The Matita Festival Scrapbook

The Matita Festival Scrapbook
(continued from page 1)

Jirí Trnka at work on The Good Soldier Schweik.
© Kratky Film.

Cybernetic Granny,
stop-motion master Trnka's 1962 film.
© Kratky Film.

Barry Purves with some of his young admirers. © Barry Purves.

A collage from a selection of Purves' rather racy, award-winning films. © Barry Purves.

A Personal Touch
For me, two anecdotes colored this festival. The first was a surprising speech from a member of the audience during a presentation on digital technology by Paris-based effects company Ex Machina and British director Simon Pummel. This veteran graphic designer -- who had worked his entire career in the print business -- was totally captivated by the demonstration. Through a number of candid questions which involved the entire audience, he clearly expressed his eagerness to start a new career in multimedia.

The second anecdote is a story which happened to Barry Purves, festival guest of honor. Barry was sitting on a park bench one afternoon, writing postcards, when a few kids approached him. (In this small town, everybody knew about the festival and that we were the "strangers.") Language was a barrier, so Barry started to show them images from his films. Soon enough, he was surrounded by dozens of kids asking him for autographs.The next day, the kids turned up at the screenings with small gifts for Barry and all of us strangers, and were determined to see his films. When the festival organizers told them that they could not stay for the whole screening because some of Barry's films were not suitable for their age, they were scandalized. One little boy stood up in the theater and demanded to talk to Barry in person! In the end, they did not stay for the screening of Achilles, but watching these children discover puppet animation and Barry's dramatic and colorful animated world was just fantastic. It made me realize that small festivals can be very big as well.