Last updated on October 29, 2010
The awards are all handed out, and the crowd has dispersed. This year’s Ottawa International Animation Festival is over.
I didn’t get to spend nearly enough time with nearly enough people, but it was great to see all the familiar faces, and thank you to all of those that took the time to say “hi”. Posting my picture seemed to work, at least one young animator approached me cold, saying simply : the internet told me to say hi to you.
I’m supposed to write up my experience here, but I’m back in the studio today with plenty to catch up on. I promise I will try to put my thoughts down later on. In the meantime, I’ll throw up any links I can find to online reaction and coverage.
Cartoon Brew indulges a grump, and for once, it’s not Amid.
The Hollywood Reporter runs through the winners.
Suite 101 has awards coverage as well as reviews of some of the films. (Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, Good-Bye Mr Christie)
Mark Mayerson reviews Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist (which he saw in Ottawa).
John Martz from Drawn.ca was there. Wish I’d met him. Here are his thoughts.
Nick Cross was there too. With Marlo Meekins and Rex Hackleberg.
Gary Schwartz made a film at the festival again this year. Here it is:
Barry Sanders has photos up on Flickr.
Amid shares a few snaps on Cartoon Brew.
More as I find ’em.
And we’d love to hear from the readers who were there, what did you think of this year’s show?
well, I liked it. I’d do it again. It was really hard to see everything…I haven’t heard anyone review the Japanese showcases yet, curious about those. The Tezuka retrospective I missed, the the ‘Influence of’ lecture was really fascinating – Tezuka’s first manga was ‘published’ in the black market that rose after the bombing of Japan when the infrastructure of the country was so decimated that everyone was struggling to get food and medicine. And along comes Tezuka’s comic…and offered an escape when people needed it most. It apparently was one of the few available sources of entertainment in their country’s darkest time. Pretty incredible.
I wasn’t crazy about the feature ‘Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then’ even though the synopsis sounded good, and I thought that the Disney/Pixar shorts came off as sparse on concept in comparison to a bizarre CGI tour de force like David O’Reilly’s ‘The External World’…different films, different goals, but there it is.
I usually make the effort to “never” miss the Kids competitions. And this year was no different.
I don’t know why, but I’m always more impressed with the Kids shorts than the regular competitions for some reason. Maybe because I “get” these shorts and movies more than the more abstract, rotoscoped fair in the regular screenings.
The kids shorts are simple, unique, easily understandable and fun!
Don’t get me wrong, there were some gems in adult sections aswell:
“Flawed” by Andrea Dorfman, was simply “moving”. Her story alone was enough to get an award. Add some beatiful coloured watercolours, and you got yourself a beaitful personal film.
“The Smaller Room” was very interesting. I couldn’t help but imagine all the work put into that. Amazing.
“Get Real” Though a little violent for my taste, I thought the story, marriage of hand-drawn with 3D worked well. The colours really reflected the topic. Unique film.
“The Gruffalo” and the Spliced shorts were amazing. Very difference tstyles here, but both very effective. Enjoyed them both.
“Knitted Knights” and “Specky Four Eyes” were too favorites of mine. Both very cute and excellently executed.
Of some of the few that I didn’t particularly like.. were some of the rotoscoped films. I don’t want to get into a debate on this, but I just personally don’t get “anything” from rotoscoping. No matter hows well the drawing or painting is on top. I simply don’t get the same inner emotional enjoyment out of rotoscoping than I get from an original animation. And by original I mean, the artists own, unique interpretation of what animation should be.
Watching rotoscoping, I’m just thinking what the live action footage looks like underneath all that beautiful drawing on top. It’s art, yes, but original animation? That’s just my view.
All in all, great Fest! Cheers!
I agree with Ariel and Warren. There were some very good films, ok ones and others I just did’nt get at all. I admit I find I enjoy films/shorts with a narrative story more then those that have an abstract slant to them. Just my personal opinion though.
I do feel the Ottawa festival is going to have to step up to the plate more in the next few years to compete against other festivals (like CTN).Ottawa is not L.A, I realize this but since so much of the entertainment industry is based in that corner of the world I feel like Ottawa is missing out on opportunity’s to invite/entice more speakers/filmakers/directors to come.So many of the attendees at the Ottawa festival are college and high school kids (“animators for hire event” are geared towards college attendees for example) and this is terrific that so many want to be a part of the animation community but for us professionals it sometimes feels like Ottawa is the baby sister or brother to some of the other festivals out there.
Just a few thoughts,
Cheers.
As always I had way too much fun and not nearly enough sleep.
I watched as many films as I could, which was not nearly as many as I wanted to.
I spoke with more people than I could have hoped to.
I hung out with more old friends than I deserved.
I met more new people that I wish I could see more than once a year.
I did not cry at a screening this year but did see films that truly inspired me.
Yes I saw films I did not like but they deserve to be seen. Someone took the time to make it, the very least I could do is watch it.
I had fun.