The London Film Festival starts today and runs till the 30th looking at the website the collections of short animated films are already fully booked but the feature films are still available.
LFF Shortcuts and Animation
Barry the Worm
Mia and the Migoo
A Tale of Two Mozzies
An acting for animators training course by Twelve J is running in November, price and dates to be announced. Previous 1 day courses by Twelve J were £160 so I'd expect this course to be in the same ballpark.
The course will be presented by Ed Hooks, author of the book of the same name and seasoned animator. Brad Bird described Ed as follows, "Ed Hooks knows that in the very best animated films, movement defines character: Lady moves differently than Tramp, Woody moves differently than Buzz, and Wallace moves nothing like Gromit. By looking outside the medium itself, and by intelligently and thoughtfully examining character animation from an actor's perspective, Mr Hooks has made a valuable contribution towards deepening our understanding of it."
This should be a good course, I only wish I had to time and funds to attend.
From the London International Animation Festival Newsletter.
The best films as voted by the judges were:
International Programme 1: The Tiny Fish - Gregory Malshev (Russia)
International Programme 2: Skhizein - Jeremy Clapin (France)
International Programme 3: The Life Size Zoetrope - Mark Simon Hewis (UK)
International Programme 4: The Irresistible Smile - Ami Lindholm (Finland)
International Programme 5: Sundance 'Forgetfulness' - Julian Grey (Canada)
Digital Panorama: Drift - Max Hattler (UK)
Abstract Panorama: As They Pass/Mnemosyne 01 - B.Bodenauer (Austria)
Puppet Panorama: Pecatum Parvum - Asya Lukin (UK) AND Madame Tutli-Putli - C.Lavis,
M.Szczerbowski (Canada)
Long Shorts: Three Love Stories - Svetlana Filippova (Russia)
Best British film: Stand Up - Joseph Pierce (UK)
Best Overall film: The Life Size Zoetrope - Mark Simon Hewis (UK)
The audience votes were:
International Programme 1: I Met The Walrus - Josh Raskin (Canada)
International Programme 2: Skhizein - Jeremy Clapin (France)
International Programme 3: Oktapodi - J.Bocabelle, F.Chanioux, O.Delabarre, T.Marchand,
E.Mokheberi (France)
International Programme 4: Procrastination - Johnny Kelly AND The Irresistible Smile
- Ami Lindholm (Finland)
International Programme 5: A Mouse's Tale - Benjamin Renner (France)
Digital Panorama: Lifeline - Tomek Duckl (Hungary)
Abstract Panorama: Material - Boran Richard (Canada)
Puppet Panorama 1: Madame Tutli-Putli - C..Lavis, M.Szczerbowski (Canada)
Puppet Panorama 2: L'Animateur - Nick Hilligoss (Australia)
Long Shorts: Animal - Tatu Pohjavirta (Finland)
British Panorama: The Reason I Collect - Emma Curtis (UK)
Next week sees the start of the 5th London International Animation Festival. 220 films from 28 countries will be shown from 1st September till 7th at the Curzon Soho, the Renoir, the Horse Hospital and the Rio Cinema.
The full programme will contain sessions on Digital film, Puppet Films, Documentaries, British Films, International Films, Swiss Films and Abstract Films. In addition to all this will be Q & A sessions from special guests Jonathan Hodgson and Josh Raskin and even more. If previous years are anything to go by then this will be an excellent event. For those with time to spare you can save money by buying a festival pass.
Forwarded press release
Do you have an interest in urban life and/or Eastern Europeans in
London?
The ‘London in Motion’ project consists of two series of
extra-curricular documentary film workshops open to UCL postgraduate
students and staff as well as non-academics from the wider community.
Films completed during the course will be screened at the LIDF and the
Canary Wharf Film Festival in 2009.
The course is experimental in nature. It will provide access to the core
concepts of documentary filmmaking, as well as offering an opportunity
for content-rich insights from The Bartlett Faculty of the Built
Environment, the School of East European and Slavonic Studies, as well
as professional filmmakers. Key films and key texts will be viewed and
discussed.
Students will be encouraged to use all forms of new visual media to tell
a contemporary London story. The challenge will be to see how film
enriches and provides research insights, while at the same time creating
new ways of experiencing that research. The course has been designed by
PocketVisions.
Applications are welcomed from postgraduate students and staff from UCL,
as well as non-academics in the wider London community who can
demonstrate an interest in either the theme of the built environment
and/or Eastern Europeans in London. The deadline to submit your
application is 1st September 2008. Please visit
www.london-in-motion.ucl.ac.uk for more information.
‘London in Motion’ is a joint initiative between PocketVisions, School
of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies (SSEES), and the Bartlett
(Urban Film Society). It is funded by UCL Futures.
The winners of the animation section of the Soho Shorts festival were:
1st place
“Standup”
Directed by: Joseph Pierce
National Film and Television School
2nd place
“The Control Master”
Directed by: Run Wrake
Sclah Films
3rd place
“Sony Bravia: Play Doh”
Directed by: Frank Budgen and Darren Walsh
Passion Pictures
Sci-fi-London - The London International Festival of Science Fiction and Fantastic Film starts next wednesday with the Arthur C Clarke awards and follows with a full programme of films and events over the next 5 days.
Although you are likely to see animation in the form of effects throughout the programme here are the specific animated items.
Dragon Hunters
Vexille
Anime all nighter
The Blink of an Eye shorts programme also contains many animated shorts:
Ascension, An Introduction To Lucid Dream Exploration, The Ambassador’s Brain, Contre La Montre, Fairy Tale, Final Journey, Marioneta and Simulcra
Full Programme for the festival
Opening in County Hall, London on Feb 22nd is the Movieum. A potential replacement for the sadly demised Momi. This new Film Museum takes many of the ideas from Momi and other Movie Museums and brings them bang upto date with Animatronics, Sets, Models and a unique look at the British Film industry.
For the animator there should be plenty to see, there promises to be a section of British Animation including origional artwork, limited editions, Beatrix Potter, Dangermouse, Bagpuss, Mr Benn and Peppa Pig. Chapman Entertainment provide details of how they use Stop Motion Animation to produce Fifi and the Flowertots.
The museum has been produced by the same people who put together the Starwars Exhibition last year in Country Hall, Wierd and Wonderful
The London Film Festival Started today and has a promising line up of animation including some distinctly grown up films such as "Persepolis" directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Parronaud. Persepolis has been nominated for the Sutherland Trophy for the Most origional and imaginative first feature. Also showing is "Lucidi Folli" an erotic black and white animation which is Ursula Ferrara's debut film from 1986. I'm glad that the festival has chosen to recognise animation as something more than films for kids. Ursula's 1999 film "Five Rooms" is also showing.
Here's the details of all the animated films on during the festival:
Animated Shorts for Younger Audiences
Sat 27 Oct 16:00, NFT2
The Bee Movie (USA 2007)
A gala special screening.
Sun 28 Oct 15:30, Odeon West End 2
Five Rooms (Italy 1999) and We Want Roses Too (Italy-Switzerland 2007)
Fri 19 Oct 14:00, NFT3
or
Sat 20 Oct 15:45, NFT2
Lucidi Folli (Italy 1986)
Mon 22 Oct 18:30, Odeon West End 2
or
Tue 23 Oct 16:00, Odeon West End 1
Max & Co (Switzerland-Belgium-France-UK 2007)
Sat 20 Oct 14:00, NFT3
Persepolis (France 2007)
Mon 29 Oct 21:00, Odeon West End 1
or
Wed 31 Oct 15:00, Odeon West End 2
International Animation Panorama
Sat 20 Oct 13:45, NFT2
or
Mon 22 Oct 14:00, NFT3
The Thread of Life (Syria 2006)
Sat 20 Oct 19:30, BFI Southbank Studio
or
Mon 22 Oct 13:45, NFT2
Vexille (Japan 2007)
Sat 20 Oct 23:30, Odeon West End 1
or
Sun 21 Oct 16:15, ICA Cinema
Yobi, the Five-Tailed Fox
Sat 20 Oct 15:30, Odeon West End 1
or
Tue 23 Oct 12:00, NFT2
I stumbled across Dime Novel Screen via a real life friend on Facebook.
Thursday, 6th September 2007
From 8 pm — FREE ENTRY
THE SASSOON GALLERY
rear of BAR STORY
213 Blenheim Grove, London SE15 [underneath Peckham Rye Station]
It sounded interesting so I thought I'd quiz them further, Patrick Samuel kindly provided some very comprehensive answers.
Flea Circus Director: What is the typical length of a Dime film?
Patrick Samuel: The length of films tend to vary greatly. Sometimes from short animated clips or visual experiments lasting under 2 minutes to documentaries and stories that last 15 minutes long. Most films fall into the region of 7 to 12 minutes though.
FCD: How many films do you show at each session?
PS: The night itself is split into 3 sections. The first part is the Welcome Screening. This usually lasts anything from 15 to 30 minutes and we always show the Favourite of the Night from the previous month along with other "welcome material" (a music video, or an animation, things which did not quite fit into the next part). The next part is what filmmakers generally aim for. It's called the Selection Screening and usually comprises of 5 short films. It all depends on the length of the films themselves.
Each film in this selection is followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers, questions from the audience and discussions with special guests as well.
The final part of the night (after the audience have voted and the Favourite has been announced) is the Open Screening. This is for people who just happened to bring a short film with them on the night. We show it then and there for them. If the panel agrees, then we include it in the following month's Welcome Screening or Selection Screening.
FCD: Who is a typical Dime Novel Screen film maker?
PS: Our filmmakers range from students to first time filmmakers to industry professionals. We’ve had Ben Hopkins, director of the modern British cult classic The Nine Lives of Tomas Katz and 37 Uses For A Dead Sheep showing his first ever piece National Achievement Day as well Nadya Brand, producer of the most recent music video for Within Temptation and star of the horror movie Broken showing her short film Prey. Soon we’ll have The History Boys and Amazing Grace actor Stephen Campbell Moore as a special guest with his short film!
FCD: Do you have animated films?
PS: We love animated short films and it’s great that Dime Novel Screen attracts so many of them. From the very first night we had Christoph Steger with his animated documentary Mother; Leo Bridle with Still Life With Flowers; Katy Davis with Gone Fishing; Elinor Geller with The Spirit Child; and Max Hattler with Collision to name but a short few who brought with them their award winning animations.
FCD: Given that I'd have never heard about you had you not been on Facebook, do you think that social networks are reducing the numbers watching and making films or do they help?
PS: I think that social networks such as Facebook and Mysapce are a great way to promote events such as this one. The amount of promotion that we do through them is astounding and the best of it is that it’s all free. The development of the internet over the years has allowed us to upload, view, comment on and pass on videos to each other is another great step forward in making filmmaking accessible to anyone with a camera and allowing them an outlet for their creativity. It has also meant that there is also a lot of junk floating around the internet as well and events such as Dime Novel Screen is a great way to sort through it all and present to its audience the top of the bunch and let them vote for the ones they like!
FCD: Finally, how would people get involved with Dime Novel Screen?
PS: People can get involved with Dime Novel Screen in a many number of ways. If they’ve made a short film they can of course contact us and we’ll let them know how to submit their film (usually by posting a DVD). We then invite them for an interview and photo shoot to promote them on our site with a filmmaker profile. Filmmakers are also encouraged to attend on the night of their screening for their Q&A. You can also get involved by of course coming down and member of our audience, voting for the films, participating in the Q&A’s and letting us know what you thought of the night. Another way is to support us by promoting the event and/or helping us to fund it as it’s all non-profit. As the organiser, I cover the costs myself and work with a team of volunteers and together we keep it going because we all love film and want to support the people who make films by providing them with a lively screening event.
Many thanks to Patrick and hopefully I'll be providing a report of one of their sessions at some point.
The Dime Novel Screen night of short films and live Q&A's with filmmakers in the unique setting of the Sassoon Gallery on the 6th of September from 8.00pm.
http://www.liaf.org.uk/
The London International Animation Festival is back this year at the Curzon Soho and the dates have been set for 21st August to 26th August. Over the six days 200 films will be shown from 28 countries. The programme has not yet been finalised but I'm sure it will soon be appearing one their website.
There's been a lot of debate about the models in London Fashion Week having to be shaped like twiglets so that the untalented designers can hang clothes on them like a hat stand. But I don't really have a strong option about it.
