The architect of the highly regarded Annecy International
Animated Film Festival, Jean-Luc Xiberras passed away on December 26,
1998. We wanted to pay tribute to him for his immense contribution to
animation. Here an international selection of friends, colleagues and
animators give their final thoughts on a man whose presence in animation
will long linger.
I chose to salute Jean-Luc with
these lines from the poet Jacques Prévert,
Respectfully,
Annick Teninge, Ron Diamond, Dan Sarto and Heather Kenyon.
Animation World Network
for Jean-Luc introduced me to the multi-colored world of animation.
Annick Teninge
School of Fine Arts
"From a box of wooden straw
Father chooses a little paper ball
And lets it fall
In front of the enthralled children
It blossoms
Multi colored
Into the big Japanese flower
Instantaneous water lily
And the children hold their breaths
Entranced
Never later in their memories
Will this flower fade
This unexpected flower
Made for them
In a minute
Before their very eyes."
- Jacques Prévert
Dear Jean-Luc,
The first time I saw you was at "Chez Ani." "Ani"
for Animation, as it was the night-club improvised on the grounds of
the Ottawa Festival, on the ground floor of some building. That must
have been August, 1982. You were at the bar, alone, perched in white
on top of a stool. We few Frenchmen at the festival were seated around
a low table. One of them told me you would be the next director of the
Annecy Festival. I went over to you and invited you to join us. At that
moment you gave me in a single smile what you never ceased to offer
us all: your confidence, your politeness, and that funny cloudiness
in your eyes which was the constant prelude to your magic; giving dreams
an earthly life.
At your cradle, I suppose some fairy declared that your talent would
be to permit things and people, projects and ideas, to assume their
whole dimension, as far as their promise allows. So you made of our
little festival the very grand festival that it deserved to become.
You were the Little Big Man of the Little Big Festival. Once I described
to you some of the ideas that you had permitted me to realize: you granted
the means that were necessary, you gave confidence, you knew that it
would be good. All of that confidence that you had to give, to this
one and that, gradually wove the chrysalis that was Annecy, the nights
in its theaters, reflecting these dreams made into films. Dreams whose
authors you tirelessly visited throughout the world, and as a faithful
master of dreams, brought them back to your screens. Your last victory,
despite the skeptics, has been to succeed in an incontestable fashion
to establish the yearly status of our festival.
At the hospital you made us believe -- anesthetizing our nervousness,
your fat briefcase bulging with files on the armchair beside your bed
-- that finally nothing was really that serious. Even the sickness,
you made it doubt, but it gripped you again, realizing, as if in a chase
scene of a cartoon, that it was chasing you and not the reverse -- the
game however was well played...
While a man is alive, you always feel a little shy about saying that
you love him. Then comes the time when you can no longer say anything
to him at all. You find yourself all alone, too late as I am now, with
my little compliments. If I agreed to write them down, it was only to
make the time to finally tell you what I neglected to say during all
these years of our complicity. For what I am about to write is not really
meant for others, because everyone, I'm sure, feels the same. Good-bye,
Little Big Man.
Gérald Dupeyrot
Writer, Producer. Former member of the Administrative Council of
the Annecy Festival, organizer since 1983 of 3 conferences on advertising
and 2 special selections of my own choosing.
Jean-Luc Xiberras' commitment to French
Animation was superb, and without him French Animation would not occupy
the place it deserves today among the finest in the world. The quality
of his support and the strength of his ideas made him a unique creature.
The posthumous homage that I offer him today in no way extenuates the
admiration and friendship that I bore him in life. Dear Jean-Luc,
Christian Davin
President of the French Union of Animated Film Producers (SPFA)
I was so fond of you, Jean-Luc. We were practically neighbors. On the
scale of the planet, Valence and Annecy are right next door to each
other. You saw me grow up with Folimage studio at the same time that
I saw you shrivel at the Annecy Festival. It was as if this ever-growing
aspiration you had for the festival thrust, year after year, your head
farther down between your shoulders. If you had hardly any neck left,
it was because your brain was considerably closer to your heart, your
thoughts and feelings having ended up almost joined.
Our profession has a lot to benefit from the services of a man with
no neck. Does it realize?
Then the illness, the terrible agony just before dying, the therapies
and finally your resurrection as a Buddhist monk last May.
That's the image of you I will keep, your head newly released, beaming,
full of naiveté and hope.
Jacques-Rémy Girerd
Folimage
It was with a great deal of sorrow
that I learned from Anne-Marie Meneux, on December 26, 1998, of the
death of our friend Jean-Luc.
We were sure that he would be getting well, since he was as discrete
about the gravity of his illness as he was about the considerable problems
he had to surmount in order to produce the major event that the Annecy
Festival became.
I only met Jean-Luc on a few occasions, but each time I noticed his
extreme humbleness and his conciliatory disposition, despite the tension
of his responsibilities! He offered many reasons to love and respect
him for his sincerity and his natural devotion. I am indebted to him
for many beneficial initiatives and notable memories.
Jean-Luc's constant preoccupation was to further an art form which is
a long way from rivaling in popularity live-action feature films or
sports competitions! That's what we talked about the last time we met
at the Espinho Festival in 1997. The earlier Annecy Festivals were pleasant
meetings, but without great impact. At the cost of exhausting, persevering
work, Jean-Luc gave to this festival dimensions capable of measuring
up to the gigantic, global proportions of animation, and thus opening
a limitless market to the works presented there.
Jean-Luc must also be credited with having invited animators from distant,
isolated and forgotten countries, thus giving us a chance to get to
know them, and validating their work.
We all owe Jean-Luc Xiberras a part of our ability to make films and
gain access to screens around the world! Beyond these words, the finest
homage that we can offer him would be to do our best to raise animation
to the state of an incontestable art form, the equal of the most beautiful
creations in live-action film. I have no doubt that his spirit will
be present in the future of the festival to which he devoted himself
entirely.
Frédéric Back
Filmmaker-Illustrator
We discovered the Annecy Festival
at the same time Jean-Luc became the director, which means that his
image and that of the Festival will remain forever linked in our memory.
I hoped ever so much that you would win the
battle against your illness. I wished that your enthusiastic eyes, which
were so happy when they encountered friends and were fed by the many
films so full of art and life, would save you. I miss you, dear Jean-Luc,
and I will miss your eyes.
We will always retain the impression of Jean-Luc above all as a passionate
man. A strong passion though not expressed with elaborate gestures.
A passion so intense that it contrasted sharply with his mannerisms,
which were marked with a certain reticence. Jean-Luc was neither an
extrovert nor a sly boastful promoter, even if he knew how to defend
his child with beak and claw when needed.
He spoke to us about his festival just three weeks ago, with a weakened
voice, and yet one still felt to what degree he was always occupied
with "his" festival. He managed to communicate his passion
to a team of collaborators and to us who frequented the festival and
found in his determination encouragement to pursue animation. For many
directors of animation festivals (and no doubt others), Annecy is and
remains the reference point. And the attitude of Jean-Luc in the face
of illness, a model of courage and dignity. Even those who did not appreciate
him were impressed by this energy and struggle, so intertwined with
the festival itself that you can't speak about them separately.
Among other qualities, we have long appreciated his faithfulness in
friendship -- a rare commodity these days. It gave us confidence at
various times, during different projects that we prepared for Annecy.
We were always delighted with these collaborations, even though we knew
for him the only thing that mattered in the long run was that his festival
would benefit and the audience would go home more satisfied each year.
Always larger, always more complex, more diversified, it became a sort
of trademark to the point that we would joke about it with him. Not
too much though, for "his" festival was so close to his heart,
he couldn't imagine anyone speaking about it frivolously.
Jean-Luc gave so much to the festival that those who visited it, as
well as those who worked on it, will feel like orphans from now on.
The finest homage that we can extend to him will be to continue to cultivate
this festival that we love, like a very beautiful and very rare plant
that gives purpose to what we do.
Philippe Moins
Co-Director of the Brussels Festival of Cartoons and Animation
Luca Raffaelli
Artistic Director of The Animated Castles
Jean-Luc created a huge family
that he reunited each year with tenderness, demanding, and persistence.
Tenderness for these big children who refuse to give up their dreams
and to sacrifice their imagination, persevering in the expression of
the images of their fantasies. Demanding to show this difficult art,
of which he defended the quality, originality and richness, whatever
the public thought or distribution was. Persistence in the face of unbelievers
and skeptics, in order to establish this expression as a different art
form all its own, and Annecy as a global meeting-place for animation.
Hail and Thank You, Jean-Luc!!
Today Animation is considered an international economic and cultural
property. Must it always be that the parents retire when the children
learn to fly with their own wings?
Alexandra Tholance
General Delegate of the French Union of Animation Producers (SPFA)
Jean-Luc Xiberras was undoubtedly one of the people who contributed
most to the development of the animation industry and more particularly
to personal auteur animation during the past 20 years. He offered us,
through winds and tides, a place to meet and a platform with the highest
visibility in the world for all those who have chosen to consecrate
themselves to animation film. In many cases this platform has permitted
the production of outstanding films which otherwise would not have seen
the light of day.
Passionate, determined, extreme as much as modest, he certainly knew
how to communicate his passion to a good number of us who work in the
animation industry today.
The Annecy Festival will never be the same. It has lost Jean-Luc. We
hope that this marvelous rendez-vous of animation will remain faithful
to his heritage and to he who gave body and soul to it.
Thank you, Jean-Luc.
Bernard Lajoie
Pascal Blais Productions
I had the opportunity of meeting Jean-Luc
Xiberras some years ago at Annecy. In 1993 he had asked me to be a member
of the jury for the festival. So we had the occasion then to engage
in a number of discussions (often very lively!). I found him to be a
man both enthusiastic and caring at the same time. In the evening after
the screenings, I had the great pleasure of going out to dinner and
talking with him until late in the night.
Two years later, I returned to Annecy at his request to host, together
with him, the Awards Ceremony. The least one could say is that this
event was "remarkable." The show that Jean-Luc and I offered
on that stage was rather baroque, often witty and indisputably bawdy.
Some people in the audience surely must have wanted to throw tomatoes
at us... But it remained for us a truly fine memory -- which is why
I said, "Yes" without hesitation when Jean-Luc asked me to
do the show again the next June.
Obviously, I don't like his last joke: not being present on the shores
of the lake to welcome us with his enthusiasm and warmth.
Philippe Dana
Canal +
Dear Jean-Luc,
You left us by the lake
And without you it will seem less animated
It's only a temporary farewell, our friend.
Françoise Reymond, Alain Burosse, Véronique Carpentier, Patrice
Bauchy, Maria Perez, Pascale Faure, Brigitte Pardo, Marie-Laure
Tardy, Joëlle Matos, Philippe Dana.
Courtesy of Canal +
Memory from Pierre Jacquier
read during the memorial service for Jean-Luc Xiberras in Annecy.
Jean-Luc, we would like to thank
you sincerely for the great passion for animation you were able to pass
on to us and also for making us such a united and solid team. It will
enable us, today, to continue, despite of your absence, the fantastic
work you have achieved for animation.
I would have liked to be with you for this farewell from Annecy to Jean-Luc.
We have lived through a common project, begun as an adventure, which
he made a success. For years I have admired his long-term vision and
his tenacity to make it come true, day after day. He knew how to involve
many people, to incite them, to urge them on, tirelessly, so that you
could say that this communal labor -- the Annecy Festival and the MIFA
-- we owe to him.
I admired him even more for his secret, stubborn fight against a terrible
illness which he never complained about except as another difficulty
to overcome in order to continue his work.
Few men ever reach the pinnacle of their destiny. Jean-Luc was among
those who did. I am proud to have worked with him, and profoundly sad
to see him leave us.
Pierre Jacquier
President of the Annecy Festival from 1977 to 1984
You can count on us to follow your teachings of these last few years
and continue to make the Annecy Festival an appointment rich in surprises
and events.
Admiration is the first word that springs to mind when we remember you
over these last months. You fought the battle against sickness with
exemplary courage and strength, to such a point that we could never
imagine that during this festive period the final word would be upon
us.
So, we applaud you and once more say thank you.
The Annecy Festival Staff
I met Jean-Luc Xiberras in 1982 during
his first visit to Canada. Since then, we have communicated with each
other regularly. Jean-Luc loved Canada, and above all its animation,
to which, moreover, he often gave homage. Recently he spoke to me very
little about his health; he was quite courageous in the face of this
trial. The last time I spoke to him was in August, and he told me that
everything was going well, and that he was confident. But suddenly everything
took a swing for the worse. The news of the death of Jean-Luc Xiberras
reached us from Anne-Marie Meneux, an astonishing news that pained me
very much. I keep very lovely memories of Jean-Luc. When he visited
Canada, he always came to my home; he loved to visit friends. He told
us about his work, his challenges, and his dreams. He liked to laugh
a lot. He always talked about his famous radishes that he was hoping
to plant someday in his garden, but he never had the time. In conversation,
work always took up the entire time. He was passionate about the Annecy
Festival, and he was also passionate about animation. He always wanted
to do better. Thanks to a monstrous amount of work and to his tenacity,
he hoisted the Annecy Festival to the top rank among large international
animation events.
Jean-Luc Xiberras has left us, but not without leaving us a fine example
of courage, strength and passion.
We salute you, Jean-Luc.
Hubert Tison
Producer
A non-animation memory:
I knew Jean-Luc long before he got involved with the Annecy Festival,
when he was organizing (along with another person) some film screenings
at the Youth Center in Annemasse, a town next to the Swiss border, near
Geneva.
Then we established a regular relationship in the framework of preparing
for the Annecy Festival and through the festivals themselves, with me
helping on a professional level as a specialist-historian. Aside from
the festivals, we also met many times, sometimes at other festivals,
or simply when he was passing through Geneva. Naturally, each time we
discussed animation.
However we decided, some years ago, to meet neither at Annecy nor Geneva,
but rather at his house in Monetier, a town located near Geneva on the
route of the old, now discontinued, railroad line connecting Annemasse
to Saleve. We promised ourselves, for once, not to talk about animation,
which we succeeded in doing.
Jean-Luc invited my wife and I to an unforgettable barbecue, which allowed
us to discover little-known facets of his activities: his talents as
a cook, gardener and host of unsuspected quality. In the garden of his
home, right beside the former Monetier station, we spent a very enjoyable
day, during which, aside from all sorts of royal treats, we were able
to savor a food unknown to our taste-buds before: tuna steaks -- absolutely
fabulous! We treasure this simply marvelous memory of Jean-Luc, who
that day opened to us a part of his little paradise on earth, which
he kept up with great care, even if he was not there very often. For
me, this recollection represents a part of the recognition that I owe
him, and it will never disappear from my memory.
Thank you, Jean-Luc!
Bruno Edera
Television Suisse Romande
Speech given by Marie-Noëlle
Provent during the memorial service for Jean-Luc Xiberras in Annecy. Jean-Luc's family has decided to bring us together here
in Annecy to express memories that we shared with him. A tribute to you as a friend, and the work you accomplished
during your years spent in Annecy making it the worldly acclaimed meeting-place
for the art and economy of animation cinema. An event that was a major part of your life, and of which
you were justifiably proud. I believe that deep down your driving force was the relationships
you made with those around you. You lived them generously and with a
passion. The friendships you weaved around the world will never become
untied. "A film is never finished; it continues along its path in
the mind of the spectator and the seed, if there is one, continues
to grow." You can be sure, Jean-Luc, that your story is not over
today. It will rest in our minds and the seeds you have sown are already
growing.
It is only fitting, therefore, that this town, through these words,
should pay tribute to him.
You built it, thanks to your hard work, perseverance in always going
further, your capacity to encourage those around you to put themselves
at your level, which some would say was excessive, but, in fact, was
only your driving will to be the best in your field. I, for one, can
vouch that personal ambition was not your deepest ambition.
Despite of the ever growing heaviness of the load of organizing the
event, you never ceased to be a man of culture, ever curious, a discoverer
of forgotten talents and those of the future.
I can still see your eyes alight when speaking about a Cuban, Korean
or Iranian talent that you managed to unearth in order to organize an
exhibition or retrospective.
At the same time, you considered it necessary to keep up with the times,
and, if possible, be one step ahead of them, you opened the door to
new technologies and medias, paying the price of the critics' snarls
and comments that often hit a sensitive spot, but never stopped you
from changing your way one inch.
We will hold dear the memory of your lust for life and your drive to
combat your illness. You never gave in, and how could we have doubted
you when we saw you, so happy and confident during the last festival.
I would like to say to Nathalie, Valérie and Olivier that we
all share in your immense sorrow.
In 1985, Paul Grimault said in his speech in Hiroshima:
Marie-Noëlle Provent
President of the Festival from 1984 to 1997
I got to know Jean-Luc in Moscow in 1983. I was
working on a broadcast about animation in the Soviet Union, and Jean-Luc
accompanied me for several days. I remember how excited he was to meet
Ivan Ivanov Vano, the master of all the younger animators at the government
animation studio. I can still see him, arms behind his back and head
thrust forward, touring every corner of the studios, leafing through
all the sketches, curious about everything. I remember how pleased he
was to share tea, fried onions and white cheese with Yuri Norstein beside
an enormous animation stand built in a deconsecrated chapel in old Moscow.
And then all those memories since, marking fifteen years of friendship,
that remain so vivid...
Louisette Neil
La Sept/Arte
International animation has lost a true friend
and admirer. He was faithful to animation through the last days of his
life. But Jean-Luc left us the best heritage of which we could have
dreamed. The Annecy Festival. Becoming one of the most important festivals
in the world of animation, this special occasion was created by Jean-Luc
with all his love, energy and enthusiasm. To be a part of and to experience
the Annecy Festival, left to us by Jean-Luc Xiberras, is what I wish
for many future generations of animators. Jean-Luc was a great professional who made the
Annecy Festival the grand manifestation that it became. He was also
a man who gave us a sacred lesson in the way he fought the sickness
which finally ended him. He was also a friend, a true one, who, once
he had given his friendship, would never retract it.
Alexandre Petrov
Director, Painter, Animator
Françoise Maupin
Media Desk France
The International Animated Film Centre
has become an orphan: Jean-Luc Xiberras packed his bags for the last
time at the end of 1998.
Animation, cinema in general, has lost one of its most fervent defenders,
an erudite enthusiast that one only occasionally has the good fortune
to encounter.
Inexhaustible, inventive, curious, fascinating, enthusiastic; animation
cinema was his driving force. He traveled the four corners of the globe
to unearth that rare pearl with one objective: to introduce his find
to the rest of the profession.
He possessed those qualities of being able to look into the past in
order to remain faithful to the origins, and also step into the future
so as to continue advancing.
Animation is generous and eclectic. Jean-Luc fought hard
and contributed to making it known in all its facets: Hungarian, Nordic,
European, African, Middle and Far Eastern, but also computer generated.
Every type of animation has pride in Annecy.
With outbursts of contagious enthusiasm, he made the Annecy Festival
the not-to-be-missed animation rendez-vous.
Adored or criticized, he provoked strong reactions, but supporters and
detractors alike were able to recognize this unifying talent, always
at the origin of the most wonderful creations.
An international festival and market entirely dedicated to animation
-- a life's work, his own. What an achievement! A rise from 1,200 festival
passes at the first edition he organized in 1983 to 4,300 at the last
biennial event in 1997.
There is an enormous void which leaves us all empty...A page has been
turned in the history of the Annecy Festival and animation cinema, but
his name will live on.
His courage, his passion, and his determination is with us still. Jean-Luc,
we will make Annecy `99 a memorable rendez-vous and we are sure that
your strength and convictions will help us along the way to make a success
of the festival and market you fought so hard for and until the end.
The Annecy Festival
It seems like we've known some people
forever, so familiar are they to our world. We can only talk about them
in a very personal way. Jean-Luc was one of those.
We knew Jean-Luc from his appearances at all the places, exhibitions
and events associated with animation. But he was also the smiling friend
with a debonair look, a pal in various privileged, warm moments. He
was a guy you wouldn't see all the time; it was as if each new encounter
with him was a seamless extension of the very last meeting.
In 16 years of friendship we've had many funny experiences... How could
we forget our radio shows on FR3 during the festivals, the first Annecy
Film Market, the finding of talent, the encounters with fantastic artists,
and the discoveries, that spontaneously happened, at the Annecy "hot
spots." Jean-Luc, my dear friend, you were our accomplice in our
gags and hoaxes, like the one in 1989, for instance, where we celebrated
totally surrealistic bicentennials during the festival. You managed
to keep a fresh attitude while fulfilling your job with passion, to
be kind, to make an effort at listening and understanding, and also
to be humble, always.
Jean-Luc, if there is a heaven for nice people I hope you are there.
And, if you can recall these moments, that you're laughing with your
big, jolly laugh.
Gilbert Hus
Project Images Films
Jean-Luc,
We know you as a professional in animation, passionate, generous, always
thirsty to discover something a little bit farther than the frontiers,
a font of knowledge, know-how, compassion. It was this manner of living
that permitted you to weave an international network of friendships.
For you, the world was only an island.
You have also been someone who battled against a sick body, a fight
for life, conducted with the same determination that always characterized
you. Your courage, your persistence and I would say your scientific
rigor, led you to know better and better the limitations of your body,
and to go beyond them.
Your friends still remember how you led with a masterly hand the 1997
Annecy Festival. They knew that behind the scenes another scenario played
out, with repeated transfusions and recuperation thanks to relaxation.
Don't tell me it wasn't a challenge to go some 6000 miles to attend
the Crossroads of the Image conference on the Island of Réunion
that same year (1997). Pierre Ayma and I were nervous about it, but
it gave us such pleasure to have you with us on Réunion. Pierre,
far from thinking that he would cross through the door to the other
dimension before you, insisted on making the round-trip voyage beside
you, with the idea that he would be able to help you if necessary. As
if to reassure us, you would talk with detachment about how you managed
your health from day to day: the number of white cels you had to overcome
the symptoms, the little moments of recuperation.
Then came that terrible year 1998 when everything went so quickly. Pierre,
who had done and given so much to the world of animation, found himself
at a crucial hour. He questioned himself due to some people's reactions
to his work; he interpreted this as betrayal and interrupted the project
that he had undertaken. While being very professional, he functioned
in fact on emotion. Without waiting for recognition, he had, like all
of us, the need for respect from others. Nevertheless, he dedicated
himself to a new large project for networking European colleges in a
program of long-distance electronic education. Then we all had to support
you because you were getting ready to face the "double or nothing"
of a transplant. We saw each other between examinations at the hospital,
speaking little of the illness but a great deal about this new project
that would take all our energies. Do you remember? It was just a week
before Pierre made his "final exit." You had a meeting with
Françoise Maupin, always for the project in question.
At that time, on Réunion, I had a little health problem which
forced me to go to the hospital. You both telephoned me to say, "Get
out of there, be more reasonable about managing your health -- we don't
want you in our club!"
For your part, you had already planned the next step in your battle.
The generous compatible donor would be your older sister. So you were
more and more convinced that you would get the upper hand on that sick
body which you otherwise dominated.
To everyone's surprise, it was Pierre
who left us [12]. Despite your condition, you went along with Thierry
and Anne-Marie to be at the church where Pierre's funeral ceremony took
place. You were pallid. Nonetheless we started to work. Undoubtedly
it was our way of showing Pierre that we were going to continue the
work we had begun with him, despite our limitations, our insufficiencies,
for his absence would weigh on us.
You also needed goals in order to win the battle that you were going
to engage in the following Monday (the date you would be hospitalized
for the transplant). You took charge of several things that Pierre had
been handling, in order to pursue the goal we had set for ourselves.
The on-line education project became one of your preoccupations then.
We prepared the 1998
Crossroads of the Image [13] together. You prepared yourself to take
over the presidency of the Institute of the Image of the Indian Ocean.
Together we decided on the necessity of having an office in Paris. We
didn't know that we would never have the opportunity to discover it
together.
To everyone's surprise, it was Pierre
who left us [12]. Despite your condition, you went along with Thierry
and Anne-Marie to be at the church where Pierre's funeral ceremony took
place. You were pallid. Nonetheless we started to work. Undoubtedly
it was our way of showing Pierre that we were going to continue the
work we had begun with him, despite our limitations, our insufficiencies,
for his absence would weigh on us.
You also needed goals in order to win the battle that you were going
to engage in the following Monday (the date you would be hospitalized
for the transplant). You took charge of several things that Pierre had
been handling, in order to pursue the goal we had set for ourselves.
The on-line education project became one of your preoccupations then.
We prepared the 1998
Crossroads of the Image [13] together. You prepared yourself to take
over the presidency of the Institute of the Image of the Indian Ocean.
Together we decided on the necessity of having an office in Paris. We
didn't know that we would never have the opportunity to discover it
together.
Despite distance, we communicated regularly. Several times a week. Sometimes
you had moments of doubt, signs of fatigue, but you kept your faith
in your own abilities to surmount difficulties.
On the eve of the last day of the 1998 Annecy Festival, you called me
to ask that I definitely be available at the MIFA in the Pipangai booth
the next afternoon at 5:00 p.m., because you had arranged an important
meeting for me. You surprised us all. It was you who appeared for this
meeting. A moment of intense emotion. We all believed at that moment
that your battle with illness was won. Had you rushed right through
your recovery time? No one knew. You were going to live through a trying
time of suffering thereafter...
In these difficult moments, you shared a little of your intimacy with
me, you who were so reserved as far as your personal life was concerned.
I thank you for that token of trust, which gave me the impression of
already knowing your family a little, your daughters, your sisters,
your brother and Anne-Marie, who would all be there to support you.
Please give my greetings to Pierre. If there are autos where you guys
are, please arrange an air-conditioned one for Pierre because he can't
stand heat!
Don't worry too much about us anymore.
I thank both of you for having introduced me to a good number of your
friends, who have already proven friends of mine as well -- and it's
with them that I hope to continue action, adventure, and dreaming a
little of building again...
I write this letter to you, inspired by the text from Henri Scott, an
Irish canon, which Georges Lacroix read at your memorial ceremony.
Compliments!
Alain Séraphine
Director, Fine Arts School of La Réunion Island
Mr. Xiberras was a kind and dedicated man. I
met him for the first time in 1995 in the city of Isfahan, Iran. During
1997 and 1998 I held meetings with him in Annecy. At our last meeting,
which took place on May 31, 1998 in the festival's office, I offered
him a complete profile of our new company and explained to him that
in just three years we had started production on 35 different animation
projects. He was surprised and told me that he would help us in any
way he could. His enthusiasm encouraged me and my colleagues. We invited
him to visit our company and sent him a fax officially inviting him
to visit our country in February, when we celebrate the anniversary
of our revolution, but unfortunately...
A poem excerpt sent by Jean-Pierre
Quenet. The Wolf's Death
Saeid Bidokhti
Production Manager, Saba Company
For Jean-Luc,
"Alas I thought, in spite of the great name of Man
How shameful am I of what we are.
How to leave Life and all its wrongs,
Only you, sublime animals, know it .
Seeing what we were on Earth and what we leave,
Only silence is great,
Everything else is weakness.
Go, I understand you well wild wonderer
As your ultimate stare pierced straight through my heart,
It said ; go, ensure that your soul reaches,
By remaining studious and thoughtful,
This high level of stoic pride,
Where, born in the woods, I initially grew up.
Moaning, crying, praying is also cowardly.
Energetically do your long and heavy labor,
On the path fate calls you upon,
Then, afterward, as I do, suffer and die without a word."
- Alfred de Vigny
Links:
[1] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4494
[2] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4495
[3] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4496
[4] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4497
[5] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4498
[6] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4499
[7] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4500
[8] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4501
[9] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4502
[10] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4503
[11] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4504
[12] http://www.awn.com/../../issue3.2/3.2pages/3.2ayma_eng.html
[13] http://www.awn.com/../../issue3.10/3.10pages/reunion.html
[14] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4505
[15] http://www.awn.com/imagepicker/image/4506
