In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we go primal with recent NFTS graduate Simon Cartwright, whose short MANOMAN
is a joyously dark, twisted (and to some of us, curiously relatable)
marriage of animation and live-action puppetry. Steve managed to get some time to interview Simon at EIFF this year and a darn enjoyable listen it is too. Also joining the podcast
this episode is puppet specialist, technical instructor and animation
author Mary Murphy, discussing the Bristol Festival of Puppetry (whose 2015 edition kicks off this week) and her exclusive workshop Stop Motion on a Shoestring.
Also discussed in this episode are the latest developments from Skwigly’s ongoing series of animation screenings This Is Not A Cartoon, sex education via animation as well as the pleasing success of previous guestSigne Baumane‘s independent feature film Rocks In My Pockets and its recent screening as part of the Bechdel Test Fest.
Stream the latest episode above or direct download here.
The Oscar and BAFTA nominations for 2015 have now both been announced, which I've taken as a cue for a bit of reflection on some films of note.
Leading the charge are Dice and Robert of Tonko House, whose film The Dam Keeper is an astounding concept-art-come-to-life piece of work. If asked to put together a 'Top 10' list of the best films of the past year it'd easily be amongst them. Proof of which is viewable at Revue 24 Images, for which I (along with numerous other more accomplished critics and curators) was asked to put together a 'Top 10' list of the best films of the past year. See, I zigged when you thought I was gonna...well, zig probably.
If your clicking finger is broken then the other films I picked are:
The lists were compiled by Marco de Blois who, amongst other laudable animation-related activities, is the main programmer for Quebec's Sommets du Cinéma d’Animation. As this Cartoon Brew article makes clear, one thing I can't be accused of is going with the crowd. That being said, many of the other critics' favourites would easily make my top 20 (also some folks cheated a bit and picked films from the year before, but what am I, the list police?). In fact, for the sake of why-the-hell-not, here's my next ten favourites of last year:
Give those all some investigation, my lovelies. Anyway, our first Lightbox of 2015 is on the making of The Dam Keeper. Seriously, if you haven't come across this film yet at all, treat yourself to a peek here:
You can also hear more from Rob and Dice in episode 25 of the Skwigly Podcast.
Also in the running are Daisy Jacobs, Joris Oprins, Disney with Feast and, happily, Torill Kove of the NFB, who I interviewed during the production of the film.
Aside from the comparatively indie Song of the Sea, the feature film noms were all fairly predictable. Though I'm not so up-in-arms about The Lego Movie being ignored I would've loved to see Bill Plympton's Cheatin' and Signe Baumane's Rocks In My Pockets in with a shot. Que cera cera. Fortunately this arrived today so I can start my weekend off right:
Going back to the shorts, Alan Holly's Coda really stood out to me last year and I urge everyone to keep their eyes open for it:
That this film and Glen Keane's Duet (admittedly more successful as an interactive experience) didn't make the nominations is a massive shame - I've yet to see Plympton's Footprints but I'm sure I'd feel similarly - massive kudos to them at any rate for getting shortlisted.
Also worth mentioning that amongst the BAFTA noms was Will and Ainslie's Monkey Love Experiments, which has already won itself a Scottish BAFTA but one more wouldn't hurt.
Fantastic stuff from those two, though this one will probably remain my favourite for a good long while:
As I mentioned when discussing our most recent Skwigly podcast a couple weeks back, I've recently become a huge admirer of the work of Latvian animator Signe Baumane, a woman whose staggering perseverance now sees her in the post-production stage of her first feature-length animation "Rocks In My Pockets", a mammoth undertaking considering the minimal funds and crew behind it. She's been raising funds the last month or so for the sound and music budget and there isn't a doubt in my mind that the Kickstarter goal will be met in time.
It's rare that one encounters a practitioner so immediately endearing, and it doesn't take much research to determine why Signe is held in such high regard by her peers. Her effervescent, quirky and oftentimes jet-black humour is perfect for the types of films she makes, and her candour as a storyteller is incredibly refreshing; Story is always put first, before appearances or concerns that the audience will be shocked. The raw honesty of some of her autobiographical reminiscences on the "Rocks..." production blog are alternately hilarious and gut-wrenching with her idiosyncrasies laid completely bare, but that impulse provides a real air of authenticity and assurance that what she's set out to achieve with her film comes from a very sincere place indeed.
I'll readily admit that my heightened receptiveness to a film such as "Rocks..." can doubtless be attributed to the relatively recent release of "Throat", which still carries with it a lot of anxiety as to how well it will be received in the long run. So to see someone else tell a personal story with raw, balls-out honesty is very comforting and, given it's been achieved as an entire film, greatly inspiring. As the interview we did for the last podcast was heavily edited to focus on "Rocks..." and her campaign. I felt there was a great deal of additional material worth sharing with the world that extends to her prior experience, particularly that surrounding one of her most successful projects to date, "Teat Beat of Sex", an episodic series of sexual reminiscences told from a female perspective. They fit perfectly into the pantheon of animated films by the likes of Joanna Quinn, Ruth Lingford and Michaela Pavlátová that celebrate female strength and sexuality, one of my favourite subjects since probably way too young an age, kicked into gear by fairy godmothers like Betty Dodson and Susie Bright. Lord knows how I came across them in my preadolescence, but they sure set me on a noble path.
As well as the humour, what gives "Teat Beat..." its strength is its sense of identity; Though Signe concedes in the interview the lead character is something of a composite, no misguided efforts are made to conform to any sociological ideologies, favouring honesty in much the same way "Rocks..." seems to. It gives the audience the opportunity to relate to it on their own terms; While I'm a staunch supporter of Signe's organic juice policy, for example, I'm less behind her squash-discrimination policy. There's also a sweetness and naïveté to its execution, with its simple design work, stream-of-consciousness metaphors and visual malapropisms. Other standout shorts of hers include "Dentist", "Love Story", "Five Fucking Fables" and "Birth", with several others I've yet to watch in their entirety.
I'd really recommend giving the extended interview a listen, even if you already heard the podcast segment. This is over twice the length and goes into numerous areas worth learning about, such as the role of social media in self-promotion, our mutual fondness for Ruth Lingford and the bizarre semantics of acceptable sexual content on an online platform. You can download the interview here or stream it below (brace yourself for my Mariella Frostrup-esque flu voice):
But most importantly please check out her blog and campaign and throw some sheckels its way while there's still time (pledges are being accepted until Valentine's day). I really, really want to see this film get funded, A) Because it's part of this whole game-change-in-progress for the future of indie animation, which I'm obviously hugely invested in, and B) Because I really want the DVDs I have coming to me once the target's reached. ¡Viva la Revolución!
After a particularly irresponsible holiday season (well, long weekend) it's taken this long for my feet and genital visibility to return, though it'd have probably been far longer if it weren't for an all-consuming commission that's rendered me a borderline hermit. I can't really give out any details but I'll say it's a pretty unique circumstance that could end all manner of different ways, so it's keeping me on my toes.
In what slivers of free time come my way I'm going through the usual motions of eating, sleeping, engaging in the bare minimum of human contact required to remain a functional adult and doing the ol' Skwigly thang. On that latter note, our latest podcast starts off the new year on an especially strong note, discussing the virtues of the various animated films in the running during the current awards season, with a guest appearance by Annie-award nominee Will Becher of Aardman.
Our main guest for the episode is one of my personal favourites Bill Plympton, my first Skwigly interviewee and someone who I'd hoped to get on the podcast since it began last March. This time around we chat about his latest film Cheatin', a dark love story/comedy of errors that looks to be his most ambitious film yet. Part two of our interview where we discuss the multitude of other projects he's embarked on in the year and a half since our first meeting will be included in our February podcast.
Our third guest Signe Baumane was something of a last-minute addition who I'm very happy to have gotten on board in time. Signe is a filmmaker I know from Avoid Eye Contact, a collective of NY-based independent animators including Bill Plympton, Nina Paley, Fran Krause and PES. As well as working with Bill she's made plenty of short films on her own and is wrapping up her first feature Rocks In My Pockets. In the past couple weeks I've become absolutely smitten (in the professional respect sense, of course) with her work and in particular her film's production blog, which is full of amazing stories detailing not just the film but the wealth of life experience that lays the groundwork for its story and message. Its logline is "A funny film about depression" which pricks my ears up some as that's a tricky one to pull off; More often than not 'funny' gets confused with 'maudlin', but when it's done right it's spectacular - Look at Adam Elliott or Todd Solondz.
Also as someone who recently put out what could arguably be considered "A funny book about cancer" I feel a strange, hard-to-articulate connection with the film. Certainly having now spoken with Signe for the podcast her and I seem to be cut from a pretty similar cloth. We ended up chatting for well over an hour and, regrettably, only 20 minutes of it could make it into the episode. But so enamoured am I of her insight and perspective I'm inclined to put up a longer version of the interview, if not on Skwigly then here on this blog. So be on the lookout for that sometime early February.
In the meantime you can download the latest podcast here or stream it below:
And here's Bill sketching out the female lead Ella from Cheatin' for me after our first interview, back in May 2011. I'm sure I've posted this before, but here's a fancy HD version:
