Author: Alex Widdowson
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A Vimeo user named Surreal Magicalism needed just two sentences to effectively sum up this unconventionally abstract approach to animated documentary. “Simultaneously subtle & brutal indictment of meat production/consumption; brilliant! The animation style, pace & sound design are all incredibly strong.” Somewhat subtler than Morrissey’s declaration that eating meat is worse than pedophilia, Alexandra Levasseur represents…
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This sequence of 6 episodes provides pithy explanations of economic theories, narrated by the comic actor and frequenter of panel shows, David Mitchell. The script, whilst managing to be digestibly informative, also incorporates a sharp wit that comes so naturally to Mitchell. The diagrammatical animation is simplistic. Some imagery and much of the movement seems…
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Laura Stewart, an animation student at Concordia University, recorded her grandmother during the 2012 winter holidays. Of the many stories she heard about life on Prince Edward Island in Eastern Canada, ‘Just a Mess’ stood out. Gentle banjo plucking is sprinkled behind this playful and charming claymation. The use of a folding map to tackle…
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The enthusiasm, charm and simplicity of Benjamin Ames’ approach to explaining combustion to school kids is thoroughly enjoyable. Ames, a physics doctorial candidate at the University of Innsbruck, created this cartoon for the 2012 Flame Challenge, a competition set up by the Centre for Communicating Science at Stony Brook University. Alan Alda, Hollywood actor turned…
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“We’re all doomed!” muttered an internal voice whilst watching this thoroughly bleak yet seemingly rational animation about the fundamental incompatibility of environmentalism and the current fuel based economic paradigm. Initially conceived as a lighthearted parody of the pro-capitalist propaganda cartoons of the 1940s and 50s, this Flash animation maintains a commitment to the juxtaposition of…
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Corrie Francis Parks, a Montana based animator and photographer, took part in the New Zealand based Fulbright academic exchange award. Her fellowship culminated in the creation of the 14-minute animated documentary ‘Conversing with Aotearoa’. (Aotearoa is the most widely know and accepted Māori name for New Zealand.) Francis Parks writes about the film: ‘In an…
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StoryCorps is a US independent non-profit oral history project, charged with the task of recording, sharing and preserving personal stories of American lives. Many of the thousands of stories are broadcast weekly on National Public Radio’s ‘Morning Edition’ while a handful have been adapted into short animated documentaries. The Rauch Brothers co-directed all fifteen of…
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Christoph Steger directs a mixed-media, live-action and animated documentary centred on the cinematic aspirations of Jeffery H. Marzi, an outsider science fiction screenwriter. Steger and Meghana Bisineer adopt the visual language of Marzi’s illustrations, bringing a selection of his fantasy scenes to life. The animated sequences are interwoven with an observational documentary style that dominates…
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Unfortunately we cannot embed the film ‘No-One is Illegal’. It can however be watched via George Sander-Jackson’s blog. Inspired by a performance of the ‘Asylum Monologues’, Sander-Jackson approached the writers for permission to adapt the play into a shot animated film. The narrative addresses mental anguish, firstly in regards to the atrocities that motivated the…
ANIMATED DOCS 