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Cohen’s Cartoon Corner: Jun 2021
by Karl F. Cohen
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From Ben Ridgeway's 'Formless Form', 2019. image: courtesy B. RidgewayRidgway Next Masterpiece
Ben Ridgway has completed another exquisite work of animated art. Ben, who teaches animation at San Francisco State University, has been creating visionary animated films and sculptures for many years.
He recently finished "Formless Form", and he says he hopes you enjoy watching it here..
Poster from Geoff Clark’s 'Tragic Magic', 2019. image: courtesy G. ClarkLocal Animator Makes Good at Festivals
Local animator Geoff Clark’s “Tragic Magic”, a stop-motion film that was completed in 2019, is doing well at film festivals. It tells the story of Greygaunt the wizard and his apprentice and when their day is interrupted by the arrival of Death. Will their combined magic skills be enough to defeat him? Geoff made the film in his home studio and it has been shown in ten festivals.
“The most notable being Montreal’s Animaze International Film Festival,” he said. It has won awards at the New York Animated Film Awards and the Los Angeles Animation Festival. It was shown in May at FilmQuest in Provo, UT. “The film showed at Animation Chico in 2019. I had a blast at that show. The organizers are really great.” See it here.
Poster from ‘Pepito’ the animated dog opera from Muttville. image: courtesy E. Guevara Pepito the Delightful Cartoon Dog
‘Pepito’ is a delightful, animated dog opera made for Muttville, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and caring for senior dogs in San Francisco. This heart-warming work features cutout animation directed by Espranza Guevara, who is a graduate of University of Southern California. The music was composed by Nicolas Lell Benavides and the libretto was by Marella Martin Koch for New Opera West, a LA area group. The opera was commissioned by Emily Thebaut, a co-founder of Muttville. It really is a delightful film and can be seen here 🐩 🐕
From Fluffy White Clouds new short about the Yellowstone Fire of 1988. image: courtesy LFC Fluffy Clouds At It Again
"Yellowstone 88: Song of Fire " is a short by Little Fluffy Clouds is a 2D hand drawn animated short that tells the story of the devastating fires that engulfed Yellowstone Park for five months in 1988. The fires didn’t end until winter storms extinguished them. Despite the horror and devastation, life returned and continues for the plants and animals of the area.
It is a handsome work with a soft-spoken poem by Betsy de Fries read by Peter Coyote. Song of Fire was created by Betsy de Fries Little Fluffy Clouds’ director/producer and co-founder and her co-founder and director/animator Jerry van de Beek. The music was composed and performed by Mark Murphy, who is part of the Irish rock and roll band The Devlins, and recorded at Secrets and Machines in Dublin.
Martha Gorzycki. image: courtesy M. Gorzycki The art in the film was first drawn using Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and cleaned up using Illustrator. Then each illustration was split up into hundreds of flat elements and recompiled in After Effects, carefully placing each element in a different depth layer to create a multiplane effect when there is camera motion. It can be viewed here.
After viewing the film scroll down as it provides all kinds of facts about the fires (costs to put it out, numbers and kinds of mammals killed, number of fires caused by man, by lightening, etc.). Here is a link to an informative article about the production in Stash Magazine.
Martha Gorzycki Featured Burma Fest
Martha Gorzycki’s “Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei’ was part of the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival. This powerful film experience has won 20 film festivals awards and most recently it was part of a major online fund raiser to raise money and awareness of the bleak situation happening in Burma. The benefit featured over a dozen speaking events and over 30 films (shorts, features).
Martha heads San Francisco State’s animation program. You can see this powerful work here.
Phil Tippett. image: courtesy P. Tippett Locaron Festival Honors Phil Tippett
The Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) will honor U.S. animator and visual effects artist Phil Tippett, with a lifetime achievement award. The festival is honoring him for his work behind the scenes that has “has extended the horizons of filmic iconography.” Phil, whose studio is in the East Bay, won two Oscars for his work on “The Return of the Jedi” and “Jurassic Park”. The upcoming festival (August 4-14) will host the world premiere of Tippett’s experimental stop-motion film “Mad God”, that has been in development for years. It is set in a world of monsters, mad scientists and war pigs, and was funded by fans through Kickstarter. Locarno will fete Tippett with its Vision Award.
Hank Azaria and Apu are getting divorced. image: courtesy M. GroenigAzaria Apologizes for Playing Apu in Simpsons
He has been paid well for playing that role since 1989, but now that he is being criticized for being politically incorrect Hank Azaria says he is sorry—not to you but to people who are from India who watch the show. The Guardian reports the actor has apologized “to every single Indian person” for his portrayal of Apu in The Simpsons. Azaria, who is white, voiced the role of Apu, an Indian-American shopkeeper. The character has now been terminated from the show amid criticism of racial stereotyping. Azaria accepts being accountable for any “negative consequences.” He also said that, although he believed the show was founded on good intentions, it contributed to “structural racism” in the US.
When he accepted the role, “I really didn’t know any better, I didn’t think about it. I was unaware how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens. Just because there were good intentions it doesn’t mean there weren’t real negative consequences to the thing that I am accountable for.”
Awareness that the character was an insensitive and offensive portrayal was stressed in the 2017 documentary, “The Problem with Apu”, made by the Indian American comedian Hari Kondabolu as a look at “how western culture depicts south-east Asian communities.”
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons”, told the BBC the show was striving for inclusivity. Last year he announced that non-white characters would no longer be voiced by white actors, and in February he said the Black actor Kevin Michael Richardson would assume the role of Julius Hibbert, an African American doctor, from Harry Shearer, who voices characters including Mr Burns.
“Bigotry and racism are still an incredible problem and it’s good to finally go for more equality and representation,” says Groening. “There was no intention to sideline or offend ethnic minorities.
Karl F. Cohen—who decided to add his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .
Posted on Jun 19, 2021 - 09:50 AM
by Karl F. Cohen
Please support our stories by liking articles—thanks!
From Ben Ridgeway's 'Formless Form', 2019. image: courtesy B. RidgewayBen Ridgway has completed another exquisite work of animated art. Ben, who teaches animation at San Francisco State University, has been creating visionary animated films and sculptures for many years.
He recently finished "Formless Form", and he says he hopes you enjoy watching it here..
Poster from Geoff Clark’s 'Tragic Magic', 2019. image: courtesy G. ClarkLocal animator Geoff Clark’s “Tragic Magic”, a stop-motion film that was completed in 2019, is doing well at film festivals. It tells the story of Greygaunt the wizard and his apprentice and when their day is interrupted by the arrival of Death. Will their combined magic skills be enough to defeat him? Geoff made the film in his home studio and it has been shown in ten festivals.
“The most notable being Montreal’s Animaze International Film Festival,” he said. It has won awards at the New York Animated Film Awards and the Los Angeles Animation Festival. It was shown in May at FilmQuest in Provo, UT. “The film showed at Animation Chico in 2019. I had a blast at that show. The organizers are really great.” See it here.
Poster from ‘Pepito’ the animated dog opera from Muttville. image: courtesy E. Guevara‘Pepito’ is a delightful, animated dog opera made for Muttville, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing and caring for senior dogs in San Francisco. This heart-warming work features cutout animation directed by Espranza Guevara, who is a graduate of University of Southern California. The music was composed by Nicolas Lell Benavides and the libretto was by Marella Martin Koch for New Opera West, a LA area group. The opera was commissioned by Emily Thebaut, a co-founder of Muttville. It really is a delightful film and can be seen here 🐩 🐕
From Fluffy White Clouds new short about the Yellowstone Fire of 1988. image: courtesy LFC"Yellowstone 88: Song of Fire " is a short by Little Fluffy Clouds is a 2D hand drawn animated short that tells the story of the devastating fires that engulfed Yellowstone Park for five months in 1988. The fires didn’t end until winter storms extinguished them. Despite the horror and devastation, life returned and continues for the plants and animals of the area.
It is a handsome work with a soft-spoken poem by Betsy de Fries read by Peter Coyote. Song of Fire was created by Betsy de Fries Little Fluffy Clouds’ director/producer and co-founder and her co-founder and director/animator Jerry van de Beek. The music was composed and performed by Mark Murphy, who is part of the Irish rock and roll band The Devlins, and recorded at Secrets and Machines in Dublin.
Martha Gorzycki. image: courtesy M. Gorzycki After viewing the film scroll down as it provides all kinds of facts about the fires (costs to put it out, numbers and kinds of mammals killed, number of fires caused by man, by lightening, etc.). Here is a link to an informative article about the production in Stash Magazine.
Martha Gorzycki Featured Burma Fest
Martha Gorzycki’s “Voices from Kaw Thoo Lei’ was part of the Burma Spring Benefit Film Festival. This powerful film experience has won 20 film festivals awards and most recently it was part of a major online fund raiser to raise money and awareness of the bleak situation happening in Burma. The benefit featured over a dozen speaking events and over 30 films (shorts, features).
Martha heads San Francisco State’s animation program. You can see this powerful work here.
Phil Tippett. image: courtesy P. Tippett The Locarno Film Festival (Switzerland) will honor U.S. animator and visual effects artist Phil Tippett, with a lifetime achievement award. The festival is honoring him for his work behind the scenes that has “has extended the horizons of filmic iconography.” Phil, whose studio is in the East Bay, won two Oscars for his work on “The Return of the Jedi” and “Jurassic Park”. The upcoming festival (August 4-14) will host the world premiere of Tippett’s experimental stop-motion film “Mad God”, that has been in development for years. It is set in a world of monsters, mad scientists and war pigs, and was funded by fans through Kickstarter. Locarno will fete Tippett with its Vision Award.
Hank Azaria and Apu are getting divorced. image: courtesy M. GroenigHe has been paid well for playing that role since 1989, but now that he is being criticized for being politically incorrect Hank Azaria says he is sorry—not to you but to people who are from India who watch the show. The Guardian reports the actor has apologized “to every single Indian person” for his portrayal of Apu in The Simpsons. Azaria, who is white, voiced the role of Apu, an Indian-American shopkeeper. The character has now been terminated from the show amid criticism of racial stereotyping. Azaria accepts being accountable for any “negative consequences.” He also said that, although he believed the show was founded on good intentions, it contributed to “structural racism” in the US.
When he accepted the role, “I really didn’t know any better, I didn’t think about it. I was unaware how much relative advantage I had received in this country as a white kid from Queens. Just because there were good intentions it doesn’t mean there weren’t real negative consequences to the thing that I am accountable for.”
Awareness that the character was an insensitive and offensive portrayal was stressed in the 2017 documentary, “The Problem with Apu”, made by the Indian American comedian Hari Kondabolu as a look at “how western culture depicts south-east Asian communities.”
Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons”, told the BBC the show was striving for inclusivity. Last year he announced that non-white characters would no longer be voiced by white actors, and in February he said the Black actor Kevin Michael Richardson would assume the role of Julius Hibbert, an African American doctor, from Harry Shearer, who voices characters including Mr Burns.
“Bigotry and racism are still an incredible problem and it’s good to finally go for more equality and representation,” says Groening. “There was no intention to sideline or offend ethnic minorities.
Karl F. Cohen—who decided to add his middle initial to distinguish himself from the Russian Karl Cohen, who tried to assassinate the Czar in the mid-19th century—is an animator, educator and director of the local chapter of the International Animation Society and can be reached .
Posted on Jun 19, 2021 - 09:50 AM
