Animation Express 2 (Directors: Various): It’s hard to believe it’s been two years since the National Film Board of Canada released the original Animation Express collection. I raved about that collection, and although sequels are usually not as good as the original, this second collection is just as stuffed with treasures as the first.
Particular favourites include the experimental CMYK, where printer’s marks dance around the screen to the music of the Quatuor Bozzini quartet, and Wild Life in which an Englishman trades his bowler hat for a cowboy hat, coming to Alberta in 1909 to try his hand at ranching. It doesn’t quite work out in this whimsical and yet haunting film.
The DVD contains 20 more (and the Blu-ray 26 more!) and while I don’t like all of them quite as much as the two above (I particularly didn’t like the Meryl Streep and Forest Whitaker-voiced Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life), this collection continues to gather the very best in Canadian animation, some of the most-awarded work in the world.
P.S. Though I’ll be posting more about this later, you can see both CMYK and Wild Life on the big screen as part of a new shorts screening series I’m launching in January. Behold Shorts That Are Not Pants. Hope you can join us!
Tagged as:
animation,
blu-ray,
nfb
As a born Irishman, I would be remiss if I didn’t let you know that there’s a brand-new film festival in town, and it’s about to sham-rock your world. The first annual Toronto Irish Film Festival takes place on Sunday March 6th at the gorgeous TIFF Bell Lightbox. Ireland is not a cinematic powerhouse, but it does produce a few gems each year, and the festival organizers wisely chose to feature only the best for their maiden journey.
At 12:30pm, catch Academy Award®-nominated animated film The Secret of Kells, preceded by Academy Award®-nominated animated short Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty.
At 3:30pm, it’s Hot Docs favourite His and Hers, preceded by another Academy Award®-nominated animated short, Give Up Yer Aul Sins.
Following the film program, in true Irish tradition, there will be a piss-up reception at Grace O’Malley’s (14 Duncan Street). Film tickets are $12 ($9.50 seniors and youth, $5 children) for each pairing (feature plus short), which should leave you some change to buy the festival staff a well-deserved Guinness afterward. You can buy tickets online, by phone (416–599-8433 or 1–888-599‑8433) or at the TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West).
See you there!
Tagged as:
#tirff11,
animation,
ireland,
shorts
The National Film Board of Canada celebrates International Animation Day (October 28) each year with a weeklong celebration of animated film. Get Animated! events are happening all across the country, with Toronto screenings and workshops starting Tuesday October 26 and continuing through to Sunday October 31. All events take place at the NFB Mediatheque at 150 John Street and are completely FREE!
This image is from Claude Cloutier’s delightful Genie-winning short Sleeping Betty, screening in the Fairytales for All programme, which is suitable for all ages:
And this one is from Marie-Hélène Turcotte’s lovely The Formation of Clouds, which screens in the NFB New Releases programme, recommended for adults and young people aged 14 and up:
Tagged as:
animation,
nfb
Alerted by one of the many smart folks on the DVD Beaver email list, a few months back I checked out Merlin.pl, an online retailer located in Poland. I was especially delighted to discover a whole series of two-disc sets of the best of Polish animation, as well as a collection of the work of Polish documentary filmmakers. As a nation, Poland has always punched well above its weight when it comes to filmmaking of all kinds. Over the years, institutions like the Lodz Film School have turned out very fine filmmakers, many of whom have gone on to worldwide fame (Polanski, Kieślowski, Wajda, Zanussi, Skolimowski, to name just a few). While the work of most of these filmmakers is readily available in the English-speaking world, the achievements of Poland’s animators and documentarians has been harder to access. Not anymore.
Each of these collections contain two discs, in the PAL format and coded for Region 2 (except the animation collection which is region-free), along with an extensive booklet in both Polish and English. All have English and French subtitles, and most have Russian and German as well. Best of all, they retail for around 36 zlotych each, which as of this writing works out to around $13. Shipping is very reasonable, adding another 36 zlotych to ship four double-disc sets from Poland to Canada. The only drawback was the glacial pace; the package took 7.5 weeks to arrive.
Merlin.pl even includes a helpful page advising English speakers how to purchase from their site. Combined with Google Translate, purchasing is fairly straightforward. When I eventually work my way through all 8 discs and 17 hours of Polish film goodness, I’m coming back for more.
I’m also going to search their site for a good book of classic Polish film posters.
- Antologia polskiej animacji — one of several collections of animation, this one contains work from the 1950s right up to 2005.
- Krzysztof Kieślowski — documentary work from the well-known director of feature films such as The Double Life of Veronique.
- Marcel Łoziński — still working today, he is one of the most celebrated of Polish documentary filmmakers.
- Maciej Drygas — one of the younger generation of documentary filmmakers in Poland. All of his work has been produced since the collapse of Communism, but still deals with that period of Polish history.
Check out a few more photos of the snappy packaging.
Tagged as:
animation,
poland
As is their custom, the organizers of the CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival dedicate the Opening Night program to award-winning shorts from around the world. This means that these films have screened lots of other places, but for me, they’re still discoveries.
- Runaway (9 minutes, Canada, Director: Cordell Barker): Though I’d seen this one before, I enjoyed it even more the second time. Off-kilter animation and music helped convey the dark humour of this tale of a runaway train and its passengers. Sly political messages about capitalism and consumption abound. (8/10) (Note: The image above is from this short.)
- Slitage (Seeds of the Fall) (17 minutes, Sweden, Director: Patrik Eklund): After a construction vehicle damages their house, a middle-aged couple receive a strange offer from their neighbours. Strong acting from the leads and some Nordic black comedy couldn’t make up for a fairly weak story. (7/10)
- Tungijuq (7 minutes, Canada, Directors: Felix Lajeunesse and Paul Raphael): Featuring Inuit throat-singer Tanya Tagaq, this sensual meditation on the seal hunt is hypnotic and sexy. (8/10)
- The Six Dollar Fifty Man (15 minutes, New Zealand, Directors: Mark Albiston and Louis Sutherland): Plagued by bullies who call him a runt, small Andy claims to have the powers of a superhero. Some strong cinematorgraphy but I still found it a bit trite. (7/10)
- C’est Dimanche! (It’s Sunday!) (30 minutes, France, Director: Samir Guesmi): 13-year-old Ibrahim has failed another grade, but instead of telling his illiterate father the truth, he claims that the letter from his school is really a diploma. When his dad takes him out to celebrate, keeping him from a very important date with his girlfriend Fatou, he knows he’s going to have some explaining to do. Three winning characters bring this rather slight tale to life, and I was touched by the sweet relationships between father and son and between boy and girl. (8/10)
Stay tuned for more reviews as the fest continues to June 6th. Tickets are available online, at the Cumberland Terrace box office location, and at each venue.
Tagged as:
#wsff10,
animation,
shorts
![Polish DVDs [front]](http://www.torontoscreenshots.com/images/polish_dvds_front.jpg "Polish DVDs [front]")
![Polish DVDs [spines]](http://www.torontoscreenshots.com/images/polish_dvds_spines.jpg "Polish DVDs [spines]")
