words by Jason Maurer

When most people think of animation these days they think of animation as a kid’s medium: sappy, silly, goofy, musicals chock full of low-end production that helps sells toys. It is meaningless drivel, which cannot possibly appeal to adults or evoke emotions other than laughter. For years the film community has looked at animation as a genre of itself rather than accepted animation as simply another medium in which film stories and language can be expressed. No one who wants to address a serious topic or make an impact on the screen would ever consider working in animation, that stuff is just fart jokes and stupid cute singing/dancing animals.

Well I’ve got news for you – The people at the Savannah Film Festival disagree and have put up a collection of films this year that not only appeal to children, but also are evocative at the same time. With a deft and skilled eye the folks on the selection committee have provided its audience with a diverse and entertaining selection of films ranging from true to form comedy in “Ormie” to a quiet moral story in “Zero”.

All of the films in the selection this year really show an amazing use of music and sound design, but of all the films Pat Smith’s “Masks” outshines them all with an amazing score that explodes the imagination when matched with Pat’s dark and textural imagery. Jim Capobianco’s “Leonardo” takes us to medieval Italy and then deftly uses bagpipes to create a perky, bouncy sound that imitates Jim’s free and fluid motion.

The unexpected surprise was Bill Plympton’s piece “The Cow Who Wanted to be a Hamburger”. Bill shakes up his style and does something completely fresh and new. Typically known for a shaky color pencil style of animation, with this piece Bill used sharpie on paper bout the size of postcards! Check out him describing the process at this link -
http://scribblejunkies.blogspot.com/2010/02/my-new-short-cow-who-wanted-to-be.html

All in all you would be remiss to not take one last opportunity to view this selection at the festival, ya missed it once – don’t make another mistake. Go into work late or skip class in the name of furthering your education and go see it. It’s playing just one more time on Thursday Nov. 4 at 9:30am at the Trustees Theater.

Also showing at the festival is The Illusionist a feature film by Slyvian Chomet at 11:30 am on Wednesday Nov. 3rd at the Trustee’s. Check back for my detailed review of the film on Thrusday! Enjoy the rest of the festival and make sure you get into those after parties – they are an amazing opportunity to meet the film makers.