Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

Howard Weinberg, President of the New York Film/Video Council, will introduce a series of short films at MOMA on June 3 at 7pm. The films will screen again on June 4 at 4pm.

The Museum offers this bit of information:

“Cosponsored with the New York Film/Video Council, MoMA’s annual showcase of recent narrative, documentary, animated, and experimental short films provides a glimpse into cinema’s future. Most short films are produced by young filmmakers at the start of their careers; at their best, these works are characterized by youthful vigor and a daring willingness to break with cinematic convention. The results can be funny, romantic, instructive, otherworldly, and insightful, and they frequently serve as bellwethers of future developments in the art of filmmaking.”

The program includes:

The Glass Trap (2008) Poland – Pawel Ferdek 15min.
The Portrait (2008) USA – Irra Verbitsky 4min.
Steel Homes (2008) Scotland – Eva Weber 10min.
Ten (2008) France – Bif 7 min.
Second Hand Pepe (2007) USA/Haiti/Can – Hanna Rose
______Shell, Vanessa Bertozzi 24min.
Left Behind (2008) Germany – Andreas Graefenstein, Fabian Daub 13min.
Eclipse (2007) Ind/Aus/New Z’land – Mark Lapwood 9 m
Lies (2008) Sweden – Jonas Odell 13 min.
Photograph of Jesus (2008) Grt Brit – Laurie Hill 7 min.

I’ve highlighted the one film because it’s the work of NY animator/artist, Irra Verbitsky (pictured right). Hopefully, a large audience will attend to cheer her film on.

I might take exception with MOMA’s statement that “Most short films are produced by young filmmakers at the start of their careers.” This somehow debases the work of most animation Independents. We can’t afford, for the most part, to do features. Shorts are expensive as well, but making them is obviously more manageable. Perhaps the same isn’t true of live action filmmakers. Perhaps once they’ve put their foot into the short film exercise, they can jump into producing feature films. Or maybe they give up.

Regardless, there are plenty of us out there making short films, animated, doc or live. We don’t need to feel diminished by an organization like MOMA that, I know, is supportive. Just bad copywriting.

- I must say that I enjoyed Mike Barrier‘s review of Up (in fact, I waited for it.) My only spark of contention is that I’m not a fan of Monsters, Inc. and he is. Regardless, he has a lot to say – even if you were a fan of the film – and is worth the read.

Over the years, as a film maker who has gotten a lot of very positive reviews, I’ve noticed that general film reviewers look at animated films in a different way than they do live action films. Animation gets a pass on lots of faults and is not treated as harshly. A film like Up gets praised to the hilt and generally good critics ignore significant problems that stare them in the face.

After I’d finished The Red Shoes, I thought that the story was just not well told. The film seem too compressed, and I felt I needed another 15 minutes to get it out logically and properly. No, the reviewers were all aglow, yet I know that if I had done the exact same film in live action, I would have been castigated for my sins. Or, at least, that’s how I felt.

Now, I think the same can be said for the last two Pixar efforts. They’ve been blessed by critics who miss the trees and the forest for a pretty drawing of the same.

Coraline, the theatrical production, has just opened in NYC ath the Lucille Lortel (a beautiful little gem of a theater in the West Village.)
The review in the NYTimes can be found here.

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