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Building A New British Empire - A Tribute to Clare
Kitson
(continued from page 2)
Clare.
What can I say? I owe my career to your willingness to suspend your
disbelief. Your quiet, exacting, supportive presence underpinned my
work for Channel 4.
Your vision and faith have created a generation of British animators
and students with a sense of the possibilities of the medium. At animation
festivals around the world, British animators are regarded with respect
and great envy by animators from other countries. 'Of course,' they
say, 'in Britain it is possible...'
Thank you, Clare, for making it possible.
Ruth Lingford
Director
I was lucky enough to be the producer who received Clare's first
major commission after she started at Channel 4, for the thirty minute
animated special Prince Cinders, directed by Derek Hayes (distributed
on video in America by First Run Features). One element that helped
us achieve this commission was the fact that the picture book, upon
which the film is based, was a favourite of Clare's daughter -- ever
since, I have always tried to keep tabs on her daughter's reading
list!
What was not always appreciated about Clare is her thoroughness, her
wide range of interests, her taste for whisky and -- in particular
-- her love of Russian. To help the financing of Prince Cinders,
some of the animation was completed in St. Petersburg and for my first
visit to this great city, Clare joined Derek Hayes and I. Her knowledge
of Russian and her understanding of the Russian mentality proved indispensable.
I have never been good at languages and her attempts to teach me some
basic Russian phrases were probably one of her more fruitless efforts.
I can only admire her perseverance. However I was able to impress
her once, as I did achieve access to a famous restaurant in St. Petersburg
where we were able to eat at Russian (as opposed to tourist) prices.
She was absolutely convinced that this would be impossible, but in
this case I used my ignorance (and hunger) as an advantage.
Clare is a great and passionate lover of animation -- absolutely committed
to the art and possibilities that animation offers -- but at the same
time always aware and often frustrated by the problems of the television
scheduling of short-run animation. Her record speaks for itself but,
on a personal note, I would like to say thank you very much Clare
for having faith in me and so many other producers.
YGARU! (Pronounced: oudachi!) *
Iain Harvey
President
The Illuminated Film Company
* Russian for good luck.
While attending animation film festivals for about the past forty
years, and therefore being classified as a "veteran," I
was fortunate to meet a lot of people during those International events.
A particular representative delegation remained the one of the United
Kingdom, because it included outstanding and engaging personalities
such as John Hales, Joy Batchelor, Bob Godfrey, Stan Hayward, as well
as Pat Webb and Clare Kitson. The latter, a very attractive young
girl, succeeded in combining the mischevious charm of Carnaby Street
with the seriousness and competence of an experienced secretary.
I don't know when the animation virus entered Clare's life, but I
know that the infection was virulent, and that she succeeded, by the
means of Channel 4, to infect inturn tens of thousands of television
watchers. If there is anything for which animation authors should
wish, is that one day we could clone Clare into hundreds of duplicates
to dole out amongst TV channels all over the world. The Art of animation
could then reach the notoriety it deserves.
Thank you, dear Clare, for what you did for our cinema. Thank you
Clare for what you did for one of my own films. I don't know if you
intend to continue your struggle for this Art that you know so well
and love so much elsewhere, but, with so many others, I can only wish
it!
Raoul Servais
Director
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