Cinema Canada (Nov 1975)

THE WINNERS Animation First Prize: Da Da Da. Directors: Ian Bell, Peter Hodecki, Charles Macrae, G. Gray Miller, Jack Mongovan, Denis Neil, Sheridan College. Documentary First and Second Prizes: Thursday Auction. Director: Rob Wallace, Camera: Andrew Ruhl, Rob Wallace, Conestoga College. Experimental Second Prize: Second Impressions. Director: Lorne Marin. Camera: Lorne Marin, Concordia University. Scenario Second Prizes: Her Decision. Director: Glen Salzman. Camera: Rebecca Yates, York University. Temporarily Confused. Director: Ken Ilass. Camera: John Westheuser, Conestoga College. Honourable Mentions: Les Aventures de running shoes. Director: Claude Laflamme. Camera: Claude Laflamme. Université du Québec. The Bet. Director: Antonio Rizi. Camera: Antonio Rizi. Concordia University. Metamorphosis. Director: Barry Greenwald. Camera: John Westheuser. Conestoga College. Tiny. Director: Franco Battista. Camera: Jean-Pierre Blais. Concordia University. Titles for the Tenth International Tournée of Animation. Director: Jeff Korda, George Ungar, Sheridan College. The Seventh Canadian Student Film Festival was held in Montreal from September 24 to 28 under the direction of Serge Losique. Forty-three of the 116 films entered were selected for the four nights of screenings to the jury and the public. This meant that 73 dreams were crushed before the Festival started; but this is inevitable in a national festival with a limited number of screenings and a jury with finite endurance. This year’s jury had two honourary presidents, Henri Langlois and Werner Herzog, and seven other illustrious members. Famous Players provided cash for prizes which the jury awarded in four categories — Animation, Documentary, Experimental, Scenario — and as Honourable Mentions. Winners and Losers Da Da Da, the first prize film in Animation, is a musical set in a toilet. It managed to combine beautifully drawn characters and totally unexpected events into one of the most successful student animated films I have seen. A song John Locke teaches Cinema in Concordia University’s Faculty of Fine Arts. His areas of specialization are film aesthetics, film criticism and experimental film. He is completing doctorates in Philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania and in Cinema Studies at New York University and has published in Artforum and Film Comment. 36 / cinema canada and dance routine may be expected in an animated musical, but this film has it begin in toilet stalls and end with the space transformed into a studio musical set. I think the film reflects an admirable ability to conceive an original, hilarious idea, mate it to wonderfully appropriate animated figures and develop it to a conclusion in less that 2 minutes. A second Sheridan College animation film received an honourable mention, but evidently was judged not to merit the second prize for the animation category. This film is what its title says it is: Titles for the Tenth International Tournée of Animation. A plane — or is it a rocket ship? — moves right to left across the screen for 2 minutes, and as it moves the plane changes from vintage to futuristic while different events occur along its length. It is a very good idea for titles; it gets the announcement made in a style perfectly fitting for an animation tournée. I suspect that the second prize was withheld from it because of quibbling over whether titles can be “‘a film.” Three other animation films should be mentioned, and one of these, Tiny, was awarded an honourable mention. Tiny is a nineteen minute film about a dinosaur. It has remarkable special effects with shots such as a boy climbing onto the back of a car size dinosaur. This was evidently made by using a rear projection system for the live action film of the boy and an animation technique for the clay model dinosaur, because the “outlined in white” effect which would be expected with an amateur matte process is totally absent. The film makes me wonder how a student could have done it. It Thursday Auction by Rob Wallace from Conestoga College.