Le Mozart des Pickpockets (2006)

Pollet-Villard, who wrote, co-starred and directed this droll tale of two Paris pickpockets, has won the Gallic Audience Prize and the FNAC budding talent award.

Like Philippe Pollet-Villard's other films, this story is of the same kind: tragi-comical. All of the characters in his movies are in difficult situations or trying to escape from them. It is a context which I collocate between social film and large comedy. On the one hand we have authorship film with regard to social themes and on the other we have a comedy which treats stories of couples and other subjects.
Philippe and Richard live off petty scams in the Parisian neighborhood of Barbès. They find themselves responsible for a deaf-mute Romanian child. After trying to get rid of the child, they attempt to make him 'work.' Despite the language barrier, the boy manages to devise his own method of stealing.

Perpetuum Mobile (2006)

“Perpetuum Mobile”, a short film produced by Silverspace, written and directed by Raquel García-Ajofrín Virtus and Enrique García Rodríguez, is the first cinematographic project produced and directed entirely by Silverspace. They used Autodesk’s Maya 3D modelling and animation software along with Pixar’s Renderman, and Autodesk Combustion, a compositing software, for colour grading and compositing.

Its plot narrates the life of a young Leonardo Da Vinci and recollects the events that motivated the young genius to dedicate his life to art and science. The film is interesting for its search for the meaning of life.
Perpetuum Mobile has already received 12 award nominations and has won awards at the Independent Film Festival of California, L´Uovo de Napoli, the Las Vegas International Film Festival and the Oregon Da Vinci Film Festival. The film has also been translated into 12 different languages and was shown at SIGGRAPH 2007 and the Sitges Cinema Festival in Catalunya, Spain.

Depressed Superheroes (Supereroi depressi)

by Pierrluigi Diana

Tooth and Nail (1970)

Dennis Oppenheim is one of America's finest and most creative conceptual and performance artists. He first gained acclaim in the 1960s, as a pioneer in conceptual artworks, body art, video and sculpture. As if all this wasn't enough, the man is still working on his art even as you're reading this. His early works tended to focus on performance actions that centered on representations of human and animal bodies. These actions can often be seen as mesmerizing, confusing, and mysterious.

In the early 1970s, Dennis Oppenheim was in the vanguard of artists using film and video to investigate themes relating to body and performance. This portfolio features a selection of his works known as the Aspen Tapes, produced between 1970 and 1974, in which Oppenheim uses his own body as a site of experimentation in the personal. In these works the artist enters into an intimate and dynamic dialogue with his body as he explores the boundaries of personal risk, bodily transformation, and interpersonal communication. His works explore new and unusual forms of communication and address and they present the act of communicating with others as a physical and biological extension of the self.
Oppenheim has therefore created a system that allows the artist to become the material; to consider himself the sole vehicle of art: the distributor, initiator and receiver, simultaneously. Understanding the body as both subject and object allows the artist to think in terms of an entirely different surface. It creates a shift in direction from the creation of solid matter to the pursuit of internal or surface change.

You can buy:Tooth and Nail: Film and Video 1970-74 by Dennis Oppenheim, Parallel Realities: The Drawings of Dennis Oppenheim and Dennis Oppenheim: Galloping Through the West.

La Flor Más Grande del Mundo (2007)

Based on the novel of the same name by Jose Saramago, 'La Flor Más Grande del Mundo(The World's Largest Flower)' is a poetic juvenile story that proclaims the value of small actions and respect for the nature. Juan Pablo Etcheverry, who was nominated for the best Goya 2005 with the short animation' Minotauromaquia, Pablo en el laberinto', has begun again to fuse digital effects with plasticine. One of the characters in La Flor Más Grande del Mundo is actually Jose Saramago, who narrates the story.

This short film, full of symbols and enigmas, is aimed at the childhood audience that is growing in a world which has not yet being broken by individualism, violence and the lack of ideals. In this short film we can find two messages, one for children (the discovery of our value and altruism) and another one for all men and women who interrogate themselves about their place in the world.

You can watch the video here.

You buy the novel LA Flor Mas Grande Del Mundo/the World's Largest Flower.

Goya Awards

BEST FILM / MEJOR PELÍCULA
El Orfanato / The Orphanage by Juan Antonio Bayona
La Soledad by Jaime Rosales
Las 13 rosas by Emilio Martínez-Lázaro
Siete mesas de billar francés by Gracia Querejeta

BEST SPANISH-LANGUAGE FOREIGN FILM / MEJOR PELÍCULA EXTRANJERA DE HABLA HISPANA
La edad de la peseta by Pavel Giroud de Cuba
Mariposa negra by Francisco J. Lombardi de Perú
Padre nuestro by Rodrigo Sepúlveda de Chile
XXY by Lucía Puenzo de Argentina

BEST DOCUMENTARY / MEJOR PELÍCULA DOCUMENTAL
El productor by Fernando Méndez-Leite
Fados by Carlos Saura
Invisibles by Isabel Coixet, Win Wenders, Fernando León de Aranoa, Mariano Barroso and Javier Corcuera
Lucio by Aitor Arregui and José Mª Goenaga

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE / MEJOR PELÍCULA DE ANIMACIÓN
Azur y Asmar by Michel Ocelot
Betizu eta urrezko zintzarria by Egoitz Rodríguez Olea
En busca de la piedra mágica by Lenard F. Krawinkel and Holger Tappe
Nocturna, una aventura mágica by Víctor Maldonado and Adriá García

BEST DIRECTOR / MEJOR DIRECCIÓN
Icíar Bollaín for Mataharis
Emilio Martínez-Lázaro for Las 13 rosas
Gracia Querejeta for Siete mesas de billar francés
Jaime Rosales for La Soledad

BEST NEW DIRECTOR / MEJOR DIRECCIÓN NOVEL
Juan Antonio Bayona, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Tom Fernández, for La Torre de Suso
David and Tristán Ulloa, for Pudor
Félix Viscarret, for Bajo las estrellas

BEST ACTOR / MEJOR INTERPRETACIÓN MASCULINA PROTAGONISTA
Alfredo Landa, for Luz de domingo
Álvaro de Luna, for El prado de las estrellas
Alberto San Juan, for Bajo las estrellas
Tristán Ulloa, for Mataharis

BEST ACTRESS / MEJOR INTERPRETACIÓN FEMENINA PROTAGONISTA
Blanca Portillo, for Siete mesas de billar francés
Belén Rueda, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Emma Suárez, for Bajo las estrellas
Maribel Verdú, for Siete mesas de billar francés

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR / MEJOR INTERPRETACIÓN MASCULINA DE REPARTO
Raúl Arévalo, for Siete mesas de billar francés
José Manuel Cervino, for Las 13 rosas
Julián Villagrán, for Bajo las estrellas
Emilio Gutiérrez Cava, for La Torre de Suso
Carlos Larrañaga, for Luz de domingo

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS / MEJOR INTERPRETACIÓN FEMENINA DE REPARTO
Amparo Baró, for Siete mesas de billar francés
Geraldine Chaplin, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Nuria González, for Mataharis
María Vázquez, for Mataharis

BEST NEW ACTOR / MEJOR ACTOR REVELACIÓN
Óscar Abad, for El prado de las estrellas
Gonzalo de Castro, for La Torre de Suso
Roger Princep, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
José Luis Torrijo, for La Soledad

BEST NEW ACTRESS / MEJOR ACTRIZ REVELACIÓN
Gala Évora, for Lola, la película
Bárbara Goenaga, for Oviedo Express
Nadia de Santiago, for Las 13 rosas
Manuela Velasco, for Rec

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY / MEJOR GUIÓN ORIGINAL
Icíar Bollaín and Tatiana Rodríguez, for Mataharis
Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, for Las 13 rosas
Gonzalo Suárez, for Oviedo Express
Gracia Querejeta and David Planell, for Siete mesas de billar francés
Sergio G. Sánchez, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY / MEJOR GUIÓN ADAPTADO
Ventura Pons, for Barcelona, (un mapa)
Laura Santullo, for La Zona
Félix Viscarret, for Bajo las estrellas
Tristán Ulloa, for Pudor
Imanol Uribe, for La carta esférica

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY / MEJOR FOTOGRAFÍA
José Luis Alcaine, for Las 13 rosas
Álvaro Gutiérrez, for Bajo las estrellas
Ángel Iguacel, for Siete mesas de billar francés
Carlos Suárez, for Oviedo Express

BEST EDITING / MEJOR MONTAJE
David Gallart for Rec
Fernando Pardo for Las 13 rosas
Elena Ruiz for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Nacho Ruiz Capillas for Siete mesas de billar francés

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE / MEJOR MÚSICA ORIGINAL
Roque Baños, for Las 13 rosas
Carles Cases, for Oviedo Express
Míkel Salas, for Bajo las estrellas
Fernando Velázquez, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST ORIGINAL SONG / MEJOR CANCIÓN ORIGINAL
"Esa luz," by Luis Tosar, Piti Sanz, Santiago García de Leániz for Mataharis
"Fado da saudade," by Fernando Pinto Do Amaral, Carlos Do Carmo for Fados
"Glommy Sunday," by Lucía Jiménez for La caja Kovak
"Happy happy Chueca," by Diossa and Malyzzia for Chuecatown

BEST EXECUTIVE/LINE PRODUCER / MEJOR DIRECCIÓN DE PRODUCCIÓN
Juan Carmona and Salvador Gómez Cuenca, for Luz de domingo
Martín Cabañas, for Las 13 rosas
Teresa Cepeda, for Oviedo Express
Sandra Hermida, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST ART DIRECTION / MEJOR DIRECCIÓN ARTÍSTICA
Wolfgang Burmann, for Oviedo Express
Edou Hydallgo, for Las 13 rosas
Gil Parrondo, for Luz de domingo
Josep Rosell, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST COSTUME DESIGN / MEJOR DISEÑO DE VESTUARIO
Sonia Grande for Lola, la película
Lena Mossum for Las 13 rosas
Lourdes de Orduña for Luz de domingo
María Reyes for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS / MEJORES EFECTOS ESPECIALES
Reyes Abades and Álex G. Ortoll, for El corazón de la tierra
David Ambid, Enric Masip and Álex Villagrasa, for Rec
Pau Costa, Raúl Ramanillos, and Carlos Lozano, for Las 13 rosas
David Martí, Montse Ribé, Pau Costa, Enric Masip, Lluis Castells and Jordi San Agustín, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST SOUND / MEJOR SONIDO
Carlos Bonmati, Alfonso Pino and Carlos Faruolo, for Las 13 rosas
Licio Marcos de Oliveira and Bernat Aragonés, for Tuya siempre
Iván Marín, José Antonio Bermúdez and Leopoldo Aledo, for Siete mesas…
Xavi Mas, Marc Orts, Oriol Tarragó, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage

BEST MAKEUP AND HAIR / MEJOR MAQUILLAJE and PELUQUERÍA
Lourdes Briones and Fermín Galán, for Oviedo Express
Lola López and Itziar Arrieta, for El Orfanato / The Orphanage
Mariló Osuna, Almudena Fonseca and José Juez for Las 13 rosas
José Quetglas and Blanca Sánchez, for El corazón de la tierra

BEST NARRATIVE SHORT / MEJOR CORTOMETRAJE DE FICCIÓN
El pan nuestro by Aitor Merino Unzueta
Padam… by José Manuel Carrasco Fuentes
Paseo by Arturo Rúiz Serrano
Proverbio chino by Javier San Román
Salvador - Historia de un milagro cotidiano by Abdelatif Abdeselam Hamed

BEST ANIMATED SHORT / MEJOR CORTOMETRAJE DE ANIMACIÓN
Atención al cliente by Marcos Valin and David Alonso
El Bufón y la infanta by Juan Ramón Galiñanes García
La Flor más grande del mundo by Juan Pablo Etcheverry
Perpetuum mobile by Raquel García-Ajofrin Virtus and Enrique García Rodríguez
Tadeo Jones y el sótano maldito by Enrique Gato Borregán

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT / MEJOR CORTOMETRAJE DOCUMENTAL
Caranbanchel, un barrio de cine by Juan Carlos Zambrana
El anónimo Caronte by Toni Bestard
El hombre felíz by Isabel Lucina Gil Márquez
Valkirias by Eduardo Soler

Honorary Goya / Goya de Honor
Alfred Landa

Julia's back

by Julieta Sans.

Exhibitions:

-National Portrait Gallery Photographic Prize 2007 (second prize)
-Amour Expo, Cabourg Gallery, France, co-curator and participant, 2006
-DayFour: Winter Notes on Summer Impressions, book and show, Six Degrees, London 2006

-Intimacy, Campbell Works, co-curator and participant. London 2005

-Central Saint Martins Postgraduate show, 2005
-Open, 198 Gallery, London 2004
-Summer Festival, Futura Ciudad Cultural Konex, Buenos Aires, 2004
-Cipea Centro Cultural, Buenos Aires, 2003

Madame Tutli Putli(eyes created by Jason Walker, 2007)

You might be interested in Madame Tutli Putli (integral video) and in The making of Madame Tutli Putli

Gus Arriola is dead

Gordo creator Gus Arriola died Saturday following a lengthy bout with Parkinson’s disease.
He was born in Arizona in July 1917, but grew up in Los Angeles. Immediately
after high school, he spent a year working on Krazy Kat for Screen Gems, then spent three years animating Tom and Jerry and Lonesome Stranger for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as a "sketch man", before leaving to start his own comic strip. He created the character of 'Gordo' and sold it to United Features in 1941. This comic strip, set in the Mexican countyside, soon became very popular, and Gus Arriola continued to draw it even when he was drafted for service in 1942. He eventually retired from the comic in 1985.
Gordo was initially designed to be a Mexican version of Li'l Abner, with a highly caricatured style and a lazy overweight title character who spoke in heavily accented English and took naps under a tree wearing a sombrero. After his early strips were criticized for Hollywood-style cultural stereotypes, Arriola realized that his was the only periodical work in American mass media that depicted life in Mexico, and modified the strip to be more sympathetic.
You can buy his books: Gordo's Cat, Accidental Ambassador Gordo: The Comic Strip Art of Gus Arriola and Gordo's Critters.

Spider (2007)

Spider was written by Nash Edgerton and David Michod, directed by Nash Edgerton and produced by Nicole O'Donohue. Spider is a 9-minute short that is all about fun and games until something happens. It seems like just an ordinary day for this young Aussie couple. Sure, they've had a bit of a row, but flowers and chocolates should patch-up all that. Then they'll be able to move on and continue on like normal... Edgerton has more than a few surprises up his sleeve in constructing this totally captivating relationship drama.

It has screened at numerous international film festivals including Telluride, Prague and Cork Film Festivals, and domestically at both Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals. Spider recently won the Jury Prize at the AFI/Los Angeles Film Festival and won the audience award at both the Sydney Film Festival and Prague Short Film Festival. It is the fourth short film directed by Nash Edgerton that has screened at Sundance since 2000.
Since his short DEADLINE, which won the top prize at Tropfest in 1997, Nash has directed a number of award-winning short films, music videos and commercials featuring actors such as Rose Byrne, Joel Edgerton, Radha Mitchell, Kestie Morassi and Dan Wyllie.
The action packed trailer for Tropfest called THE PITCH was followed by the horror/thriller FUEL and the stunt-driven LUCKY, all shorts that screened to acclaim locally and abroad at festivals including Sundance, Berlin, Aspen, PiFan, St Kilda and Flickerfest.
His career in music videos has won him various awards and ARIA nominations for work with leading Australian artists including Ben Lee, Eskimo Joe, Missy Higgins, Toni Collette, Pacifier and The Sleepy Jackson.

Winter Olympic Games

by Oksana Grivina. He's the author of "Breakfast" and "Muchavka&Giant", at the moment he's working on "Clownery".

Aquarium (2007)

Rob Meyer received his MFA from NYU's Film School and has just completed writing his first feature film, Labrador Duck (the characters of this film are the same as Aquarium). His thesis short, Aquarium, won NYU's prestigious Wasserman Prize, as well as major prizes at film festivals around the world.
At fifteen, David and his two buddies are the youngest members of the Boston Aquarium Society. The three make their way to a monthly meeting but David harbors a secret he is reluctant to share.

This short film is based largely on Meyer's life. He began with the idea of aquarium fish breeding. While he developed the story it begin to deal with more serious themes he was always interested in exploring: the experience of growing up in a world that doesn't like to talk about issues of mortality.
Aquarium is a strange mix of melancholy and humor.
You can watch the trailer

Byousoku 5 Centimeter (2007)

5 Centimeters Per Second ( Byōsoku Go Senchimētoru), subtitled "a chain of short stories about their distance" is a 2007 Japanese animated feature film by Makoto Shinkai. The film won the Lancia Platinum Grand Prize at the Future Film Festival 2008.
The film consists of three episodes which follow the timeline of Takaki's life. It shows how Tohno Takaki, Shinohara Akari and Kanae Sumida's perspective of life changes from childhood to maturity with regards to the factors of time and distance. The first episode, “Okasho,” shows the day of their reunion. In the next episode, “Cosmonaut,” the story about Takaki after the reunion is shown from the viewpoint of another person. The last episode, “Byosoku 5 centimeter,” clips out the movements of their thoughts.

Tono Takaki had to part from Shinohara Akari after gradation from the elementary school. Despite their secret thoughts, only time has passed. One day, Takaki meets Akari in the heavy snow.
Byousoku 5 Centimeter attempts to present the real world from a different perspective. Makoto's film gives a realistic view of the struggles many face against, time, space, people, and love. The movie is named 5 Centimeters Per Second for the speed at which cherry blossom petals fall, petals being a metaphorical representation of humans, reminiscent of the slowness of life and how people often start together but slowly drift into their separate ways.

Rotterdam Film Festival 2008

VPRO Tiger Awards

Wonderful Town van Aditya Assarat (Thailand, 2007)

Flower in the Pocket van Liew Seng Tat (Maleisië, 2007)

Go with Peace Jamil van Omar Shargawi (Denemarken, 2008)


Dioraphte Award

Mutum van Sandra Kogut (Brazilië/Frankrijk, 2007)


NETPAC Award
What on Earth Have I Done Wrong?! by Niu Chen-zer (Taiwan, 2007)

FIPRESCI Award
El cielo, la terra y la lluvia by José Luis Torres Leiva

KNF Award
Cargo 200 by Alexei Balabanov.

Penjing

by Arnaud Loumeau. He's the author of Etat:normal.

Making of Son (2007)

From an early age Daniel Mulloy told stories with pictures. Growing up in Brixton, South London, he drew comic stories at school to overcome difficulties with reading and writing. As his facility grew, Mulloy discovered graffiti and painting.
He self-financed his first short film, Dance Floor (2002), about a Nigerian woman who works in a West-End club as a toilet attendant. This short was a surprise success winning film festivals and a BAFTA Film Award for Best Newcomer Wales. Mulloy's second short, Sister (2005), about an adopted boy growing up in the mountains, also won numerous awards including the ARTE Grand Prix and his second BAFTA Award.
Continuing to self-finance his films mainly through the cash prizes they where now winning, Mulloy made his third movie. Antonio's Breakfast (2006), about a teenager who cares for his dying father, premiered at Sundance and is currently on the festival circuit. This film has won over fifteen awards to date including Mulloy's third BAFTA.

The official selection of two of Mulloy's shorts in the International Competition at Clermont-Ferrand in 2006 (the world's highest regarded shorts only festival) made him the second director to achieve this distinction (the other being Thomas Vinterberg).
Dad (2007), Mulloy's fourth film, premiered to much controversy and acclaim at Sundance. The sensitive handling of its subject and the film's intensity have won praise with critics and juries alike and this year it has won Mulloy Best Director Awards from Spain to Japan.
Son (2007), Mulloy's new short film, won the award for Best Narrative Short at Slamdance Film Festival 2008.
A young boy finds himself trapped in an underground theater. His mother is in a tense, possibly abusive, relationship with a mysterious “director.” As the evening’s events unfold and the pair try to find a way out, this suspenseful short will leave you wondering about the connections between these people -- and about what it is that’s really happening.
Daniel Mulloy’s intense short Antonio’s Breakfast screened at Cucalorus in 2006.

Scaramuccia

Scaramuccia is a short film by Federico Guidi. This animation won the second prize at the Future Film Festival 2008.
The tecnique is superb for its fluidity. It's a very short story in which the final effect is given by rhythm and pause of narration.

Garageography

by Lewis Koch. His webprojects: Touchless Automatic Wonder and Garageography.

Movie Squad Award

Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's Persepolishas been given the Movie Squad Award of the young people's jury at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Moya Lyubov (My Love, 2006)

Alexander Petrov has employed a hand painted style making use of multiple layers of glass sheets, photographing each frame, then using his fingertips in place of a brush to animate the series of frames. This technique was used on his Oscar winning adaption of Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. Some time after the completion of the Oscar-winning movie, Petrov returned to his hometown of Yaroslavl in Russia to work on his next film: My Love was finished in Spring 2006 after three years' work.
This film, set in pre-revolutionary Russia, follows the adenture of a boy about to turn 16 as he dreams of and then chases his first love. Anton is attracted to two older women who have totally different personalities. This short movies narrates the genuine emotion of first love, the dizzying romanticism of youth and the torments of the immature heart. The strong narrative, combined with Petrov's elaborations of the boy's subconscious imagery gives the film an outstanding psychological depth and emotional impact. Petrov's ability to explore the mystic sides of the human being's inner life is unique.
Alexander Petrov’s sketches remind one of an animated work by Impressionists if they had made animated films. This film is indisputably a masterpiece. It is visually perfect, the score so neatly integrated that it feels natural. It delicately moves between reality, introspection and dreams without destroying the truthfulness of the story. The continuous blurs and sharps of the image are part of the poetic language of the film.

Awards

* 2006—11th Hiroshima International Animation Festival: "Audience Prize" and "Special International Jury Prize"
* 2006—International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film: "FIPRESCI Prize for Best Animation"
* 2006—10th Japan Media Arts Festival: "Excellence Prize"
* 2007—12th Open Russian Festival of Animated Film: "Grand Prix", "Best Direction" and "Best Visuals"
* 2007—Zolotoy Vityaz: "Best Animated Film"
* 2007—Message to Man: "Golden Centuar" (Grand Prix)
* 2007—Melbourne International Animation Festival: "Grand Jury Prize for Best Film", "Jury & Audience Vote" in the program "Hand Painted Panorama"
* 2007—Anima Mundi: Professional Jury Award for "Best Animation"
* 2008—80th Academy Awards:Best Animated Short Film - nomination

Calling Mr. Smith (1943)

The Themersons had a significant influence on the art and philosophy of the avant-garde of Eastern Europe during the 1930s. Their work reflected something of the Dada and Constructivist forms and ideas of the time, but what most distinguished them throughout their lives, was their remarkable invention and technical experiment. The central concerns of Stefan Themerson's writing are ethics and language. He invented 'Semantic Poetry' which first appeared in his novel Bayamus (1949). It is a sort of poetry that prefers the matter-of-fact meanings of words in dictionary definitions to the romantic euphemism of poetic conventions. It contrasted the innate sense of good with which man is born, with the impassioned pursuit of belief and causes by which he is subsequently deluded. "Means are more important than Aims".
They were the most important makers of avant-garde film in pre-war Poland. They made five short experimental films in Warsaw during the mid-1930s: Pharmacy, Europa, Moment musical, Short circuit, and The Adventure of a Good Citizen, the only pre-war film to have survived the war. During the 1940s, in London, they made two more films. Calling Mr Smith (1943 ): a 10-minute anti-war film denouncing the destruction of Polish national culture under the Nazis.The Eye and the Ear (1944-45): a translation of sound into images based on 4 songs by Szymanowski.
In London they became key figures in the post-war cultural scene, founding Gaberbocchus Press, a major small press which published the first English editions of Jarry, Adler, Apollinaire, Schwitters, Queneau amongst others as well as writing novels, poems, philosophical treaties, operas, painting and theater design. They died in London in 1988.

The film is experimental in technique, using anamorphic lenses, still and moving images. While the spoken soundtrack employs a rhetoric heard elsewhere in wartime propaganda, the overall tone of the film is unusually urgent and authentic and in some sequences images combine with music (Chopin, Szymanowski) to convey a real feeling of loss.

You could be interested in these books: The Drawings of Franciszka Themerson and Thermersons and the Gaberboccus Press-an Experiment in Publishing 1948-1979

Pulci

by Claudio Cardinali. His comics were chosen as finalists in many comics contests. Last year he won the contest "L’amore che verrà". He has won many editions of the "Questo l’ho fatto io!" illustration award. His principal character is Pulci, an alien chick.

I Met The Walrus (2007)

In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan, armed with a reel-to-reel tape deck, snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced John to do an interview. In 2007 using the actual audio he recorded during his meeting with John Lennon, filmmaker Josh Raskin recounts his experience in his short “I Met The Walrus”. A six-minute animated film in which John Lennon talks about global conflict and the need for peace. The idea for an animated movie jelled three years ago, when he met the young Toronto filmmaker Raskin.



This short film, directed by Toronto's Josh Raskin, earned an Academy Award nomination for best animated short. Raskin combines traditional pen sketches by James Braithwaite with digital illustration by Alex Kurina, resulting in a spell-binding vessel for Lennon’s boundless wit, and timeless message. The style of the drawing is modelled on Beatle's era animation for movies such as Yellow Submarine.
The Walrus is an extremely timely revisiting of Lennon’s revolutionary freedom of thought with razor sharp yet artful deconstructions of the military-industrial complex. This narrative tenderly romances Lennon's every word in a cascading flood of multi-pronged animation.

Freeheld (2007)

Like Cynthia Wade's other films, this story is about controversial issues, too. Freeheld narrates the ugly life of a policewoman through the eyes of strong female characters. There is a sense of urgency and purpose to the story. The footage is dramatic and very emotional.

Cynthia Wade had read about Laurel's life, then she decided to attend a Freeholder meeting. She brought her camera and a couple of assistants with her. She just started shooting, and nobody told her to turn off the camera. After the meeting she went up to Laure and told her she wanted to make a documentary. She spend a lot of nights in Laure's guest room and went to the hospital with her. Then the filmaker lived with Laurel during the last 10 weeks of her life, during the period of her fight againstlung cancer.

It could have been a long film, but she chose to make Freeheld a short film because she knew she had access to Laurel for only a brief time.
Freeheld has received an Academy Award Nomination for Best Short Documentary and has won the Special Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking at Sundance Film Festival.

Higher Education

by Jorg M. Colberg.

Madame Tutli Putli (The Making of, 2007)

If you want to watch Madame Tutli Putli, click here.

The Ghosts of Cité Soleil (2006)

For the Haitians depicted in the film there is no right way of living in the sense of a "safe" person mentality, there is no compromise/alternative. Watch this documentary, in which some of the emotional tools of film-making integrate smoothly within the faint storyline.

It is simply a story of gang warfare in an environment of extreme poverty and shifting political loyalties. They have families and they want the same things that every human being desires. Asget Leth takes an incredible risk documenting the existence of the secret army, known as 'the chimeres', in the Haitian capital sub-slum, Cite Soleil.
The Ghosts Of Cite Soleil is the story of young armed men from the slum being used for political purposes: it narrates the personal lives of two gangsters who, along with several other gangs, were employed by former Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to intimidate and make political opponents disappear. The brothers are not shown as completely good or bad either. They' re involved in vicious street gangs although there is still a sense of brotherly love between them, despite the odds.

People have called this film racist. I don't see any of the Haitian people as evil thugs, I see them as victims and survivors used and manipulated by corrupt governments. There is no truth--there is no right--there is no way out. The conflict will only end when one side is wiped out. We see their deplorable living conditions and their bones prominent on their scrawny bodies when they shower and we realize that they are desperate.
You need to understand. After watching"Ghosts of Cité Soleil", you cannot wipe out the image of their lives from your mind!

Austral

by Alex Chiu
He's also the author of Blar Brain Comics

GRAND PRIX DE LA VILLE D'ANGOULÊME 2008

Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berberian are the winners of GRAND PRIX DE LA VILLE D'ANGOULÊME 2008

DUPUY & BERBERIAN BIBLIOGRAPHIE ALBUMS Petit Peintre (1985), chez Magic Strip (réédition chez Cornélius en 2003)
Graine De Voyous (1987),chez Audie / Fluide Glacial
Une Aventure De Stanislas : Klondike (1989), chez Milan
Le Chat Bleu (1990), chez Comixland
Les Héros Ne Meurent Jamais (1991), à l'Association
Journal d'un Album (1994), à l'Association
Le Petit Garcon qui n'existait Pas (2001), chez Cornélius

Le Journal d'Henriette 1 - Le Journal d'Henriette, Tome 1 (1988), chez Fluide Glacial, réédité en 2000 aux Humanoïdes Associés
2 - Le Journal d'Henriette, Tome 2 (1988), chez Fluide Glacial, réédité en 2000 aux Humanoïdes Associés
3 - Le Destin d'Henriette (1991), aux Humanoïdes Associés

Henriette
1- Une Envie de Trop (1998), aux Humanoïdes Associés (participation au scénario : Nathalie Roques & Anne Rozenblat)
2 - Un Temps De Chien (1999), aux Humanoïdes Associés (participation au scénario : Nathalie Roques & Anne Rozenblat)
3 - Trop Potes (2001) ), aux Humanoïdes Associés (participation au scénario : Nathalie Roques & Anne Rozenblat)
4 - Esprit, es-tu là ? (2003), chez Dupuis

Monsieur Jean
1 - Monsieur Jean, L'amour, La Concierge... (1991), aux Humanoïdes Associés
2- Les Nuits Les Plus Blanches (1992), aux Humanoïdes Associés
3 - Les Femmes Et Les Enfants D'abord (1994), aux Humanoïdes Associés
4 - Vivons Heureux Sans En Avoir L'air (1998), aux Humanoïdes Associés
(Hors-série) La Theorie Des Gens Seuls (2000), aux Humanoïdes Associés
5 - Comme S'il En Pleuvait (2001), aux Humanoïdes Associés
6 - Inventaire Avant Travaux (2003), chez Dupuis
7 - Un Certain Equilibre (2005), chez Dupuis

Carnets (chez Cornélius)
New-York Carnets (1996)
Barcelone Carnets 1999
Lisbonne Carnets (2001)
Tanger Carnets (2004)
Istanbul Carnets (2007)
Françoise (2006), chez Naïve
Un Peu avant la fortune (avec Jean-C. Denis) (2008), chez Dupuis (Collection Aire Libre)

Par Philippe Dupuy :
Hanté (2005), chez Cornélius
Une élection américaine (2006), chez Futuropolis (dessins de Charles Berberian, scénario de Loo Hui Phang)

Par Charles Berberian :
Sauve qui peut, Chez Carton (1985) (dessins de François Avril, scénario de Charles Berberian)
Des mouches pour Nemon (1986), chez Futuropolis (Dessin de Aussel, Scénario de Charles Berberian)
Le Pigeon (1988), chez Futuropolis (dessins de Stanislas, scénario de Jean-Claude Götting et Charles Berberian)
Cycloman (2002), chez Cornélius (dessins de Gregory Mardon, scénario de Charles Berberian)
Playlist (2004), chez Naïve
Les Gens (2007), chez Alain Beaulet (Dessins de Charles Berberian, scénario de Anna Rozen)

Sur Dupuy-Berberian :
Tout l'Univers de Dupuy Berberian (2006), chez Panama

You might be interested in Fauve d'or 2008

Madame Tutli Putli (2007)

Madame Tutli Putli is Lavis & Szczerbowski's first professional film. They, in fact, wrote, animated and directed the film entirely by themselves. The National Film Board of Canada presents a stunning, stop-motion animated film that takes the viewer on an exhilarating existential journey. The film introduces groundbreaking visual techniques and is supported by a haunting and original score. Puppets, costumes and sets are very detailed. Lavis & Szczerbowski rejected traditional stop-motion puppet armatures and built aluminum wire skeletons by hand: it took seven months of work! The same level of intricacy and attention to detail went into costuming. All of the film sets were hand built, too.

The special visual effects were produced in collaboration with acclaimed portrait artist Jason Walker. For each scene, he analyzed the puppet's animation with great patience and precise notes. The he positioned, digitally scaled, painted and re-timed the footage for nuance and believability of gesture.
They have done an incredible job: the changing light which moves across the travelers' faces; the figure of Madame Tutli-Putli, who embodies a wide range of emotions and displays an authentic feminility! It just might represent the technical high-point of stop-motion technique to date.
Madame Tutli-Putli boards the Night Train, weighed down with all her earthly possessions and the ghosts of her past. She travels alone, facing both the kindness and menace of strangers. As day descends into dark, she finds herself caught up in a desperate metaphysical adventure. Her past remains sketchy, but we can perceive enough to become involved in her story.
The Canadian animated short Madame Tutli-Putli has won two awards at the Cannes film festival and now it could be the next Oscar winner.
Enjoy the video! It takes time to download the movie, please be patient.
If you want to buy it, click here

Brain on the drugs

by James S. Chen

Meme le pigeons vont au paradise (2007)

(Even Pigeons Go To Heaven) by Samuel Tourneux

A funny story about a priest who tries to sell an old man a machine that he promises will transport him to heaven. There are many amusing characteristics in the short's brief running time which abounds in the dialogue exchange between the two characters. Its narrative style reminds me of the Pixar animation style.
Watch this cartoon now! This is the only version with English subtitles I could find.

Slamdance Film Festival 2008

GRAND JURY AWARDS

The New Year Parade - Tom Quinn

Best Narrative Feature: The New Year Parade directed by Tom Quinn

How To Be - Oliver Irving

Special Honorable Mention for Narrative Feature: How To Be directed by Oliver Irving

Song Sung Blue - Greg Kohs

Best Documentary Feature: Song Sung Blue directed by Greg Kohs

Special Honorable Mention for Documentary Feature: My Mother’s Garden directed by Cynthia Lester

Best Animated Short: Blood Will Tell directed by Andrew McPhillips

Best Documentary Short: The Ladies directed by C.A. Voros

Best Experimental Short: Doxology directed by Michael Langan

Best Narrative Short: Son directed by Daniel Mulloy

Special Honorable Mention for Narrative Short: 4960 directed by Wing-Yee Wu

The jury was made up of: MicroCineFest director Skizz Cyzyk, IFP managing director Amy Dotson, Sidewalk fest co-founder Erik Jambor, Film Arts associate editor Laurie Koh, filmmaker Leah Meyerhoff, YouTube manager of film and animation Sara Pollack, director Todd Rohal, director Michael Skolnik, and True/False Festival co-founder David Wilson.

AUDIENCE AWARDS

The Project - Ryan Piotrowicz

Best Narrative Feature: The Project directed by Ryan Piotrowicz

Best Documentary Feature: Song Sung Blue directed by Greg Kohs

Rock Garden: A Love Story - Gloria Kim

Global Audience Award for Best Anarchy Film: Rock Garden: A Love Story directed by Gloria U.Y. Kim

Woman in Burka - Jonathan Lisecki

Spirit of Slamdance Award: ("for exhibiting passion and talent as a filmmaker, commitment to the independent community, and enthusiastically embracing all Slamdance has to offer") Woman in Burka directed by Jonathan Lisecki

Kodak Vision Award for Best Cinematography: Crooked Lake / Portage, cinematography by Sascha Drews & Ezra Krybus



WRITER AWARDS Best Feature Length Screenplay: "The Wonder Girls" by Anthony Meindl

Best Short Screenplay: "Easy Pickins’" by Will Hartman

Best Teleplay: "Stage Six Pandemic" by Barbara Marshall

Best Horror Competition Screenplay: "The Punished" by Tony Mosher

Creative Excellence Award for the Horror Screenplay Competition: "Child in the Dark" by Damian Lahey & Ian Ogden

Sundance Film Festival 2008

Here is the list of the other awards from Sundance Film Festival 2008.

Grand Jury Prize: Documentary
"Trouble The Water"; directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Frozen River"; directed by Courtney Hunt

World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary
"Man on Wire"; directed by James Marsh

World Cinema Jury Prize: Dramatic
"King of Ping Pong" ("Ping Pongkingen"); directed by Jens Jonsson

Audience Award: Documentary
Fields of Fuel"; directed by Josh Tickell

Audience Award: Dramatic
"The Wackness"; directed by Jonathan Levine

World Cinema Audience Award: Documentary
"Man on Wire"; directed by James Marsh

World Cinema Audience Award: Dramatic
"Captain Abu Raed"; directed by Amin Matalqa

Directing Award: Documentary
Nanette Burstein for "American Teen"

Directing Award: Dramatic
Lance Hammer for "Ballast"

World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary
Nino Kirtadze for "Durakovo: Village of Fools" ("Durakovo: Le Village Des Fous")

World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic
Anna Melikyan for "Mermaid" (Rusalka)

World Cinema Screenwriting Award
Samuel Benchetrit for "I Always Wanted To Be A Gangster" ("J'ai Toujours Reve D'Etre Un Gangster")

World Cinema Documentary Editing Award
Irena Dol for "The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins"

Excellence in Cinematography Award: Documentary
Phillip Hunt and Steven Sebring for "Patti Smith: Dream of Life"

Excellence in Cinematography Award: Dramatic
Lol Crawley for "Ballast"

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Documentary
al Massad for "Recycle"

World Cinema Cinematography Award: Dramatic
Askild Vik Edvardsen for "King of King Pong" ("Ping Pongkingen")

Documentary Editing Award
Joe Bini for "Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired"

Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award
Alex Rivera and David Riker for "Sleep Dealer"

Special Jury Prizes

World Cinema Special Jury Prize: Dramatic
"Blue Eyelids ("Parpados Azules"), directed by Ernesto Contreas

Special Jury Prize: Documentary
"Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo," directed by Lisa F. Jackson

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, The Spirit of Independence
"Anywhere, U.S.A.," directed by Chusy Haney-Jardine

Special Jury Prize: Dramatic, Work by an Ensemble Cast
Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly MacDonald and Brad Henke for "Choke"

Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
"My Olympic Summer," directed by Daniel Robin
"Sikumi" ("On the Ice"), directed by Andrew Okpeaha MacLean

Jury Prize in International Short Filmmaking
"Soft," directed by Simon Ellis

Shorts Jury Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking
"Aquarium" directed by Rob Meyer
"August 15th," directed by Xuan Jiang
"La Corona," ("The Crown"), directed by Amanda Micheli and Isabel Vega
"Oiran Lyrics," directed by Ryosuke Ogawa
"Spider" directed by Nash Edgerton
"Suspension," directed by Nicolas Provost
"W.," directed by The Vikings

You might be interested in Alfred P. Sloan Prize and in Sundance Filmakers Awards.

FAUVE D'OR 2008 : PRIX DU MEILLEUR ALBUM

Shaun Tan wins Book of the Year at Angoulême!
Here is the list of the other comic books which received an award:

Essentials
Rutu Modan — Exit Wounds
Pascal Rabaté & David Prudhomme — La Marie en plastique
Cyril Pedrosa — Trois ombres
Jean Regnaud & Emile Bravo — Ma maman est en Amérique, elle a rencontré Buffalo Bill
Pierre Dragon & Frederik Peeters — RG

Discovery of the Year
Isabelle Pralong — L'éléphant

Fanzine Prize
Turkey #16

Heritage Prize
Tove Jansson: Moomin

Youth Prize
Philippe Buchet & Jean-David Morvan — Sillage, Tome 10 : Retour de flammes

Prize of the Public
Catel & José-Louis Bocquet — Kiki de Montparnasse

About photography

When a painter paints a picture, he is an outsider, looking at the world with amusement and curiosity. The moment is private, the painter looks at the world through the comings and goings of the world, at something that wasn't at all apparent but which was always there.
In photography, a different social code protects both participants: the sitter and the photographer. The sitter, his spontaneity suspended and his best appearance displayed, invites scrutiny.
Photographers can supplement the fundamental attitudes of the human mind and body with the more extrinsic gestures of daily behavior. They can profit from the mobility of the snapshot camera, reaching into the world as an intruder and creating a disturbance. The photographer captures the spontaneity of life without leaving any trace of his presence.
Hence the detachment of the artist becomes more of a problem in the photographic media because photographers must immerge themselves bodily into situations which call for human solidarity: the photographer must be where the action is!
The photographic medium is immensely valuable for documentation, but it's less suited to interpet or explain relevant aspects of what's going to be shown. Illustrations are more useful if one desires to clarify spatial relation or tell what belongs apart or together because only drawings are able to translate into visual patterns what has been understood about the object.
Photographs cannot be self-explanatory. Their meaning depends on the total context of which they're a part. It depends on the attitudes and motives of the persons depicted that may not be apparent from the photos, and it also depends on the values attributed by viewers to life, to death and to human beings in general. Consequently, when photography wishes to convey a message, it should try to place the symptoms it exposes into the proper context of cause and effect. This will always require the help of the written or spoken word.

Peter & The Wolf (2006)

The film was made at the Se-ma-for Studios in Łódź, Poland between February and August 2006. The live premier was held on September 29 2006 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, accompanied by the Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then the film has toured with both live and recorded accompaniment around Britain, in Hong Kong and in Australia. The British television premier was shown on Channel 4 on Christmas Eve, 2006, and was accompanied by pre-recorded music performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra.
Peter & The Wolf took two of the top prizes at Annecy - the Annecy Crystal for Best Short and the coveted Audience Award.

Peter is a tormented soul, living as he does with an old drunken relative. On the edge of the vast forests of Russia, where wolves still roam, lies a little cottage surrounded by a big, high fence. This is where Peter lives with his grumpy Grandfather. Grandfather will not let Peter go out into the forest. "What if a wolf comes? What then?"
Peter and the Wolf is exceptional in its use of stop-frame animation to create serious movies with impact. The quality of the set and of the models is quite exceptional. The subtle expressions on the faces of all the parties is very revealing. The detail of the old house and the make-shift wall protecting it from all-comers put the best excesses of Waterworld in the shade. Without giving the game away for those yet to see this gem, not everything goes to plan.
In this version, instead of hunters there are two ugly and brutal militiamen. The grandfather is not a kindly old man, the house is a mess and Peter is bullied unmercifully by the neighbourhood thugs. The wolf is all menace. All this and no mention of the conclusion and theme. Templeton's adaptation is very modern, providing psychological depth. When Peter spares the wolf it is not out of naive sentimentality, but it's more of a statement against the brutality of our world!

Alfred P. Sloan Prize

The 2008 Sundance Film Festival has announced that the winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize is Alex Rivera's "Sleep Dealer" . The prize carries a $20,000 cash award for the filmmakers and is presented to an outstanding feature film focusing on science or technology as a theme or depicting a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.

Sundance Filmmakers Awards

The Sundance Institute and NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) have announced the winners of the 2008 Sundance/NHK International Filmmakers Awards: Alejandro Fernandez for "Huacho," Braden King for "Here," Aiko Nagastu for "Apoptosis" and Radu Jude for "The Happiest Girl in the World." The winning director from each region will receive a $10,000 award and a guarantee from NHK to purchase the Japanese television broadcast rights upon completion of their project.
The jury was made up of Gregg Araki, Jeremy Pikser, Erin Cressida Wilson, Martin Rejtman, Andrucha Waddington, Shekhar Kapur and Anand Tucker.

For Sore Eyes (2006)

by Anders Weberg (1968, Sweden). He works in video, sound, new media and installations.
He's specialized in the expressions that digital technologies provide and his aim is to mix genres and ways of expression in order to explore the potential of visual media.
He lives and works in in the small coastal town of Angelholm in the south of Sweden, and his works are exhibited at numerous art festivals, galleries, and museums internationally.

I already was familiar with this short film when Anders Weberg contacted me. I like the illusion of life behind a woman who is drowning and doesn't fight for breath. It's tragic that we like this short film. Do people like themselves? Do people hate themselves? Perhaps we find the behaviour of this woman courageous.

On Coal and Appalachia

by Daniel Shea

Pubblications: Ridge Outdoors Magazine Featured Photos, November 2007; Carroll County Times: In Focus Feature, Article Interview and Photos, 2007 ; MICA Photography Department’s Photo Book 2007 Selection, 2007 ; Baltimore City Paper: Charm City Art Space Write-Up and Photo, 2007 ; Self-Published Bike Zine, 2003-2005.

The Cartoonist and The Cat 4

(by Davide Zamberlan )

The Cartoonist and The Cat 1 and 2
The Cartoonist and The Cat 3

80th annual Academy Nominees

The animation nominees for the 80th annual Academy Awards were announced January, 22 '08:

Best Animated Feature

• Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud

• Ratatouille by Brad Bird

• Surf's Up by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Best Animated Short Film (This is the first time since 1999 that US filmmakers have been shut out of the animated short category)

• I Met The Walrus by Josh Raskin

• Madame Tutli-Putli by NFB, Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski

• (Meme Les Pigeons Vont Au Paradis)Even Pigeons Go To Heaven by Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse

• My Love (Moya Lyubov) by Alexander Petrov

• Peter And The Wolf by Suzie Templeton

The World of Stainboy (2000)

The World of Stainboy is a series of flash animation shorts created in 2000 by director Tim Burton and animated by Flinch Studios. Each of the six episodes is under five minutes in length.The character Stainboy first appeared in two short poems in the book The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy, also created and illustrated by Tim Burton.
It is difficult to describe what Stainboy is. It's impossible to have a clear idea of what this tale is about. What we can say is that the series is a parody of superheroes, where superheroes are simply strange creatures, and that Stainboy is another one of Burton's darkly mischievous and funny creations. In the shorts, Stainboy works for the Burbank police, and at the beginning of each episode he is ordered to investigate and bring in social outcasts. Many of the outcasts are characters from the Oyster Boy book.
If you have appreciated this episode, you can download the other episodes.

Exhibition "L'attimo neorelista"

From January 19 '08 to February 24 '08 you can visit the exhibition "L'attimo neorealista" which is being held in Mestre, near Venice, at the Centro Culturale Candiani. It's a selection of 84 frames from 32 neorealist films. We can't show you the entire exhibition, but the Centro Culturale Candiani has allowed us to show you the following photos:

Roma città aperta by Roberto Rossellini 1945

Paisà by Roberto Rossellini 1946

The Bicycle Thief (Ladri di biciclette) by Vittorio De Sica 1948

Bitter Rice (Riso amaro) by Giuseppe De Santis 1949

Path of Hope (Cammino della speranza) by Pietro Germi 1950

If you want buy the catalogue, please click here.

Wim Wenders visits Palermo to promote new film (and eat Italian ices)

On Monday January 21st, in front of an assembly of nearly 300 afficionados, Wim Wenders delighted Palermo's Golden Theater audience with jokes and anecdotes about Shooting Palermo, his new film which will be ready in about four months' time. The brilliant German director, playwright and photographer who is already renowned for such films as Don't Come Knocking (Viva Butte, Montana!), Paris, Texas and Buena Vista Social Club, just to mention a few of his masterpieces, has fallen in love with Palermo's gourmet Italian ices and has decided to shoot a film in Sicily's capital city in order to stock up on lemon sorbets.

The Palermo Shooting stars Andreas Frege, "Campino", the lead singer of the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen ( The Dead Trousers) [a photograph by Andreas Gursky of one of their concerts is on display at The Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.] in the role of a German photographer who comes to Palermo in order to make a break with his past and finds... Sorry you'll have to see the movie for yourself when it comes out, spoilers verboten!!!

The cast, for now, subject to change without notice, includes the following: Campino, Dennis Hopper, Patti Smith, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Jana Pallaske, Lou Reed, Inga Busch, Udo Samel, Sebastian Blomberg, Melika Foroutan, Alessandro Dieli, Francesco Guzzo, Giovanni Sollima, Wolfgang Michael, Harry Blain, Axel Sichrovsky, Irina Gerdt and Gerhard Gutberlet.

(Lorraine Eda Rolla)

Phonogram: Rue Britannia

You open this comic book, and suddenly you're getting people talking about bands you've never even heard of. It could be alienating, but although they're talking about specific bands, the ideas they are expressing are universal. You don't have to worry about the specifics and can roll with what's in the story. In fact, everything that's actually important in Phonogram can be deduced from the context in which it’s used.
A long search for himself, for the meaning of his existence, in which Kieron Gillen tells us the answer to life is music. Phonogram explores the idea that music truly is magic. "'Phonogram is based on people who realise that metaphor is actually the true foundation of the universe, and so actively manipulate it to achieve their desires", declares the comics writer publically.
This book contains a lot of passion for Britpop but it's more of a struggle about the memories of the music rather than an expression of Gillen's love for it. It analyses the music and the movement with a passion only available to those who really loved it. It also takes the whole thing apart with the venom of those who’ve come out to the other side. The motif of music as a spiritual or magical force is something musicians return to time and time again.
David Kohl is a mage who uses the medium of Britpop music to interpret his magic. He has been tricked by The Goddess into visiting one of her temples. While in the temple, she curses him for the misuse of his powers and then sends him to investigate what is happening to one of her aspects. The aspect in question is Britannia, Goddess of Britpop, who baptised Kohl, was the original source of his abilities and is at least ten years dead. While investigating, he discovers the ghost of a girl who used to have a crush on him. The next day he wakes up to find that his memories have altered.
We realize that our world can begin to change by simply changing our perceptions.
In the end, Phongram is about non-literal ways of seeing the world, alternative perspectives, and so forth.
Now we can turn to the editorial details: the comic book is written by Kieron Gillien and drawn by James McKelvie. It is published by Image Comics.
A run of at least two mini-series is planned. The first volume was a six issue run, collected under the title "Rue Britannia". In keeping with the Britpop theme, the six individual issues had cover art based on album artwork from that era.The first volume began in August 2006.

Future Film Festival Awards '08

The Lancia Platinum Grand Prize, the prize for best long animation film or best special effects, was awarded to Makoto Shinkai's Byousoku 5 Centimeters (5 Centimeters per Second: A Chain of Short Stories about Their Distance) . A special prize was awarded to Michael Arias' Tekkonkinkreet.
The members of the jury were the Italian filmaker Enzo d’Alò, the screenwriter Giorgia Cecere and the head of animation of Lumiq Studios, Carlo Alfano.
The public has voted the short films selected for Future Film Short. The winners of Premio del Pubblico Groupama were Attentiòn al cliente by Marcos Valìd and David Alonso (first prize of 1000 euro) and Scaramuccia of Federico Guidi (second prize 500 euro).
The Autodesk Digital Award was awarded to Alibi by Anthony Lamolinara (Direct2Brain) and Making of “Carnera” by Renzo Martinelli (EDI Effetti Digitali Italiani).

Halas and Batchelor part two

In the 1950s, Halas and Batchelor were able to expand their work yet further, producing films on purely artistic subjects. Experimental work as early as the 1950's included stereoscopy (with Norman McLaren) and advanced forms of film puppetry, combining the multi-projection of film in close synchronization with the live player on the stage and the production in the 1960's of about 200 8mm cassettes to illustrate through brief animation loops important points in scientific and technological instruction linked directly to the textbook. The 1950's represented the true birth of the studio as a recognised source of high quality animated films. It continued to make public information films for governmental offices. These high quality films, especially their shorts for the Marshal Plan, The Shoemaker and The Hatter (1949) and, for the Ministry of Health, Fly About the House (1949 ) were instrumental in attracting funding for the studio's future development. Its UK profile was further enhanced with the production of the Charley series (1946-47) for the Central Office of Information.
They are best known, however, for their adaptation of George Orwell's Animal Farm (1954). Rumors persist that the film was funded by a CIA covert operation, but Halas insisted that it was humanist and anti-totalitarian rather than anti-Communist, and the film is a considerable achievement: a feature length work of poignancy and deep emotion which revises our expectations of animal characters as comic or sentimental figures. The sombre satire of Orwell's novel is muted by a controversially upbeat ending in which the animals once again mobilize in resistance to authoritarian leadership but the film's highly politicised viewpoint still seems a bold and unusual one, particularly within the context of the British film industry of 1950s.


During the production of Animal Farm Halas & Batchelor employed over seventy people based in different offices in London, including a studio in Stroud. In texts held in their archive, the number of staff employed during the production series varies from author to author: figures range between 70 to 100. At the start of production in 1951, the studio experienced a large increase in personnel: some of these were former employees from Anson Dyer's studio. To support the production of Animal Farm, Halas & Batchelor established Animation Stroud Ltd. in 1951 under the management of Harold Whitaker. The Stroud department became an established part of Halas & Batchelor and became the training base for new staff and new generation of animators. In order to sustain its high level of output and development, the studio was proactive and flexible in identifying and exploiting new markets. It achieved this by recruiting talented staff and advisors whose skills and knowledge helped to achieve these results. The company actively promoted this aspect of its work in promotional leaflets and in the trade press. Due to the high demands that making these films put on the studio, they were forced to divide the studio space into different units and different production areas. This also led to setting up divisions dedicated to key commercial areas of the studio. Much of the structure has not changed from that of the 1950's, except for the creation of additional units aligned to different commercial areas that the studio oversees.
Even with production centered on Animal Farm, the studio was able to continue making commercials, information and educational films. A survey made during current research of the creative output of the studio during this period gives an indication of the range of films they produced. At the proposed launching of the new television channel ITV in the UK in 1955, Halas & Batchelor were already investigating the impact the launch of commercial television would have on animation studios. The most significant effect of the new station was the increased number of commissioned commercials, and in particular animated commercials, by advertising agencies. By 1955 the number of studios producing animation increased as a response to this demand.
By 1955, Halas & Batchelor was promoted as the largest cartoon studio in Europe. The economics of animation have always been precarious, and Halas and Batchelor primarily supported their unit by the mass production of commercials for television, the production of sponsored public relations films, films made in association with other production companies, and by sponsored entertainment series undertaken for television, such as the Foo-Foo cartoon series and the Snip and Snap series. The latter introduced paper sculpture animals, and both series, made in association with ABC-TV, enjoyed worldwide distribution.

Other articles which might interest you:

Halas & Batchelor chronological filmography

Halas & Batchelor at Future Film Festival

Halas and Bachelor part one

Six Little Jungle Boys