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PUBLICATIONS
ANIMATION MAGAZINE, OCT. 1996 The focus is on global TV animation. There are feature articles on Nelvana in Canada, Hanna-Barbera's new Jonny Quest, the financial impact of the TV animation industry, a guide to companies around the world creating TV animation (including addresses), & a guide to post services. There is a new section on job opportunities, a legal column about partnerships, information about the World Animation Celebration, and more.
Subscriptions are $45 for 12 issues or $84 for 24 from 30101 Agoura Court, Suite 110, Agoura Hills, CA 91301.
McBOING BOING'S #9 has a long essay on a variety of things including what is funny in animation, morality in animation, etc. More interesting to me is an article on works that Walt Disney actually directed. There are reviews of Canemaker's book on Tex Avery and Mel Millar's Cartooning for Fun or Profit, an article on Spumco merchandise, news items and Karl Cohen's interview with Tony Claar on Richard William's Master Class.
Subscriptions are $10 for 4 issues from Dewey McGuire, 134 Cardiff Circle, Iowa City, IA 52246
FESTIVALS
ASIFA-EAST ANNUAL FESTIVAL DEADLINE HAS BEEN CHANGED The event will take place in April according to Howard Beckerman. He said it often snows in January which in past years has kept people away from the judging and/or awards night. He calls this a friendly festival and is good for both students and professionals. The entry fee is low, they give out over 20 awards and the winners are shown to ASIFA members in the Bay Area and elsewhere in the US. Contact ASIFA-East c/o Michael Sporn Animation, 632 Broadway, 4th floor, New York, NY 10012 for details and entry form.
BLACK MARIA FESTIVAL has a Nov. 16 deadline. They offer over $5,000 in prize money and another $5,000 is distributed to films that are in the touring package of winners. It is shown in over 50 institutions around the US. $35 entry fee. Frankly, a festival like this does a lot more for a filmmaker than most of the expensive events (some of which don't even show their award winning work)...
For details call (201) 200-2043. Karl Cohen can send you a copy of the entry form (415) 386-1004. The festival address is c/o Dept. of Media Arts, Jersey City State College, 203 West Side Ave., Jersey City, NJ 07305.
ACADEMY AWARDS FOR ANIMATED SHORTS HAS A NOV. 30 DEADLINE - see last months newsletter for details.
ANNECY '97 has sent several copies of their entry form to our post office box. If you would like a copy contact Karl Cohen (415) 386-1004. Completed entry forms are due Jan. 2, 1997 and the films should arrive by Feb. 10.
GOLDFISH CHILDREN'S ANIMATION FESTIVAL
by David Ehrlich
When I was first invited to Goldfish, I was told that the festival would take place in Nizhny Novgorad, formerly called Gorky, about 3 hours east of Moscow by train. One week before the festival, I was told that the event would instead take place on a boat going down the Dnieper and stopping at towns along the way. This seemed to be a replication of the Krok Animation Festival which also takes place on a boat, originating in Kiev, and in fact some of the Krok people were quite irritated that their event was being copied. But, since I had never been to Russia and since they were paying my way, I decided that come what may, I was going.
After a nine hour flight on Aeroflot, during which most of the passengers ended up drinking vodka and singing with one another, we landed at Moscow Airport. I was met by Yuri, a tall man with a Goldfish sign, and we drove the half hour into Moscow. When I asked him about the boat, he smiled and said I would find out everything later. He dropped me at the Filmmakers Association Building. As I walked into the small theater on the first floor, I saw the seven person jury and several small children huddled together covered in blankets. I suddenly realized that it was colder in that room than in the freezing weather outside. When they saw my confusion, they laughed out loud, and Nicole Salomon exclaimed, "David, I bet you thought we were going on a boat. There is no boat. The Festival will take place in this cold little room for nine days. You'd better take out all your sweaters!"
I slowly looked around the room. There couldn't have been more than 100 seats for this festival. The sound coming from the projector was scratchy, and when I asked for a program, I was handed a hastily typed list of films shown only on that day. OK, I quickly decided, I was in Moscow, I was going to spend nine days here, and I was going to enjoy it with or without the festival.
Well, as it turned out, I did come to enjoy the festival as much as I did Moscow. This was a festival of children's animation - professional animation made for children and animation made by children for children. When the festival finally came together the second day after a series of blunders, I could begin to watch some of the finest children's animation in the world, from the usual Nick Park masterpieces to the kind of moody but accessible works done throughout Russia and the Baltic countries that never seem to get into the festivals in Ottawa and Annecy. But what really excited me was the breadth of work being done in children's animation workshops in Moldavia, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia and Russia. Often working with shoestring budgets and 50 year-old cameras, children throughout the former Soviet Union have been animating warm, sensitive films using cut-paper, drawings, puppets, clay, feathers, seeds and anything else they can find.
Workshop leaders as well as representative children from 15 workshops were invited to Moscow to show their films and come together in a 9-day animation celebration. By the end of the Festival, the children all seemed to know each other. They busily discussed their favorite techniques and planned collaborations that would stretch from Novosibirsk in Siberia to Narva in Estonia.
The jury, composed of Nicole Salomon (France), Jiri Kubicek (Czech Republic), Bordo Dovnikovic (Croatia), Yves Rifaux (France), Alexander Lenkov and Vyacheslav Kotyonochkin (Russia) wisely decided not to single out any of the children-made film for prizes, but to call all of the children up on to the stage for the final prize-giving ceremony where they were given certificates of merit, stuffed animals and bags of color markers.
The jury had no ambivalence in awarding prizes to the professional children's films. Beautiful cut glass sculptures made in Prague in the form of goldfish were presented to 8 films and diplomas were presented to four more works. The Grand Prix went to the wonderfully funny cartoon Little Mother, Rozochka and Minechka by Natalia Chernyshova (Russia). First prize went to A Close Shave by Nick Park, second prize to Mashenka, a surreal puppet animation by Sergei Olifirenko (Russia) and third prize went to A Little Routine by George Griffin (New York City). The jury privately commended him for great originality in the expression of sensitive human interaction. Griffin's humor was not lost on the Russian children who, without any knowledge of English, could laugh at the visual gags. They identified with Nora, the little girl who does not quite want to go to bed by herself.
Despite the freezing weather and the initial disorganization of the festival, I was grateful for the chance to visit Moscow and to meet so many fine Russian animators, both young and old. Victoria Lukina, Director of the Festival, should be commended for transforming what could have been a disaster into a warm and exciting event.
ASIFA-SF MEMBER BARBARA KLUTINIS ATTENDED A SCREENING OF HER WORK AT A FESTIVAL IN SWITZERLAND The festival paid for her hotel and about half of her air fare. Barbara said she had a wonderful week in Switzerland and it was great being part of a festival that respects the film artist.
WHAT SHOULD YOU EXPECT FROM A FILM FESTIVAL WHEN YOU ENTER IT? comments by Karl Cohen
In many parts of this world film festivals raise money and get donated services to bring the talented people who create the work to the event. For some strange reason festivals in the US rarely do much for the filmmakers except take their money (and some festivals demand a great deal of it and give little or nothing back). When I list festivals in the newsletter I often try to warn which ones are rip-offs and which may be of value to you. For those of you who are entering festivals, isn't it time you think about what you are going to get for your entry fee? Some festivals are great and provide cash prizes, large audiences, touring packages, get short films reviewed and do other things to help you. Other festivals do nothing (or almost nothing) for you, but they try to get as many people as possible to enter as your entry fees help support the festival directors' lifestyle... So before you enter another festival, think about how you are going to benefit if your work is accepted.