I have to say, it was a pretty awesome week. I will do a post for each of the 4 festival days, so check back over the next few days for related articles. We kick started the first day of the Bradford Animation Festival 08 with the Professional Films Official Selection, which we were a wee bit late for (only about 5 minutes). The 4 nominated films were all very unique, but 2 of them really out-shined their competition. First of those 2 was Varmints (UK), a story of a small creature who in a world of urbanization, indifference and recklessness, is trying to preserve a small remnant of the peace he once knew.  His selfless acts plant the seeds of change and result in an intriguing ending. For those who like Eco-doom stories, it is a recommended watch. The trailer and images for Varmints can be found on the Studio Aka website. The Varmints film ultimately won Grand Prize for Best Film as well as Audience Award for Best Film.

The other stand-out film was the French animation ‘Skhizein’. Although I’m not a great fan of the animation style, I really warmed to this story and the way it was executed. Even second time around (when it was announced as Best Professional Film), it was an emotional watch. The story revolves around Henry. Having been struck by a 150 ton meteorite, Henry has to adapt to living precisely 91cms from himself. Resulting in some brilliant set pieces and comical interactions. You can find out more about the film on the Skhizein website and also the trailer, which is under ‘Bande-Annonce’, if you are not fluent in your Français, like moi.

There was also a retrospective by Oscar Winning Animator Daniel Greaves of his work at Tandem Films. He showed a selection of his main works, as well as commercials he has done. The commercials were shown after each film, demonstrating the similar techniques he employed. Normally I’m not a big fan of traditional animation, but his creativity really pushes the boundaries on what can be achieved through those sort of techniques, such as cut-out and hand drawn approaches. His Oscar Winning short movie ‘Manipulation’ is a story about the artist losing control of his creation when the animated character refuses to be brushed away. Although not my favourite, it did have some really interesting ideas. It can be watched on Youtube, for those who want to check it out. My favourite Daniel Greaves piece was probably Flat World, which blends all sorts of techniques, including cut-out, hand drawn and small sections of cel animation. The movie can be found in 2 parts on Youtube, although quality is not great and runs at a total of 30 min.

We returned yet again to the screens after a few drinks in Wetherspoons. Anne Brotot, managing director of Supinfocom, presented a selection of award winning students’ work from over the last 10 years. Supinfocom is a French Computer Graphics college. The oldest of the students’ work was 2 films from 1997 and you could probably guess they haven’t dated well. The favourite from the selection was created in 2007, by Amael Isnard, Manuel Javelle and Clément Picon. The film was called Musicothérapie and can be seen below.

We finished the opening night with a screening of the 6 Academy Awards winning film Waltz with Bashir. Even before arriving, we had heard that it was the ‘not to be missed’ animation of the year, so we made sure to check it out. It is a documentary style film conveying the horror and desperation of the first Lebanon War. The director, narrator and ‘interviewer’ is Ari Folman, who after chatting to a friend about nightmares, begins trying to regain his memory surrounding the events, returning in the form of surreal and harrowing images. The film was incredibly moving and had one of those ending which results in silence, rather than clapping. The film goes into cinemas in the UK on 21st November.

The trailer can be seen on the website here.

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Read about the other days of the Bradford Animation Festival below:

Bradford Animation Festival 2008 – Wednesday
Bradford Animation Festival 2008 – Thursday
Bradford Animation Festival 2008 – Friday
Bradford Animation Festival 2008 – Saturday