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ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE - ISSUE 6.01 - APRIL 2001
by Chris Robinson Monthly provocative, drunken, idiotic ramblings from the North... Speaking of Bloated Asses... The second motivation actually occurred before the first. Canadian producer, Pascal Blais was REALLY pissed off because Ottawa rejected his production, The Old Man and The Sea. I wasn't really surprised. It's now a ritual in Ottawa. Every year, one of Blais' films is rejected and every year he calls up to tell everyone how great the work is. Actually, it doesn't really bother me. I'd be passionate about my creation too, but when you enter a film, you might not like the committee's decision, but ya damn well better respect it. This year, Blais' call was a little different. I was asked how I could reject a film that had won both in Annecy and the OSCAR. Well, gee...it was easy really. I had my reasons and I think they were solid reasons. In addition, ya see, we don't look to other festivals to approve our selection. Films are judged for their technical and aesthetic merit not their resumes. T'ain't a job interview kids. Should festivals start accepting films simply because they won awards elsewhere? Some might say yes, but can you IMAGINE how fuggin' dull festivals would become? So anyways it gets me thinking about the Oscar process (heh heh...like processed food...heh heh). First off, I know all about the realities of the damn Oscars. I don't expect the latest Polish or Russian animation to pick up a nod. Nevertheless, we need to make clear just what is and is not going on when it comes time to consider the animation short nominees. The Oscars have always PRETTY MUCH ignored the international community and that's fine, it is a celebration of Hollywood filmmaking. T'aint nothing wrong with it. However since Hollywood dominates the screens of the world, markets the shit out of the event and generally has convinced everyone that THIS is THE ONE, we should take a closer look at this event especially from an animation perspective. There's no denying that having animation shorts recognised by this mammoth event is excellent promotion for a very neglected art form. However, animation is also being defined to the mass audience by a few films that RARELY reflect the diverse work that is out there. On one hand, I figure the entry procedure is quite baffling to many animators and unless they can set up a contact in L.A, they ain't gonna get considered. Many animators have limited time and limited funds and as such can't fulfill the requirements as easily as North American animators or animators coming from bigger studios (eg. the National Film Board of Canada has a staff that looks after the entries). I know Michael Dudok de Wit was scrambling like a maniac to get Father and Daughter considered. On the other hand, and I don't have the member list in front of me, I'm gonna guess that a majority of the voters are executives, studio employees and in general people whose concept of radical animation is a National Film Board of Canada film. So first of all we are relying on people whose very idea of animation is quite limited (consciously or unconsciously) and at the same time they are being exposed to very few films that reflect the true diversity (most are all from the Western world) of international animation. What needs to be done is to open up voting to the international scene. Animators, journalists, festival directors, students and various other international figures. Maybe the Academy can hook up with ASIFA. Let's say an ASIFA membership gets you a vote. Course, this might be unfair to animation festivals, but let's face it none of them can -- nor should -- compete with the Oscars. They are here to stay and we might as well embrace them...like the fat, ugly, blabbing Aunt that comes to the house. ('Course we could always kick the hairy bitch out.) Now of course, you can say that these are the Star Spangled Banner awards. Fine, if that's the case, then 1.) stop inundating THE WORLD with a NATIONAL event; 2.) don't accept international animation; or 3.) simply create two categories (similar to the Best Film and Best Foreign Film...notice they don't say Best American Film! Then again at every Canadian video store American films are marketed as domestic product and never in the foreign section so it's not all Hollywood's fault!). It ain't rocket science, but wait...even if it were, this is the Academy of Art and Sciences...so surely there's a rocket scientist somewhere on Wilshire.
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