April, 2003
SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL TO PRESENT "STAY TOONED," A PROGRAM OF 14 ANIMATED SHORTS
This program will be showing April 21, Kabuki 9:15 and 4/25 Kabuki at 10:00 PM. The shorts are:
ATOMIC LOVE Robots need love too (Michael Dante DiMartino USA 2002, 8 min)
"Also, I'm happy to report that I recently won Best Short Film at the prestigious 11th annual Pan African Film
Festival in Los Angeles. The win came as quite a surprise considering that it was competing against several live action
shorts."
On Tuesday, April 29, 7:30 P.M. they will be at The Museum of Cartoon Art, 32 Union Square East Suite 600 212/254-3511,
for a free reception to welcome Nik Phelps and The Sprocket Ensemble to New York City. There will be refreshments and a short
performance by Nik. No details yet on the Parsons Institute performance. The talk on Sat. April 26 by Nina and Nik at the
Burns Film Center in Pleasantville, NY. will be on their past collaborations.
The program featured readings from biographies of former slaves that were oral histories written down by the WPA's
Federal Writers' Project in 1936-'38. They were read by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Robert
Guillaume, Samuel L. Jackson, Courtney B. Vance, Alfre Woodard, Jasmine Guy and Vanessa L. Williams.
Monday, April 7 at 111 Minna Gallery, NIK PHELPS' IDEAS IN ANIMATION: NEW AND ESTABLISHED ANIMATORS 7:30 & 9:30 PM; discussions following each performance. $10 general, $7 students. The works by established animators include marvelous films by British animator Paul Bush, used scratch techniques to create animated engravings in Still Life With Small Cup, while Furniture Poetry takes stop-motion to new extremes. Rose Stiebra, the godmother of Latvian animation, creates colorful fairy tale worlds in her films The Dancing Mask and The Sad Cow. Australian animator Dennis Tupicoff is represented by a witty and demonic Dance of Death (an all too real look at reality TV), and his ironic The Heats The Humidity. Marin animator Don Albrecht ends the April show with a wry look at The World's Greatest Illusionist. The program's new artists are Sammi Abaijon, a Finnish animator; Bay area animator Karen Lithgow, and
American animator Jen Sachs. Abaijon's Salamanteli stars a dumpster diving salamander that finds a new friend,
and in Fate two people on a subway find love in strange circumstances. Sachs' Translations depicts a cathartic
moment inspired by case histories of Freud and Breuer plus Elaine Showalter?s modern reinterpretation of hysteria as a
cultural disease. Lithgow's Marge and Howard in The Parisian Caf? is a light-hearted scene with a continental theme.
DOWNLOAD "THE CHUBB- CHUBBS," THIS YEAR'S ANIMATED HOT OSCAR WINNING SHORT, FOR FREE This is the first digitally animated short film produced by Sony Pictures Imageworks. It premiered in theaters with Men in Black 2 last year and is available on the Men in Black 2 DVD. It is also on the Internet, but you need a broadband connection to watch films from movielink.com 'TOY STORY' VOTED #1 OF "THE TOP 100 ANIMATED FEATURES OF ALL" TIME BY THE ONLINE FILM CRITICS SOCIETY The 138 Internet film reviewers who voted in this event picked Pixar's Toy Story as their favorite animated feature. The next nine films on their list are Fantasia (1940), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Toy Story 2 (1999), The Iron Giant (1999), Beauty and the Beast (1991), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) and Spirited Away (2002). The complete list can be found online at www.ofcs.org. NEW YORK'S VALENTINE DAY EROTIC ANIMATION SHOW WAS A GREAT SUCCESS Signe Baumane writes, "The event was a success beyond what I expected. We had two sold out shows and had to turn away 100 people. People were frustrated that they couldn't get tickets and some tried to break in. It seemed like the hottest show in town. Next time I'll have to do it in a multiplex or something." She also tells us she has started to animate Veterinarian, her next film, that Five Fucking Fables is
going to be in 3 more festivals, Natasha is going to 3 festivals and Woman is in 2. She says, "It is
crazy - I am not a filmmaker anymore, I am print and tape handler!" She is also writing an article for a Latvian
women's magazine and at the end of March, Latvia's first animated film festival "Bimini" presented a retrospective of
her work. (8 films, 65 min).
A second company is planning to release 35mm show(s). Bitter Films has been talking to filmmakers about rights to use their shorts. Supposedly they are offering rental fees considerably higher than the current rates paid to animators by Spike and Mike. Mike Judge of Beavis and Butt-Head fame and Oscar nominated Don Hertzfeldt (Rejected) are said to be behind this effort. Bitter films didn't answer our request for information. As for Spike and Mike's plans, his office sent us the following message. "Unfortunately we are still in the process of updating our upcoming schedule. As soon as we have confirmation of a S.F. show I'll be sure to let you know!" There is no mention of their 2003 "classic" program on their website. In past years they have opened their "classic"
program of outstanding shorts near the end of April in the Bay Area so look for it in late April just in caseŠ. Since
Apollo Cinema has this year's 5 Oscar nominated shorts, Spike and Mike may not include them in the 26th edition of
their "classic" program. Last year they ran a selection of well-known hits from the past instead of putting together a
new show of "classics." They have had 2 years to put together an exceptional program. Have they? I hope so. KC
Was there an actual festival? The entry form gives no closing date or location for the festival, so I gather it is a
catchy marketing device and not a once a year event. The form includes a list of "unacceptable materials" and it provides
several tips on what they do want to show. There is an entry fee ($10, $20, but $200 for professional work). For details:
(310) 227-3456 www.bigdigit.com
One of his celebrated films is Mothlight. He pasted moth wings and flowers directly onto film stock resulting in glimpses of color and shapes for 1/24th of a second. Nothing is really recognizable. Viewers often hate it, but one obit said it takes "our collective breath away during its 4-minutes." Archer Winsten of the New York Post wrote, "Here he unleashes the full power of his technique, so apt to become abstractly unintelligible when left to his own devices, on a specific subject. The result is a picture so forthright, so full of primitive wonder and love, so far beyond civilization in its acceptance that it becomes an experience like few in the history of the movies." Dominic Angerame, director of Canyon Cinema, said, "His work has had a profound impact on experimental film for many decades and his presence will surely be missed." Filmmaker Tim Blaskovich wrote me, "I've felt since let's say '66 that Stan Brackhage is/was easily the best, most inventive, most far-reaching cine-poet/fimmaker/celluloid alchemist America's ever had...film grammar, film style, see-er, seeker, soothsayer...Not one for popularity contests or creating accessible work necessarily (not by any means!), but his rampant skill at creating his own psyche and soul by using celluloid - no one has ever come close to his depth of involvement in the medium." "He has left a great legacy, and surely there will be retrospectives and 'special' shows for some time to come. I will be there for some of his tremendous bequest to those with a true passion for cinema. He was a renaissance man. I was around him a little here and there: you just knew this guy was the real thing and absolutely something else, just like his work." A DVD of Stan Brakhage's work is scheduled for release by Criterion this May. Although his work isn't universally enjoyed,
you might want to rent this DVD to gain an understanding of a non-traditional filmmaker's approach to creating art.
The often outspoken Pimp's latest article at awn.com is about what he objects to in the way the Academy picks
candidates for Oscar nominations. He outlines the present process, tells how he would improve it (when he isn't a pimp he
directs animation festivals in Canada - he isn't an off-the-wall crack-pot) and he comments on this year's nominations. (He
likes Mt. Head and suggests at least 2 of the nominations are unworthy of being considered - one that he speaks
unkindly of won the Oscar this year). You may not agree with him, but he does try to get people to look at animation from
new perspectives.
At the meeting Disney also announced that their projections of a 25 to 30% growth for the company in 2003 were too
optimistic. They now expect "more moderate growth." Some analysts outside of the company have been saying Disney may have
overestimated their earnings outlook for the year.
Earlier in the month they showed IRISH REELS ANIMATION SHORTS from The Irish Reels Film Festival. The shorts,
funded by the Irish Film Board and other groups in Ireland, include Pullin' The Devil by the Tail, From Darkness,
Butterfly, The Trial of Solomon, Rehy Fox and Nose. www.irishreels.org and
www.asifa.net/usa-northwest
I didn't know a lot about Ralph, other than he created Fritz the Cat, Lord of the Rings and Wizards. A friend said to me as I was leaving "why would you want to go see him? His stuff is all rotoscoped". I went anyways to see for myself what I thought. In these days of sequels, re-makes, designed for merchandise characters, Disney rehashing its already retold stories, and reality TV shows, seeing Ralph Bakshi's Coonskin was like remembering spring actually comes when you are in the midst of winter. Like a day when you wake reminded that there's more than going to and from the mass-produced franchises you find yourself creating to make a living. My sketchbook started filling with rebound ideas, and I caught myself re-drawing his characters, often a way I can judge how much I enjoyed or was inspired by an event. Bakshi isn't the world's greatest animator or storyteller. But one thing he did do was 'express' the story he wanted to make. He had something to say and it wasn't rotoscoped. Coonskin was filled with politics, racism, war and things we still struggle with today. He wasn't always right, or necessarily proud of all he said in the film as a young angry man, but at least he said it. It was outspoken, blunt, and in your face. It equally offended everyone. It was not an anti-black film as some thought, but rather an anti-idiot film in his eyes. It was about expression. "If you are going to spend that much of your life doing it, it should be for you." While he is embarrassed at some of the things he created- the anger, the strong language, the 'jerking off' as he said, there are some things that he is damn proud of. It's part autobiographical, and it's always different when you look back on your own ideas. He says today's newer animators are too worried about pretty images, perfect technical animation, high paying jobs and not offending anyone. With all the technology at our fingertips, he's been let down that more hasn't come out from the heart. Coonskin mixed medias like we do now, only more rough and with less than half of the tools. Although it is not polished, and not always working, I applauded his play of mediums, at a time when it was much less common, especially in a fully animated movie. Like jazz, he tried to improvise in the way he told the story, sometimes abstract, and not always working, but it added feeling to the film. He broke down the structure, and even strayed from the story at times. In the end it came together as a whole. He animated expression. One women who worked for him said to me "he equally offended everyone (like his films), and told us straight out he was paying us crap, but if there was something one of us wanted in, or an idea, he listened, and let you experiment." Ralph let the animators go a bit wild if they had a great idea. We have so many tools at our fingertips today, and we make pretty pictures to sell ourselves to try to get the next high profile job. "Make terrible animation! But get it out!" Ralph says! So what if you don't have it all nailed down or perfect? As we all know expression can get expensive these days. If one screams they are against the war, we hear the idiots cry that you are an anti-patriotic. You are not hirable. So we all look the same and create a lot of empty crap to pay our rents. I went into animation for other reasons, and Ralph reminded me that I have strayed, and feel the hole from it. Animation is an art, as is storytelling, and although making a living can be challenging, making something you feel is important, with something to say is still more powerful, more human, and a larger contribution to the stories to tell generations to come. I hope they are not all just made for the buck. I walked out feeling refreshed, confident that I have enough talent to do it. It's the ideas, not so much the execution that matters. Other wise, why do it? We see so much empty pretty animation. Like Coonskin's character of 'America' portrayed as a lovely blond super hero, but with a wicked heart. She has huge knockers and a pretty face as she gets ready to knock you down into the dirt (in the name of freedom of coarse). The only freedom we really have is that of our own voices and truths to tell our children. Tara Packard animates on The Sims at Maxis and is the rubber ducky woman, aka T-Girl, in her off hours. She is also on the
board of ASIFA-SF.
We talked a lot about financing animation. Jayne said money for animation in the UK is getting scarce. The BBC has cut their funding for the animation. All they support now are first films after a student graduates. They want POPULAR films for a wide audience, especially funny clay animated work. What was unbelievable was her saying that Brothers Quay and Mark Baker are having trouble finding money. And yet UK produces the best animated films, so they should pamper their animators. Three of our awards went to UK artists. The City of Vienna Award (Euro 3650) was split between Ruth Lingford and Gaelle Denis. Ruth Lingford's The Old Fools is a wonderful film about the experience of senility. It is rare to see animation that can move and touch you emotionally so much. It is a great film, visually astonishing. It combines animation with live action shots, mixed media. Gaelle Denis (she is actually French) showed Fish Never Sleep, a student film from the Royal College. It was inspired by her stipendium in Japan. It is a fine, poetic drawn animation, very simple and elegant. It is about a Japanese girl who can't fall asleep. The Synchro Film and Video Award, worth Euro 1500, honors post-production work. It went to Alys Hawkins for Crying and Waking. It is a roughly drawn animation, a strong film exploring emotional and sexual issues. She had another film in the competition, Hysteria, which is an ironic subject based on the belief of 19th Century doctors that woman's hysteria is caused by masturbation. They decided to cure it by prescribing additional masturbation! (Probably everyone knows that, but I did not.) There was one more award, a 3-month scholarship to the artist's studio program of Quartier 21. It provides pocket money of Euro 1000 each month. It went to Marketa Placha, a young Czech filmmaker. She showed two fresh films in the competition, Gloss and Solo Mutants. There were more exceptional films shown. Since Austria has a long tradition of making abstract and experimental films, many of them appeared in the competition, even though they are often refused by other festivals. We especially liked the abstract films Escape by Kirsten Winter and Higgs by Monika Stellmach (both film makers are Germans). Since we did not have more prizes to award, both were given Honorable Mentions. Is there a need for a Women Animation Festival? After seeing the programs, you realize there is the phenomena of women's films. Of course there are both good and bad films, and it does not matter if they are done by a man or a woman. But we saw films whose choice of subject or story could only have been done by women, like Ruth Lingford's film about senility. Before she became a filmmaker she worked as a nurse in a nursing home for senile people. After raising her kids she went to school to study animation. Now she makes films and teaches. Each year her films get better and better. The films we gave awards to would probably have less chance to win prizes in traditional film festivals, not because of their quality (they are great films), but because traditional juries dominated by male jurors would not let them win. I think this festival deserves its place in the sun. Also, festivals in general are good places to show animation as there is almost no other place to see animated films today. ASIFA-Austria has proposed the International Animation Festival of Vienna. I hope it becomes a reality. The festival also included programs on Korean and Japanese women's animation and Czech women animation (which was not a great program, since there are not that many women directors in Czech Republic). The program on Sexuality and Desire, put together by Jayne Pilling, was great! It was a collection of films by women filmmakers from around the world. Jayne is an important animation expert and a great person. It would be great if some school or festival in San Francisco would invite her to show the films and to talk about them (and pay her). I suggest that the next Tricky Women Festival should include a program on women animators from the US, as there are lots of fine films by American women. I also want to encourage all women filmmakers to send their films there (sorry, men). The next festival will probably be in 2005. The festival just started and it does not have much money, so it can not afford to invite many filmmakers to come, but it has nice awards! And Vienna is beautiful!" (The festival is organized by Culture2culture, an organization that specializes in women's events. http://www.culture2culture.at Editor's note: Michaela lives in our city from time-to-time and has been a friend and member of ASIFA-SF for many years. She is
presently directing an animated feature in Europe. She has worked in San Francisco for Wild Brain where she designed several projects
including an Internet show called Graveyard. Her film Reci, Reci, Reci was nominated for an Oscar in 1992.
Most creators have basic business relationships involving intellectual property that is purchased outright or licensed for a long period of time. What do you do when you have a client that exhibits signs of financial distress: checks bounce or royalty payments are late? Most available remedies are determined by the language in your license or agreement or local small claims court procedures. Most contracts include provisions for termination in the event of a specific event. Intellectual Property attorneys suggest that clients protect themselves by putting clauses in licenses that permit the copyright owner to terminate the contract if the licensee consecutively misses royalty payments, submits late payments or fails to remedy a contract breach by a specified period of time. Another way to protect yourself is to include language that automatically terminates the contract in the event that the company ceases operation or substantially reduces hours of operation for an extended period of time. Canny business people investigate a potential partner prior to signing a contract by asking potential partners for referrals or interviewing others who have done business with the same organization. Some creative professionals minimize their risk by requiring new clients to pay some portion of the balance in advance. Prior to 2002, attorneys advised clients to include contract provisions that permit termination or modification upon the insolvency or bankruptcy of a party to the agreement. However, the recently amended federal Bankruptcy Code now makes such clauses unenforceable. For this reason, attorneys are suggesting the alternatives listed above in order to protect their clients. The goal is to disengage from a financially distressed company as quickly as possible before it declares bankruptcy since the primary goal of a Chapter 11 business reorganization is rehabilitation of the debtor (Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code protects individuals and certain issues covered below may still apply). In support of that basic goal, the bankruptcy laws are applied to afford the debtor a "fresh start", as a result of the ability to discharge or restructure most debts and to reject or modify burdensome contracts, and a "breathing spell" in order to restructure its debts without continued pressure from its creditors. All creditors are divided into classes, typically secured creditors, unsecured creditors, subordinated creditors, and equity holders. Each class is assigned a priority, and higher classes are entitled to be paid in full before a lower class is paid anything. All creditors within a class are treated equally and paid, on a pro rata basis, the same amount. After the debts are restructured or discharged, the debtor can emerge from Chapter 11 and perform the restructured payment schedule. Most bankruptcy proceedings are commenced voluntarily by the filing of a petition, which has two immediate effects. First, it creates a bankruptcy estate containing substantially all of the debtor's interests in property at the time of the filing and any proceeds of that property and additional interests in property the debtor may acquire later. If a license is not property of the debtor at the time the petition is filed, it does not become part of the bankruptcy estate. Therefore, if a license agreement has been properly terminated prior to bankruptcy, it will not become subject to the bankruptcy proceeding. If you find yourself involved with a partner that has filed for bankruptcy, it is best to consult a qualified bankruptcy attorney as intellectual properties can be affected by decisions made by a bankruptcy trustee or judge. The worst thing you can do is ignore any notices sent by the bankruptcy court. In order to avoid this potential expense, attorneys encourage their clients to terminate the relationship and recover their intellectual property rights before a bankruptcy petition is ever filed. [The article was prepared for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice. Please consult with a licensed attorney if you
have specific questions. Adrienne Crew is a former business affairs attorney who now licenses content for Salon.com]
FANTOCHE 03 entry deadline is May 1 for Sept. 9 - 14 event. This is Switzerland's main animation festival and it has a fine reputation as a well-run event. George Griffin from NYC is on the international jury. Cash prizes, no entry fee, they show 16 & 35mm, VHS tape (NTSC & Pal) DVD and Beta SP (Pal). Fantoche, Landstrasse 1, Postfach, CH-5401 Baden, Switzerland www.fantoche.ch mail@fantoche.ch CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN'S FILM FESTIVAL entry deadline is May 1 for an Oct. 23-Nov. 2 event. This is the 20th annual event and they show lots of animated shorts ($40 entry fee, but no fee for child-produced entries and there is a top prize of $2500 for some lucky kid). Previews in VHS. They have both adult and children's juries and lots of awards (only 5 are cash awards). C/O Facets Multi-Media, Inc., 1517 Fullerton Ave., Chicago, Illinois 60614 (773) 281-9075 kidsfest@facets.org. |
| This issue was written by Karl Cohen, Tara Packard and Adrienne Crew. Plus there are contributions by Tim Blaskovich, Dominic Angerame and other friends. Pete Davis was our proofreader. The mailing crew included Shirley Smith, Nancy Phelps and Laura Tulloss. Tarra Beyhm is keeper of our mailing list. |
| Questions? Contact Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004 or karlcohen@earthlink.net |
ASIFA-SF
P.O. Box 14516
San Francisco, CA 94114
| Membership in our chapter is $22 a year or $44 for joint local and international membership. |
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