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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 5.05 - AUGUST 2000
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Beyond Vital: British Festivals In 2000
Animated Encounters Animated Encounters grew out of the Watershed's Brief Encounters short film festivals, and was undoubtedly boosted by a certain poultry-themed Aardman movie. According to a local report, DreamWorks donated £10,000 to the event. Nonetheless, the chicken presence was modest, amounting only to a whimsical opening programme of bird-brained films (Henpecked Duck, Norman McLaren's La Poulette Grise), climaxing with the first ten minutes of that movie. A nice bonus, though, was the presence of exec. producer Michael Rose and one of the Aardman animators, participating in a short but informative Q&A session. Another bonus of the Bristol screenings were that plenty of the filmmakers were in the audience, so one knew who to applaud (or not). Among the programmes were a children's section (including The Wombles and The Powerpuff Girls) and an airing of the recently announced BAA winners. Bristol, meanwhile, got a collection of its own. Most of the titles were familiar (War Story, Little Dark Poet) but one intriguing representative was The Audition, a 1980 cel film directed by Bill Mather using the 'real-life conversation' device more familiar in model animation. A wider British programme featured several witty titles: Mark Baker's Oscar-nominated Jolly Roger, the UK premiere of Sandra Ensby's two-timing romance Fast Spin Fling and Tracy Spottiswoode's very sharp Codename: Corgi (described as 'A tragi-comic tale of sex, spies and laverbread'). A more acquired taste was Aardman's unlovely Web-star Angry Kid, who popped up all through the screenings. This writer confesses a strange sympathy with the ginger-haired troll, but I couldn't help wondering why Aardman selected foul-mouthed episodes when there were kids in the audience. Though the said episodes were very funny... Two international programmes encompassed an admirable range of styles. A pair of films from opposite ends of the spectrum were especially well-received. These were Konstantin Bronzit's hilarious French At the Ends of the Earth, about an unstable house, and the German film The Periwig-Maker (director Stefen Schaffler), a beautifully-rendered model animation set in plague-infested London. There was also a late-night airing of 'outrageous animation,' including favourites such as Bambi Meets Godzilla and The Clinton Out-Takes. This benefited from being preceded by a gross-out live cabaret, featuring the self-mutilating Incredible Blood Brothers.
All of these were near or full sell-outs, but the greatest enthusiasm was reserved for the 'Watch With Mother '70s Classics' on Saturday night. This might sound like another children's screening, but don't be fooled. The audience was packed with twenty- and thirtysomethings, staring enraptured at child icons embedded deep into their psyche; The Clangers, Ivor the Engine, Mr. Benn... Even for non-nostalgia freaks, the vision of these (mostly model) series can't be denied, and their charm is untarnished. Among the names on these '70s productions were Peter Lord, David Sproxton and Bob Godfrey. To round things off, there were also two feature screenings, one quite a coup. The Watershed is in the happy position of having an IMAX cinema located just behind it, and on Sunday morning attendees could see a special screening of The Old Man and the Sea, Aleksandr Petrov's Oscar-winning painting-on-glass. The other showing was Fantasia/2000, oddly in normal cinema-sized format rather than another IMAX special. Nonetheless, Disney's musical update still looked good. A more unorthodox item was Desert Island Flicks, where comedian Phil Jupitus selected his favourite toons in a version of the radio staple Desert Island Discs. It sounded a recipe for disaster, but Jupitus, for all his self-deprecation, plainly knew his stuff. He was soon in earnest discussion of the relative merits of Avery, Jones and Clampett, and his love for the medium was obvious. (For the record, Jupitus rated "Rabbit of Seville" well above "What's Opera, Doc?") His British picks, meanwhile, included the BAA-winning Big Knights series and Aardman's Rex the Runt.
What Next? There are, of course, still questions about where British festivals should head, and how to avoid the over-reaching hubris of Vital. But such worries are for the future. For now, British festival animation is enjoying a new lease of life. It's a great position from which to make a new start. Andrew Osmond is a freelance writer specializing in fantasy media and animation.
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