Cartoons and beyond: Festival features everything from edgy animated rooftop sex to short films from Disney and Pixar
Steven Mazey, The Ottawa Citizen
Anyone who thinks that animation is an art form strictly for children should have a look at Roof Sex, a short, sharp, cheekily amusing American film in which two livingroom chairs have a wild time together on an apartment building rooftop, without using upholstery covers for protection.
It’s just one of dozens of edgy pieces among the more than 140 films from around the world that will be on Ottawa screens as part of the Ottawa International Animation Festival. The annual festival opens today and runs to Oct. 24, at venues that include the ByTowne Cinema and the National Gallery of Canada.
The festival includes family and children-oriented screenings, including short films from Disney, Pixar and Ottawa’s Amberwood Entertainment, but festivalgoers will also see a wide range of films that are decidedly not recommended for children — films with serious themes that include mental illness and abusive fathers.
Full story: Cartoons and beyond
TWO LOCAL FESTIVALS BRING THE CREATORS OF KENK TO OTTAWA
When the Ottawa International Animation Festival and the Ottawa International Writer’s Festival realized they were running on the same dates, they immediately knew they wanted do a cross-over event. A presentation on the hugely popular graphic novel KENK was the perfect way to bring the two audiences together.
KENK is groundbreaking graphic novel that has wide appeal. It’s a new hybrid that simultaneously takes the form of documentary film, journalistic profile and comic book. Now the team behind the book is working on turning it into an animated film.
LET’S GO CRAZY! : WINGNUTS DESCEND ON OIAF
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) presents “Let’s Go Crazy” a unique program that explores animation’s depiction of mental health.
“While crazy behaviour has long been a basic ingredient in comedy,” said Guest Curator and Animation Historian, Karl Cohen, “Historically, dramatic film rarely depicted mental illness, except for token mad scientists, criminally insane masterminds or rage-filled monsters. In recent years, a handful of animators have pioneered new styles of animated storytelling able to portray the serious side of life and the complexities of mental health.”
Local animation festival sees surge in new visitors
Katie Gowrie, Centretown News
A recent change in venue has brought more locals to Ottawa’s International Animation Festival, a trend that’s been evident since the 1990s, says Chris Robinson, the OIAF’s artistic director.
Ottawa’s annual International Animation Festival features animated film shorts and full feature films from filmmakers based in Canada and across the globe.
“There’s still a misconception about what animation is,” Neall says, adding that the films they show aren’t simply cartoons but amazing, thought provoking films. “Each one is a work of art.”
Though animation has grown, it’s still a niche art form that brings in a select audience, Robinson says. The OIAF exposes its audience to a different type of animation that’s not always seen on TV.
He says his goal over the last decade has been to change the perception of animation and make others realize it’s for everybody.
Full story available on the Centretown News website: Local animation festival sees surge in new visitors
Free Thinking Film Festival Brings Pro-Democracy Films to Ottawa
On November 12th, 2010, the Free Thinking Film Society kicks off the first film festival in Canada to celebrate limited government, free market economics, and the dignity of the individual. The Free Thinking Film Festival will feature three Galas, and 19 films, and lectures between November 12-14, 2010 at Library and Archives Canada. There will also be a Free Thinking Alley where attendees can buy books and DVDs, and enjoy food.
“There are a lot of courageous voices in the film industry which reject cultural relativism and the ‘blame America’ bandwagon,” says Free Thinking Film Festival President Fred Litwin. “But you wouldn’t know it by looking at the listings for art house cinemas. Our festival shows films that break from political correctness.”
The Festival opens with the Canadian premiere of “Kalifornistan,” a comic satire about a deranged terrorist who plots to destroy LA with a nuclear bomb – while being distracted by a beautiful dancer. “Kalifornistan” stars Canadian actress and filmmaker Govindini Murty and was directed/written by Jason Apuzzo.
The Lost Dominion 70mm Film Festival
The Lost Dominion Screening Collective is proud to present the first annual 70mm Film Festival at the Canadian Museum of Civilization on September the 24th, 25th, and 26th, 2010.
Poster for the 1st Annual 70mm Film Festival
For full festival deatails please visit in70mm.com.
DOMAINE PUBLIC – NOUVELLE FORMULE La projection post‐tremblement de terre
Domaine public/Public Domain
Un programme d’oeuvres de commande en arts médiatiques réalisées à partir d’archives de la collection de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
PROJECTION
Mercredi le 15 septembre 2010, 19 h
Auditorium, Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
395, rue Wellington
Entrée libre / Free admission
OTTAWA – Août 2010 – Le tremblement de terre du 23 juin dernier à Val‐des‐Bois s’est produit quelques heures avant la première très attendue de Domaine public, un programme d’oeuvres de commande en arts médiatiques produit par SAWVideo. En raison du tremblement de terre, l’auditorium de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, où devait avoir lieu la projection, a été temporairement fermé. Grâce à Facebook et à d’autres réseaux sociaux, l’événement a pu être reprogrammé dès le lendemain, au Mayfair Theatre, à 17 h. SAW Video est heureux d’offrir à nouveau au public l’occasion de voir ces vidéos de facture extrêmement contemporaine lors d’une projection post‐tremblement de terre qui aura lieu le mercredi 15 septembre 2010, à l’Auditorium de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada, au 395 rue Wellington, à 19 h.
Lancé en juin 2010, le projet Domaine public est la première entreprise de cette envergure produite par SAW Video. Grâce à une subvention du Programme de commandes d’oeuvres d’arts médiatiques du Conseil des arts du Canada, SAW Video a approché sept artistes médiatiques accomplis et basés au Canada pour qu’ils réalisent des oeuvres vidéo à partir de documents d’archives appartenant à la collection de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada. Il en résulte Domaine public, un programme de six vidéos inédites qui fournissent au public l’occasion unique et nécessaire de se pencher sur la question très actuelle des droits d’auteur dans le domaine des arts visuels. Comme le dit la directrice de SAW Video, Penny McCann : « En principe, les oeuvres tombées dans le domaine public sont libres de droits, mais les démarches pour obtenir la permission d’utiliser ces oeuvres « publiques » peuvent être très longues et très coûteuses. Avec Domaine public, nous voulions donner aux artistes médiatiques la possibilité et les moyens d’accéder aux trésors de notre collection d’archives nationales tout en essayant de comprendre pourquoi certaines images de notre passé collectif sont archivées et d’autres pas. »
Les sept artistes canadiens choisis pour ce projet offrent un large éventail d’approches et de techniques quant à la façon d’utiliser des documents d’archives. Steve Reinke (Chicago/Toronto), déjà connu pour l’intégration de documents d’archives dans ses essais vidéo, transgresse la nature des images archivées en les situant dans un contexte différent et en leur donnant un autre sens. Sara Angelucci (Toronto) établit un lien entre l’aspect fragile et évanescent des images concrètes et le caractère volatile de la mémoire et de l’identité. Maureen Bradley (Victoria) recourt à une approche féministe et politique dans une oeuvre en forme d’essai où la force des images documentaires se conjugue avec une incursion dans une histoire de famille. Gennaro de Pasquale (Montréal) recueille des images et des sons de sources diverses qu’il assemble ensuite selon leurs composantes sémantiques et formelles pour en faire des vidéo‐collages poétiques. Suzan Vachon (Montréal) fouille les collections d’archives en quête d’images oniriques et évocatrices qu’elle intègre ensuite dans ses essais de nature lyrique. Les artistes Véronique Couillard et Ryan Stec (Ottawa) s’intéressent à l’aspect graphique des images analogues, qu’ils manipulent par voie numérique en les retouchant et en les mixant de manière à en modifier la nature et le rythme.
Liste des oeuvres présentées :
Gennaro de Pasquale, Vortex, 12:08
Sara Angelucci, The Beauty Pageant News, 8:47
Suzan Vachon, chant [dans les muscules du chant], 23:32
Maureen Bradley, Beyond the Pale, 16:00
Véronique Couillard/Ryan Stec, Library and Archives Canada Public Domain Reels Documenting Spots of Beauty and Interest in Ontario and Quebec Sometime Ago Remixed Today (VCRS): 19752010, 3:00
Steve Reinke, Not Torn (Asunder from the Very Start), 9:57
Pour en savoir davantage sur Domaine public, visiter www.sawvideo.com/publicdomain.
SAW Video presents PUBLIC DOMAIN / REDUX The post‐earthquake screening
Public Domain / Domaine public
A media art commissioning project drawn from
Library and Archives Canada’s collection
SCREENING
Wednesday , 15 September 2010, 7pm
Library and Archives Canada Auditorium
395 Wellington St.
Free admission
OTTAWA – August 2010 – The June 23rd Val‐des‐Bois earthquake happened just hours before the premiere of SAW Video’s greatly anticipated national media art commissioning project, Public Domain. The tremors resulted in the temporary closure of the venue for SAW Video’s screening – the auditorium of the Library and Archives Canada. With the help of Facebook and other social media, the event was quickly rescheduled and took place the next day at 5pm at the Mayfair Theatre.
SAW Video is pleased to give the public another chance to view these groundbreaking contemporary video works with an encore, post‐earthquake screening taking place Wednesday, September 15, 2010 at the Library and Archives Canada auditorium, 395 Wellington St., at 7pm. Launched in June 2009, Public Domain is the first commissioning project of this scope undertaken by SAW Video. With the support of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts Media Arts Commissioning program, SAW Video commissioned seven accomplished media artists working in Canada to create new video works using public domain films and videos footage found in the Library and Archives Canada. The result is Public Domain, a programme of six new videos that present a unique and valuable opportunity to contribute to the ongoing discourse around copyrighted images. According to SAW Video director Penny McCann, “Works that are in the public domain are, theoretically, free from copyright restrictions, however the process for obtaining permission for these ‘public’ works can be expensive and time‐consuming. The purpose of Public Domain was to offer media artists the opportunity and the resources to crack open the treasure chest of our national archives collection while at the same engaging in questions of which images in our collective past get archived and which do not.”
The seven Canadian artists chosen for this commissioning project present a variety of approaches and techniques to the use of archival documents. Steve Reinke (Chicago/Toronto), already known for the use of archival documents in his video essays, transgresses the nature of the archival images he employs by giving them a new context and a new meaning. Sara Angelucci (Toronto) links the fragility and physical evanescence of the image with the volatility of memory and identity. Maureen Bradley (Victoria) employs a feminist and political approach in the form of an essay which joins the force of documentary images with an investigation of family history. Gennaro de Pasquale (Montreal) collects images and sounds from multiple sources, which he then assembles in poetic video collages according to their formal and semantic properties. Suzan Vachon (Montreal) gleans archival collections looking for images with oneiric and evocative possibilities which she incorporates into her lyrical essays. The artistic duo Véronique Couillard and Ryan Stec (Ottawa) are particularly interested in the graphic qualities of analogue images, which they manipulate digitally using a process of live retouching and mixing that imparts a new rhythm and a new nature to the images.
List of works being screened:
Gennaro de Pasquale, Vortex, 12:08
Sara Angelucci, The Beauty Pageant News, 8:47
Suzan Vachon, chant [dans les muscules du chant], 23 :32
Maureen Bradley, Beyond the Pale, 16:00
Véronique Couillard/Ryan Stec, Library and Archives Canada Public Domain Reels Documenting Spots of Beauty and Interest in Ontario and Quebec Sometime Ago Remixed Today (VCRS): 19752010, 3:00
Steve Reinke, Not Torn (Asunder from the Very Start), 9:57
For more on Public Domain, visit www.sawvideo.com/publicdomain.
Tonight: Final Night of the 20th Annual One World Film Festival
Friday, October 30th
Library and Archives Canada
395 Wellington Street
Doors Open at 5:30/Screenings Begin at 6:00PM
Evening Pass: $12.00/$10.00 (Students and Seniors)
www.wiam.ca
6:00PM /
THE MOST SECRET PLACE ON EARTH – THE CIA’S COVERT WAR IN LAOS
A film by Marc Eberle (Germany)
52 min., 2009
The Vietnam War was the most intensely televised war ever. However, next door in neighboring Laos, the longest and largest air war in human history was underway, which eventually made Laos the most bombed country on earth. The Secret War was the largest operation ever conducted by the CIA, yet to this day, hardly anyone knows anything about it. Critics call it the biggest war crime of the Vietnam War era and point to striking similarities to the present conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan; similarities that were tested and set in motion back in Laos in the 1960s. In The Most Secret Place On Earth, key players of the Secret War- former CIA agents, American pilots, Laotian fighters and war reporters – take us on a journey into the physical heart of the conflict: Top secret Long Cheng, where the CIA built its headquarters in 1962. It was from this base that the Secret War was largely planned and executed. As the war dragged on, Long Cheng became the busiest airbase in the world and a major center for the global opium and heroin trade. As we journey into Long Cheng for the first time – the site has been off limits to the outside world since the end of the war in 1975 – the film reconstructs the gripping story of the operation and illustrates its relevance to current American conflicts.
BREAK
7:30PM /
Good Fortune
A film by Landon Van Soest (USA)
73 min., 2007
GOOD FORTUNE explores how massive, international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the very communities they aim to benefit. Through intimate portraits of two Kenyans battling to save their homes from large-scale development organizations, the film presents a unique opportunity to experience foreign aid through the people it is intended to benefit.
In the rural countryside, Jackson’s farm is being flooded by an American investor who hopes to alleviate poverty by creating a multi-million dollar rice farm. Across the country in Nairobi, Silva’s home and business in Africa’s largest squatter community are being demolished as part of a United Nations slum-upgrading project.
Interweaving meditative portraits of its characters, GOOD FORTUNE examines the real-world impact of international aid. With a broad scope and intimate style, the film portrays gripping stories of human perseverance and suggests that the answers for Africa lie in the resilience of its people.
Followed by:
WaterCan
3 short films – 1 min.
Featuring the winning entry, H2Slow by Ottawa-native William Barber, these one-minute videos were run as a contest by the locally-based non-profit organization WaterCan.
Presentation by :Gary Pluim, Executive Director of WaterCan and George Yap Program Director, WaterCan.
BREAK
9:30PM /
The Choir
A film by Michael Davies (Australia)
88 min., 2008
South Africa in 1994 was in the grip of massive social change. The transition from dictatorship to democracy also ushered in a massive crime wave that rocked the country. The Choir explores the consequences of this social upheaval in the struggle for humanity and redemption through music in South Africa’s biggest prison.
Shot over six years by Emmy award winning Australian filmmaker Michael Davie, the story follows a group of inmates – led by wily ex-bank robber Coleman – finding strength in the community of the prison choir. Coleman takes under his wing a rebellious and angry young prisoner, Jabulani Shabangu whose eventual release back onto the streets of Johannesburg is fraught with poverty and despair before his returned to prison.
Under the tough love of the choirmaster, Jabulani learns to respect others and behave with discipline. Mirroring their homeland’s struggle to deal with the past and forge a new identity, The Choir is testament to the power of music and self-belief.
Ottawa festival winners announced
Mike Valiquette | CanadianAnimationResources.ca
The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) comes to an end with the highly anticipated closing ceremonies held this evening at the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau. Organizers announced the winners of the official competition during the ceremonies.
This year’s event, held October 14-18, was a tremendous success with packed screenings, sold out workshops, high profile networking events such as the Television Animation Conference and the Recruiting Fair. The Festival is a major international film event that attracts 1500 industry pass holders from across Canada and around the world with a total attendance of over 25,000. Although the final numbers are not officially in, there are strong indications that this year’s Festival reached the highest attendance to date.
The 2009 international jury for Short Program, Student and Commissioned Films include: Amid Amidi (USA), Jim Blashfield (USA) and Suzan Pitt (USA). The international jury for Feature Film Competition include: Thomas Meyer-Hermann (Germany), Christa Moesker (Netherlands) and Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre (Canada).
The Festival has a special jury made up of local kids to select the Best Short Animation Made for Children and the Best Television Animation Made for Children. This year’s kids jury included: Tallie Doyle, Tegwyn Hughes, Jamie McCormick, Felipe Bemfica, Isabelle Birchall, Aditya Mohan, Paris Mullin, Quinn Murphy and Eric Ding.
Full story: Ottawa festival winners announced
