Over the weekend of February 8-9, 2020, I attended the third iteration of Animation First at the French Institute Alliance Française. It was also the third time I’ve attended the event, but looks like the first time I’ve written about it. As with the previous two events, I enjoyed myself and the animations.
Here are a few of my highlights and a few photos at the end.
Highlights
Louise by the Shore
The feature-length film I watched was Louise by the Shore (2016), by Jean-François Laguionie, the guest of honor. It was a movie about remembering the past and living simply.
Animated Shorts, by Jean-François Laguionie
I also watched a series of Jean-François Laguionie‘s early animated films, which had been recently restored and digitized. His works were both hand-drawn and stop-motion, such as the example below.
The animation style was relatively rudimentary, compared to today, but the stories were really good. I saw some student works and I’d say one of the key differences came down to telling a good story over technical ability.
The video below needs no translation.
Lorenzo Mattotti: Panel Discussion and Illustrations
I also attended a panel discussion with Lorenzo Mattotti, who recently directed The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily. He has also been an illustrator for New Yorker magazine for many years and examples of his magazine covers were on display.
After the talk, he signed books. Those lucky people got a sketch from him, right there on the spot. Amazing.
I wanted see the The Swallows of Kabul but it came on right after Louise by the Shore. I didn’t want to sit for back to back films and I wasn’t in the mood for something super heavy. Hopefully it will be released in the US, soon.
Photos
Program from Animation First. Excited for my first event!
Reviewing scenes from the animated film, The Bears’ Famous Invasion of Sicily
New Yorker cover by Lorenzo Mattotti
New Yorker covers by Lorenzo Mattotti
New Yorker covers by Lorenzo Mattotti
Lorenzo Mattotti autographs a book following his talk.
A few weeks ago, I attended a few screenings at FIAF, the French Institute-Alliance Francaise. I go to many of their events and I was really excited to attend this one because I love animation. I have been watching French films for years, and I find them refreshingly diverse and smart.
The weekend was a collection of film screenings, including feature-length animations and shorts, as well as talks, an AR gallery, a VR gallery, events for kids, and an opening night party. And the event planners at FIAF ended up adding additional screenings and events.
When I heard about the weekend event, I wrote down a whole list of films I wanted to see. Unfortunately, I only ended up going to a presentation of 3-D short films, followed by a short talk, a feature-length animation, another talk, and I viewed the AR gallery. I also got a free poster.
My initial list of films included: Miniscule, The Red Turtle plus a talk, a few 3-D short films, Last Man, Renaissance, Day of the Crows, more short films, and probably another talk. I ended up only seeing Day of the Crows, as well as the 3-D films I mentioned above.
It may be possible to see some of these films above, but Day of the Crows did not seem to be currently available in the US, which is why I wanted to see it. Here is a French trailer with German subtitles.
Short Films
I spent time looking for some of the names for short films, so I could try and watch them later. Here are some I found. I cannot remember which list they came from, so they might be a little disjointed.
René Laloux in 1987 | Comment Wang-Fo fut Sauve / How Wang-Fo was saved
René Laloux |Les Dents du Singe (The Teeth of the Monkey), 1960
I recently watched The Exquisite Short Films of Kihachiro Kawamoto. I had never heard of this animator and I did not know what type of animation I was going to get. But, being a fan of animation, I looked forward to watching the DVD.
After watching a few, I did a little research. It turns out that Kawamoto was a well-known animator in Japan and internationally. One of his signature animation styles is stop-motion animation, especially his use of puppets. As Wikipedia points out, Kawamoto was well known for his puppet making skills and design.
The Films
I wanted to share these films as another example of storytelling. Japan has so many traditional methods of storytelling, which these films are a part of. As far as World and Character go, many Japanese stories are set in the samurai/Edo period. Most of the films below are the same. I suppose that frees up the storyteller to focus on the subtleties of how the story is told, rather than convincing the audience that the world and characters are believable. For instance, in Dojoji, there’s a scene where the woman chases after the priest. I love that Kawamoto takes the time to animate her breathing.
All the Kawamoto films were good, but there were a few that stood out to me. Here they are below:
Dojoji
19 minutes
Dojoji is a well-known Japanese play and one of the few that involves a large prop. The play tells the story of the installation of a new bell in Dojo-ji Temple. After the monks have been hypnotized by a mysterious dancer, the abbot tells the story of what happened to the first bell. The story is a woman falls in love with a priest who stays in her father’s inn every year. When the woman admits her love, the priest rejected her. She pursues him anyway, across a river to Dojoji Temple. In her passion, she transforms into a demon that kills him and destroys the bell. Kawamoto’s version of Dojoji is the story of the woman and the traveling priest. It is very tragic.
Going into the story of Dojoji more, I’d heard of this story after watching a Japanology episode on Kabuki and Noh. Dojoji was one of the examples of Kabuki, which is more elaborate than Noh and features a female dancer.
I was very impressed with the beautiful watercolor backgrounds serving as the backdrop for Dojoji and House of Flame (below). The sets are also well done.
The Demon (or Oni)
7:30 minutes
The Demon is also based on an old story, but I did not come across any versions of it as a play. The story is that an old woman, who has had a hard life, now lives as an invalid with her 2 sons. One day they go out to hunt and come home to a shocking discovery.
The postscript of the story is: “It is said that parents in their old age become demons who will consume their children.” Maybe this is the origin of the practice explored in Ballad of Narayama?
House of Flame
19 minutes
House of Flame is another stop-motion puppet animation that caught my interest. This one animates a horse, very realistically. I was quite impressed. This is also the only story with a narrator for the puppets. The story is about a woman who cannot decide between two suitors and lives in guilt forever more.
As I mentioned above, this one is another example of beautiful backdrops and sets.
A Poet’s Life
19 min
I chose this story for the interesting story about a worker who is fighting for worker’s rights after losing his job. The details of this story are too unusual to give away, but it is a very unique story.
This animation is a drawn style, though it still could be stop motion using paper cutouts. It reminded me more of The Snowman, by Diane Jackson, because of the way the pencil markings jump around frame by frame.
