Animation World Magazine, Issue 1.10, January 1997

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Desert Island Series . . . Festive Festivalers Make Their Picks

Compiled by Harvey Deneroff

 

Herein are the various picks of what films and other cultural artifacts four present and former animation festival directors would take along with them to a desert island: Tom Knott (former director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival), Gigi Hu (co-founder and co-director of Singapore's Animation Fiesta), Chris Robinson (current director of the Ottawa International Animation Festival) and Philippe Moins (founder and current co-director of the Brussels Animation Festival). They are also joined by Beavis and Butt-head Do America's animation director, Yvette Kaplan.

Tom Knott's baker's dozen . . .

1. Crac by Frédérick Back
2. Dumbo by Ben Sharpstein
3. Begone Dull Care by Norman McLaren
4. One of Joanna Priestly's films. I couldn't decide which one, as they are all good.
5. The Thief and the Cobbler in Richard William's version. The greatest animated feature ever made and never seen.
6. The Sweater by Sheldon Cohen
7. Adventures of * by John Hubley
8. Gerald McBoing Boing by John Hubley
9. Feed The Kitty by Chuck Jones
10. The Snowman by Diane Jackson
11. Creature Comforts by Nick Park
12. Tango by Zbignew Rybczinski
13. The Simpsons:Last Exit to Springfield by Mark Kirkland (the episode with Homer as the head of the union).

Gigi Hu's picks . . .

These came to my mind within a minute or so when I first saw your email. I decided to stick to it:

1. The Monk and the Fish by Michael Dudok de Wit, for its simplicity, music and movement synchronization.
2. Song of the Exile. Ann Hui's film about relationship with parents/grandparents, very personal.
3. World Apartment Horror by Katsuhiro Otomo, for its multicultural storyline and the anime touch.
4. Excerpts from Sleeping Beauty, especially the magic in the air.
5. Some haunting Mongolian songs--love of the land, the open space and
6. the steppes.
7. Shanghai Animation Studio productions--Chinese watercolor paintings coming alive.
8. No Problem by Criag Welsch. A wacky animation piece.
9. Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. The sheer length, black and white, such storytelling . . .
10. Learning to play Saint-Saëns's piano piece, The Swan, by heart.
11. Some Scottish Ceilidh music--for the twirl and whirl, friendship spirit . . .

Chris Robinson's . . .

In no particular order:

1. 1895 by Priit Parn & Janno Poldma.
2. The Sweater by Sheldon Cohen.
3. Dino, the masterful biography of Dean Martin by Nick Tosches.
4. Kiss Me Stupid by Billy Wilder.
5. Bimbo's Initiation by Dave Fleischer.
6. Drunken Master 2 by Jackie Chan.
7. 1978 National Hockey League semi-final game between Montreal and Boston.
8. Cops by Buster Keaton.
9. The Simpsons, particularly the episode where Homer becomes union kingpin (Last Exit to Springfield by Mark Kirkland).

Philippe Moins' . . .

Here are my choices for the holidays on the moon:

I could say Le Cuirassé Potemkine (Potemkin), Les Enfants du Paradis (Children of Paradise), Citizen Kane and Mars Attacks! to emphasize my cultural background. But for this selection, and for the beginning of a new year (hoping better than this one in Belgium), I prefer to give a list of films without any pretention.

1. 9 secondi e mezzo by Vincenzo Gioianola.
2. Early Bird by Peter Lord and David Sproxton
3. Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay
4. Trainspotting by Jeff Newitt
5. Les Shadoks by Jacques Rouxel
6. All the first Felix the Cat films.
7. The five first minutes of Time Bandits by Terry Gilliam.
8. An Inside Job by Aidan Hickey
9. George and Rosemary by Alison Snowden & David Fine
10. Stalker by Andreï Tarkovsky, especially first 10 minutes.

Yvette Kaplan's . . .

I love Beavis and Butt-head. They make me laugh. They made me laugh when I first saw Mike Judge's film, Frog Baseball three-and-a-half years ago and they still make me laugh.

My biggest desire in working on Beavis and Butt-head Do America was that people who for one reason or another never understood the show would get out there and see that, "Hey! I get it! These are two really dumb guys. Two really funny dumb guys. Two really dumb, funny, innocent guys." And they'd laugh. I think we did it, and I'm really proud and really happy about it

1. Amarcord by Frederico Fellini.
2. Cinderfella (Jerry Lewis) by Frank Tashlin.
3. Adventures of an * by John & Faith Hubley.
4. Angels With Dirty Faces by Michael Curtiz, with James Cagney.
5. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
6. The Wizard of Oz by Victor Fleming.
7. One Touch of Venus with Robert Walker & Ava Gardner.
8. A Thousand Clowns with Jason Roberts, Jr.
9. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol by Abe Levitow.
10. Gigi by Vincente Minnelli, with Leslie Caron & Louis Jordan.
    

 

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