MIAF introduces its new ‘Technique Focus’
Competition screening. This year the technique to focus on chose
itself. ‘Hand Painted’ animation is a method which produces
some of the most sublime animation you will experience and some
of the true masters of this technique have recently released some
stunning films. Hand painting thousands of oil paintings onto thousands
of pieces of glass, hardboard or card is a breathtakingly painstaking
way to create the 24 frames you need for every single second of
film but the results often can be described as akin to breathing
an invisible life into a textured surface of oil paint. On the big
screen, the sheer beauty of this work and the magnitude of the effort
involved in creating it will be a highlight of the festival.
We have secured films by some of the living masters
of this form including Alexandre Petrov’s “My Love”
(truly sublime), Georges Schwizgebel’s “Jeu” (an
amazing cavalcade of perspective bending improbabilities) and Florence
Miailehe’s “Urban Tale” (beauty brought to an
unlikely parade of urban images).
The films in this program are all recently released
and are all in competition. To compliment this focus on new hand
painted animation we are also planning a retrospective of the finest
hand painted animation created over the years.
Line Dance Emily May
UK, 3'00
A simple enough idea. A graceful, ever changing black line seemingly
dancing off the end of a paint brush just out of the frame.
The Train Goran Stojnic
Croatia, 8'30
The trajectory of a train and the ever changing scenery from the carriage
window fuse into an ebbing & flowing kaleidoscope.
Paint Nancy
Parczyk
USA, 1'30
A film that unashamedly revels in the very material that it is created
in.
Destiny Manifesto Martha Colburn
USA, 8'00
Taking a different tack, this piece of commentary uses rapidly hand
painted imagery to paint over photographs of bygone eras (and errors).
Urban Tale Florence Miailehe
France, 15'30
Feel the force of every brush stroke, immerse yourself in a pallette
of an artist unafraid to cover the screen with big colours, follow
the wild cat on it’s stroll through an urban landscape.
Jeu Georges
Schwizgebel
Switzerland, 4'00
The latest masterpiece from a filmmaker whose sense of perspective
and ability to roam through an ever twisting, turning mindscape is
unparalleled.
My Love Alexander Petrov
Russia, 26'00
And from the master of oil paint on glass films comes this visual
extravaganza of colour and style. Petrov’s ability to use oil
paint to create oceans, cloth, moving scenery and to engender a kind
of ethereal movement into his characters is awe inspiring. A kind
of modern Russian fairy tale is the simplest way to explain what may
be the richest, most beautifully crafted oil painted film ever made.
