing quite a few minds on the web at vinceworld.com.
Collins is too far out for our mainstream media, but he has developed a following among hip young people and adults. He has shown me magazine articles about his unusual web site, but I have no idea what most of them say as most are in foreign languages. His favorite quotes from the press about him range from "dessa otroliga crazy multi-upplevelser!" to "scathingly funny with a substantial dose of absurdity!" Jonathan E. in Microtimes wrote, "If you're a collector of odd things, this is a fabulous opportunity to pick up something that you'll enjoy now and that should have substantial value, at least historical, in the future." (The whole article is posted on Collins' web site.)
If you are even slightly curious, check out Vince World as it is different from anything else on the Internet. The guy is smart, a fine artist with a dry sense of humor and he has an original style that stands out from all the rest. The first time I visited www.vinceworld.com I had a great time spending an hour wandering around. I didn't get to explore and play with everything on my first visit. Since then the site has enlarged to the point that he now rotates his offerings on a weekly basis.
The VINCEWORLD.COM CD-ROM contains 50 of Collin's greatest animated hits from 1994 to 2001. It plays on Mac and Windows machines and has "nifty jukebox interface." It sells for $20. For more information and ordering information visit his site. Buy it by sending a check to 1565 10th Ave., San Francisco CA 94122
VISIT US AT WWW.ASIFA-SF.ORG
A LOT OF ANIMATION IS COMING TO THE PACIFIC FILM ARCHIVE IN THE NEXT 5 OR 6 MONTHS On Sunday, February 25 they will have 2 shows of Michel Ocelot's Princes and Princesses. He does really impressive silhouette animation with black figures set against colored backgrounds. This is the West Coast premiere of his second feature. See our "Local Screening" section for details.
In March or April the PFA will do a tribute to the UCLA Film Archive. There will be a program of rarely seen animation from the UCLA collection.
In May or June the PFA will show a series of works by Karel Zeman and Ptushko. The Ub Iwerks show we are looking forward to seeing will probably be in their July-August calendar. (There will be an Iwerks event at the same time in SF, but it will be on video in SF while the PFA will show 35mm film.) There may also be some animation in the SF Film Festival programs offered in San Francisco and at the PFA in late April and early May.
OUR OPEN SCREENING FOR STUDENTS AND INDEPENDENTS WAS FULL OF WONDERFUL SURPRISES Among them was a very mature personal film from Michaela Pavlatova who lives here part of each year (and also in Prague). It dealt with different views of marriage, from the fantasy wedding day to the realities of relationships grown old. It had the longest and loudest applause of the evening. Michaela won an Oscar nomination in 1992 for her short Reci, Reci, Reci (Words, Words, Words).
The work from the local colleges surprised me as there was a lot more effort being made to tell a story or make a point. In the past most of the cgi students were content to simply make a model move. Now there is more attention on content. This may be due to the schools that were well represented this year at our show. San Jose State, which hasn't had much presence in past years, and De Anza showed impressive works and it appears both now have excellent animation programs. Also, one "trade" school that focuses on teaching computer programs and not the basics, didn't show up this year so we were spared a lot of pointless exercises.
There were several excellent works by independent animators including John Atkinson's award winning Aspire and Chris Lanier's Scarf Mania (just shown at Sundance and recently the subject of an illustrated Chronicle article). I don't know who Charles Alleneck is, but his short Onion John, about a guy with an onion head, was a really well designed and directed work set to a very funny piece of music. I assume it will do well at festivals. I think it was the funniest film of the evening, but a friend thought the surfer trying out his board on Waves of Grain in a field somewhere in the mid-west (by Grant Corley of De Anza) was the funniest film. Another friend was charmed by some of the works from the Rooftop Elementary School.
The show lasted over 2 hours and every work was applauded. It was a great audience. A lot of hard work and long hours went into creating these fine works. I did not get a list of everything shown as several reels contained more than one work and not every reel had both the name of the animator(s) on it and the title of the work(s). The following list was compiled by Liz Keim from the information on the reels/boxes: Barbara Klutinis (teacher), "Rooftop Animation;" Ray Cook and David Russell, Threads; Ashanti Miller, Rice Treat; Charles Alleneck, Onion John; Vicky Snyder, Major Damage; John Atkinson, Aspire; Grant Corley (De Anza), Waves of Grain; Michaela Pavlatova; Steve Pases and Vern Marcado, Fido's Revenge; John Reily, Electric Flag; Marion Gothier, Lunch; Julie Bayless, The Birth of Venus; Alice in Kahunaland (really funny introductions to categories of a national electronic animation festival for use at their awards show, made at De Anza), Alan Zaslavsky Jet Scape, Chris Lanier, Scarf Mania, plus work by Eric Lashelle.
BOB MILLS, A PIONEER OF THE SAN FRANCISCO ANIMATION INDUSTRY, DIED 01/01/01 Bob got his start in animation in 1948 as the first staff artist and bottle washer of Jay Ward and Alex Anderson. They were creating Crusader Rabbit in the garage of Alex's mother in Berkeley. He worked on the first episodes of what would become the first limited animation series to successfully air on TV. It first aired as a local show in LA, 1950. By the end of 1950 it had premiered here on KRON and in 2 other cities.
Bob was born in Sacramento in 1923. He went to CCAC in Oakland on the GI bill after serving in the Navy. His sister introduced the young art student to Roy Whaley, an announcer at KSFO. Whaley had just recorded voices for 3 pilots Ward and Anderson were hoping to sell to TV. Mills asked Bill Martin, an instructor at CCAC about animation as Martin had worked on Fantasia and had animated Pluto. He gave Mills a "crash course," Mills put together a portfolio and went out and landed a job with Ward and Anderson.
Mills did a little bit of everything at the studio. When they moved to LA in 1950 or '51 Mills was the production manager. When they were forced to close in 1951 Mills helped pack up the remains.
Mills told Keith Scott, "I was in charge of hiring and firing. But I was so young and stupid in those days. I remember the Disney animator Dick Huemer was out of work and he came to us looking for a job. I actually asked him to draw Crusader for me! Here I was, this green kid — unknowingly insulting this great cartoonist."
Anderson went into advertising in SF and brought Mills back here to work for the agency. Mills eventually opened his own animation studio. He ran TV Cartoon Productions (Phil Roman was one of his animators, Don Albrecht was another) and later Imagination Ink, and then Animation House. He produced lots of local, national and international TV commercials, his share of industrials and other projects. When he gave ASIFA-SF a talk about his career in the late 70's, he showed several Standard Oil Senior Pepe ads in Spanish. He also talked about doing a special for NBC and other projects.
His Imagination Ink went on to become a major production house after he sold it to Jeff Hale and John Magnuson. They created lots of early Sesame Street segments, award winning commercials and the Lenny Bruce short Thank You Mask Man (1968). In the late 70's they sold the studio to Martin Rosen who used it and another space to produce the feature Plague Dogs (1982).
jMills retired in the 1980's, but he couldn't get animation out of his system. He opened Pandemonium Pictures in San Mateo. He obtained rights to several properties, but nothing went into production. Eventually, in the early 90's, his wife got him to close the studio and move to Utah. He died after spending 3 weeks in a hospital. Albrecht said he had a bone marrow problem that wouldn't respond to medicine.
I asked Alex Anderson to say a few words about Mills for this article. He said Mills was, "totally dedicated to animation. A dear, caring upbeat person... admired his determination to keep going even though there was far less work available when Mills was in business."
Notes of kindness can be sent to Beryl Mills, PO Box 624, Logan, Utah 84323
PDI/DREAMWORKS HAD "METROPOPULAR," A SHORT DIRECTED BY JONAH HALL, SHOWN AT SUNDANCE The short fantasy concerns what cities might say about themselves if they could talk. The plot evolves around a contest for America's favorite city.
WILD BRAIN COMPLETES ADS FOR RITZ AND JOLLY RANCHER CANDY Carl Willats directed the latest Ritz Cracker ad. Julia Tortolani directed the "Fruitensity" spot.
PIXAR TO GET A TECHNICAL OSCAR 3/3/01 FOR CREATING RENDERMAN. THEY HAVE NAMED ED CATMULL AS THEIR FIRST PRESIDENT He has been their chief technological officer since the company was formed in 1986. He will continue in that capacity. Steve Jobs remains their chief executive. He is also CEO of Apple.
RADIUM CREATED AN ELABORATE EFFECTS FILLED MUSIC VIDEO FOR THE BAND EVERCLEAR They produced over 250 effects shots. They replaced the heads in TV footage from the 60's and 70's with the faces of band members. They used shots from The Brady Bunch and other shows. One shot shows women in the band with Nixon.
To do the production they used green screen, 3D camera tracking and other techniques. Mark Holmes was the VFX supervisor/digital artist. Simon Mowbray was the senior digital artist. He worked with digital artist Joel Hornsby. The concept artists were Sebastian Harmes and Jayson Tang. Michael Zimmerman was the producer and Dana Townsend was the executive producer,
ATTIK NAMES SHANNON R. STOFER AS CLIENT SERVICES MANAGER of their SF shop. She is responsible for developing new client relationships and working with established accounts.
WEB COMPANIES WITH POORLY THOUGHT OUT BUSINESS PLANS ARE FAILING - MONDO MEDIA SHOWS THEY HAVE IT TOGETHER AND SCORES $17 MILLION IN ROUND 3 OF FINANCING! Several of their backers from the past have shown loyalty to the company and a new group called SRVC, headed by Carl Rosendahl a founder of PDI, have funded this innovative company in round 3. Rosendahl has been appointed to Mondo's board of directors.
ATOM FILMS IS NOW IN SF AND IS DEVELOPING TV SYNDICATION DEALS They recently announced a deal for weekly syndication with TiVo, an interactive TV company. The also have new deals with In Demand and the Cisneros Television Group. Atom has a large inventory of animated works in their library including works by Bill Plympton.
CASINO DATA SYSTEMS IS LOOKING FOR PROGRAMMERS AND ARTISTS/ANIMATORS TO MAKE THE NEXT GENERATION OF SLOT MACHINES They are expanding and need both 2D and 3D artists who know Photoshop, 3D Studio Max and/or Lightwave. Gambling machines are quite sophisticated and a lot of animation is used to keep customers entertained. CDS West, 230 South Spruce Ave., South San Francisco CA 94080-4550 (650) 246-1760 ext. 180 for Bob or 179 for Kim.
CAN A CGI FEATURE BE MADE FOR UNDER $20,000? Jonathan Moyer thinks he can do it, so he is looking for people who will become partners through participation. He has a sci-fi script he would like to animate and distribute on dvd and tape. (650) 631-5895 or e-mail jmoyer3621@aol.com
ALTERNATIVE PRESS EXPO AT FT. MASON FEB. 17 & 18 in the Herbst Pavilion. Lots of comics, graphic novels, naughty things, etc. Produced by the folks that do the famous San Diego Comic Con.
ASIFA-SF MEMBER JOHN GRIMES HAS A HUMAN INTEREST COLUMN IN THE NEW "EXAMINER" on Fridays. It is a man-in-the-street column called "Talk About." Grimes helped create www.asifa-sf.org
Thurs. Feb. 8, 7:30 & 9:30, A NIGHT OF ANIMATED AMOUR: ADVICE TO THE LOVELORN with live music by Nik Phelps & the Sprocket Ensemble at the Red Vic on Haight St. $10. "Here are animated answers to all your questions about love and romance. Nina Paley will show us what Luv Is, while Dean Mermill explores computer-age amour in Modern Life. Jeremy Silterbeck tackles mate-finding through cloning in Moving Illustrations of Machines and Ron Yavnieli's John Held Jr. is about a couple brought together by their dogs." All this and many more animated adventures to help set the record straight about Valentine's week.
Sunday, Feb. 25, 3 P. M. for parents with kids and at 5 P.M. for adults, PRINCES AND PRINCESSES, West Coast premiere of an animated feature by Michel Ocelot of France, 1999. "Ocelot has created a uniquely imaginative and enchanting film out of stunning silhouettes set against vibrant backdrops... a girl and the boy stage six different tales of fairy tale romance and beauty, from ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages and into the year 3000." In French with subtitles. The 3 P.M. screening is part of the PFA's Children's Film Festival, so someone will read the subtitles aloud.
Ocelot visited San Francisco about 10 years ago and demonstrated his stunning silhouette work and discussed his techniques with ASIFA members. His work is remarkable looking and quite entertaining so expect this 70 min. 35mm film to be delightful. His first feature was Kirikou and the Sorceress and he has created numerous shot films. Ocelot is also a past president of ASIFA-International.
At 1 on 2/25 the PFA will screen STORYBOOK CINEMA: films from Weston Woods. Weston Woods turns popular children's books into entertaining films. Many, but not all are animated. The PFA's program notes do not say how the shorts were made, but it should be entertaining regardless of the techniques used. 75 min., 16mm.
The PFA is located at 2575 Bancroft Way in Berkeley (south side of the campus). Admission is $4 for adults and children.
Wednesday, Feb. 28, ASIFA-SF presents ANNUAL OPEN SCREENING: NEW WORKS BY PROFESSIONAL STUDIOS, Exploratorium, 7:30 p.m., everyone welcome.
Thursday, March 1 at 7!5 and 9:15, SOUTH PARK, BIGGER, LONGER AND UNCUT at the Red Vic.
"CLUTCH CARGO," ONE OF TV'S STRANGEST LOOKING 5 MINUTE CARTOON SHOWS, HAS AN INFORMATIVE WEB SITE
Remember those human lips superimposed over artwork of faces? You can read all about this show and the people behind it at afchollywood.com They say it was made for less than $500 an episode! AFC Filmmakers Corp., formerly Cambria Studios, also features Cambria's Space Angel, Captain Fathom, Freddy the Football, The Man from Button Willow and The New Three Stoogies on the site.
I found out about this unusual site by searching Jerry Beck's cartoonresearch.com for cool stuff. His site is full of facts, comments and links to other animation related sites (but not our site, rats).
ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD HAS STARTED 2001 WITH SEVERAL GREAT PROGRAMS They began on Jan. 19 with a new discovery - the woman who was the "living lips" behind Clutch Cargo (see previous article). Margaret Kerry-Willcox was also the live-action model for Disney's Tinker Bell.
On Jan. 27 they held an evening of remembrance to honor people connected with animation who have passed on. This year the list includes Marc Davis, Walt Stanchfield, Mike Webster, Les Novros, Bill Hurtz, Jack Ozark, Charles Schulz, Arthur Davis, Carl Barks, and about 15 additional people.
On the 31st they showed a rarely seen feature, The Little Prince and the Eight Headed Dragon. It was billed as a "lost" Japanese feature from the 1960's.
On Feb. 16 they are holding an evening with Alan Burnett who has worked as a writer, story editor and producer on the Smurfs, Batman: The Animated Series, Tiny Toon Adventures and Superman
On the 23rd it will be "War Cartoons Between the Wars." On the 28th Jerry Beck will present a program on Gene Deitch's years at Terrytoons in NYC. Deitch ran the studio after it was sold by Paul Terry to CBS. Finally on March 1 Chris Robinson will host a program of "The Best of Ottawa 2000." The upcoming events will be at The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Center, 721 S. Victory Blvd. in Burbank. For more information www.asifa-hollywood.org (818) 824-8330
AUSTRALIA WANTS TO BAN A POLITICAL GAME ON THE WEB THAT IS CRITICAL OF THEIR GOVERNMENT WebWank.net pokes fun at the government's past policies towards their native peoples. Not so long ago they were taking children from their families and having white families raise them as foster kids.
FINALLY, THE TRUTH ABOUT RENEGADE ANIMATION IN BURBANK Their name keeps popping up in connection with the Elmo Aardvark show on the Internet. For months last year it sounded like the show was a hoax as there were reports that it was hard to find on the web and it was impossible to find the animation once you were there.
Now Film and Video magazine has a story about Darrell Van Citters and Ashley Postlewaite, co-founders of Renegade. It turns out they both worked for Warner Bros. before forming their own studio. For eight years they did commercials that combine 2-D animation with live action footage. Then came the recent actors strike. That gave them lots of free time so they helped Will Ryan (writer, former president of ASIFA-Hollywood) get his Elmo show up and running. More recently they have produced a series of silly ads for the Internet for BulkRegister and are back doing national TV spots for the American Dairy Board, Mattel and other sponsors.
FILM ROMAN DROPPED BY THE STOCK EXCHANGE NASDAQ has a rule that a stock that trades for less than a dollar for more than so many months (1 year?) will be dropped. On its last day of public trading on the exchange, Film Roman was selling for 56 cents a share.
The company's plans to do an animated Doomsday series with Howard Stern are on hold. UPN may pull out as the scripts were "not great."
ASIFA-EAST IS SHOWING THE BEST OF OTTAWA 2000 at the Tish School of the Arts, 721 Broadway, NY on Friday, Feb. 9 Room 006. SO IS ASIFA-COLORADO! Apparently there is a new chapter at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design. Edward Bakst is the dean.
ASIFA-ISREAL HAS BECOME REALLY ACTIVE They have less than 50 members and less than 200 people, studios and institutions on their mailing list, yet they have been able to hold several impressive events. They had an evening with Jan and Eva Svankmajer last November, a screening of films shown at Zagreb in September, a screening of new animation from Isreal in October, and they were expecting the Bros. Quay in January. Several other programs took place last year in Tel Aviv, plus Jerusalem and Haifa have international film festivals that presented animated shows. The 17th Jerusalem Film Festival showed The Old Man and The Sea, When the Day Breaks, 3 Misses, My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts, The Periwig Maker, Media and other works.
The report I was sent by Tsvika Oren also mentioned several web sites that he recommends. www.nonstop.net.il earthnoise.com tx-transformation.com animationartists.com come.to/feature-animation plus awn, atom film, etc.
The newsletter also mentioned a lot of work being produced there by several studios including PitchyPoi in Jaffa, Broadcast and Disk-In in Tel Aviv, Pil Animation in Ramat Gan and Roni Oren in Binyamina. Most of the work is for TV. Oren was doing a clay animation series of 13 eight minute works and other companies were doing half hour specials and shorter works.
ANIMATED FILMS ON THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS LIST OF WORKS BEING PRESERVED- HONORED BY THE NATIONAL FILM REGISTRY Last month's newsletter mentioned Bob Clampett's Porky in Wackyland has just been added to this list of classics. It was the 14th animated work to be honored this way. The other works are: 1989, Disney's Snow White; 1990, Disney's Fantasia; 1991, Winsor McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur; 1992, Chuck Jones' What's Opera Doc; 1993; Tex Avery's Musical Maestro; 1994, Max Fleischer's Snow White; also 1994, Disney's Pinocchio; 1995, UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing; 1996, Frank Mouris' Frank Film; 1997, George Pal's Tulips Shall Grow; also 1997 Oskar Fischinger's Motion Painting #1; 1998; Disney's Steamboat Willie; 1999, Chuck Jones' Duck Amuck and 2000, Clampett's Porky in Wackyland.
ALISON DE VERE IS GONE AT 73 Her film Café Bar, 1975 was a favorite of mine from a Tournee of Animation seen many years ago. It was followed by Mr. Pascal in 1979. It won the Grand Prix at Annecy and was also in the Tournee. Prescott Wright showed us his print of Mr. Pascal at our December screening and it remains a refreshing enjoyable work. She went on to create for Channel 4 in England two works considered her masterpieces, The Black Dog and Psyche and Eros. She continued to produce animation until the time of her death.
Her career began when she joined Halas and Batchelor in 1951 as a background designer. In 1967 she worked for TVC on Yellow Submarine.
MORE INTERNET ANIMATION SITES IN TROUBLE OR GONE After writing my report in the January newsletter I saw two somewhat similar articles that listed companies I was not aware of. Wendy Jackson Hall wrote "Content providers question next big move" for Variety's animation section, Nov. 10 (a copy was mailed to me in January). Hall, one of our 2 ASIFA-International reps., mentioned pseudo.com as failing, POP.com as being heavely promoted, but never launched and staff cutbacks at Shockwave.com (20 people), and Z.com (50 people or _ of their staff). She also mentioned several new ways Internet animation companies are trying to raise income. She mentioned syndication, licensing, creating advertainments, transmedia use of characters, animating for wireless handheld devices, etc. (note: Spunky.com in San Francisco dropped production on their animated series last spring. They layed off most of their staff and shifted to doing animation for hand held devices.)
In the January issue of Animation World Magazine (AWN.com) Michael Hurwicz adds den.com to the list of failed companies. He looked into the amount of money people raised by doing banner ads and discovered nobody was getting rich. The same was true on people getting royalty payments. Atom was probably paying Bill Plympton a premium to attract people to their site if the going rates are as low as Hurwicz says. I doubt if Plympton would be doing much work for the web at the rates mentioned in the article.
From AWN's weekly Flash in January comes more sad news of companies in trouble or folding. Entertaindom closed their doors Feb.1 and Disney's Go.com is being shut down. Icebox laid off 50 people last October and last month they had to let go another 11 (25% of the remaining staff). They are trying to conserve what cash is left while they wait for somebody to rescue them. Z.com is another company said to be barely holding on while waiting...
When Stan Lee closed his shop their stock dropped from $12 a share to $.12. Turns out executives of Stan Lee had been busy trading and selling off their stock options just before it went bust. Somebody is investigating.
Meanwhile Atom film will be trying to generate income by offering films on a pay-per-view basis. Some people wonder if this will work if the image quality isn't great. State-of-the-art computers with fast delivery systems can deliver good images, but most people do not have ideal set-ups.
by Karl Cohen
Last spring the 42nd International Festival of Documentary an Short Films of Bilbao invited me to present programs of rare jazz and rock films from my 16mm library. When they found out I also had a collection of animated works, they asked me to provide several animation programs as well, including my show on Forbidden Animation.
Bilbao is on the north coast of Spain a few miles inland from the Atlantic Ocean. In late November there were a couple days of light rain, but I also got to enjoy the sun and unseasonably warm weather (in the low 70's). I read that this Basque city had once been in a major industrial area, but the factories and shipyards are gone and a modern cosmopolitan city has emerged.
The city is in a narrow valley so land is somewhat scarce. As a result much of the city consists of tall apartment and commercial buildings.
My first view of their new Guggenheim Museum was down a traditional looking street lined with tall buildings. At the end was an amazing irrational looking metallic structure shinning in the sun. It was as bold looking as the mountain behind it. I assumed it had to be the Guggenheim, but I had no idea what I was actually looking at.
The museum was closed the first day I was there, but I had to walk around it and try to understand what it was. The exterior doesn't tell you where the floor levels are or how the space is divided on the inside. The titanium skin (wall covering) is fascinating to contemplate as it doesn't support weight, it only covers space. As I walked around it, the structure was different from each angle and you don't know what is going to be around the next bend or curve. The few windows do not permit you to get a good look inside so the structure remained an enigma that day.
That night the festival held their opening events in a magnificent 19th Century opera house with 5 or 6 balconies. After a brief opening ceremony the large audience was treated to the first program from their international film competition. The most impressive film for me was El Olvido de la Memoria, a sensitive documentary on children who became orphans in the war between Albanians and Serbs. It was tender, loving and tragic until the last moment when the kids were asked how they feel about the children of their enemy. Could they forgive the kids for what adults had done to them? I was shocked that they didn't learn forgiveness, but had been taught to hate. They believe that if they don't kill their young enemy, they will kill you someday. The war is over for the moment, but I suspect it will continue.
The opening and closing night parties were in a former church converted into a community building. I fell in love with Spanish tapas (small portions of very tasty foods served in small dishes) and the party food seemed to carry on with that tradition. I got to talk with a few English speaking guests including Dominic Angerame. He was on the competition jury. Some of you may know him as he is an independent filmmaker, a teacher and he runs Canyon Cinema in San Francisco. The other members of the jury were from Iran, Columbia, France and the Basque region of Spain.
The next day I got to go inside the Guggenheim. I was impressed with the interior space being almost as inventive as the exterior. Gallery spaces were often huge and somewhat free formed. No room was a simple rectangle and walls often had recessed spaces along the top and bottom so they seemed to say they were not load bearing walls, but only light space dividers. There were central spaces that soared several stories high. (A few works of art were almost that large.) The building is remarkable. My traditional vocabulary used to describe architecture isn't adequate to describe this work. I was glad that some of the festival's screening were going to be held in the Guggenheim's theater.
The film festival was held in 6 locations in Bilbao. The competition screenings were at the opera house along with other films (Stuart Little, a documentary on Che Guevara, and other special programs). At the Guggenheim they were showing documentaries, including a retrospective of Barbara Kopple's work, a tribute to Peter Greenway (both attended the festival) and a screening of Jazz '34, a wonderful film by Robert Altman. My animation programs were at 8 pm in a modern multiplex. A new Iranian film series was held each day at 5:30 pm at that theater and a Latin America music series started at 10:30. My music programs were at the hall where we had partied the previous night. The hall was open for dancing after the films. There were also 2 other theaters showing films. One was presenting an Ultimate Bunuel series.
I thought Introducing my Forbidden Animation program in Spain might be an unusual experience as several people told me Spain is free from censorship. On TV you can see a topless model with fully exposed nipples selling pantyhose each afternoon during The Simpsons show. The same lady is seen in almost life-sized ads on the side of pay phone booths all over Spain. On weekends hardcore sex is broadcast (free) on commercial TV in the late evening.
My first discussion of Forbidden Animation was going to be an interview with someone from the press. When I got to the opera house I was surprised to learn it was going to be a press conference. There were photographers waiting for me from the city's 4 Spanish and 1 Basque language papers. It felt weird being asked to pose in different ways like a model for what seemed like a half-hour. The interview lasted an hour and intelligent questions were asked about the our need to ban cow udders in cartoons and other "shocking" images (1934-'68). The next day all the papers ran my photo and long articles about animation censorship.
My audience for Forbidden Animation ranged from young kids to older adults. When I mentioned that it seemed strange talking about censorship in a country that is free from it, somebody yelled out in English that there was still censorship in Spain. I asked through my interpreter if somebody could tell me what was now forbidden. Nobody wished to answer my question.
After the program I answered questions and met some of the audience, but nobody explained what had happened. It was only later that somebody said that while censorship has been abolished, some of Spain's youth feels alienated. Their point of views are unheard in the media. They claim this to be a form of censorship.
The festival lasted a week and there was too much to see and not enough time. I decided to concentrate on seeing the shows at the Guggenheim, so I missed most of the films in competition including screenings with 2 animated films from the Bay Area: Flip by Alfonso Alvarez and Ellen Ugelstad and Pandorama by Nina Paley. Instead I saw a lot of documentaries including an excellent selection of personal films about cities around the world and Kopple's soon to be released film about the 3 Woodstock festivals. Her new feature is an unflattering portrait of the producers and a look at who the youth attend the events are. It is a mature work that doesn't reduce everything to simple answers.
After my Forbidden Animation program my wife and I went to a party at a basement jazz club. It had a good combo playing in a crowded smoke filled space. It reminded me of jazz clubs in the late '50's and early 60's. As we left we ran into the translator who went with us to see the prehistoric cave paintings. He introduced us to the woman he was with -Barbara Kopple. She had just arrived in Spain.
As a result of our chance meeting with Kopple, she invited my wife and me to join her for a behind the scenes tour of the Guggenheim. Later she invited us to go with her to the town of Guernica. At the Guggenheim I was surprised that the gallery walls were sometimes curtain walls hiding storage spaces. We were shown extremely large paintings in storage that were too big to move. If they plan to exhibit them, they will remove the false walls!
Our trip to Guernica was an emotional experience for me as I had grown up seeing the Picasso painting about the destruction of Guernica many times. It was at the Museum of Modern Art in NY and now it is in Madrid (I had just seen it again). Now I was seeing all that was left of the old town. There is a church and 3 or 4 other buildings in a small area on the side of a hill plus a tree under which the Basque government had met for several centuries. That was all that remained after the Germans demonstrated to the world what their bombers were capable of doing. Germany was experimenting with a new form of warfare. Destroy civilian targets that have no military value and you might demoralize a civilian population. The event shocked the world. Franco and Hitler made it more horrific by dropping the bombs on a market day. This form of destruction is commonplace today, but it wasn't in 1938. I later suggested the festival offer a peace prize in memory of Guernica as the town is not too far from Bilbao.
I left Bilbao with many fine memories. I felt I had met some remarkable people, had seen some outstanding films and had a lot of other great experiences (including enjoying several exceptional meals and seeing a major exhibit of Zuberan's paintings at their fine art museum). This was my first trip outside of the Bay Area since I had my stroke so it was a wonderful celebration of life for me.
If you love short films and documentaries consider a visit in late November to Bilbao. If you make short films consider entering this festival. They ship films with DHL so your expensive 16mm and 35mm prints are safe and fully insured. There is no entry fee and they offer several large cash prizes. Their gold medal in animation is accompanied with a check for 500,000 pesetas (300,000 for the silver winner). People whose films are shown are offered excellent accommodations in Bilbao (free) and passes to all events.
ANY CAMERALESS ANIMATION ARTISTS OUT THERE? A CANADIAN PUBLICATION TELLS HOW ONE PERSON USED A PHOTOCOPIER AND THEN A COMPUTER PRINTER TO CREATE 35MM FILM FOOTAGE If anybody would like a copy of the 4 page article from the Quickdraw Quarterly, send Karl Cohen a stamped self-address envelop and 2 dimes and I'll send you a copy. It isn't step-by-step instructions, but it might be enough information to be of help.
THIS IS THE EVENT YOU SHOULD ENTER! THE 2001 ASIFA-EAST ANIMATED FILM FESTIVAL - MARCH 5 DEADLINE $5 entry fee for students, $20 for commercials and promos, and $25 for works by independents and sponsored films. They only except works on _ and _" tape. Members of the NYC chapter judge the works and the winners are given a festive screening. Then the winners go on tour, That is good exposure. For info call Linda Simensky (404) 885-0821 or Linda Keegan (212) 654-6408. Karl Cohen can send you a copy of their entry form (415) 386-1004 or write Nancy Keegan Lennert/Little Bill at 1633 Broadway, 4th floor, New York, NY 10019
NASHVILLE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL DEADLINE IS FEB. 28 for what is supposed to be an important, well run event. They have an animation category, reasonable entry fees ($10 and up), awards, etc. Box 24330, Nashville Tenn. 37202 - 4330 (615) 742-2500, www.nashvillefilmfestival.org
AMC1: BEYOND CYBERSPACE CONFERENCE & EXPO, MARCH 10-14 IN SAN JOSE at their convention center. www.acm.org/acm1
CANNES - CINEFONDATION DEADLINE IS MARCH 15 An event for student and first films. Animation category. Shows 16mm & 35mm, previews on VHS. 99 Boulevard Malesherbes, 75008 Paris, France www.festival-cannes.fr
HUMBOLDT DEADLINE IS FEB. 23 for film, video deadline was in January. This is a well established college event that give nice prizes, has an animation category, and has $30 entry fees. Humboldt Int. Film Fest. HSU Theater Arts Dept., Arcata, CA 95521 (707) 826-4113
INTERNET ENTERTAINMENT EXPO IN LAS VEGAS, MARCH 19-22 at their convention center. Stan Lee, who recently shut down his Internet business, will be a keynote speaker... www.ieexpo2001.com or p.o. box 3332, Boston MA 02241-3332
AXIEM AWARDS (ABSOLUTE EXCELLENCE IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA) has March 19th and April 2nd deadlines. This is a different type of event! I'll let you decide what kind it is. There is no festival or ceremony as far as I can tell. Look where it takes place. Would you go there? If you enter ($40, or $60 if you enter after March 19) their unnamed judges give you "points," and if you get enough you can buy a copper or silver trophy for only $130 plus shipping (duplicate certificates are $20 each). If you need a cool looking statue to impress clients who visit your office.... 1719 West Main Street, Rapid City, South Dakota 57702 (605) 348-0000 www.axiemawards.com
THE ANIMATION BUSINESS MARKETPLACE AND CREATIVE CONFERENCE IN LOS ANGELES, MARCH 1 & 2 with an opening night party Feb. 28. For information www.animationmagazine.net/abm (818) 991-2884
BURNING MAN 2001 will happen at the legendary Black Rock City from Aug. 27 - Sept. 3. If your idea of fun is to go to a great cultural void in Nevada and fill it with your creative energy and join several thousand similarly inclined people, be there. Advance tickets are now on sale from p.o. box 884688, SF CA 94188-4688 Hotline: (415) TO-FLAME burningman.com
ASIFA-SANFRANCISCO, THE BAY AREA'S ANNIMATION ASSOCIATION, PRESENTS
ANNUAL OPEN SCREENING
NEW WORK BY PROFESSIONAL STUDIOS
Amazing animated and special effect works from companies like Wild Brain, ILM, PDI, Curious Pictures, Mondo Media kand others, plus several surprises.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28
At the EXPLORATORIUM'S McBEAN THEATER
7:30 PM, free, everyone welcome
IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO SHOW YOUR WORK - show up unannounced the night of the show with a 16mm or video reel (1/2" or _") and we will show it.
For further information call Karl Cohen, chapter president, (415) 386-1004.
DO YOU KNOW SOMEBODY THAT SHOULD BE A MEMBER OF ASIFA-SAN FRANCISCO THAT ISN'T?
Unless they borrow a copy of our highly informative newsletter, they may be missing out on hard to find news and advanced information about our monthly programs. Dues money pays for our web site (www.asifa-sf.org), the costs of publishing our newsletter and the expenses involved in holding monthly meetings (hall rental, etc,). We keep our dues low by being a 100% volunteer run organization. We need a few more members so we can keep our annual dues at only $18 a year. Please tell somebody who loves animation and isn't a member to join ASIFA-SF. Thanks.
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This issue was written by Karl Cohen and proofread by Pete Davis. The production crew included Shirley Smith, Tara Packard and Ron Seawright. Subscriptions are $18 a year. |
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Membership/subscription is $18 a year or $40 for both local and international membership. |
© 2001 Animation World Network