AFW + NFSA #68: ANIMEIGHTIES

16mm projection. $10 on the door.

“Making an animated film has always been a precarious business, but a lot looked possible during the 1980s.” - Robert Stephenson

We’re excited to step back to the 1980s this month with an evening of Australian-made short-length animations from the vaults of the National Film & Sound Archive. Enjoy humorous and dazzling 16mm films from some of the icons of the Melbourne alternative-animation scene - exploring claymation, abstraction, direct animation, time lapse and traditional animation techniques. Q&A post-screening featuring some of the filmmakers.

Films:

Pleasure Domes, 1988, Maggie Fooke. 8 min

A reflection upon man-made impositions upon the landscape from Nice to St. Kilda Esplanade.

Shadowland, 1988, Anthony Lucas. 6 min

An enigmatic but violent struggle between shadowy insect creatures.

Still Flying, 1989, Robert Stephenson. 8 min

An old air force veteran reminisces about the war years.

Dance of Death, 1983, Dennis Tupicoff. 9 min

An animated satire on television violence, set in a world where the skeletal Don Death runs a popular variety show called “Dance of Death”.

Suburban Windows, 1981, Robert Wyatt. 20 min

Impressions of the domestic prison and the suburban landscape through object animation, exploration of sound-image relationships and a variety of other techniques used to non-naturalistic, often humorous, effect.

Rainbow Diary, 1984, Ivor Cantrill. 17 min

Hand-drawn directly onto 16mm film, this animation is a ‘diary’ of daily drawing-on-film practice by Ivor Cantrill over a period of 18 months. Drawing style ranges from bold geometric patterns, to a delicate calligraphy.

Film prints and blurbs courtesy of National Film & Sound Archive of Australia.