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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.02 - MAY 2000
The 3rd Brisbane
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Humdrum was nominated
for an Oscar. Courtesy of Brisbane International Animation Festival.
© Aardman Animations.
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Crowd Pleasing Highlights
Comprising four sessions spread over two nights, the tour program
encompassed "the best of BIAF," enabling interstate audiences
the opportunity to view works from the festivals’ variety of
sessions. According to festival director Peter Moyes, one of the most
popular of the Brisbane sessions was the Director’s Choice. "It’s
sort of like a best of world animation, so you would expect some keen
interest there. We were lucky in having two Academy Award nominees
screening in that one." Of these, Peter Peake’s Humdrum,
in which two bored shadows play shadow puppets, was a definite crowd
favourite. And then as if to prove that laughter is indeed the international
language, Russian animator Konstantin Bronzit’s At
the Ends of the Earth delighted audiences with its absurd
premise of a seesawing house perched atop a mountain peak. "That
film had very visual gags and also draws upon Russian culture,"
notes Moyes. "I think a Russian audience would even find that
more funny."
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In one scene, At the Ends
of the Earth fills the screen with laughter. © Folimage
Valence Production.
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More esoteric was the festival’s Pacific Film and Television Commission’s Grand Prizewinner, the Estonian film On the Possibility of Love. "Estonia is always interesting," finds Peter Moyes. "Their approach to storytelling is very different, and the narratives are quite inventive. What was heartening to see was that our two competition sessions were very popular. People are interested in seeing what is coming out right now." Among this year’s winners were two films which illustrate the variety of techniques employed by the festival’s competitors. The Courier Mail Critic’s Award went to Ruth Lingford’s controversial Pleasures of War, which mixes black and white woodblock animation with documentary archive footage. Perhaps the most unique ingredient was to be found in the winner of the Griffith University QCA Debut Prize, Svetlana Filippova’s The Night Has Come. "That was coffee on a light box," advises Moyes. "A beautiful film. The subtlety of the shades that the filmmakers achieved was just amazing."
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Fest favorites like Achilles
and Rex the Runt were shown. Courtesy of Brisbane
International Animation Festival. Achilles. © Bare
Boards Productions.
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Going A Little Commercial
While festival organizers were rightly proud of the international
content of the program in its first year as a member of the International
Alliance of Animation Festivals (joining such world renowned festivals
as Ottawa, Anima Mundi in Brazil and Holland), time was taken out
to pay homage to the pioneers of the Australian animation industry
in the ‘Cartoons of the Moment’ session. "We took that
title from a 1917 Harry Julias film which showed how animation was
used in newsreels. It was commenting on the economy in Germany, and
was basically trying to poke fun at the Germans around the time of
the First World War." Also featured strongly in this session
was the all but forgotten entrepreneur Eric Porter. Of particular
interest was his innovative use of cel animation over 3D sets in his
failed television series Captain Comet and the Space Rangers.
More successful were Porter’s commercials, of which Louie the
Fly remains a perennial favourite.
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Note: Readers may contact any Animation World Magazine contributor by sending an e-mail to editor@awn.com.
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