Rosa Torres Pujol

Abstract: Pablo Llorens is one of the greatest Spanish animators. Despite his countless awards, including two Goyas, he is still producing films. Above all, he works in advertising but occasionally he gives himself a spiritual respite and calls other animators to his production company Potens Plastianimation, as well as Triton Media, with which he makes productions that integrate stop-motion with live action. He especially uses as a reference popular works of science fiction, creating special effects in clay, which gives the image a very revival aesthetic. His latest work, Molecular Zombi, deals with the story of a couple in crisis who solves their problems through a paternity intergalactic that saves the world. A surreal story with gore moments and tenderness, which has already starting to move at animation and horror movies festivals.

Key Words: Pablo Llorens, clay, Valencia, Molecular Zombi, stop-motion

Biography: Rosa Torres Pujol studied Audiovisual Communication at the University of Valencia (UV). She is interested in the possibilities of animation to approach social taboos, subject she has explored in the Artistic Production Master she finished at Universitat Politècnica de València. She has been a speaker at the Seminar on ICT in the UV (2008) and cooperating-teacher offering a class about «The annihilating animation of the stereotypes», from the Master’s Degree in Languages and Literatures (2010). Her short film Imperfecta was shown at the 26^th edition of Cinema Jove, and nowadays she is about to make an animated video installation.

Contact: rovaltorres@gmail.com

O Apostolo, by Fernando Cortizo

Adrián Encinas Salamanca

Abstract: Until 2012, only Pablo Llorens had been able to produce a stop-motion feature film in Spain, but Fernando Cortizo and his company Artifact Productions have come to show that they could repeat such a milestone. With great enthusiasm but small commercial push, it comes this great mystery story that will delight lovers of animation and fantasy film, where visual quality has not been spared, as the result can looks into the eyes of productions such as Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Key Words: Stop-motion, puppets, Spanish film, Paul Naschy, Galicia

Biography: Adrián Encinas Salamanca (Madrid, 1986) is a Civil Canals and Ports Engineer. His premature contact with the cinema of Ray Harryhausen made outcrops on a concern about the how and why of animation frame by frame, which materialized in 2006 in the creation of the Puppets & Clay blog, dedicated exclusively to the world of stop-motion. He has also worked for animation festivals such as Animayo, Animadrid, and 3D Wire, delivering chats about stop-motion, and he has contributed to books (The Spanish Short in 100 names), magazines (FX Magazine, Stop-Motion Magazine) and fanzines (DATA, Amazing Monsters) focusing on this centennial animation technique from different points of view. As well, he is founder of STOPMOTIA, an association of lovers of stop-motion.

Contact: puppetsandclay@gmail.com

Reports

Spanish Animation in 2012

Samuel Viñolo Locuviche

Abstract: After a four years period of intense economic crisis, 2012 begins to crack part of the fortress that Spanish animation had shown so far, seeing disappear very quickly some of the companies and the industry flagship events, while removing of much state aid the movies threaten to affect even deeper to all the visual arts in the years ahead. In addition and as a sign of hope, 2012 is also a good year for many animated feature films that got an excellent answer countless commercial and international praise. The following article aims to point out very quickly what were the main lines that have characterized the Spanish animation in 2012.

Key Words: Animation, crisis, change, funding, short films, feature films

Biography: Samuel Viñolo Locuviche (Almeria, 1978) has a degree in Communication Studies from the Universidad de Sevilla, and has worked as an animator in Germany and Spain. After finishing his Master Thesis in Castellon de la Plana (Spain), he is currently preparing a PhD about CGI Catalonian Animation at the Universitat of Barcelona (Spain). He also has been responsible for the animation blog Animaholic Magazine since 2005.

Contact: jvinollo7@alumnes.ub.edu

Coffee with Guillermo García Carsí (El Señor Studio)

Sara Álvarez & Miguel Vidal

Abstract: El Señor Studio starts playing hard in the panorama of animation, and although their history may seem recent (since 2009), the trajectory of this team is consolidated and the projection of their work stands out internationally. Guillermo García Carsi, director of the family-owned studio with her sister Beatriz, was the creator and director of the famous show Pocoyo. This small but versatile production company in Madrid develops and produces 2D and 3D projects, covering the entire creative process and company stamp: concept, character design, script, story and direction, always putting on the table a good dose of imagination, talent and humor. Family ties connect the García Carsís with Valencia, but has been the collaboration of Guillermo García Carsí as professor in the Masters in Animation at the UPV, which has allowed us to share a table and coffee, and to chat in a relaxed way about animation.

Key Words: El Señor Studio, animation, characters’ creation, 2D, 3D, series, coproduction

Biographies:

Sara Álvarez Sarrat is Senior Lecturer at the Department of Design, Universitat Politècnica de València, and PhD in Fine Arts from 2002. She initiated her thesis during an internship in the AWN magazine, Los Angeles (USA). She has directed the Master Degree in Animation UPV (2010-12), and from 2008 there leads the group of I+D+I Animation: Art and Industry. She has taken part as referee in international conferences, collaborated with festivals and published in books and specialized magazines. In 2012 curated the exhibition Surviving Life: Collages of Jan Svankmajer’s movie, at the exhibition hall Josep Renau (BBAA-UPV). Her artistic production passes between animation, painting and drawing.

Miguel Vidal Ortega is Graduated at the University of Havana, and PhD in Fine Arts, Universitat Politècnica de València. He teaches animation at the Department of Design, San Carlos Faculty of Fine Arts in Valencia, and he is also member of the group of I+D+I Animation: Art and Industry, combining teaching with research. He has been lead animator and director of films at ICAIC Animation Studios in La Havana, Cuba, and he has worked for numerous films as an animator, designer and director of short films, headers and music videos. He has participated in festivals, conferences and exhibitions.

Contact: salvarez@dib.upv.es; mivior@dib.upv.es

Wrinkles. A Travel Abroad, from the Beginning to the End

Pilar Yébenes

Abstract: Wrinkles, directed by Ignacio Ferreras, is one of the last 2D animation features «made in Spain» that lets us enjoy the adult audience a hard and real, though magical, story. Wrinkles is not one of those movies that leave you indifferent. It makes you think, it makes understand, it makes feel, it makes live, even when the main subject of the movie is just the opposite. Wrinkles, born as a comic book from the hands of Paco Roca, got the Spanish National Comic Award. With the images of the film, with its feelings on the surface, with large doses of implicit kindness and a gallery of characters who tell a story about friendship, loneliness, but also about the will to live, in short time it has enamored us and continues to captivating us. And as viewers we feel the need to see more real movies like this one.

Key Words: Alzheimer, screenwriting, comic, 2D, feelings, life, death

Biography: With Cuenca in the heart, Pilar Yébenes is Senior Lecturer of Animation at Unversidad Europea de Madrid, where she operates in the field of teaching and research venues. A member of the Spanish Association of Historians of Cinema, she has written several publications on Spanish animation films, the latter being Arrugas. Del cómic a la gran pantalla, on the animated feature Wrinkles, winner of two Goya Awards; she has also published monographs on Japanese and American animation. He has contributed with texts for national and international festivals such as Málaga Cinema Festival, Animadrid, Animacor, or Cinanima in Portugal, and she has been juror at these events.

Contact: mpilar.yebenes@uem.es

Profiles

A Spanish “Rigger” at Disney: Iker J. De los Mozos

María Lorenzo Hernández

Abstract: Iker De los Mozos is an animator specialized in in the SetUp and Rigging of CGI characters who currently works at The Walt Disney Animation Studios. He has worked in London for companies like Nexus Productions and The Mill, where he was «rigger» for several film and television ads. Previously he had worked as Rigging supervisor in Kandor Graphics for the movie Justin and the Knights of Valour (Manuel Sicilia, 2013) and he participated of two Goya awards with The Lady and the Reaper (Javier Recio, 2010) and The Missing Lynx (Manuel Sicilia, Raul García, 2009). His first project as a professional Rigger was Ilion Animation Studios’ feature Planet 51 (2010), which also won a Goya. Iker De los Mozos teaches the SetUp and Rigging module at Master of Animation Degree at the UPV.

Key Words: Animation, “rigging”, professionalism, teamwork, Disney

Biography: María Lorenzo Hernandez teaches animation at the Department of Design, Universitat Politècnica de València. PhD in Fine Arts since 2006, she is a member of the Research Group in Animation: Art and Industry. Since 2011 she is Editor of Con A de animación. He has presented papers at the Society for Animation Studies annual conferences held in Portland, Bournemouth, Atlanta, Edinburgh and Athens (2007-2011), and at the National PCA/ACA Conference in San Francisco (2008). He has contributed with papers to the journals Animac Magazine, Animation Studies, and Animation. An interdisciplinary journal. As a filmmaker, she has directed the short films Portrait of D., The Carnivorous Flower, and she has coordinated the making of the collective film The Cat Dances With Its Shadow.

Contact: mlorenzo@dib.upv.es

Interview with Nicolás Matjí, Producer of Tad, the Lost Explorer

María Lorenzo Hernández

Abstract: Nicolás Matjí works since 1999 in the world of film production at La Fiesta PC and Lightbox Entertainment SL. In 2003 he decided to specialize himself in the production of animation content, featuring Enrique Gato’s short films Tadeo Jones (2004), and Tadeo Jones y el sótano maldito (2007), besides Changes (2006), Tachaaan! (2009), and La Bruxa (2010). In 2008 he founded Lightbox Entertainment SL with Enrique Gato, with the goal of producing animated films for a global audience. Tad, the Lost Explorer (2012) is the first animated feature to Lightbox Entertainment, to be followed by a sequel soon. In his interview, Nicolás Matjí reveals some details of the production of Tad, the Lost Explorer, last year’s revelation movie at Spanish theaters.

Key Words: Spanish Animation, Nicolás Matjí, Tadeo Jones, 3D, production, Enrique Gato

Contact: mlorenzo@dib.upv.es

Exhibition Spaces

Animation at the IVAC Film Archive. Some Significant Milestones in its Programming

José Antonio Hurtado

Abstract: The Film Archive of IVAC has always considered animation as a cinematic universe that should have a strong presence in its programming. Throughout its history, it has organized periodically cycles and retrospectives: Aardman Animation, Bill Plympton, Jan Švankmajer, etc. The Valencian Film Archive has even collaborated with festivals, screening programs from Ani_Mar – Prix Miquel Guillem, or Animadrid. Through these initiatives, we have tried to cover the maximum extent possible the vast space of the animation, both from a geographical and historical points of view. It should be noted that when this article will be published, the IVAC will be gone, integrated into a new institution, with a considerable reduction in staff and budget, which will be a serious detriment to the operation of what is known historically Valencia Film Archive.

Key Words: Animac, festival, art, retrospective, Lleida.

Biography: José Antonio Hurtado got a Diploma in Film History and Aesthetics at the Film Department of Universidad de Valladolid. Between 1985 and 1989 he is responsible for the Classroom of Cinema at Universitat de València. In 1989 enters at Generalitat Valenciana Film Archive as editor of the journal Archivos de la Filmoteca. That same year he was appointed Head of Programming, a position he currently holds in the IVAC Film Archive. He teaches film genres at the Department of Film at Universidad de Valladolid. Member of the editorial board of Caimán. Cuadernos de cine, he has contributed to film magazines as Nosferatu and several collective books. He has also coordinated several monographs on filmmakers and genres. He is the author of the books Cine negro, cine de género, and París, Texas.

Contact: hurtado_jos@gva.es

The Fest we Want. Córdoba International Animation Festival – ANIMA

Alejandro R. González

Abstract: ANIMA – Córdoba International Animation Festival (Argentina) is both an academic and cultural event, devoted specifically to animation in its artistic and technological dimensions. ANIMA merges the energy, enthusiasm and joy of an animation festival with the scientific aspects of a conference. Held every odd year since 2001, ANIMA is the main animation event in Argentina and a very influential player in its field in Latin America and the Caribbean. This article provides with information about ANIMA activities and its curatorial profile.

Key Words: Festival, Córdoba Argentina, arts, audiovisual, animation

Biography: Alejandro R. González attended both undergraduate and graduate studies on film and video at the National University of Córdoba, and defines himself as an animation activist. Alejandro teaches animation courses at university level (National University of Córdoba, National University of Villa María), and he is currently researching on the history and aesthetics of Argentinian animation. He is director of Córdoba International Animation Festival – ANIMA, the most relevant animation festival in Argentina. When Alejandro is not animating or doing something related to animation, he spends his time being a proud father, an exemplary husband, and the owner of a golden labrador dog.

Contact: direccion@animafestival.com.ar; argonzal@artes.unc.edu.ar

Training

Teaching Animation and the Universe

Gil Alkabetz

Abstract: Animation, as a manufactured universe, needs rules to guide filmmakers to address their creativity. The existence of such rules does not constrain the imagination, but rather they stimulate it. From this principle, Gil Alkabetz develops workshops where students make small animation projects from a number of restrictions, which paradoxically encourage the emergence of creative and original results. The application of such premises to stimulate the students’ personal expression has a positive result in the industry, where there is a growing demand of disruptive and original solutions.

Key Words: Animation, creativity, restrictions, project, teaching

Biography: Gil Alkabetz was born in Kibuz, Israel, 1957. He studied at the Academy of Art and Design Bezelel, Jerusalem. He continued his career as an animator and director in the studio Frame by Frame of Israel, and later in Sweet Home Studio in Stuttgart, Germany. Is a visiting professor at various institutions of Israel, the U.S. and Switzerland. Since 2004 teaches permanently at HFF – Potsdam, and since 2005 at the Filmakademie BW. He has animated short films as Yankale, Rubicon, Morir de Amor and The da Vinci Time Code, which have been widely recognized. The world’s most famous festivals have devoted him major retrospectives. It is also a visiting professor at Master Degree on Animation, UPV.

Contact: g.alkabetz@hff-potsdam.de

Guest Writer

“Drawing, Drawing, Drawing”

Carlos Plasencia

Abstract: Taking from a direct experience with students of Fine Arts, and from the knowledge and requirements at the professional practice of animation, this paper reflects about a disciplinary context and about the boundaries in the understanding of drawing as a form of knowledge — today circumscribed, almost exclusively, to a strictly instructional area at art schools. Educational issues, their link to the development of individual personality, their irreplaceable role in the treatment of creation processes such as animation, and their undeniable role in discovering the world — to represent it visually from a personal dimension —, are claimed in this text, from the authority of drawing as a means of reflection that may become a goal by itself.

Key Words: Drawing, creation, discipline, career, animation

Biography: Carlos Plasencia Climent (1951). Lecturer in Fine Arts since 1977. PhD in 1986, and Professor since 1999 at Department of Design, Universitat Politècnica de València. He has taught drawing and artistic treatment of the human figure, as well as artistic research methodology. Painter and draftsman at the beginning of his professional career, he has headed researching groups at the University, developing projects on graphic design and drawing pedagogy. He has also coordinated and collaborated with doctoral programs at UPV and Mexico, Santiago de Chile and Portugal. Lecturer at numerous master degrees in visual arts, he has curated exhibitions and published books, texts and frequent articles at catalogs. As Head of the Department of Design at UPV (1993-2004), he managed the creation of the Animation area as a training field in Fine Arts.

Contact: cplasenc@upvnet.upv.es

Research

Jan Švankmajer´s Magic Lantern: Švankmajer and the Czech Animation Cinema

Jesús Palacios

Abstract: Jan Švankmajer’s film work is one of the most unique, not only at Czech animated film, but at international film scene. His membership to Prague Surrealist Group and his practice of cinema as a facet of his artistic creation — which includes engraving, painting, illustration, collage, tactile objects, etc. —, places him outside mainstream cinema. However, for a full understanding of this figure it is essential to contextualize him within the long tradition of Czech animated film, which belongs both voluntarily and involuntarily, making him one of its most significant milestones.

Key Words: Czech Animation, Švankmajer, Trnka, Stop-motion

Biography:Jesús Palacios (Madrid, 1964). Writer and film critic, he is a regular contributor to publications such as Fotogramas, El Cultural, Cine 2000, Más Allá, etc., as well as radio and television. Specialized in fantasy, he has published more than twenty books, he is also editorial advisor at Valdemar, collaborator at film festivals (Las Palmas, Gijón, etc.), and has taught and lectured at Universidad Carlos III, the CAAM, La Casa Encendida, Universidad de Oviedo, Valladolid Film Chair, the CGAI, the CENDEAC, Universidad Ramón Llull, Universidad de Salamanca, the Book Institute of Malaga, the Gijón CICA, the San Sebastian Kubo Kutxa, etc.

Contact: jess_palacios@yahoo.es

The Contribution of Female Characters to the Universe of Hayao Miyazaki

Ana María Pérez-Guerrero

Abstract: Hayao Miyazaki’s filmography is especially characterized by the ethical force of his stories and the role of female characters. This article aims to identify the most relevant features of these figures and how their actions play out the director’s vision. This discusses women’s models present in his films, within the Studio Ghibli, based on the age and the narrative function they play in the story. The study reveals that the stereotype of woman represented in the Miyazakian universe is based on the female model of being, where women’s capacity for motherhood is portrayed as the basis that gives prominence to these characters, and turns them as an engine for changing, leading humankind to more balanced worlds.

Key Words: Anime, history, Tezuka, McCay

Biography: Ana Maria Pérez-Guerrero (Venezuela, 1973) is a PhD in Audiovisual Communication by University Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid. Also, she is MA in Liberal Arts by University of Navarra and holds a Bachelor in Arts, specialized in Film by Universidad Central of Venezuela. She has researched on the narrative strategies aimed to building levels of reading (child and adult) in the scripts of Pixar Animation Studios; as well, she has researched on Interactive Television for Children, and on the impact of video online in hospital schools. Currently she teaches Screenwriting for film and TV at Universidad Internacional de La Rioja.

Contact: aperezgu@gmail.com

Pleading Soul. Ray Harryhausen´s Animated Medusa

Manuel Ferri Gandía

Abstract: This article makes an important contribution to the growing number of publications about stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen, stressing his task as a character creator, particularly the Gorgon Medusa that appeared in the film Clash of the Titans (Desmond Davis, 1981). The article firstly focuses on the myth of Medusa, her representation in classical art and also at audiovisual media prior to her appearance on Harryhausen’s movie. Secondly, the paper will be centered on the relation between the author and his character, delving into the main aspects of its creative development. The final part is intended as a guide on the character seen by other artists in various media, with emphasis on those work that reflect Ray Harryhausen’s design.

Key Words: Animation, mythology, monsters, stop-motion, fantasy, Harryhausen, Medusa

Biography: Manuel Ferri Gandía is Graduated in Fine Arts in 1998 at Universitat Politècnica de València. In 2001 he defended his MA research: Las creaciones de Ray Harryhausen. As a filmmaker, his short films Estoy por ti and Alba were selected at Annecy International Animation Festival (France) in 1998 and 1999 respectively. His following film, El Felipe y la Maripepa, was selected in 2006 by TVE for its screening at El conciertazo. As commissioned animator, he has contributed to TV series such as Doc Franky, by famous animator Pablo Llorens. Now he combines his tasks as illustrator and motion graphic animator, poster designer and stop-motion effects artist.

Contact: manuel@manuelferri.com

Victory Through Airpower: The Atypical Disney

David Flórez Rodríguez

Abstract: In this article, the techniques and ideological backgroung of one of the most atypical Disney films are analysed. Produced during World War Two, Victory Through Air Power is conceived as a propaganda weapon, aiming to influence on public opinion, so that USA government adopts a radical policy to end the war as soon as possible and with the lower cost. With this aim in mind, and despite the wartime hardships, evident in the film in the extensive use of limited animation, Disney animators managed to give a master class on how to translate abstract concepts into images, an end animation seems to be especially well suited.

Key Words: Disney, propaganda, limited animation, World War II

Biography: David Flórez Rodríguez, born in 1967 in Madrid, has a degree of Telecommunication Engineer for the ETSIT of Madrid and currently works for Telefónica I+D. Animation lover since long in all the existing facets of this art form, he has contributed during the last decade to Spanish film magazines like Tren de Sombras, L’Atalante, Miradas de Cine y Détour, as well as maintaining the blog Caminando en Círculos, with an extensive treatment of cinema and animation in its sections.

Contact: dflorez1@gmail.com

Millennium Actress, a Deeper Look

Rolando José Rodríguez De León

Abstract: Analysis of the narrative, graphic, historical and cultural aspects of Millennium Actress, second film of director Satoshi Kon, that will be established as the cornerstone to understand his ways of work, technical and psychological aspects that he will develop in future creations. This approach is not only to history and culture of Japan, but also to their cinematography. The paper explores simple aspects often unknown to the western of Nippon culture, presenting the most relevant of the film to enable the reader an approach to the forms of graphics and cultural representation used the director.

Key Words: Satoshi Kon, anime, animation, Japan, culture

Biography: Rolando José Rodríguez De León (Panama, 1967). Professor at the University of Panama, with doctoral studies at Unversidad Complutense de Madrid and an Arts Master Degree at University of the Balearic Islands. He has taught for over seventeen years at the School of Graphic Design in Panama. He researches about audiovisual and Japanese anime. He has published articles in national and international journals, and he is author of the books El cine de animación en Japón and 26 años de ánime in Panama.

Contact: animeres@gmail.com

Abstracts. English Information 2013

Releases