By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. The narrative may seem like a raw and harsh retelling of the artist’s story; however, Frida’s numerous illnesses are handled with the utmost respect throughout the film…. Art allowed her to process pain, reclaim her missing identity outside of what illness turned her into and […]
Limitations and Innovations: An Interview with Filmmaker and Animator Richard Bazley
By William Blick. Speed is a huge advantage in live action. Animation is time consuming, and if you ask an animator to rework a scene, it can take days, maybe even weeks for a few seconds.” –Richard Bazley Richard Bazley has had an illustrious career in animation beginning with his journey on […]
Unstoppable: Wrestling and the Plasmatic
By Justin Muchnick. No amount of movie magic, it seems, can fully replace Robles’ own unparalleled plasmaticness. I only wish Sergei Eisenstein could have seen this film, too….” The Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein, pioneer of film theory and lover of Disney cartoons, coined the term plasmatic to describe the ecstatic […]
Against Mechanization: Adam Elliot on Memoir of a Snail (CIFF 2024)
By Jonathan Monovich. It’s always tempting to speed up the process and save money by using CGI, but I think we’re at a period where we’re drowning in CGI. Now, with the advent of AI, I think stop motion has never been appreciated as much as it is now.” —Adam […]
Connecting to the Illusions – The Flesh of Animation: Bodily Sensations in Film and Digital Media
A Book Review by William Blick. Despite its jargon-laden density, Sandra Annett offers some new insights and perspective into what is usually a misunderstood genre.” In The Flesh of Animation: Bodily Sensations in Film and Digital Media (University of Minnesota Press, 2024), Sandra Annett argues that digital media and animation […]
The Miyazaki Interlude: The Conscious and Unconscious Intervals of The Boy and the Heron (2023)
By David Ryan. Miyazaki moves beyond illustrating simple contrasts by creating relationships in apposition (not opposition), and this interdependency often encourages experiential growth for his younger protagonists.” Writer-director Hayao Miyazaki’s films are carefully planned adventures into the realms of innocence and experience. His abstract themes and dense stories have garnered […]
Small Town, Big Drama: DK and Hugh Welchman’s The Peasants (2023)
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. DK and Hugh Welchman’s film, which recreates frames as oil paintings, is a captivating portrayal of the darker and most unsettling aspects of human nature, such as oppressive patriarchy, small-minded shared beliefs, selfishness, narcissism and jealous behavior within the constraints of a small community.” People […]
Falling in Love with Myself: Signe Baume’s My Love Affair with Marriage (2022)
By Jenny Paola Ortega Castillo. The film uses animation to delve deep into the complex tapestry of women’s roles in marriage and the harrowing loss of identity that often accompanies this timeless practice.” I felt like an inflated balloon trying to fit into a shoe box that couldn’t accommodate its […]
Recent Contemporary Protest Cinema and Political-Cultural Exoticism
By Hamed Soleimanzadeh. By bringing attention to the challenges of the surrounding world, exotic protest cinema encourages audiences to take responsibility against the injustices and inefficiencies.” The concept of political-cultural exoticism in protest cinema refers to the presentation and understanding of ethnic, national, and regional cultures and policies in films […]
War at a Distance: Aurora’s Sunrise
By James Slaymaker. In its intricate tapestry of storytelling modes and its profound engagement with the ethics of representation, “Aurora’s Sunrise” stands as a cinematic work that dares to confront the complexities of historical memory. It forces us to re-examine the role of cinema in shaping and distorting the past….” […]