Animation Festival Day 2:

So pleased to read Sofie's fantastic review of day 1 of the festival below, here are some of my highlights from today (friday) day 2.

Press conference with some of the directors from last night's competition:

• Benoit Feroumont- Djivouveuvolti
  You can read about his work and activities on his blog, or either of his websites above. His film Dji Vou Veu Volti is a real mouthful but the man himself didn't have much to say at first at the press conference (too polite I think). Luckily some nice reporter (me) gave him another chance by asking all the directors there to talk about their current and future projects. He then talked about his feature film "Macrales" which is due out in October (produced by La Parti) and he is busy writing comics for the magazine "Spirou". He is also narrating a TV series called "Bud and Stan". On his blog he has some pictures from his trip so far in Hiroshima and he even caught a picture of us reporters during the press conference I see- touche.
• Robin King "Ten Thousand Pictures of You" This is his first animated film as he has been working as a professional actor in the UK. He produced it independently and hopes to win the lottery so he can build on the same concept to make a feature length animated film called "26,000 pictures of Daniel" but before having the time to take on that project (it would take a full year to do one of the shots he says) he will "need to win the lottery" (good luck!). Until he has time to do more independent films, it is back to acting- he will be in a Vampire film called "The Lonely Life of Tom Campbell" as "a vampire trying to live a normal life on the fringe of society". He was considered for the Steven Spielberg reality show On the Lot with a film he "designed, shot and edited in a week- a dark comedy about time travel", called "Unpossible" the website shows the documentary of making the film.
• Steve May "X and Y" Had a chance to chat with Steve May later in the day, very friendly chap making an effort to learn and speak Japanese while travelling around Japan with a friend. Gave me some postcards he made in exchange for the superb GetHiroshima map I gave him :-) His movie X and Y is a "homage t6o fictional ideas and characters that have been stored up (in his mind) since childhood" about superheroes and how a "ridiculous hysteria can occur over the smallest thing." His next project- he is working on a TV series with a writer. His main work is as a book illustrator and he is also writing a children's book on his own. He also trumped Robin King saying he made a film for a TV show in only 72 hours! You can see some of his amazing and fun shorts on his great website. He also mentioned that he loved the floating lanterns at the Peace Memorial ceremony, it is nice that the animation festival was held just after the ceremony this year- maybe we will see some of their depictions of the ceremony in a future festival.
  
• Koji Yamamura "Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor" Yamamura is Japan's modern prince of animation. He was the last Hiroshima animation festival's popular and prize winner- as the director of "Mt.Head" which was up for an Academy Award in 2003, Yamamura has come to this festival with a film sponsored by a theatre company in Japan and has been racking up the awards around the globe as it tours the animation festivals. This is bound to be a favorite in this competition too. He has rekindled a project he started 5 years ago with the film board of Canada.

Paul Driessen Screening and Seminar This talk and perspective was impressive. Driessen has a huge body of work including "The Yellow Submarine" Beatles animated film. I remember being riveted but confused by that when I was a kid, as I now realise, Driessen's animation was never meant for children. The messages are honest, hard hitting and unsympathetic, violent, revengeful and without apology or regret. His work seems to have softened as he got older and more comfortable or relaxed- a bit similar to reading books by Roald Dahl, but a bit heavy on harsh reality. He says he spent a lot of time alone as a kid and it sounds like he grew up in a very violent time, but he was able to use his art and drawing as a way to work through the isolation. He has a very unique drawing style which is not flattering to any of its subjects, but is effective in relaying the emotion and message of the stories and characters.

Disney's Latest Short: Glago's Guest - Screening and Seminar
Art Director Andy Harkness walked us through the process of getting a short film like Glago's Guest made. I think Sofie was here for this one too, so I won't go into too much detail. Harkness was so kid-brother cute & likeable and a knowledgeable guide to the process that leaves you dumbfounded by the amount of time and effort people like him put into making these short films so amazing. Although their marketing director who was there said "Shorts don't make money" we have to think of that comment in context to the vast number of independent animators doing their work without pay and without a huge billion dollar company to back and promote their work. That said, the stuff they come out with at Disney/Pixar are amazingly cool and beautiful- wouldn't it be nice if they could somehow better support independent animators somehow too (maybe show their work for free on the disney channel sometime?).