• ‘The Chaperone 3D’ by Fraser Munden

    The Chaperone 3D Trailer from Thoroughbread Pictures on Vimeo.

    Something new here – I’m fairly certain this is the first animated documentary made in stereoscopic 3D that we’ve featured! Is this a new movement in animadoc film-making? It’s definitely one that I didn’t see coming.

    Just the trailer available to view on Vimeo at present. The film has recently been premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. We look forward to reading reviews. It sounds intriguing…

    “When told that bikers once invaded a middle school dance in a Montreal church basement, Neil Rathbone couldn’t believe it.

    I said ‘No way that’s true. That’s the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard,’ he recalled.

    The story is told by Ralph Whims and Stefan Czernatowicz, who were the teacher/chaperone and DJ at the dance.

    Rathbone said the film includes live action Kung Fu segments, puppets and exploding piñatas.

    “It has a strong comedic flavour,” he said.

    More from the interview with Rathbone here:
    http://www.thespec.com/news-story/4070910-burlington-grad-s-animated-short-premieres-at-tiff/

  • Animadoc Award, nominees announced

    We are hotly anticipating the results of this years Animadoc Award at Dok Leipzig, the winner will be announced on Saturday 2nd November.

    If anyone is there at the festival on Saturday night and finds out the winner, please do let us know by either leaving a comment here or posting on our facebook wall!

    Good luck everyone!

    http://films2013.dok-leipzig.de/en/program.aspx

  • ‘Jeffery and the Dinosaurs’ by Christoph Steger

    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 the film.

    JATD1

    Jeffery was born with brain damage. Although he exceeded doctors predictions concerning his learning ability, the 42 year old recognises his limitations and harbours anxiety about ending up homeless. Despite his preference for reliable work, as a mailman or mechanic, consistent rejection in the job market has led Jeffery to write and illustrate concepts for Hollywood blockbusters.  For the past 15 years these have been photocopied and mailed to movie producers all around the world.

    Jatd2

    Channel 4’s Animate Projects scheme funded this documentary in 2008. Christopher Steger offered his insight in a video interview which is hosted on their website.  “In lack of a better term…” Steger places Jeffery’s practice in the field of Outsider Art. Paraphrasing the sentiments of Jean Dubuffet and Rodger Cardinal, Steger describes the raw authenticity of emotion in Jeffery’s work, which is lacking in the self-aware, contextualised practices of trained artists.

    JATD3

    Steger continues: “I like life, and animation is almost the opposite, it’s all about fantasy. So I felt a relief to be able to have Jeffery take care of all that. He does all the imaginary work of the visuals and it’s down to me to bring them to life…. The real film for me and the artistic challenge is in the structure of the poetry, and trying to bring out those poetic moments of a story like Jeffery’s.”

    JATD4

    Steger’s film ‘Mother’ was featured on the blog in January 2013. He as recently made much of his work available on Vimeo.

  • “All in this together” Are benefits ever a lifestyle choice?’ by Dole Animators

     

    The Dole Animators are a group of first time animation film makers living in Leeds UK. Together, they have made a film about their experiences of the coalition government recent welfare reforms and the impact of the changes on their lives.

    The film challenges a mainstream media rhetoric, which states that people choose a life on benefits and that this ‘choice’ is an easy lifestyle choice.

    The film has been made with support from a researcher Ruth Patrick and film maker Ellie Land. You can read more about the project at the website below:

    http://doleanimators.wordpress.com/

  • ‘Truth has fallen’ by Sheila Sofian

    “If they’re not doing time for this, then surely for something else.”

    The new film from US director Sheila Sofian, follows inmates on life sentences in the US prison system. Sofian “conjures up an inferno of expressive animations painted on glass, abstract re-enactments, and surrealist details, which condenses into a passionate appeal to politicians to abolish prejudgements and racial discrimination.”

    The films world premier will be at Dok Leipzig this November and has been nominated for the Animadoc Award.

    We have featured Sheila’s work on the blog before, most notably her writing on animated documentary.

    We wish Sheila the best of luck with her new film and also her nomination for the Animadoc award!

    http://films2013.dok-leipzig.de/de/film.aspx?ID=6096&title=Truth+Has+Fallen

  • ‘Injunuity’ by Adrian Baker

    'injunuity' screengrab

    http://www.injunuity.org/#!/about

    Four episodes of this series about Native American identity are available to watch online.  I found the episode ‘Two Spirit’  of particular interest. It’s about gender, sexuality and identity

    “Injunuity is a collage of reflections on the Native American world, our shared past, our turbulent present, and our undiscovered future. From Columbus to the western expansion to tribal casinos, we are taught that the Native way, while at times glorious, is something of the past, something that needed to be replaced by a manifest destiny from across the ocean. But in a world increasingly short of real answers, it is time we looked to Native wisdom for guidance. It is time for some Injunuity.

    Injunuity is a mix of animation, music, and real thoughts from real people exploring our world from the Native American perspective. Every word spoken is verbatim, every thought and opinion is real, told in nine short pieces and covering such topics as language preservation, sacred sites, and the environment. But rather than simply revisit our history, the goal of Injunuity is to help define our future, to try and figure out the path that lies before us, to focus on where we are going as well as where we have been.”

    An Interview with the director can be found here: http://injunuity-discussion.tumblr.com/

  • ‘No-One is Illegal’ by George Sander-Jackson

    Noii1

    Unfortunately we cannot embed the film ‘No-One is Illegal’.  It can however be watched via George Sander-Jackson’s blog.

    noii2

    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 narrator to flee their homeland and secondly in regards to their experience of detention while seeking asylum in the UK. Forward Maisokwadzo, a Zimbabwean resident of Bristol, provided the voiceover while Sander-Jackson constructed the animated visuals through an ink-on-board technique.

    noii3

    Possibly due to similarities in their process, parallels can be drawn between this film and the charcoal animations of William Kentridge. In addition to the dank grey-scale palette that both artists adopt, the style of visual storytelling is metamorphic; a stream of pictorial references merging from one to the next. The sequential blurring of nightmarish scenes evokes the haunting and intangible nature of traumatic memory.

    noii4

    The film seems to exist in two forms; three minutes (available on George’s blog) and a one-minute-thirty version which can be found in DepicT!’s 2008 archive. This is the Watershed’s super-short filmmaking competition that operates as a part of Bristol’s Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival.

    Sander-Jackson continued to develop the technique he used in ‘No-One is Illegal’ for a section of the feature film ‘A Liar’s Autobiography’, which I reviewed for this blog back in March 2013. George Sander-Jackson works as a director at Arthur Cox and teaches part time at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

  • ‘Anima meets Doc: Expanded’ event at DOK Leipzig

    This looks like a fascinating event at DOK Leipzig this October!

    If any of our readers are going, we would love to hear from you. Event details are below:

    Dear documentary and animation film lovers and makers,

    we ‘d like to invite you to another great DOK Industry event: Anima meets Doc: Expanded, Thursday, 31 October 2013, 14:00 – 17:30, Ringcafé Leipzig

    Anima meets Doc: Expanded widens its scope, inviting documentary, animation, trans and cross media makers to join us for an afternoon round table session of new discoveries and connections. Bigger, bolder, broader and under the guidance of 13 exciting table hosts from across these industries, be inspired by peers and forge new links outside of traditional genres, at one of DOK Leipzig’s most dynamic networking events.

    This isn’t a traditional pitching or networking event, we won’t present specific projects or plan meetings for you. Instead we want to help you create meaningful working relationships with a broad cross-section of professionals, share experiences with like-minded colleagues and be inspired by forward, sideways and innovative thinkers.

    The goal is connectivity: let’s establish a new community of exciting non-fiction storytellers!

    You are working in:

    – animation

    – documentary

    – in the trans or cross media world

    – somewhere in between

    You are looking for:

    – partners to realise your next project which might be an animated documentary, multiplatform or outside traditional genre definition

    – to get involved as a partner or collaborate on multidisciplinary projects

    – inspiration outside your own area of expertise

    – to meet like-minded film professionals

    Please register via this link http://animameetsdok.wufoo.com/forms/z7x4m1/ before October 15. This event will have limited capacity so registration is a must! Stay tuned for the list of exciting table hosts!

    Any questions? Get in touch with Katrin Haucke!

  • Latest news from Animateddocumentary.com

    Well we have had a fabulous year to date so far here at animateddocumentary.com. Particularly with the addition of our two contributors Alex Widdowson and Charlotte Kaye. Charlotte has now moved on to other things, but we are thrilled that Alex has continued to write for the blog and we hope that he will stay with us next year.

    Our other news is that both the co founders of Animateddocumentary.com are soon off to have a baby each!  And so Alys, Ellie and Alex will be taking a short break from the blog.

    We have however been working hard to ensure that you, our readers still have your weekly dose of anima doc posts. So we have scheduled some exciting reviews for the following three months to keep you all going.

    A special thanks to Alex for getting some fabulous reviews and films together in a short space of time for our maternity leave!

    If you want to get in contact with us over the next three months, please do so by leaving a comment here or on facebook. It may take us a little while to respond.

    As always we really welcome your comments, thoughts and suggestions for the blog.

    We will be back in January 2014 with more exciting anima doc news.

    Till then

    Ellie, Alys and Alex.

  • Screening – ‘To Say Goodbye’ by Matt Richards

    'To Say Goodbye' poster

    ‘TO SAY GOODBYE is a powerful and inspirational film about the loss of childhood, the stripping away of identity and, ultimately, the hope of reconciliation, all set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War.

    Through innovative animation, the film tells the story of the 4000 Basque children evacuated to the United Kingdom in 1937. Forced to bid a hurried farewell to their parents, these children were told they would only be in the UK for three months. 75 years later, some are still there, forever separated from their parents and their homeland, their families torn apart and their childhood destroyed by a brutal and bloody conflict.

    Through the voices of 14 of these children, now in their 80s and 90s, this tragic episode in history is revealed in a stunning animated documentary that is profound, unexpected and uplifting.’

    http://www.tosaygoodbyethemovie.com/english/

    Spanish Film Festival 2013
    Monday, 30 September, 8.30pm
    Ciné Lumière, 17 Queensberry Place, London SW7 2DT
    T: 020 7871 3515
    E: box.office@institutfrancais.org.uk