Ottawa International Animation Festival
by Gene WalzIf you like to second-guess jury decisions, Ottawa '96 was the perfect animationfestival for you. Almost as good as the O.J. Simpson trial. Even the GrandPrize Winner engaged in some public secondguessing.
When Russian animator Igor Kovalyov came forward to accept his best filmof the festival trophy forBird in the Window, he was suitably graciousif somewhat stunned. He thought Priit Parn would win it for his film1895.
This was the perfect ending to an enjoyable animation festival that featuredsome peculiar choices for inclusion in the competition, several surprisingprize-winners, and no clearly outstanding triumphs. So it was easy to second-guessthings here.
I'm not suggesting in any way that the jury was less than competent or thatBird in the Windowwas an unworthy winner or that the festival'sline-up was skimpy.
On the contrary, Kovalyov's film was richly designed and intriguingly plotted.The festival itself was crammed with good movies that were, given certainlimitations, wellprogrammed. And, in determining the awards, the jury wasimpressively skillful and diplomatic in finding ways to ensure that no onefelt cheated. Second-guessing is much easier when first choices aren't veryobvious, when no one dominates. That was the case at Ottawa this year.
First Films
Surprisingly, the most competitive category of all had to be the one forfirst films. The National Film Board of Canadasponsored award in this categorywent to Mike Booth for his fiveminute filmThe Saint Inspector. Amusinglydescribed in the program as the story of "a higher being in a stateof pious bliss [who] endures the attention of a meddling official",this bizarre and irreverent film proves that England is securing its futureas the model-animation capital of the world. Yet few people in the audiencewould have objected if any one of the nine other films in the category hadbeen given the prize. The overall quality was that good.
The jury indicated just how good by giving special mention to two otherfirst films--to the boldly black and white (no colors, no greys even) filmTale about the Cat and the Moon by Pedro Serragina which takes anthropomorphismin a slightly different direction, and to the elusiveLazarus byVanessa Cruz.
More revealingly, two other films from this category, the hilariousHilaryand the equally funnyGagarin, already recognized at other animationfestivals, were multiple award winners in the craft and media areas here.(AndDa DA, also a firsttime effort, was not entered in this category.)So it looks like the near future of the art of animation is very bright.
In case you haven't already heard,Gagarin by Russian animatorAlexij Kharitidi features a cute Disneystyle bug who has a taste for adventure.During a badminton game he hitches a ride inside the shuttlecock. The storyswitches to his point of view as he is batted back and forth between thebadminton players. The celanimation here is expertly rendered, the overalltiming is marvelous, and the humor warm and refreshing. It won craft prizesfor animation and humor.
Hilary by Michael Hodgeson, another British model animator, is anoffbeat bedtime story told by a cynical dad as he takes his bewildered youngson on a weird trip to slumberland. While the animation of the two maincharacters is pretty elementary, the trick of concentrating on the backgrounddetails and the jaded attitude of the father's tale more than compensate.The clever writing won it prizes for best story and for most popular filmin audience polling.
If there were any films at Ottawa '96 which, on the basis of awards, inchedahead of the rest,Gagarin andHilary were the ones. And theywere firsttime films. Does this mean that the all's right in the animationworld? I'll leave the second-guessing to you.
Then There Were Shorts
Combination Skin, Hodgeson's second film in the festival, provesjust how competitive the short animation (under 10 minutes) category was.In this slight variation onHilary, a mother babbles at her wideeyedson in an eerily danklooking reptile house. Although the narrative is equallyquirky and the puppet animation a decided advance onHilary (if somewhatmore conventional),Combination Skin could only garner a specialmention. It and Piet Kroon'sDa DA, a well-drawn but predictableparable about conformity and parental competitiveness, lost out to on ofthe more curious choices at the festival--Joe's Apartment: Funky Towelby Chris Wedge.
A zany send-up of Esther Williams' synchronized swimming musicals of the1940s,Funky Towel choreographs cockroaches in a filthy toilet bowl.While it is based on a great premise and is nicely orchestrated, some audiencemembers wondered why it wasn't in the promotional works category since itis a music video excerpted from a feature film. Not exactly controversial,but it did lead to some lively discussions.
As did the additional prizes awarded in the short animation category. AliceStevens'Yellow Shoes, a mock documentary that could easily havewon the educational category (where, oddly, no prize was presented) wascited for outstanding design. Vuk Jevremovic'sThe Wind Subsideswas singled out for its energetic line drawings of wild animals running.As was Petra Freeman for the unusual technique ofJumping Joan, anaward that was met by many quizzical looks from the crowd.
Over 10s
In another tell-tale indication of the current state of animation, fiveout of the six films entered in the overtenminute category were designatedfor recognition of some sort. What this means is hard to fathom--unlessyou were the unfortunate sixth entrant.
Paul Driessen'sThe End of the World in Four Seasons, with 8 and9 images competing for the viewer's attention at the same time, took thecategory prize. By doing so, he somewhat redeemed the NFB's reputation,which had been tarnished more than a little by having all but two of itsfilms rejected for the competition in its home country. The other NFB production,Robert Doucet's stirringly beautiful folktaleFlying Canoe won thebest Canadian film award; so the NFB went two for two (or maybe 2 for 20).
Priit Parn's amusing but perhaps overlong twisted-history of the LumiereBrothers before they invented cinema,1895, won a special prize fordesign. AndWat's Pig, a dauntingly detailed, often split-screenedmedieval story of a ruler and his poor, misplaced twin, done in claymationby Peter Lord, helped win Aardman Animations a Special Jury Prize. It wasa pretty good year for long-form animation.
Promos, Educational & TV
The most bloated category in the entire festival, not surprisingly in thisoverly and overtly commercialized era, was the promos and ads category.Twenty-two productions were in the running for prizes.
In a refreshing challenge to the predominance of brassy, computer-generated,3D modeling, the first prize was given to Winnipeg animator Cordell Barkerfor his simple animated doodles on Quebec telephone bills. For those ofyou wondering about what happened to this Oscarnominee (forThe Cat CameBack), the award shows that he has not lost his touch; he's just narrowedhis audience and temporarily succumbed to the lure of advertising.
As if further evidence is needed for the current state of affairs in animation,the promos and ads category had almost as many entries as the final fourcategories: children's, educational, made-for-television, and episodic television.Two of these categories (educational and episodic TV) were (arguably) toounder-represented for the jury to decide on an award. Whether this meansthat good stuff is not being done or whether it is just not making its wayto Ottawa or whatever, is where the good secondguessing comes in.
In the made-for television competition, Nick Park's latest Wallace and Gromitstory,A Close Shave was clearly more ambitious than its two maincompetitorsJohnny Bravo and Raging Rudolf.
Johnny Bravo, a celanimation about an overmuscled, politically incorrectElvis lookalike with blond hair, is already slated to be a TV series, butit was less interesting than some of the other Cartoon Network material.Raging Rudolf is a clever retelling of the Christmas reindeer's storyin terms of Scorsesean profanity, intimidation-tactics, and gore.
As amusing and precise as Nick Park's previous efforts,A Close Shavewas missing some, perhaps indefinable, quality. It pits the hard-workingGromit against a sheepnapping, controlling pet of a knitting-store ownerwith whom Wallace the inveterate inventor is smitten. While it is marvelouslyinventive and pleasing, it is already too familiar to legitimately claim"Best of Show" awards.
Likewise the Simpsons episodeTreehouse of Horror VI: Homer 3D which,despite its computergenerated graphics andTron references, was neitheras funny nor as biting as the best episodes of this series can be. Still,the jury selected it, in an unprecedented twinning of the Grand Prize, asthe winner for Best Television Production. Intriguingly, there was no prizeinThe Simpsons' regular category. Plenty of room for speculationand second-guessing there.
If the competition part of the festival was not quite up to the qualityof some previous festivals, the rest of the events at Ottawa '96 were spectacularlysuccessful.
In Retrospect
Retrospectives of the works of German animator Raimund Krumme, Estonia'sPriit Parn, the incomparable Shamus Culhane who labored in many of Hollywood'sanimation factories, Kaj Pindal and Derek Lamb from the NFB, and especiallyFedor Chitruk from Russia not only showcased the immense talents of theseanimation giants; they also showed, inevitably, how indebted many of today'sanimators are to their work (including festival winner Kovalyov) and howalert many other animators should be to their techniques and especiallytheir storytelling mastery.
Screenings of rare Israeli and Mexican animation were less rewarding, exceptto show that Israel was influenced too by UPA, and Mexican animators cando full frontal nudity and sex better than anyone.
A salute to Nelvana Studios of Toronto, a sampling of the Cartoon Network'snew shorts (previously unavailable in Canada, although already hits withmany of the Americans in the audience), and the premiere of the NFB's newfeature animationLa Plante Humaine all served as welcome tonicsto the crushingly opportunistic previews of Warner Bros.' break-the-bankMichael Jordan filmSpace Jam and Disney's latest ventures into feature-lengthadvertising for plastic merchandise available at McDonalds.
The highlights of the festival for me were the screenings of Greg Ford'slong-awaited documentaryFreleng: Frame by Frame and the personalfavorites chosen by Honorary President Louise Beaudet from the vaults ofthe Cinémathèque Québécoise.
Ford's thorough examination of the contribution of Friz Freleng has to bethe best study of animation ever filmed. Freleng has too long taken a backseat to his more garrulous Warner Bros. contemporaries. With many examplesfrom classic films, Ford demonstrates why Freleng's flawless sense of timingand unsurpassed use of music should give him pride of place at Termite Terrace.This was long overdue and well worth the wait.
Louise Beaudet's program featured exquisite prints of some remarkable artisticanimations. Oscar Fischinger's wonderful 1937An Optical Poem withits lovely geometrics, two of Lejf Marcussen's hard-to-see filmsThePublic Voice andLederkonkurrence, the legendaryFrank Filmand UPA's excellentThe Telltale Heart(both firsts for me on thebig screen), as well as the incomparableThe Thieving Magpie werebut a few of Beaudet's fine choices. They will provide lasting memoriesfor me.
In this day of inane cartoons for TV, ritualistic cloning of empty successes,and the relentless throb of rampant commercialization (all of them in evidenceat Ottawa '96--this was a festival with a wide sweep), it is invigoratingto see that undeniable masterpieces are still allowed to share the program.
The Ottawa International Animation Festival may be known far and wide forits pumpkin-carving picnic and its opening and closing night parties (ina grunge bar called The Cave, complete with enough pool tables to let eventhe neophytes at AWN compete, and then in the actual Canadian Parliamentbuildings, no less). It's also renowned for its willingness to combine thebusiness of recruiting with the necessities of useful workshops (a greatone on the making of the3D Homer) and the pleasures of seeing newanimation. All of these things, plus the generous sampling of works fromthe masters, have made this the "festival of choice" for manyanimation fans. There's no secondguessing that.
Gene Walz is head of the film program at the University of Manitoba,Winnipeg. He is currently finishing a biography on character designer CharlieThorson and is now editing a book calledGreat Canadian Films.
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