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Chris Robinson in Conversation with Ellen Besen

Canada's leading independent animation filmmakers are scattered all across the country. Veteran programmer and writer Chris Robinson chronicles his long distance, year long quest to meet them in CANADIAN ANIMATION: LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO HAPPEN (Indiana University Press). Robinson will discuss his findings with acclaimed animator Ellen Besen, and show film clips to punctuate their conversation. -- A This Is Not A Reading Series event presented by Pages Books & Magazines, University of Indiana Press, EYE WEEKLY, Gladstone Hotel, Take Five On CIUT and Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS).

Gladstone Hotel Ballroom, 1214 Queen St West, TorontoTuesday Feb. 10; 7:30 p.m. (Doors 7 p.m.) $5 (Free With Book Purchase)TAIS Members Ride Free

In 2007, writer Chris Robinson traveled across Canada to meet with some of the country's leading independent animation filmmakers. Along the way, Robinson muses about the animation art form in Canada and his own relationship to the scene and personalities, many of whom are friends and colleagues. As he travels from place to place he carries along his own private (and sometimes not-so private) struggles with insomnia, depression, identity, cab drivers, hobos and nobos and the shocking murder of animator Helen Hill, whose life and work embody many of the themes that color these conversations.

With the intimate detail of a diary, CANADIAN ANIMATION: LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO HAPPEN weaves together history, memoir and dream into a mesmerizing and candid portrait of Canadian animation, art, doing, drifting and dying.

Lavishly illustrated, the book's cast includes award-winning animators Marv Newland (BAMBI MEETS GODZILLA), Chris Landreth (RYAN), Chris Hinton (NIBBLES), David Fine (BOB AND MARGARET, RICKY SPROCKET), Wendy Tilby (WHEN THE DAY BREAKS), Anne-Marie Fleming, Torill Kove (THE DANISH POET), Claude Cloutier (SLEEPING BETTY), Janet Perlman (WHY ME?) and many more.

Robinson is an author, freelance writer and the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival. He writes the "gonzo" column "The Animation Pimp" for ANIMATION WORLD MAGAZINE. His writing has also appeared in Salon.com, Take One, Cinemascope, Montage, Stop Smiling, the Ottawa Xpress and many international publications. His other books include BETWEEN GENIUS AND UTTER ILLITERACY: A STORY OF ESTONIAN ANIMATION, STOLE THIS FROM A HOCKEY CARD, OTTAWA SENATORS: GREAT STORIES FROM THE NHL'S FIRST DYNASTY and UNSUNG HEROES OF ANIMATION. Robinson lives in Ottawa with his wife, Kelly, and sons, Jarvis and Harry.

Besen has been working in animation for over 35 years. A former faculty member of Sheridan Institute, highlights of her career include directing award-winning films for the National Film Board of Canada, broadcast work on the topic of animation for CBC Radio and film curating for the Art Gallery of Ontario. She is the author of ANIMATION UNLEASHED.

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