Summerfest of Love: Animation Block Party Summerfest 2006
Words: Elizabeth Mixson
From nightfall on Saturday, July 22nd to the following Monday evening, the Animation Block Party Summerfest brought together animators, fans and fun lovers as it showcased some of the world's best animated shorts and hosted concerts and wild after-parties in its hometown of Brooklyn, NY.
The planned location for the opening night screening was the rooftop of the Automotive High School in Williamsburg, but fear of rain relocated the festivities to the school's appropriately kitschy, but un-air conditioned, auditorium. Around 300 hipsters and animation nerds gathered in the dark auditorium as the festival started with a lively performance by Vic Thrill & the Saturn Missile. In front of a backdrop of abstract, colorful and, at times, pornographic animated projections, Thrill gyrated to his wacky, They Might Be Giants-meets-noise punk songs. The dirtier the animations, the harder the audience applauded, until it was finally time for the screening to begin.
The first night's shorts often revolved around amusing and self-obsessed narrative, usually maintaining a cynical and pessimistic attitude. Though the films screened on the following nights tended to be more sophisticated and artistically innovative, many of opening night films received deserved awards. The Audience Award went to Ian Jones-Quartey's Unfair, a hilarious short about a dorky little boy's awkward experiences with elementary school and prejudice. With its witty narrative and graphics fit for any slick and zany Nickelodeon program, Unfair delves into the harsh but comical nature of life in general. Bill Plympton's Academy Award-nominated Guide Dog, an adorable tale of an unlucky but well-intentioned pooch who keeps killing off the blind people he tries so hard to help, won the Best Narrative Short award. Becki Halloway's earnest celebration of portrait drawing, Reflection of Self, took away the Student Film Award. The music video for the Sad Little Stars' Don't Fuck With Love, directed by bend member Rachel McIntosh and Jim Starace, won the Best Music Video Award for its intricate paper cut-out animation and amusing plot that warns against the physical repercussions of falling in love.
The second night's screening took place at the Williamsburg hangout, Galapagos Art Space, where four of animation's greatest veterans gathered onstage to discuss their inspirations, industry experiences and their love for animation. Irra Verbitsky, Howard Beckerman, Don Duga and Doug Crane explored the importance of education, flexibility and artistic passion. These figures, who weathered over 40 years in the ever-fluctuating animation industry, still have the utmost respect and love for their perpetually undervalued genre. Beckerman described his love for animated work by comparing the creation process to building a kite, saying, "You design it, put it together, make it look pretty; and then it does something else, it flies."
The evening's program featured highly abstract, experimental shorts that often eschewed cohesive narrative in favor of attention to the animation itself. The Best Experimental Film winner, Timothy Moore's Colourbars, utilizes live action and traditional cell animation to depict the diva-like existence of SMPTE color bars as they wait for a director's cue. Another notable film from the evening, Coburn by Anton Bogaty, expertly conveys, through comic-style animation and sharp cuts, the incredibly depressing and dreary world of an old man as he is dying, along with his peaceful memories and the exhilarating freedom he feels once his life finally ends. Though it was Sunday and many had work the next morning, the party continued into the night with Galapagos' weekly Sid and Buddy Karaoke.
Taking place at the charming BAMcinématek, the final night's program contained the most "professional" and sophisticated films of the festival. The Best in Show award went to Adam Parrish King's The Wraith of Cobble Hill, which also won the Short Filmmaking Award at the Sundance Film Festival. In King's stop motion masterpiece, the protagonist, Felix, must choose between kindness and negligence when he is asked to watch his neighbor's dog. Henry Selick, director of James and The Giant Peach and The Nightmare Before Christmas, delivered another of the evening's highlights with his newest film Moongirl, which describes why the moon is so bright. Moongirl is his first computer-animated film and it proved to be a success, winning the Best Computer Animation award.
McLaren's Negatives, by Marie-Josée Saint-Pierre, won the award for Best Documentary Short; the film celebrates Norman McLaren, one of animation's greatest pioneers, and was the perfect choice to end the evening, as well as the festival. Saint-Pierre's film, made of archival footage, recordings and an animated sequence, captured McLaren's voice and formed a powerful tribute to the legend. The love for animation that people like McLaren and the Sunday night panelists convey was not lost on those in the audience, for they too seemed to truly enjoy the festival in its entirety. Animation Block Party Summerfest's greatest triumph was surely introducing legions of people to the wonder and significance of animation.
www.animationblock.com
