‘LIFE IN DEATH: My Animated Films 1976-2020’ by Dennis Tupicoff

First Edition published April 21, 2022

If you haven’t heard already, Dennis Tupicoff has written a book about his films and his approach to animated documentaries. The book accompanies 9 of his films, curated and freely available on a Youtube channel.

A little about the book: “Dennis Tupicoff, world-renowned animator, writer, and producer, is an expert on the narrative application of death in animation. Take a journey with Tupicoff as he goes in-depth into the many themes, associations, and practices found in film and especially animation. Life in Death: My Animated Films 1976–2020 explores death as it relates to experience, storytelling, theory, and narrative. The examples in the very readable text are organized into three broad categories: cartoon, documentary, and hybrids of various types.”

Access to the book is here: /https://www.routledge.com/Life-in-Death-My-Animated-Films-1976-2020/Tupicoff/p/book/9781032042206

http://www.dennistupicoff.com

‘The Classical Animated Documentary and Its Contemporary Evolution’ by Cristina Formenti

Hot off the Press! Cristina Formenti’s new book is the first book to provide an historical insight into the animated documentary.

The publishing wesbite goes on to say: ” Drawing on archival research and textual analysis, it shows how this form, usually believed to be strictly contemporaneous, instead took shape in the 1940s. Cristina Formenti integrates a theoretical and a historical approach in order to shed new light on the animated documentary as a form as well as on the work of renowned studios such as The Walt Disney Studios, Halas & Batchelor, National Film Board of Canada and never before addressed ones, such as Corona Cinematografica. She also highlights the differences and the similarities existing among the animated documentaries created between the 1940s and the mid-1980s and those produced today so as to demonstrate how the latter do not represent a complete otherness in respect to the former, but rather an evolution.”

There is the link to where to buy the book, https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/classical-animated-documentary-and-its-contemporary-evolution-9781501346477/

and the ebook version of The Classical Animated Documentary and Its Contemporary Evolution (Bloomsbury 2022) has now been included in Bloomsbury Collections. So if your library has access to Bloomsbury Collections, you can find it there as well!

AnimatedDocumentary.com are looking forward to getting our hands on a copy!

ANIDOX:LAB by The Animation Workshop & Flee by Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Did you know that the Anidox Lab was involved in the R&D process for the animated documentary Flee?

Here Michelle Kranot gives us some insights into the process of working on animated documentary ideas in the early stages:

“We salute the team of FLEE for their hard work and conviction. ANIDOX are proud to be engaged in the early development of this project, when director Jonas Poher Rasmussen joined our ANIDOX:LAB. We helped him make his first teaser, and ‘matched’ him with the Animation production studio SunCreature. We also followed the process closely and consulted whenever it was useful.

We hope others feel as inspired by this film and as energized as we do – We believe that more filmmakers, artists, journalists and producers will now consider this unique marriage of animation and documentary – and that audiences become more open and curious.

Applications for ANIDOX:LAB 2022 are open until 20.4.22

https://anidox.com/applications/

‘Flee’ by Jonas Poher Rasmussen

Flee tells the story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon-to-be husband. Winning many awards and accolades including the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, this film has garnered much critical acclaim since its release in 2021.

Told to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen under an alias, we witness the life-threatening, heartbreaking journey undertaken as a child refugee from Afghanistan. The animation is interspersed with archive footage from Afghanistan, punctuating the memories with indexical images; the sequences striking a resemblance to events currently unfolding in Ukraine. This is further heightened by the plight of the refugees trying to find a way through systems to safe places, which in this story took many years. Alongside this is the sub storyline of Amin’s sexual identity and his coming of age as a displaced refugee.

Flee was initially developed as part of AniDox Lab.

https://neonrated.com/films/flee

Factual Animation Film Festival 2021

The 7^th Edition of Factual Animation Film Festival was held at Queen Mary University of London’s Hitchcock Cinema on the 16^th October 2021. The festival programme was also made available online until the 24^th October. For full details visit factualanimation.com

The programme consisted of curated screenings and a series of interviews with animation directors conducted by Holly Murtha, festival director, and Alex Widdowson, festival producer.

The Beauty of Mathematics, an interview with Sarah Gorf-Roloff

In Absentia, Interview with Adriana Monteforte

I Want To Be Bored & The Things Around Us, interview with Magda Kreps

Skeleton of A Moth, interview with Emma Kay Smith

Moosehide Slide – Interview with Dan Sokolowski

Awards

There were two awards presented at FAFF this year: Best Student Film and Best Animated Documentary Film

The award for Best Student film went to Magda Kreps for I Want To Be Board

The award for Best Film went to Laurent Leprince for Waka Huia

You can visit the FAFF website here https://factualanimation.com/

‘Perinatal Positivity’ by ForMed Films

Still from Perinatal Positivity

This is an Animated Documentary and wrap around campaign to raise awareness and talk about some of the mental health wellbeing difficulties parents may face during pregnancy, birth and after. The aim is to emotionally support parents and enable them to find support. First hand testimonies along with animated characters and storylines open up conversations and experiences that are often difficult to start or hear. This film is directed by Emma Lazenby through ForMed Films, a not-for-profit Community Interest Company.

Rising of the Lusitania Festival 3, Gdansk Poland

The festival who shares the name of the first known Animated Documentary features a stellar line up of films. Their selection includes a mockumentary category and a Rising of the Pandemic category on films made about and during the pandemic.

The festival is screening on location, alongside a hybrid online/ offline conference. You can find more details here: www.animadoc.pl

‘Interjections and Connections: The Critical Potential of Animated Segments in Live Action Documentary’ by Bella Honess Roe

A still from Searching for Sugar Man featured in ‘Interjections and Connections’ 

Written a few years ago now, this article by Bella Honess Roe examines the animated segments within live action films and builds on the thinking in her seminal work ‘Animated Documentary’, both essential reading for those studying, making and writing about the theory and or practice of animated documentary.

https://bellahonessroe.wordpress.com/2017/11/29/new-article/

Animating Truth: Documentary and Visual Culture in the 21st Century by Nea Ehrlich

The latest book about factual animation comes from Dr Nea Ehrlich, and a quick glance at the contents page shows notably distinct areas of animated documentary that have seen less coverage, for example an entire section of the book is dedicated to other forms of animated documentary within games and VR, whilst other chapters explore in depth the definition of mixed realities. We cannot wait to get reading, the book is available to buy at Edinburgh University Press or you can access the book via ‘open access’ via this link:

https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/46536

About the book:
Confronting shifts in the status and aesthetics of the real, *Animating Truth *analyses how contemporary technoculture has transformed the relationship of animation to documentary by mapping out two parallel
trends: the increased use of animation within documentary or non-fiction contexts, and the increasingly pervasive use of non-photorealistic animation within digital media. As the virtual becomes another aspect of
our contemporary mixed reality (physical and virtual), the book aims to understand how this visual paradigm shift influences viewers, both ethically and politically, and questions the wider ramifications of this transformation in non-fiction aesthetics.

The ANIDOX:VR Awards, factual and visual storytelling in emerging media/VR

The Animation Workshop (home to ANIDOX lab), is for the second year running their new initiative – the ANDOX:VR Award and Exhibition. The Awards include a cash prize and a residency grant for the development of new work.

The 2019 awards included five projects in competition and one project out of competition.

This review will focus on the information available for each project online, usually a trailer and reviews. Unfortunately, I have not experienced the projects as a VR experience yet, due to not being able to attend the festivals the projects have exhibited at. My aim is that the information I provide will be enough to introduce the reader to the project and by following the links, knowledge about where to access the work will be clear.

 

‘Ayahuasca Kosmik Journey’ by Jan Kounen (2019)

This 18 minute VR film allows participants to immerse themselves in visions triggered by a dose of ayahuasca – a tea made from the leaves and stalks of shrubs found in Brazil and traditionally drunk by ancient Amazonian tribes. The spectator lives through the eyes of the director who has experienced the psychoactive brew.

“Imaginative, architectural and delirious visualizations. More than an imitation of a drug trip, the world presented is a spiritual one. Chants fill the headphones. Snakes slither. And no amount of text we can draft can dig deep enough into the actual experience.”
Review by David Graver on Cool Hunting

You can find the trailer here and a link to the project’s website here

 

‘Homestay’ by Paisley Smith, Jam3 and the NFB Digital Studio (2018)

The trailer for this VR Animated Documentary cuts directly to the dramatic points of the story. This is the tragic story of a Japanese student who stays with a Canadian family; a look at how complete immersion in another culture can create a clash of expectations and change our understanding of family, hospitality, nationality and love.

The user experiences the story through a voice-over by the director, giving an account of her experience. The visuals embrace technological challenges by depicting a paper cut-out and origami aesthetic, created within game engine Unity.

You can watch the trailer here and read more about the project here

 

‘Another Dream’ by Tamara Shogaolu (2019)

Winner of the ANIDOX:VR 2019 Award for Innovative Storytelling, ‘Another Dream’ is a hybrid animated documentary and VR game bringing to life the gripping, true love story of an Egyptian lesbian couple. Faced with a post-revolution backlash against the LGBTQ community, they escape Cairo to seek asylum and acceptance in the Netherlands. An accompanying installation allows audiences to reflect on what they have seen, heard, and felt in VR.

Another Dream is part of Queer in a time of forced Migration an animated transmedia series that follows the stories of LGBTQ refugees from Egypt, Sudan, and Saudi Arabia across continents and cultures — from the 2011 revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa region, to the world today.

​You can watch the trailer here and find more out about the project here

 

‘Accused #2 Walter Sisulu’ by Nicolas Champeaux and Gilles Porte (2018)

This 360° video immerses the spectator at the core of the Rivonia trial, which took place in South Africa 1963-64. Accused no.1, Nelson Mandela and accused no.2, Sisulu faced a racist and aggressive prosecutor. The defendants used the trial as a political platform against apartheid, at the expense of their freedoms. The original sound archives of the trial form the narrative, with illustrations by Oerd Van Cuijlenborg brought to life.

You can watch the trailer here and find out more about the project here

 

‘The Scream’ by Sandra Paugam and Charles Ayats (2018)

Winner of the ANIDOX:VR  2019 award for Best Immersive work (€1000). Bringing to life ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch, this VR installation enables the user to interact with the painting. The trailer sets a scary tone: set in an empty museum you are invited to touch the painting…beware of what you might unleash.

You can watch the trailer here and find out more about the project here

 

‘Songbird’ VR installation by Lucy Greenwell / Michelle & Uri Kranot (2018)

Songbird is a fairy tale with a dark heart. You will be transported to the island of Kauai in 1984 and into a painted replica of a lush cloud forest filled with colourful birds. Here, you are invited to search for the last known ʻōʻō, an iconic black bird with yellow leg feathers and a beautiful song, a bird whose existence has been threatened to the point of extinction.

Watch the trailer here

Online Submissions are open until 20th July, for the ANIDOX:VR 2020 awards.

The ANIDOX:VR Award is supported by The Animation Workshop/Via University College, Vision Denmark, The European Union, Viborg Kommune, The Danish Film Institute, and the Swedish Film Institute. The exhibition is sponsored by HTC VIVE.