Filmtecknarna Opens Venice

Stockholm-based animation company Filmtecknarna has created four 2-minute long animated treatments of the Venice Biennale logo, projected onstage during the opening and closing events at the 58th International Venice Film Festival, August 29-September 8, 2001. Drawing on such diverse inspiration as the Italian comic La Lineau and shadows cast by people as they walk across the stage, the four spots experiment with organic shapes that shift and change to form the logo. Director Nick Hewitt of Filmtecknarna said, “The four pieces we created are essentially four simple treatments of the Biennale logo. Because of the enormous size and complexity of the screen set-up, it was decided that the best approach was to keep everything bold and simple. The images are all black and white and move at a very slow and graceful pace, so that the images can become layered without being an unreadable mess.” The logos are projected onto four large screens aligned in a row on the stage. This configuration breaks up the images and spreads them over the four screens, creating new textures and shapes from the basic graphic elements