Festivals round up
Last month I was fortunate to be able to journey to Annecy Festival and Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF) with two shorts that I’ve just finished working on, I’m OK (which screened at both) and Brexicuted (which premiered at EIFF). We had good comments from audience members from both festivals, even after Brexicuted was shown with part of the audio track missing, which given it’s a film about everything falling apart was rather apt. (It was screened again so the audience got to appreciate all of the dialogue in the end).
Highlights from Annecy included experiencing Nina Paley’s latest feature Seder Masochism (pictured), a joyous, anarchic, musical romp through the Book of Exodus subverted by the addition of the Great Mother figure that is found in historical artefacts throughout the ages. Plus, US animator John Morena had several droll shorts in the programme from his Area 52 project, where he created and released on Instagram a film a week in 2017.
Some stand out shorts included the smart, fly’s eye view, cut out animation A Fly in the Restaurant by Xi Chen and Xu An; Cristal winner Bloeistraat 11 by Nienke Deutz, a gorgeously crafted world of young female friends growing up and growing apart; Stacey Steers’ Edge of Alchemy, an epic collage of silent era stars in a surreal world; Martina Scarpelli’s exquisitely claustrophobic, monochromatic short Egg; CG whiz Nikita Diakur’s Fest, a 3D rave up with some great dance moves and camera shots; Simbiosis Carnal by Rocio Alvarez, an all encompassing look at sex and desire across species and the history of human evolution; Ruth Lingford’s hilarious animated documentary Trump Dreams; and Untravel by Ana Nedeljikovic & Nikola Majdak, a satirical film about state control.
At EIFF it was great to experience a variety of animated shorts in the two McLaren programmes. The stand out films for me were Roughhouse by Jonathan Hodgson, a superb study of a friendship turned sour with a delicious colour palette; the nightmarish tale of dependence and loss told through vivid brushstrokes of Snow White Cologne by Amanda Eliasson; and Marfa by The Brothers McLeod, elevating a humdrum place to something intriguing through the combination of fragmentary drawings and audio.
It was great to hear from Lizzy Hobbs, who I‘ve been lucky to work with on a few great films, in her Retrospective screening and learn more about the diverse and inventive techniques she has used across an extensive body of work. I also joined Lizzy and filmmakers Lucia Bulgheroni and Chris Shepherd on a panel led by Gary Thomas (who I work with at Animate), where we spoke about our different experiences of festivals, audiences, and co-productions. There were some great questions from a somewhat fresh faced audience, and I hope that some of what we said was useful if not entertaining, particularly given the inclusion of the perspective of a recent graduate experiencing the festival circuit for the first time, as Lucia spoke about her successes with her graduation film Inanimate.
I’m planning a screening later in the year (watch this space) so seeing so many new films on the big screen has been a valuable exercise from a programming perspective. And it’s also been great to connect with filmmakers from all over the world and have some animated conversations about the craft.
Image: Seder-Masochism, Nina Paley.