Please contact us
with corrections
or breaking news
Rich Sampler of New Animation by Karl Cohen
Scene from John Kahrs's 'The Age of Sail', produced by Google. photo: courtesy J. Kahrs
THE 20TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW
of Shows is opening in four local theatres November 2nd, see trailer. It offers a delightful blend of films, ranging from an exceptional sea-faring drama, “The Age of Sail”, to a very funny, goofy cartoon comedy, “The Green Bird”.
There are also handsome experimental images of a couple dancing in the sky in “My Moon”, and an ecologically poignant moment with a polar bear adrift on the sea in “Polaris”. The innocent imagination of a child is suggested in “Super Girl”, a minute-long poem created by a preschooler. In “Grand Canyon we are overwhelmed not by the beauty of nature but by… (I’ll let it take you by surprise).
In short, this collection of new films offers something for everyone.
My favorite was “The Age of Sail”, directed by John Kahrs and produced by Google. Kahrs won an Oscar in 2013 for his Pixar short “Paperman” and has animated on 10 features for Pixar and Disney. His new short is an action packed adventure with an old sea captain. It’s beautifully rendered sea and lighting effects are just as magnificent as the story. It has qualified for an Academy Award nomination and is certainly worthy of winning.
Another Pixar animator, Trevor Jimenez, made “Weekends” in his spare time over a four-year period. It explores the two distinct lives a child experiences. During the week, he lives with his quiet reserved mother who plays classical piano; on weekends, with his fun-loving father, whose taste for music and many other things suggests why this couple is separated.
A completely different kind of film experience is “Carlotta’s Face” by Valentin Riedl and Frédéric Schuld from Germany. It is a sensitive portrayal of a woman with prosopagnosia, which an online dictionary defines as “a neurological condition characterized by the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people.” The film is a fascinating work of semi-abstract visuals. Knowing in advance what the condition is gives gerater understanding to the film’s unusual visuals.
Show of Shows branding this year, produced by Ron Diamond. photo: courtesy R. Diamond
“One Small Step” by Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas opens with a heart-warming fantasy of a child dreaming of being an astronaut. The dream sequence of flying into space and to the moon with her father in a cardboard box is quite wonderful, but dreams can be shattered. The film has a poignant lesson about the importance of studying hard in school.
From CAL Arts’ exceptional animation program comes the film “Barry”, the protagonist of which just happens to be an extremely intelligent goat who wants to become a doctor. From Estonia comes one of the weirdest films imaginable, from Spain “A Table Game” by Nicolás Petelski, who studied with Priit Parn and created a strange, surreal four-minute experience which defies rational explanation.
From Germany, Veronica Solomon concocted “Love Me, Fear Me”, an impressive symbolic acrobatic pas de deux between two dancers made of clay! It conveys a wide range of emotions such as love, hatred, joy, fear and others with powerful visuals. The manipulation of the material is exceptional; the visuals flow so smoothly, at times they seem to defy gravity.
The Animation Show of Shows was created twenty years ago by producer Ron Diamond, who still runs it. His mission is to educate people that animation can be more than entertainment for kids; it can be a remarkable art form. In the past, Ron showed his programs of innovative shorts to appreciative audiences at animation studios and schools; however, in 2015 he began to broaden his distribution to theaters around the world.
If you haven’t seen any of his past shows and wonder if they really are something you might enjoy, you may not love every work as out tastes vary widely, but the overall quality is excellent and past shows have included 38 films that went on to receive Academy Award nominations with eleven winning. Most of the films have also distinguished themselves at other film festivals.
A 501(c 3) not-for-profit organization founded in 2015 for the express purposes of increasing public awareness of exemplary animated shorts, Diamond funds The Animation Show of Shows, through private benefactors, from successful Kickstarter campaigns and with donations from animation studios. He is also dedicated to restoring and preserving important short animations from the past.
The 98 minute program:
The Green Bird*, Maximilien Bougeois, Quentin Dubois, Marine Goalard, Irina Nguyen, Pierre Perveyrie, France
One Small Step*, Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas, U.S.
Grands Canons, Alain Biet, France
Barry, Anchi Shen, US
Super Girl, Nancy Kangas, Josh Kun, U.S.
Love Me, Fear Me, Veronica Solomon, Germany
Business Meeting, Guy Charnaux, Brazil
Flower Found in the Netherlands!, Jorn Leeuwerink, Netherlands
Bullets, Nancy Kangas, Josh Kun, U.S.
A Table Game, Nicolás Petelski, Spain
Carlotta's Face, Valentin Riedl, Frédéric Schuld, Germany
Polaris, Hikari Toriumi, U.S.
My Moon, Eusong Lee, U.S.
Weekends*, Trevor Jimenez, U.S.
Age of Sail *, John Kahrs, U.S.
* means qualified for Academy Award consideration
Karl Cohen is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached . Posted on Oct 28, 2018 - 11:35 PM