Cincinnati World Cinema :: Nine Nation Animation

Film Roster

DECONSTRUCTION WORKERS (Bygningsarbeidere)
Director Kajasa Naess, Norway, 6 minutes, in Norwegian with English subtitles.

An amusing and inventive story about our ability to ignore the events and problems in the world around us. A young Norwegian construction worker talks with his older work mate about the meaning of life as a riot erupts in the world outside their work site. Oblivious to the increasing chaos around them, the older guy whistles "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay," as his younger apprentice ruminates on angst, relationships and pointlessness of life as he sees it.

The film uses actual photos of the actors employed in a stop-motion/pixelation style against a collage background - just the right touch to convey deadpan Nordic existentialism. Kajasa Naess (b. 1970) established Mikrofilm AS after completing her animation education. For more than 10 years, the production company has been making short films that have won a series of awards, including an Oscar for the animated short The Danish Poet.

Deconstruction Workers won the Grand Prize at the Norwegian Short Film Festival, the Animation Award at the Milano Film Festival and was an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival, North West Animation Festival, Prague Short Film Festival, Aspen ShortsFest, NYC Underground Festival of Short Films, Memphis International Film Fest, Traverse City Film Festival, Uppsala International Film Festival, Minimalen Festival and Flickerfest International Short Film Festival.

AVERAGE 40 MATCHES (Ortalama 40 Çöp)
Directors Burkay Dogan and Sakir Arslan, Turkey, 3 minutes, no dialogue.

Lusciously colored and set against a piano score by Paganini, this brief, and very simple, stop-motion piece depicts addiction and herd behavior as wooden matches work together to satisfy their craving for cigarettes and are eventually lured to their doom.

BÂMIYÂN
Director Patrick Pleutin, France, 14 minutes, in Persian and Chinese with English subtitles.

The legend of the Chinese monk Xuanzang, who in 632 AD travels to search for Buddhist manuscripts and discovers the Buddhas in the valley of Bamiyan, Afghanistan. As part of the oral history of the region, the children of the valley share the myths about the tragic destiny of these statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

A lushly hand-crafted film using myriad materials - finger paint, sand, grass, acrylic pigments and photography, it looks like it was shot on a multi-plane animation stand – with figures made out of paint and/or sand on one layer, with other layers above or below of water, ink, or drawings – making the whole thing have a fluid, liquid, temporary effect. The visual style is gorgeous and dramatic, evoking Tibetan, Chinese, and Indian art forms.

From the Curator: "BAMIYAN seems at first to be told by an omniscient narrator; but towards the end, that narrator/narrative is supplanted by another voice and version of the story, which seems intended to shake viewers out of their passive role and make them question both what's happening in the film and why two competing versions of the story exist -- the answer, of course, having to do with the hold the Taliban has over the minds of many Afghanis. In addition to the beautiful painting and manipulation of pigment, this aspect of the narrative is both fascinating and compelling."

PLEASE SAY SOMETHING
Director David O'Reilly, Ireland/Germany, 10 minutes, in mouse squeaks and meows with English subtitles

Please Say Something follows the anthropomorphized domestic relationship between a work-at-home journalist mouse and his office-work spouse, a cat. It reinvents the eternal cartoon struggle of Cat and Mouse as an epic, all-too-human relationship involving guilt, infidelity, power trips, fights over the car radio, hospital stays, and grudgingly hard-won affection. The film jumps around in time, sometimes decades into the future, then doubles back, to show us the characters' projections of their worst fears before opening a door to confront the other.

The animation style is a mash up of video game technique and Terry Gilliam's Brazil, whose low-fi Tokyo images feel both familiar and stunningly fresh, producing an eerie, engrossing and ultimately moving experience.

Please Say Something won the Golden Bear (Best Short Film) at the Berlin International Film Festival; Best Narrative Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival; and Special Distinction Award at the Annecy Film Festival.

From the Curator: "... fresh and astounding in many ways -- its imaginative rendering of the futuristic world (that retains all of our contemporary problems, of course), its shifting between the conscious, unconscious and subconscious lives of both characters, its psychological accuracy in exploring this relationship between opposites. We're moved by it each time we see it. (And the music's not bad either.)"

Film Roster, Continued

FLATLIFE
Director Jonas Geirnaert, Belgium, 11 minutes, no dialogue

A delightful triple entendre-titled work that visually depicts life in four adjacent apartments (flats), drawn in a way that recalls classic newspaper cartoon strips. Splitting his screen into four adjacent squares, director Geirnaert charts the inter-apartment annoyances that result from the supposedly private activities of people co-existing in too-close proximity to one another, a situation all too familiar to anyone who's ever lived in an apartment building. Similar to Mike Figgis' 2000 feature TimeCode, the characters wander from one apartment (panel) to another as events spiral out of control.

Flatlife won the Jury Prize, Best Short Film, Cannes Film Festival; Best European Short Film at the Angers European First Film Festival; and the Audience Animation Award at the Tampere International Short Film Festival.

SHE WHO MEASURES
Director Veljko Popovic, Croatia, 7 minutes, no dialogue.

This surreal Croatian film has creatures pushing shopping carts through the desert, wearing happy face masks that feed them video advertising images, picking up and discarding commercial junk along the way, with a floating, evil-looking clown presides over all. While the anti-commercialism parable is tried-and-true, the artful animation is unique, conjuring Dali, Bosch and a touch of Tim Burton.

She Who Measures won the FIPRESCI Award at the Annecy Film Festival; Animated Eye Award at the Aspen Shortsfest; Best Film at the Tabor Film Festival; the Jury Prize at the Days of Croatian Film Festival; and a Special Recognition Award at the Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film

HOME ROAD MOVIES
Director Robert Bradbrook, UK, 12 minutes.

One of two documentaries in the collection, this collage-based memoir starts out as a nostalgic look back at driving vacations that seemed wonderful in childhood, then turns a little sad as the kids grow old enough to realize the less-than-wondrous shortcomings of their aging dad (Bill Paterson, a live figure amid a collage of vintage advertising imagery). Director Bradbrook's dry wit, attention to detail and engaging narrative approach sneaks up on you, delivering a poignant personal experience.

Nominated for Best Animated Short, British Academy Film Awards, Home Road Movies won the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival; Best Animated Short at the Toronto Worldwide Short Film Festival; Most Innovative Animation Jury Award at the Aspen Shortsfest; Special Prize of the Jury at the Uppsala International Short Film Festival; Best Animated Short at the Cleveland Film Festival and fifteen other festival awards.

THE TALE OF HOW
Director The Blackheart Gang, South Africa, 4 minutes

A baroque combination of arresting Bosch/Burton-like graphics, Japanese woodblock prints that presents the fable of the Dodo bird, told in song via operatic chorale.

The Tale of How won the Canal+ Award at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival and a Special Distinction Award at the Annecy Film Festival

NEVER LIKE THE FIRST TIME!
Director Jonas Odell, Sweden, 15 minutes, in Swedish with English subtitles.

One of two documentaries in the Nine Nation compilation, Director Odell animates the audio interviews of four real-life Swedes (young and old) who recount the first time they ever had sex. Each account is given its own animated style, allowing the filmmaker to compare and contrast male and female views through terrifically clever visual schemes. Funny, frightening, bittersweet and sad, each interview is an effective snapshot of personal memory, emotion and sensation.

Never Like The First Time! won the Golden Bear (Best Short Film) at the Berlin International Film Festival; the Prix UIP (Best European Short Film) at the Cork International Film Festival; and Best Screenplay at the Almeria International Short Film Festival.

Bonus Short: TRANSIT
Piet Kroon, The Netherlands, 10 minutes, no dialogue

A brilliant and inspired, lushly animated film about the perils of adultery, TRANSIT presents a classic nineteen-twenties love tragedy as a mystery for the audience to unravel. The story is told in seven separate sequences, each in its own distinctive graphic style, reminiscent of the period. Under the direction of Piet Kroon, each sequence was animated by a different artist. The animators, most of them filmmakers in their own right, were cast on the basis of their work and their stylistic and atmospheric genius.

With the director and the animators working from London, Cardiff, Amsterdam, Los Angeles and the south and north of France, the production demanded a highly structured organization and many intercontinental deliberations. There is no dialogue, but a stunning and evocative score by Julian Nott. TRANSIT deserves the full attention of the viewer, an investment richly rewarded with a unique and beautifully crafted story.

TRANSIT won the Grand Prize at the World Animation Celebration, Pasadena CA; the Grand Prize at Cinanima, Espinho Portugal; Best Animated Short, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards; nominated for Best Animated Short Film BAFTA Film Award, British Academy of Film and Television Arts, London; nominated for Cartoon d'Or, Cartoon Forum, Europe; and nominated for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Short Subject, The Annie Awards.

unique visits since January, 2007. Thanks for stopping by!


[ Home Page ] Event Info: \| Tickets \| The Films \| \| Discussion Leader \| Socialize, Eat & Drink before the films \|

Essential Event Info W H A T : NINE NATION ANIMATION 2010, Nine shorts plus one bonus film, running time approx. 92 minutes. Genre: animated shorts; drama, comedy, documentary. The films are NR (not rated) but suitable for all audiences, PG and older. Discussion with David Hartz after the film. Social Hour, bar and food catered by Europa Bistro & Café before the films. W H E N : Saturday, July 23, 6:00 Social Hour, bar & food at 5:00 pm Sunday, July 24, 4:00 Social Hour, bar and food at 3:00 pm W H E R E : The Carnegie Arts Center 1028 Scott Blvd., Covington KY 41011 859-491-2030 Easy Access, Free Parking: Interactive Google Map Printable Map & Written Directions Printable Downtown Bridge & Street Grid Printable Parking Map T I C K E T S : PRICING Tix are $8 in advance and $10* at the door. Tix for students and Enjoy the Arts members are $8, available only at the door. NOTE: Any ticket physically sold by the CARNEGIE incurs a $1.00 facility charge in addition to the face value of the ticket -- this applies to tix purchased in advance by phone or in person, and at the door. HOW TO GET TICKETS CWC - ON-LINE, 24 x 7 Phone, 1-877-548-3237, Mon - Fri, 9a - 7p The Carnegie Box Office in person and by phone 859 957 1943 Tuesday - Friday, 12 noon - 5p 1028 Scott Blvd, Covington KY 41011 In person at these area locations (click each location for a map): Clifton-Ludlow Avenue, Sitwell's Coffee House 513 281 7487 Mt. Lookout Square, Lookout Joe Coffee Roasters 513 871 8626 Northside-Hamilton Ave, Shake It Music & Video 513 591 0123 Downtown Cincinnati, Coffee Emporium 513 651 5483 Tickets at the door subject to availability. Save Your Ticket Stubs — Discount coupon on the back is valid at the Coffee Emporium, Lookout Joe Coffee Roasters or Sitwell's Coffee House. Questions? 859.957.FILM, Mon-Sat 9a-6p Email, via "Contact" in the Main Menu Social Hour, Cash Bar & a la carte Hors D'ouevres Come early and bring an appetite! Starting one hour before each screening, in the Carnegie's main gallery, Europa Bistro & Cafe will offer some of their most popular delicacies. For example...		Summer Shorts: Nine Nation Animation About the Program A Chinese monk sets out on foot with a tiger during the Tang dynasty and happens upon the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. … Four people recount their first love-making experience – triumphant, terrifying, euphoric, down-to-earth — an unforgettable rite of passage. … Two construction workers dissect the meaning of "normal" life, as the world crumbles around them. … A father's efforts to connect with his children via family road trips. … A cat and mouse carry on a dysfunctional relationship in a futuristic landscape. Short Films for Adults Those who think the art of animation stops with films from Pixar or sitcoms like The Simpsons will discover the true breadth and depth of animation technique – stop-motion, CGI, rotoscoping, line art, hand painting on glass, use of video footage and still photos, use of sand, grass and acrylic pigments, and combinations of these methods – the sheer variety of visual approaches is dazzling. "Nine Nation Animation" is expansive – not just in showcasing an impressive variety of techniques and storytelling methods, but in global reach, theme, style and tone – offering a satisfying experience for the discerning grownup in a program that's entertaining, challenging and heartening all at once. The nine animated shorts from Norway, Turkey, France, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, Croatia, the UK, South Africa and Sweden include award-winning works from the world's most renowned festivals, including Cannes, Berlin, Annecy, Clermont- Ferrand and others. Nine Nation Animation was curated by Jonathan Howell, who founded The World According to Shorts, the organization that produces and distributes his short film compilations. With a solid background in programming short and feature films, Jonathan is also Vice President of Theatrical Distribution & Acquisition at New Yorker Films, a distribution company internationally known for top-notch films and programming. Read more about Mr. Howell and the film industry here. DISCUSSION LEADER David Hartz David Hartz is Art Director and Associate Professor in The Electronic Media Department at University of Cincinnati, Blue Ash. With a Master of Fine Arts from The Ohio State University and Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Akron, he came from Seattle to Cincinnati to create and teach a year-long program culminating in a Certificate of Animation. Mr. Hartz created animations for the artists Madonna, No Doubt, Erica Badu, and Devo, and was also a graphic artist and animator at Microsoft Corporation and Coffin Films and served as Art Director at Smashing Ideas, all in Seattle. An uncommon artist, David's talents extend beyond digital art, illustration and animation, to painting, performance art and sculpture. One of his specialties is fire sculpture – earlier this year he was part of team USA at the World Fire Sculpture Championship in Tallinn, Estonia; and has participated in this unusual and exciting art form via exhibitions and competitions around the world – in Austria, Taiwan and Canada, as well as the U.S.