The (ani)mating season
Alma
It's 'toon time again as MIAF hits town.
When French animator Edouard Salier declared, "I want to disturb the audience", he wasn't kidding. In his short film Empire, tanks, submarines and army aircraft are superimposed over nostalgic images of Americans holidaying, picnicking or washing their cars ("You'd be forgiven for thinking someone had spiked your Starbucks with LSD", quipped Dazed & Confused magazine).
In Flesh, the New York cityscape functions as a giant soft porn movie screen moments before the 9/11 planes crash into the Twin Towers.
"I make films for the purpose of provoking a reaction," Salier says. "I want to shake [the audience] out, with their unconscious and their guts".
Salier's latest offering, 4, is another uncompromising and challenging piece from the man considered a "hard sell" by his home country. Pfft! We're tipping that tickets to the 'Edouard Salier Showcase' - featuring 4, Empire and Flesh, as well as other clips and shorts - will be close to selling out by the time the Melbourne International Animation Festival kicks off.
But if you snooze and lose on tickets to the Salier program, there are plenty of other animated treats on offer, like the retrospective of films by Vince Collins (including a screening of his cult classic, Malice in Wonderland), a showcase of works produced by Autour de Minuit, one of Europe's most dynamic animation houses, and a tribute to Felix the Cat, arguably the cutest feline with dilated pupils.
Then there's the best of the rest: the 'International Panorama' series, the Zagreb Film Studio Showcase, the always popular 'Late Night Bizarre' and special programs just for kids.
The Melbourne International Animation Festival runs from Saturday 19 June to Sunday 27 June. For details click here.
Published Thursday, 17 June 2010
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