Schedule for SF Int’l Animation Festival, Nov 11 - 15
Posted by editor@vimooz.com on October 12, 2009 under San Francisco International Animation Festival | 
A scene from the Belgian animated feature A TOWN CALLED PANIC, playing at the San Francisco International Animation Festival, November 11 - 15 at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema.
The San Francisco Film Society presents the fourth annual San Francisco International Animation Festival (SFIAF), a five-day event celebrating one of the most fertile, creative and productive forms of artistic, experimental, commercial and industrial media. This year’s International Animation Festival ranges from the premiere of a major Hollywood feature directed by an Oscar-nominated auteur to historic family-friendly short cartoons and celebrates San Francisco’s preeminence as a hub for one of the most vital forms in cinema today. SFIAF will open at Mezzanine, Wednesday, November 11 and screen November 12 - 15 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema, with a special live event at the Apple Store, Friday, November 13.
“With everything from cutout and claymation to cutting-edge CGI, SFIAF continues to explore animation in all its forms,” said programmer Sean Uyehara. “The Festival approaches animation both as a multifaceted artistic practice and as a mode of production. As in the past, we’re presenting a wide range of works, from Wes Anderson’s new sure-fire blockbuster Fantastic Mr. Fox to the celebrated experimental works of artist Nate Boyce.”
Wednesday, November 11 Kickoff Celebration
Mezzanine, 444 Jessie Street
8:00 pm A Dream of Lovers and 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed
Lawrence Jordan, Pale Hoarse, Jacob Ciocci, David Wightman in person
SFIAF kicks off with this very special celebration of live music and animation. First, American underground avant-garde legend Lawrence Jordan will present live animation for the first time in his 50-plus-year career. Manning a 16mm analytic projector, Jordan will improvise the frame rate and rhythm to his cutout short film Ein Traum der liebenden (A Dream of Lovers), based on the live, plaintive musical accompaniment of local duo Pale Hoarse. This historic performance will be followed by 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed, a collaboration between Paper Rad founding member Jacob Ciocci and musician David Wightman. Ciocci and Wightman have collaborated on a number of projects, including the musical group Extreme Animals. For this performance, Ciocci will present a mix of original videos and animations and his new performance I Let My Nightmares Go, employing video projection and dance moves to grapple with mental demons, Web 2.0, 21st-century breakdown, real lies, fake truths, cartoon violence and awareness bracelets. Wightman will join in on the fun, then perform solo as Fortress of Amplitude, a guitar-wielding minstrel from another time and place. Accompanied by a beat-blasting drum machine, he will execute a musical composition focusing on fantasy, repetition and ecstasy.
Thursday, November 12 Opening Night
7:00 pm Fantastic Mr. Fox
Bay Area Premiere
Wes Anderson (USA 2009)
Celebrated director Wes Anderson (The Darjeeling Limited, The Royal Tenenbaums, Rushmore) applies his brilliantly idiosyncratic sensibility to this eagerly awaited, beautifully animated stop-motion adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved children’s classic, in which Mr. Fox turns his back on a life of crime in favor of spinning yarns as a respectable journalist and honest family man. When the Fox family moves into a treehouse within sight of three teasingly impenetrable fortresses of chicken, duck and turkey farming, Mr. Fox is tempted to pull off one last big score. George Clooney brings Mr. Fox to life with nimble character voicing, aided by a heavy-hitting cast including Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Anderson’s customarily offbeat cadences, deadpan humor and sly moments of touching grace further enliven this rare gem that is both appropriate and wildly entertaining for all ages. Fantastic, indeed! Written by Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach. Photographed by Tristan Oliver. With George Clooney, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Wes Anderson, Brian Cox, Anjelica Huston. 87 minutes. Distributed by Fox Searchlight.
8:00 Opening Night Party with complimentary wine from José Pastor Selections and appetizers provided by Cafe Claude, Chevy’s, Palomino, Rotee and Sugar Bowl Bakery, One Embarcadero Center, Lobby Level (the former B. Dalton space).
9:30 pm Fantastic Mr. Fox
Friday, November 13
4:00 pm SF360 Live - Data in Motion: Information Design and Animation Free
Apple Store, One Stockton Street
Visionary information designer Joy Mountford will present a fascinating survey on the different approaches to organizing data using methods of visuality and motion. An expert in the field of presenting data in motion, Mountford has mentored numerous artists and engineers through her work with Interval Research Corporation in Palo Alto and at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to learn about future trends in information design with one of the field’s leading thinkers.
7:00 pm The Breakdown
Animation is especially suited to analysis of all sorts. It probes bodies, investigates movement and questions nature. Animation breaks down the world, love and desire. . .and ultimately the unconscious.
Body Besieged A favorite of San Francisco audiences, Kelly Sears (Devil’s Canyon, The Drift) returns with this racy homage to ladies who exercise (Kelly Sears, USA, 5 min). Kid 606: Mr. Wobbles House music maven Kid 606 animates the beats (Joel Trussell, USA, 5 min). Kroak “Partie de Peche” Grunts and groans produce an unexpected bounty for ice fishers (Julie Rembauville, Nicolas Bianco-Levrin, 3 min). Mixed Bag A bag of money is the catalyst for this study on the all-too-familiar push-me/pull-you dynamic inherent in all relationships (Isabelle Favez, Switzerland, 7 min). Mobitel Mania In which technology is fetishized in such a modular way (Darko Vidackovic, Croatia, 5 min). Radostki When people love each other, anything can happen (Magdalena Osinska, Poland, 11 min). The Rains Simple and beautiful rainfall in the city (David Coquard-Dassault, Canada, 7 min). The Spine The therapist is in. Master animator Chris Landreth delivers another tour de force of imagination and wit (Chris Landreth, Canada, 11 min). What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks The rhythms of the sun deliver constantly changing compositions in a typical room made wonderful (Sara Wickens, England, 5 min). Wings and Oars A former pilot trips back in time and through his life (Vladimir Lesciov, Latvia, 5 min). TRT 64 min.
9:00 pm A Town Called Panic
Bay Area Premiere
Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar (Panique au village, Belgium/France/Luxembourg 2009)
One of the rare feature-length animated films (and the only one in stop-motion) to appear in the Cannes Film Festival, A Town Called Panic is sure to live up to the cult status of the Belgian TV series upon which it delightfully expands. As in the series, here the town of Panic is populated by a random assortment of plastic figurines whose daily activities recall children’s illogical narratives in their herky-jerky disjointedness, celebration of the quotidian and profound brilliance. Cowboy and Indian decide to give their friend Horse a birthday present, but thanks to an Internet shopping typo end up with 50 million bricks for Horse’s new barbecue. The trio must then travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe populated by pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. In an age of high-tech animation and CGI effects, A Town Called Panic is refreshingly homegrown, the product of ingenious imagination and a surreal, often nostalgic, sense of childhood absurdity. Written by Stéphane Aubier. Vincent Patar, Guillaume Malandrin, Vincent Tavier. Photographed by Jan Vandenbussche. With Stéphane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar, Benoît Poelvoorde. 75 min. Distributed by Zeitgeist.
Saturday, November 14
1:00 pm Walt Disney’s Alice Comedies
A little girl filmed in live action and placed in a cartoon world — that’s how Walt Disney established his Hollywood studio, producing 56 of these shorts between 1923 and 1927. SFIAF partners with the newly opened Walt Disney Family Museum to present a selection of these charming films. The program will be presented by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman, authors of Walt in Wonderland and Walt Disney’s Silly Symphonies. Experts on the early period of Walt Disney’s filmmaking, Merritt and Kaufman have chosen a number of representative Alice films, and will elucidate their significance, style and practice. These lovely Alice films are rarely screened in theaters, and with learned, enthusiastic Disney historians on hand, this program will appeal to families, Disney buffs and general audiences alike.
3:15 pm Super Massive Suspension: Nate Boyce vs. Amy Hicks
The animation catalogs of Amy Hicks and Nate Boyce will be on display in this (not so competitive) animation throwdown. It’s no secret that the San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the world’s biggest, highest-profile animation studios, visual FX producers and animators, from Pixar and Lucasfilm to Image Movers, PDI and Tippett Studios. Still, many independent animators continue to work and push the boundaries of animation from both creative and technical perspectives. Amy Hicks and Nate Boyce represent two wildly differing approaches to animation, while retaining an independent ethos of personal creativity that is inspiring and challenging. Hicks uses stop-motion techniques and optical printing to produce humorous and alluring short films, while Nate Boyce uses degraded video footage and the muse of electronic music to produce intense and vibrant works of abstract color. This program is intended to shine a light on internationally recognized fine artists working in our own backyard. Included will be Hicks’ readaptations of Jaws and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Boyce’s collaborative animations with the musicians Eat Tapes and Martin Schmidt of Matmos.
5:45 pm The Best of Annecy
The Annecy International Animated Film Festival is widely regarded as the most important festival for animation in Europe. SFIAF is pleased to once again present a selection of the best shorts to have appeared in Annecy this year.
The Employment A hapless commuter encounters a bizarre world in which people are used as objects (Santiago Grasso, Argentina, 7 min). Ex-E.T. A playful and rather perverted child causes trouble on an alien planet where order and steadiness reign (Benoît Bargeton, Yannick Lasfas, Rémy Froment, Nicolas Gracia, France, 9 min). Chick A humorous true-life story about male-female relations (Michal Socha, Poland, 5 min). Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage Recounting the journey of a Western traveler confronted with Madagascan Famadihana traditions (Bastien Dubois, France, 12 min). Western Spaghetti A novel way of preparing pasta (Pes, USA, 2 min). Slaves Like thousands of other children, Abouk and Machiek were taken by the government-sponsored militia in Sudan and used as slaves (Hanna Heilborn, David Aronowitsch, Sweden, 16 min). The Man in the Blue Gordini In an imaginary suburb at the end of the 1970s, it’s customary to wear neither underpants nor trousers, only orange tops (Jean-Chrisophe, France, 10 min). For Sock’s Sake A sock escapes from the washing line and finds adventure at a nightclub (Carlo Vogele, France, 5 min). Please Say Something A troubled relationship between a cat and a mouse in the distant future (David O’Reilly, Germany/Ireland, 10 min). Log Jam: The Log, The Rain, The Moon, The Snake Deep in the forest, three animals love nothing more than freestyle jammin’ with their customized instruments. The bear’s on bass, there’s a howlin’ wolf, and the rabbit provides the beats — with his head (Alexey Alexeev, Hungary, 4 min). TRT 80 min.
7:45 pm Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai
U.S. Premiere
Mizuho Nishikubo (Miyamoto Musashi: Sōken ni haseru yume, Japan 2009)
Quite likely the first anime-style documentary, this wholly unique film penned by master anime director Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, The Sky Crawlers) is set in Japan’s early Edo period during the early 17th century and focuses on the real-life events surrounding the development of the Niten Ichi-ryu (a classical style of Japanese swordsmanship) by Musashi Miyamoto. Oshii playfully questions the tale’s — and his own film’s — veracity, weaving together facts and myths while alternating between reverence and silliness in his treatment of events and exaggerations about the “the seeker of the way of the invincible sword” in this refreshingly offbeat look at militarism and machismo. While there is a relatively recent prevalence of animated nonfiction features including Chicago 10, Waltz with Bashir and Persepolis, the specific use of anime with nonfiction remains rare. One of only a handful of true animation auteurs, Oshii, throughout his career, continually has reformulated the uses and meanings of animation, presenting a nuanced and urgent personal world view in a series of changing contexts and with massively popular results. As Oshii states, “My goal is to always make a new kind of movie that nobody has seen before.” Once again, he has definitely succeeded with this genre-bending marvel. Written by Mamoru Oshii. Photographed by Hisashi Ezura. 72 min. Distributed by Production I.G.
9:30 pm Play It by Eye
This year’s program of recent animated music videos — always a Festival favorite — mixes established vets including Roboshobo, Sean Pecknold and Joel Trussell with up-and-comers such as Claire Carré and design stalwart Frater.
Autokratz: Stay the Same (Laurie Thinot, England, 4 min). Big Mistake: Tim Fite (Claire Carré, USA, 4 min). The Cribs: Mirror Kisses (Diamond Dogs, Canada/USA, 4 min). Feist: Honey Honey (Anthony Seck, Canada, 4 min). Fleet Foxes: White Winter Hymnal (Sean Pecknold, USA, 3 min). The Fray: Heartless (Hiro Murai, USA, 5 min). Grizzly Bear: While You Wait for the Others (Sean Pecknold, USA, 5 min). The Gossip: Love Long Distance (Joel Trussel, USA, 4 min). In-Flight Safety: Model Homes (Drew Lightfoot, USA, 5 min). Ladyhawke: My Delirium (Frater, France, 5 min). Love Like Fire: William (Zach Keller, USA, 5 min). Metallica: All Nightmare Long (Roboshobo, USA, 9 min). Linda Perhacs: Paper Mountain Man (Kelly Sears, USA, 4 min). Passion Pit: The Reeling (Hydra, USA, 5 min). Rex the Dog: Bubblicious (Geoffrey deCercy, England, 4 min). Britney Spears: Break the Ice (Robert Hales, USA, 4 min). Timbaland with The Hives: Throw It on Me (Justin Francis, USA, 4 min). TRT 77 min.
Sunday, November 15
12:00 pm The Best of Annecy see 11/14
1:45 pm Somewhere Where I Don’t Know Where I Am
The spaces we inhabit can be framed in a myriad of ways. These animated films describe the humor, confusion, anxiety and poignancy of the many places we encounter, often in the most exceptional ways.
The Adventures of Ledo and Ix A super-low-res existential comedy helps us ponder some of the big questions, like, Where am I? (Emily Carmichael, USA, 5 min). Dark Island This cutout piece primarily uses puppetry, but it is included in this animation festival simply because it is beautiful (Jonas Mellgren, Sweden, 10 min). Drux Flux The factory, the city, the war machine: Is this progress? (Theodore Ushev, Canada, 5 min). Fleet Foxes: Mykonos Everyone’s favorite neo-folkies animate their heavenly harmonies. (Sean Pecknold, USA, 4 min). Fly on the Window What does a fly see? (Nikita Diakur, England, 3 min). Head Garden (working title) A world premiere of graphic novelist, illustrator and animator Lilli Carré’s newest insights into that most delicate of spaces — headspace (Lilli Carré, USA, 5 min). Kroak “Retour aux ours” When you are way out there, alone with the elements, you should have this much fun (Julie Rembauville, Nicolas Bianco-Levrin, France, 3 min). Lucky An ingenious look at the way one animates in real space with neon trails (Darcy Prendergast, Australia, 3 min). Red and Blue The bombs come over here, and then they go over there, in the middle of this empty Cold War landscape. (Dusko Pasic, 2 min). Robes of War What happens to public space when women’s bodies become mobile weapons? (Michèle Cournoyer, Canada, 5 min). Runaway What awaits us around the bend? (Cordell Barker, Canada, 9 min). Sound-Shadows Ladies and gentlemen, we are surrounded by sound (Julie Engaas, Norway, 7 min). TRT 61 min.
3:30 pm Metropia
West Coast Premiere
Tarik Saleh (Sweden 2009)
Graffiti-art legend Tarik Saleh’s debut feature is a chic, chilling dystopian vision of a future in which corporate domination, market capitalism and urban sprawl hold society under total control and in an anxious state of (self-) surveillance. In a bleakly beautiful 2024, call-center drone Roger Olafson (Vincent Gallo) begins hearing a voice inside his head that leads him to step out of his dull routine and into a world of would-be espionage as he unwittingly stumbles upon secret plans and dastardly subterfuge at the center of his universe. Working with renowned art director Martin Hultman, Saleh utilizes a hyperrealistic animation style — initially developed for Swedish television — that defies conventional description. Using photomontage as its basis, the uncanny and unnerving technique has been described by one critic as the way “Kafka would have painted the Last Supper.” Saleh’s singular aesthetic lends itself perfectly to his theme of rampant paranoia and conspiracy. Having garnered big buzz at this year’s Venice Film Festival, Metropia is a haunting, devastatingly gloomy thriller further enlivened by the voices of Gallo, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier and Juliette Lewis. Written by Stig Larsson, Fredrik Edin, Tarik Saleh. Photographed by Sesse Lind. With Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis, Udo Kier, Stellan Skarsgård, Alexander Skarsgård, Sofia Helin. 86 min. Distributed by Swedish Film Institute.
