Articles on Animation &Commentary 21 Sep 2007 07:41 am
French Oscar & Cinegram Zagreb
- An interesting game of politics is happening in this year’s Oscar race. Persepolis, which will obviously be eligible for the Best Animated Feature Award, has been chosen by France, the film’s native country, to represent France in the Best Foreign Film Award. A country is allowed to select only one film to represent itself for this award, and it’s an exciting development that it is representing France.
Sicne the creation of the Best Animated Feature Award, animators in the academy have come to realize that this not only gives animation a pat on the back but also isolates animated films from other categories. It’s as if they were saying, we’ve given you your own award, now why should we put you up for Best Picture (as only Beauty and the Beast has done in the past.) The animation ghetto seems to be opening up,if only a little, by France’s decision.
Good Luck to Persepolis in Ottawa. It played there on Wednesday. It will be the closing night film at the NY Film Festival on Oct. 14th. The film opens, nationwide, on Dec. 25th.
– I recently posted an article on the history of Mickey Mouse straight from the pages of Cinegram Magazine, a small magazine published in the late ’70′s from the University of Michigan.
In the issue, Winter 1976-77, there was a second interesting article about the Eastern European animation scene. This, of course, meant only one thing in 1976, Zagreb, a studio that had alreaday won the Oscar and was turning out exceptional art films that were getting a lot of attention on the world stage. The article is by Frank Beaver. He is a noted historian, critic and essayist on film, his publications include On Film: A History of the Motion Picture and 100 Years of American Film and Oliver Stone: Wakeup Cinema .
Here is his article on Zagreb films:
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on 21 Sep 2007 at 12:07 pm 1.Ken Priebe said …
The synchronicity on this blog is staggering! At times I feel my life flash before my eyes. I studied filmmaking with Frank Beaver at University of Michigan in the mid-90s and still keep in touch with him. He’s very passionate about animation and would often show us Will Vinton’s old films and other student works. He also invited Steve Stanchfield and his magic 16mm projector in a few times for animation history lessons, and I got to change the reels for him. Good times!