Women in Art

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

by Philip Scott Johnson
Music: Bach's Sarabande from Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007
performed by Yo-Yo Ma


Nominated as Most Creative Video

2nd Annual YouTube Awards

Charlie Thistle - 2008

Charlie Thistle dreams of a better world. He dreams of a world in color, where trees grow indoors, and animals can talk... Alas, Charlie works at the Department of Normality, where change isn't tolerated. But there comes a time in everyone's life when they have to take a stand. And that day is coming for Charlie Thistle!

Awards:

• BEST SHORT - 2009 Sedona International Film Festival
• 3RD Place - Doorpost Film Project 2008
• 
  

  3RD Place - 2010 Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival of Seattle

Charlie Thistle (USA)

Running time: 15m

      Director:       Bragi Schut Jr.
      Writer(s):       Bragi Schut Jr.
      Producer(s):       Kirsten Wagner, Esther Goodstein
      Director of Photography:       Paula Huidobro
   
      Cast and Credits:
      Charlie - Jon Keel
      Ezzie - Leslie Stevens
      Narrated by - David Markus

Alma- 2009

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

(Best view in full screen - To view the video in full screen just click the full screen symbol in the bottom right of the video player. Press esc button to come out of full screen.)

Alma, a little girl, skips through the snow covered streets of a small town. Her attention is caught by a strange doll in an antique toy shop window. Fascinated, Alma decides to enter...

'Alma' es el primer corto dirigido por Rodrigo Blaas, un animador español afincado en California que trabaja para Pixar desde el año 2002. En este tiempo, Rodrigo ha participado en películas tan importantes como 'Buscando a Nemo', Cars', 'Los Increíbles', 'Wall-e' y 'UP', pero esta es la primera vez que se enfrasca en un proyecto independiente.

El corto ha ganado numerosos premios, entre ellos a mejor corto animado en el LA Shorts Fest y en el Animacor (el Festival Internacional de Animación en España), así como el premio a la Mejor Opera Prima en I Castelli Animati de Italia.

2-nd Place - 2010 Science Fiction + Fantasy Short Film Festival of Seattle

Web oficial: almashortfilm.com


ALMA

Country:  Spain, USA
Year:      2009
Running Time: 5.5 minutes
Director: Rodrigo Blaas

Piotr Kamler - Coeur de secours(1973)

Piotr Kamler

Piotr Kamler was born in Warsaw in 1936. He is a graduate of the Warsaw Academy of Fine Art. In 1959 he went to Paris to continue his art studies. it was there that he came into contact with Research Department at ORTF( directed by Pierre Schaeffer) and began to collaborate with “concrete” musicians such as Xenakis on experimental shorts( musical abstract films and “fables”). The ORTF Research Department which was later taken over by INA, was a hothouse for talent, enabling diverse artists such as Peter Foldes, Robert Lapoujade , Jacques Espagne, Jacques Rouxel, Andre Martin and Michel Boschet, Jacques Colombat, Jean-Francois Laguionie, Henry Lacam and Kamler to carry out a large number of bold and innovative personal projects.
With astonishing regularity, Kamler came up with no less than 8 unusual short films between 1962 and 1973. The films themselves were incorrectly described as science fiction-in fact they were much closer to the universe of Borges than to Space Opera. Kamler, who created strange, improbable but plausible world, began to explore a whole range of different visual techniques. Le Trou (1968), Araignelephant (1968), Delicieuse Catastrophe(1971), Coeur de secours (1973) all won awards at major film festivals (Cracow, New York, Mamaiea , Melbourne … ). After Le Pas (Grand prix at Annecy 1975) Kamler went underground for a while until he resurfaced with the full-length feature Chronopolis (1982).




(Best view in full screen - To view the video in full screen just click the full screen symbol in the bottom right of the video player. Press esc button to come out of full screen.)

Chronopolis made in 1982 by Piotr Kamler is a fabulous city lost in space where strange pharaoh-like immortals kill the monotony of their deathless state by fabricating time, represented by enigmatic, morphing white balls.

Kamler's animated cinema suggests a singular variety of science fiction; it was he who provided the original idea for the Shadoks TV series. Completely unalike to more conventionally linear and text-based narratives, Kamler's films instead explore a series of dynamic visual motifs. Typically, the conclusion of these films is less suggestive of resolution, than it is of recurring episode. What is most striking in all his films is the variety of visual invention that Kamler brings to each work - he is as assured working with clay (as in his feature, Chronopolis) as he is with ink and paper, or even animating digitally on computer (in the most recent work in this program, Une mission ephemere). These visual flourishes embellish some of the most amazing animated films ever made - an achievement which won his Le Pas the Grand Prix of the 1975 Annecy Animation Festival.

You can watch 10 min of the film here

The cathedral (2002)

The Cathedral (2002) - Tomek Baginski from Ludik on Vimeo.

The Cathedral (Polish: Katedra) is the title of a science fiction short story by Jacek Dukaj, winner of the Janusz A. Zajdel Award in 2000; and of a 2002 short animated movie by Tomasz Bagiński, based on the story. The film was nominated in 2002 for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film for the 75th Academy Awards. The movie won the title of Best Animated Short at Siggraph 2002 in San Antonio as well as several other awards.

The movie, made in 3ds max, focuses on a man who visits a mystical, organic building that looks like a medieval cathedral. As he walks through the immense structure, the light from his torch falls upon the pillars, revealing human faces. The viewer later realises that the faces are still alive, as several smile and open their eyes as the man walks past them. The building's nature is partially unveiled at sunrise as the blinding light enchants the visitor and causes organic branch-like structures to burst from his chest. These protrusions then become another set of pillars in the building.


Directed by     Tomasz Bagiński
Running time    6 min 28 sec
Language         no dialogue

tbaginski_interview

Fallen Art (2004)

Ένα πολύ δυνατό σχόλιο, χωρίς λόγια, για την κοινωνία μας.

 Fallen Art (Polish Sztuka spadania) is the name of a 6-minute, animated short film written and directed by Tomasz Bagiński. It features Romanian band Fanfare Ciocarlia's song "Asfalt Tango."
In 2006 it received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)  Award.

El “Arte Caido”, creada por el director polaco Tomasz Bagiński, nominado al oscar por “The Cathedral”, es un cortometraje magnifico, el mejor comentario corto que he visto sobre nuestra sociedad.

Directed and   
Written by            Tomasz Bagiński   
Music by              Fanfare Ciocărlia
Release date(s)     2004
Running time         6 minutes
Country                Poland

Oficial site fallen-art

BLIND SPOT (2007)

During a convenience store stick up a grandmother is shopping unaware of what's taking place. The evidence tells a different story.

The students of Gobelins never fail to impress. “Blind Spot” isn’t new, but it has been nominated as a Best Student Piece for SIGGRAPH 2008. And with good reason. The technical and artistic strengths of the film’s creators all dovetail brilliantly, making for a tightly packed narrative that’s full of detail and comedic irony.

“Blind Spot” was created by Johanna Bessiere, Nicolas Chauvelot, Olivier Clert, Cecile Dubois Herry, Yvon Jardel and Simon Rouby.

BLIND SPOT (2007)
Technique: Computer Animation
Country: France
Running Time: 2:15


Official Site: blindspotthemovie

Wim Mertens - Struggle for Pleasure

Gary (2008)

Gary from Gary on Vimeo.

A beautiful animated short film directed by Clément Soulmagnon, Yann Benedi, Sébastien Eballard and Quentin Chaillet.
Supinfocom School of Animation France - 2008

Here is what the makers are saying about "Gary":

"This story is about a young boy who falls in love with a girl who is much older than him. He wants to create a other part of him to seduce her, someone older, stronger…But, this part of him began to be independent and act without control from Gary. Emile “the other side of Gary” manage to seduce the girl but he hasn’t got the same vision of love, he’s more violent and sexual than Gary. Gary is a child with dream, Emile is just his “physic part”.

We wanted to make a story, with illustrated feelings, but not in a classic narrative way. We wanted the visuals to manage to convey even more this feelings. We wanted to have a metaphoric way of storytelling. There is a whole sequence in the inside of the giant, a kind of retrospection and a way to show that Gary has to destruct or manage a part of himself in order to grow up. We wanted to show the vision of love from his childish point of view, with magic moments, imagination…The film is a metaphore of the adolescence, the first strong feelings, the first physic desire…"


Read the whole interview Gary film interview

This is Not a Film - The surreal world of René Magritte

An animated journey through the surreal world of René Magritte.

Music is Brahms' Piano Quartet number 1

Juan Solanas - El Hombre Sin Cabeza - L'homme sans tête (2003)

Solanas - L'homme sans tête

Con subtitulos en castellano








Phelps, a solitary man who lives in a big industrial city by the sea, is very happy tonight. He is getting ready for a ball. And not any ball, a dance to which the young woman he loves has agreed to come. Tonight he will declare his flame and and it makes him feel like dancing... But there is something wrong with Phelps, at least in his own "eyes": he does not have a head! That is why he sets out to buy a head that suits him to please his lady...   

Juan Diego Solanas (born 4 November 1966) is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and cinematographer. His film Nordeste was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. He is the son of Argentina film director Fernando Solanas.

Juan Solanas estudió Historia del Arte en Paris. Además desarrolló una pasión por la fotografía. A través de numerosos comerciales y videos de música Solanas demostró su talento como director a lo largo de 15 años. Su primer trabajo es inmediatamente reconocido.

En el 2001, escribió y dirigió su primer cortometraje L´Homme Sans Tête, El Hombre sin Cabeza. Este ambicioso corto fue seleccionado en el Festival de Cannes de 2003 y recibió de manos de Emir Kusturica el Premio del Jurado otorgado por unanimidad. Fue la única película francesa que ganó ese año. Es evidente el tremendo talento y cuidado que Solanas pone a la disposición del film, con unas imágenes más que trabajadas y una historia surrealista que habla sobre las identidades de las personas y el afán de buscar nuestra verdadera personalidad. Un buen trabajo que merece ser disfrutado.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363263/

L´Homme Sans Tête

Σκηνοθέτης:     Juan Diego Solanas
Χώρα:               Αργεντινή, Γαλλία
Γλώσσα:           Γαλλικά
Διάρκεια:         17 min

Griddlers Puzzles

Modrian



Nonograms, also known as Paint by Numbers or Griddlers are picture logic puzzles in which cells in a grid have to be colored or left blank according to numbers given at the side of the grid to reveal a hidden picture. In this puzzle type, the numbers measure how many unbroken lines of filled-in squares there are in any given row or column. For example, a clue of "4 8 3" would mean there are sets of four, eight, and three filled squares, in that order, with at least one blank square between successive groups.

These puzzles are often black and white but can also have some colors. If they are colored, the number clues will also be colored in order to indicate the color of the squares. Two differently colored numbers may or may not have a space in between them. For example, a black four followed by a red two could mean four black spaces, some empty spaces, and two red spaces, or it could simply mean four black spaces followed immediately by two red ones.

Vincent – Tim Burton (1982)

Short Stop Motion Animation | Vincent – Tim Burton:
Ποίημα του Burton, το οποίο σκηνοθέτησε ο ίδιος το 1982. Πρόκειται για μια από τις πρώτες δουλειές του και οι επιρροές του Edgar Alan Poe στο έργο του είναι εμφανείς. Η εξαιρετική αφήγηση γινέται από το θεατρικό ηθοποιό Vincent Price.

Vincent
Directed by Tim Burton
Written by Tim Burton
Narrated by Vincent Price
Running time 5 minutes 52 seconds
Country USA
Language English

Mutlu Ol Bu Bir Emirdir!

Εκπληκτικό φιλμάκι για την απαγόρευση των αμανέδων στην Τουρκία από τον Κεμάλ το 1934.
Χάρη στην Κλεάνθη το βρήκα με αγγλικούς υπότιτλους.

Sebastian's Voodoo (2008)

Sebastian's Voodoo

A voodoo doll must find the courage to save his friends from being pinned to death. Created at the UCLA Animation Workshop, with music by Nick Fevola.
Joaquin Baldwin is an Annie Award nominee director and animator from Paraguay. Living in Los Angeles, he is now finishing his MFA in animation at UCLA. He has received over 50 international awards for his animated film Sebastian's Voodoo and Papiroflexia, and also several grants including the Jack Kent Cooke full Graduate Scholarship in 2006.

Director: Joaquin Baldwin
Running Time: 4'06
Country: U.S.A.

How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels (1996)

Μια εξαιρετική ταινία μικρού μήκους από τον Καναδά, αρκετά περίεργη, μου άρεσε κυρίως αισθητικά γιατί χρησιμοποιεί την τεχνική της γκραβούρας και δημιουργεί μια σουρεαλιστική ατμόσφαιρα.

Craig Welch takes viewers inside a surreal, meticulously crafted world to meet a mysterious protagonist and his otherworldly visitor.
In this surreal exposition, we meet a man, obsessed with control. His intricate gadgets manipulate yet insulate, as his science dissects and reduces. How exactly are wings attached to the back of angels? In this invented world drained of emotion, where everything goes through the motions, he is brushed by indefinite longings. Whether he can transcend his obsessions and fears is the heart of the matter. A film without words.


…a wonderful animated (short) film by Craig Welch and the National Film Board of Canada (nfb).
“How Wings…” is the fascinating story of how an old, wealthy inventor protects himself from the outside world while he works feverishly on his plan to surgically attach a pair of wings to the back of a woman he envisions as his angel. It is a remarkable and beautiful film - see it if you have the chance. —Maverick-34 from Edmonton, Canada (imdb)

How Wings Are Attached to the Backs of Angels
Σκηνοθεσία        Craig Welch
Διάρκεια            11 λεπτά
Χώρα                 Καναδάς
Γλώσσα             Βουβή

Balance - Lauenstein (1989)

Το Balance είναι μια γερμανική ταινία κινουμένων σχεδίων μικρού μήκους του 1989, σε σκηνοθεσία και παραγωγή των δίδυμων αδελφών Wolfgang και Christoph Lauenstein.

Πέντε άτομα ζουν πάνω σε μία μικρή και ασταθή πλατφόρμα η οποία αιωρείται στο διάστημα. Όταν κάποιος κινηθεί θα πρέπει και οι υπόλοιποι να κάνουν το ίδιο ώστε να διατηρηθεί η ισορροπία και να μη βρεθούν στο κενό. Η ομάδα συνεργάζεται έτσι ώστε να διατηρείται η "ισορροπία" μέχρι που ένας από αυτούς ανακαλύπτει ένα μυστηριώδες κουτί και το φέρνει στην πλατφόρμα. Όλοι είναι περίεργοι να δουν τι έχει μέσα το κουτί και στην προσπάθειά τους αυτή διαταράσσουν την ισορροπία της πλατφόρμας και της κοινής τους ζωής πάνω σ΄αυτήν...


Η ταινία κέρδισε το Όσκαρ για Best Animated Short to 1989.

Balance

των Christoph Lauenstein
Wolfgang Lauenstein
Διάρκεια      7 λεπτά
Γλώσσα       Βουβή

And the winner is... Logorama (2009) Oscar 2010 Best Short Animated Movie

Logorama is a 17-minute animated film written and directed by H5/ François Alaux, Hervé de Crécy and Ludovic Houplain, and produced by Autour de Minuit. The film depicts events in a stylized Los Angeles, and is told entirely through the use of more than 2,500 contemporary and historical logos and mascots. The film won the Prix Kodak at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

This short consists completely out off logo's and trademarks.
Directed by François Alaux & Herve de Crecy.

Wallace And Gromit - A Matter Of Loaf And Death (2008) Υποψήφιο για Όσκαρ Best Short Animated - 4

Wallace And Gromit - A Matter Of Loaf And Death

DANMAN | MySpace Video

Επίσημο site A Matter of Loaf and Death

"French Roast" Υποψήφιο για Όσκαρ 2010 Best Short Animated - 3

Το French Roast είναι ένα γαλλικό 3D animation μικρού μήκους σε σκηνοθεσία Fabrizio O. Joubert και υλοποιήθηκε από την ομάδα "The Pumpkin Factory". Έχει κερδίσει συνολικά 12 διακρίσεις σε αντίστοιχα φεστιβάλ για το 2009 και η ιστορία εξελίσσεται σε ένα παριζιάνικο καφέ στην δεκαετία του '60 με κύριο χαρακτήρα, έναν καθώς πρέπει κύριο που δεν έχει χρήματα για να πληρώσει τον καφέ του.
Εξαιρετικό.

French Roast
Σκηνοθεσία	Fabrice O. Joubert
Παραγωγή	Bibo Bergeron
Σενάριο	Fabrice O. Joubert
Μουσική	Olivier Liboutry
Διάρκεια	8 λεπτά
Χώρα	Γαλλία
Γλώσσα	Βουβή