Kelsey Stark flew down for the weekend.  This is her report.

The Florida Theater where they held the screening was a really awesome, old theater in the center of downtown that played hip indie music loud enough to hear a couple blocks away. (I’m sure there are better pictures of it online if you want to see.) The last day with the Laika presentation and final screening were the best attended events.

Highlights for me were the experimental screening which was a good mix of films with experimental technique and experimental structure. The lemonade screening was probably my favorite.

All the films were handmade, including a good deal of stop motion, and some somber European hand painted films which were long and depressing but quite beautiful. Half the films in this screening (and probably all the screenings for that matter) had obnoxious world-music type accordion and piano soundtracks. The kind that have been overused since the early 2000s when Amelie came out. In fact I think some of them might have actually used the same exact songs.

There was a nice exhibition set up of concept art for some of the films that were screened on the 2nd floor of the theater. This detail, that I’m sure only half the people in attendance saw, was one of my favorite parts of the experience.

Seems like the biggest draw for people were the presentations. I only made it to the Business of Animation and Laika because of the way they had screenings and presentations staggered. Laika’s presentation about puppet fabrication was incredible, with a wealth of pictures and detailed explanation of their processes. They brought along some Paranorman characters with their faces taken apart, but the table was swamped and the only photo I got turned out blurry.

Ultimately it was a pretty good festival for only being in its 4th year. I was impressed by the large amount of international films they featured, and how smoothly they ran the screenings. There were definitely some gems, but as with most festivals, for every good film there were about 3 bad ones. Either way, its a shame more people didn’t show up considering there are a number of larger cities and art schools within a few hours drive.

A doodle while I work

I had read this long ago and on recollection attributed it to Brecht.  So I thumbed through my well worn copy of “Brecht on Theater” a few dozen times, searched the Methuen Collected Letters and Collected Essays as well as the few other small collections of his miscellaneous writing only to come up empty.

The confusion with Benjamin, I hope, is forgivable.  As penance, here’s the piece.

______________________

From a conversation with Gustav Glück and Kurt Weill —Property relations in Mickey Mouse cartoons: here we see it is possible for the first time to have one’s own arm, even one’s own body, stolen.

The route taken by a file in an office is more like that taken by Mickey Mouse than that taken by a marathon runner.

In these films, mankind makes preparations to survive civilization.

Mickey Mouse proves that a creature can still survive even when it has thrown off all resemblance to a human being.  He disrupts the entire hierarchy of creatures that is supposed to culminate in mankind.

These films disavow experience more radically than ever before.  In such a world, it is not worthwhile to have experiences.

Similarity to fairy tales.  Not since fairy tales have the most important and most vital events been evoked unsymbolically and more unatmospherically.  There is an immeasurable gulf between them an Maurice Maeterlinck or Mary Wigman.  All Mickey Mouse films are founded on the motif of leaving home in order to learn what fear is.

So the explanation for the huge popularity of these films is not mechanization, their form; nor is it a misunderstanding.  It is simply the fact that the public recognizes it’s own life in them.

Actor Taylor Negron sat down with Richard Belzer for a wide ranging conversation which included a bit out being a model for the Hanna Barbera cartoon “Devlin” based on Evel Knievel.

The “Troubles” storyboards I remember because we set a rate and he came back later asking for more money. There’s not too much that bugs me more than that. The nature and scope of the work hadn’t changed, and there was no great windfall which allowed educational children’s films to offer feature rates overnight. That frustration aside, he did a good  job and made up for the annoyance in other ways. We still called him after that, if that’s any indication of how working with him went.

Of course it was shocking to find out a few years back that he had died in a sudden, unexpected fashion. I was asking someone -John Schnall, maybe -what Moynihan was up to since I hadn’t heard from in a few years (not uncommon for professional relations in the pre-Facebook days). The feeling still unsettles.

The recent all too soon passing of friend and sometime colleague Joe Fiorentino reminded me of Moynihan, prompting me to look for any of his films online. He had also co-directed the faux-documentary which featured Tissa David as the daughter of a forgotten (fake) film pioneer. I suppose screening this recently kept him fresh in my mind.

I didn’t find much in the way of films, but I did discover a book he wrote in 1980 published last year through his mother’s efforts.

“The Voyage of the Rose City” tells of his circumnavigation in oil freighter after his first year of college. It’s a loose and personable story that gives honest glimpses into a world we know best from myth and fiction.

John’s illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book. A few of them are likely culled from his notes from Tissa David’s lectures he would attend the decade after his nautical journey (a full page of notes is included).

More than anything, the book is a reminder that life offers an unquenchable range of experiences.

Here’s a little promo video:

This is a film all animators should see -not for the graphics (which need a lot of help, truth be told) -but for the artistry and intellect of it’s protagonist.

I’ve talked about the kinship of magic and animation in the past, this concept I will continue to testify until shown incontrovertible evidence of a fault in thinking.

The connection was further entwined by some comments the magician made during the questioning after the screening.

Some selections, in chronological sequence from the interview:

“It’s good to the history of your art but not entirely mandatory” [then went on describe an autodidact in Colorado who devised his own forms of magic without contact to the greater tradition]

On the camera: “If it is just like a person, you have to know where that person is standing when you’re performing.”

“Look at tape and be critical” [but he also relies on a small group of friends to help him perfect his pieces]

“The accessibility of magic is unparalleled. Even though there’s more information and more people doing it, the percentage of people doing it well remains unchanged.”

His company’s tag line: “Arcane knowledge on a need to know basis.”

I’m generally looking for methods of creating tactile work without generating too much landfill. That’s an aesthetic principle.

In this production about the jettisoning of the Articles of Confederation for
the U. S. Constitution, we thought it would be appropriate to put the chalkboard to use.

In part, it’s a play on Social Studies class, but fundamentally the approach suggests an important editorial content that plays with and underscores the content of the script. The Constitution was written with mutation in mind. It
was crafted to flex to the concerns of 13 distinct constituents (one of whom never even bothered to send delegates. Jefferson famously felt that every generation should craft its own governing documents.

More than its open structure and loose bounds on the social contract, the U. S. Constitution did not emerge from an Enlightenment-free vacuum. It was informed by many systems and orders and opinions that preceded it.

It’s like a chalkboard.

Surrounded by wilderness, even when full of animators.

On the whole, no films really stick in my memory one way or the other. Nothing horrible. Nothing outstanding.

This morning I made it to Barry Purves’ screening at the National Gallery.

Barry Purves

In his introduction to the screening, he said something to the effect: when computer generated imaging came around he thought it would be the end of puppets. Instead, c. g. has become more and more about realism freeing animation to behave more like puppets. I thought it was an interesting observation.

The program itself suffered from uninspired curation. It began with three longish excerpts from children’s films. From there it moved into a few very long pieces, ending with a couple BBC shorts. What the audience got was similar film repeating after similar film without much variation in pace from subject to subject. Had the kids’ films been interspersed with the more challenging pieces, it may have provided a balance to continually engage the audience.

The work itself is remarkable and his brief talk showcased a terrific wit and intelligence.

The awards ceremony was unceremonious.

The feature award went to “Wrinkles”. I’ve seen two of the three other films in competition. They’re vastly different. That is a sign of great vibrancy for the technique.

All of the winners are here. As always, some questionable choices, but the whole notion of “awarding” films is ridiculous anyways so there’s not much reason to get worked up over it.

The coffee which Azarin Sorabkhani, the producer of the morning’s events, was able to drum up for us was first rate.

The talk went fairly well, I guess. A few people continued the conversation with me over the day by stopping me here or there with a thoughtful question.

From there I tried to sit in on another professional development discussion (better attended than ours), but was quickly agitated and had to leave.

On the way out, we ran into Morgan Miller just come from breakfast with Ralph Bakshi before his interview with the director scheduled for 12:30. We stopped for a pre-show snack.

Morgan Miller and Ralph Bakshi

My second interview session with Smith & Foulkes ran at 3:00. This was changed up a little from the first. We started with “This Way Up” and bounced around. To me this is a preferable presentation. The chronology of an artist’s work is academically interesting but poor showmanship. Start strong. A chronological show inevitably begins with a person’s weakest work.

Unfortunately, this went up against Competition Screening 4 so I missed that. Reports imply that this may have been good fortune.

Competition 5 was a strong program. Like program 1, it’s a strong program without necessarily having outstanding films. It works as a solid evening in itself and would work as a traveling show as well as selection for a festival.

Avoiding prejudice is one of the hardest things in thinking about and writing about film. I have a great distaste for Don Hertzfeldt’s last few films. I’ve written about them previously, so I won’t go into that here.

Hertzfeldt’s latest closed the program. It’s pretty good. Infinitely superior to his recent work. He’s cut out all the Family Guy style gags and is very straightforward in his filmmaking. It’s unfair to compare the film to someone like Joe Frank, whose radio work is unparalleled, but there is similarities. Also unfair to compare him to Phil Mulloy, whose achieved transcendence with simplicity. “It’s Such A Beautiful Day” is somewhere in between. It’s a nice place to be.

So I missed the Meet the Filmmakers session and the Barry Purves Masterclass and the alternate showing of Shorts Competition 4 which I’ll miss tomorrow.

One of those days. I forgot the SD card for my camera, it rained but only for the 3 hours of the picnic then I nearly made Chris Sullivan miss the screening of his film by walking him to the complete wrong location and then giving him poor directions to where he was supposed to go.

I made it to his feature “Consuming Spirits” as my first event of the day, although I had planned for at least three prior. I was even a couple minutes late. One of those “wrong foot” starts which snowballs.

It’s an interesting film. Like most, too long. Oddly too long in the beginning and not the end. Most films don’t know how to call it quits and drag. This one felt as though it didn’t know how to start. The looseness of the first few acts is meant to be revealed as a convoluted interconnection by the end but it’s more disorienting than engaging. It starts to get really good and the viewer’s internal egg timer has already buzzed. Eliminate thirty minutes from first 1/3 of the film and this could be a transcendent film.

The music is also particularly appealing.

Short Competition 3 featured a few films I had already seen Hisko Hulsing’s “Junkyard” and Leah Shore’s “Old Man”. I’m a great fan of Leah’s film. I’ve seen it about a dozen times by now and it more than holds up to repeat viewings. This was my second time through “Junkyard”. It seemed shorter -which is a good sign. It’s a very serious film and will likely tally up all sorts of rewards. The rotoscoping is well done. That’s the crux of it, it’s very nicely rotoscoped. The potential of the process of animation isn’t fully realized although the effort to produce an evocative drama with high production sheen is notable. The director didn’t do his film any favors by using his introduction at the end of the showing to complain about the brightness of the projection.

From Dad to Son and author