The Forbidden Planet International Blog Log

From February 1st to 9th, the historic Flagey building in the middle of Brussels will host the 2008 edition of the Anima festival, Belgium’s largest festival for animated films. That means nine days filled to the brim with screenings, master classes, special features, etc. Plenty to live on the rest of the day.

The opening movie is of special interested to cartoon and comics fans. “Peur(s) du Noir“, or “Fear(s) of the black”, is a compilation of short movies about the fears that fill our lives, whether they are trivial or threatening. Contributors include Richard McGuire, Lorenzo Mattotti, Blutch and Charles Burns. The contributors will be present when the film is shown on February 1st.

(Peur(s) du Noir; a typically beautiful and haunting image from Lorenzo Mattotti, (c) Prima Linea Productions and Mattotti)

Among the films in the official selection, we note Tekkon Kinkreet by Michael Arias, an American computer animation wizard living in Japan, and Kokaku Kidotai: Stand Alone Complex , the next episode in the Ghost in the Shell cyberpunk saga. Also quite interesting is Desmond & Träskpatraskfällan (Desmond and the Swamp Monster), a 3D animated film by Magnus Carlsson from Sweden, aimed at very young viewers (3+), about a little pig who tries to find out who’s stealing all the apples in his forest. Khan Kluay is the first computer-aided animated film from Thailand (directed by Kompin Kemgumnird), about an elephant who wants to be come a combat elephant and help king Naresuan. Finally, Portuguese cartoonist Miquelanxo Prado (well know for his graphic novels, “Streak of Chalk” And “Tangents”) made “De Profundis” about a young woman in a house on an island, waiting for the return of her beloved. A full list of selected films can be consulted at the official site.

No less than 800 short films, commercials and music videos were submitted for the Anima competitions, out of which the juries selected winners for an equally impressive eight national and eleven international awards, and nine compilations of the best shorts submitted. Among them work from the UK, France, Korea, the USA, Ireland, Israel and a host of other countries. If you regularly read this and other blogs, you will no doubt recognize titles like “Gentlemen’s Duel” by Francisco Ruiz and Sean McNally, “The Tale of How” by the Blackheart Gang, or “Shaun the Sheep” by Christopher Sadler. Also in the running : “Shut-Eye Hotel”, the new Bill Plympton short, the video to Coldcut’s “Sound Mirrors” (by Up The Resolution) and the impressive Sony Bravia “Play-Doh” commercial (by Darren Walsh and Frank Budgen).

The festival also presents special shows of the surrealist commercials by Pes, and the innovative short films by the American artist Rosto, an overview of new developments presented at Siggraph 2007 (by Siggraph organiser Terrence Masson), Wavelength 07 (a presentation of the best and most innovative new music videos) and new animated films from Poland and Germany. Meanhwile, at the Film Museum, an impressive homage to the Fleischer brothers is organised, with Betty Boop, Popeye and Koko the Clown, but also Mister Bug Goes to Town and Gulliver’s Travels, two of Dave Fleischer’s feature animations.

(One of the great female leads of animation, Fleischer’s Betty Boop in Bamboo Island, before the Hays Code ruined the character)

A special kid’s program, with all good recent animated films (such as Bee Movie, Meet The Robinsons, The Simpsons Movie, and Persepolis), and a veritable plethora of workshops, master-classes and meetings make this festival unmissable, even if you’re only slightly interested in animation. I’ll meet you there…