Animated Travels

Curators Lars Denicke and Peter Thaler welcome attendees to Pictoplasma 08. All images courtesy of Pictoplasma, unless otherwise noted.

“Characters want you!  The floodgates opened and our visual culture was set upon by a mass of abstract characters, grinning, blinking and snarling in their inimitable pared-down graphical way.  In what has become a truly global movement they have invaded digital media, animation, advertising, design, fashion, street and fine art, mashing up and guzzling their way through a diet of pop culture, tribal art, folklore, logos and cartoons.  They are the true embodiment of the utopian promise of global communication.  They speak in emotions that bypass language and cultural boundaries.”

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The festival mascots designed by Koji Yamamura.

From the shores of enchanting Rio to Sao Paulo’s urban hustle and bustle, I was lucky enough to attend Brazil’s 2008 Anima Mundi festival.  This is the only festival I know about that starts in one city for a week and then moves to another town for another week of festivities.  While this makes it one of the longest festivals, I think most people would want it to last even a little longer.

The amount of screenings at Anima Mundi is impressive.  Furthermore, the selection is very varied making for great viewing.  When one attends a number of festivals the same films usually get repeated a number of times so that by the end of the year one feels as if they have seen half the films already.  Not the case here!  The films were varied in their country of origin but also in quality – some being from small workshops and others from the biggest of studios.  However, they were all entertaining and interesting.  A great selection indeed!

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OIAF Artistic Director Chris Robinson previews Chainsaw by Australian animator Dennis Tupicoff.

The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is trying out some new elements this year, including a new venue (the Canadian Museum of Civilization), a new free shuttle bus between venues and new additions to programming, like a live art presentation by Daniel Barrow, who uses an overhead projector and narration to create something called “manual animation.”

OIAF artistic director Chris Robinson says that they’re “trying new events with more of a performance aspect. We’re expanding out rather than keeping things static.”

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Eye in the sky view of the auction. (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)

Word coming from the Bay Area is that the Totoro Forest Project auction at Pixar was a stellar success. The world’s top film animators, comic book artists and illustrators came together after creating original works of art inspired by the iconic animated film My Neighbor Totoro for an auction to benefit the Totoro No Furusato (Totoro’s Homeland) National Fund – also known as the Totoro Forest Fund on September 6, 2008, at Pixar Animation Studios in Emeryville, CA.  The Totoro Forest Fund is dedicated to preserving Sayama Forest, a large park outside Tokyo that inspired the beloved film by respected Japanese movie director Hayao Miyazaki.  AWN is proud to present some of the exclusive pics from the event to share with you.

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The inspirational Sayama Forest in Tokyo needs your help.

If you haven’t heard about the amazing Totoro Forest Project fund-raising exhibition/auction, which will be held Sept. 6^th at Pixar, then you are missing out on some fabulous artwork being sold for a great cause. Spearheaded by Pixar art director Dice Tsutsumi, the event features artwork from some the top animators and illustrators working today. The proceeds will go to helping preserve the Sayama Forest, an 8750-acres urban forest in Tokyo. The woods inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece My Neighbor Totoro and the Totoro no Furusato Fund has been the Oscar-winner’s most cherished charity for years.

Read this brief interview with the organizers of the benefit and check out some of the artwork, then head over to the Totoro Forest Project website to find out how you can help. Read the rest of this entry »