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Theanimated documentary (also known asanidoc) is amoving image form that combinesanimation anddocumentary. This form should not be confused with documentaries about movie and TV animation history that feature excerpts.
The first recognized example of this genre is Winsor McCay's 1918 12-minute-long filmThe Sinking of the Lusitania,[1] which uses animation to portray the 1915 sinking ofRMS Lusitania after it was struck by two torpedoes launched by a GermanU-boat; an event of which no recorded film footage is known to exist.[2] Since the 1920s, animation has been used ineducational andsocial guidance films, and has often been used to illustrate abstract concepts in mainly live-action examples of these genres. Early examples of fully animated educational films areThe Einstein Theory of Relativity andEvolution (both 1923) byMax and Dave Fleischer.[2]Walt Disney used it in films such asVictory Through Air Power (1943),How to Catch a Cold (1951) andOur Friend the Atom (1957).[2]
In 1953,Norman McLaren'sNeighbours won the Academy Awards for Best Documentary (Short Subject). The award is somewhat considered a mistake, but the fact that it was not only indicated into that category, but also won, shows that, somehow, the animated images spoke to the judges almost like a documentary.
Of Stars and Men, a 1964 animated feature byJohn Hubley which tells of humankind's quest to find its place in the universe, won an award in the documentary category at theSan Francisco Film Festival.[2]
Mosaic Films promoted the use of animated documentaries in the United Kingdom in 2003 with the award-winning seriesAnimated Minds. Commissioned byChannel 4 and directed byAndy Glynne, it uses real testimony from survivors of mental illness, combined with engaging visuals, to climb inside the minds of the mentally distressed. The first series won the award for Best Animation at theBanff World Media Festival (2004).[3]
The 2007International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam featured a programme of "documentaries that partly or completely consist of animation".[4] In the article written to accompany the event, Kees Driessen talked about the "least controversial" form of the genre; the "illustratedradio documentary", citingAardman Animation's 1987 filmLip Synch: Going Equipped (directed byPeter Lord) as an example.[5] One of the most consistent creators of this form of animated documentary today isPaul Fierlinger.[6] His films from the late 1980s-onward typically feature recordings of people talking about certain topics in their lives (such as alcohol abuse or loneliness), accompanied by Fierlinger's animation which mainly illustrates the stories in a realistic way. This is a contrast from films and series such as Aardman'sCreature Comforts, whichrecontextualise such audio recordings by combining them with more fanciful, non-realistic animated interpretations.
Fierlinger's 1995 animated feature-lengthautobiographyDrawn from Memory, in which he is the main subject as well as the director, voice actor and only animator,[7] was also called a documentary by Driessen.[5] This technique of animating interviews has also been used by other filmmakers, such asChris Landreth in hisOscar-winning 2004 short filmRyan (mainly based on an interview done with animatorRyan Larkin) andJonas Odell in the 2006 Swedish filmAldrig som första gången! (Never Like the First Time!, consisting of animated segments of people's descriptions of their first time engaging in sex). The filmChicago 10, about theChicago Seven incident, received some acclaim for recreating courtroom scenes using animation. Another documentary with animated elements is the German filmNeukölln Unlimited, which uses animation to depict past traumas of its protagonists.
The Oscar-nominated 2008Israeli filmWaltz with Bashir[8] was advertised as being the first feature-length animated documentary.[9]
Some animated documentaries that were nominated or won for Oscars areSo Much for So Little (1949),[10]Sunrise Over Tiananmen Square (1998),[11]The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation (2005),I Met the Walrus (2007),Last Day of Freedom (2015)[12] andFlee (2021).
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