In which Chris Robinson asks animators profound and inane questions that have little to do with animation. Today's guest is Michael Fukushima, Executive Producer of the English Animation Studio at the National Film Board of Canada.
'If I was God' by Cordell Barker
Filmmaker (Minour: Memory in Exile), Producer (Sunday, Me and My Moulton, If I was God), Executive Producer and toting pops, Michael Fukushima agreed to meet me whilst cycling around (and around) Rowan Oak in Oxford, Mississippi in late September of 1897.
I get the greatest pleasure from....
Really? That’s kind of personal isn’t it? But clearly it’s skis and bikes. And long, hot baths. I do love long, hot baths.
The trait I like least about myself is
My outgoing friendliness. I’m working on being more enigmatic, or maybe just aloof. But not a lufa.
The book I value above all others is
The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion, for what it reminded me about the fragility of life. Followed closely by As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, for what it taught me about storytelling.
A (non-family member) person I have high respect for is.... because…
Serious one. My former exec, and mentor, David Verrall. For better or worse, I am the producer and exec I am today because of his tutelage.
The song that makes me tingle is....
I thought it said “tinkle”, so I had a completely different answer.
The funniest thing that happened to me….
Discovering that I have an almost perfect doppelganger (except for the physique, of course) in Japanese pro wrestler, The Great Muta (google him). Oh, and at this last Annecy festival, a mid-aged Canadian gentleman, maybe a titch older than me, gingerly approached me at a resto and asked if I was David Suzuki. It’s an interesting compliment, for sure, but Suzuki’s got a FULL and THICK head of curly hair. Steven Woloshen and Julie Roy can verify this incident.
A well-known figure in the world of independent animation, writer, author & curator Chris Robinson is the Artistic Director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
