Felix in Exile was created in 1994, a momentous time when South Africa was transitioning through a social, political and economic revolution to a new post-Apartheid society, with new uncertainties and struggles ahead. William Kentridge states that, although his work does not focus on apartheid in a direct and overt manner, but rather on the contemporary state of Johannesburg, his drawings and films are certainly spawned by, and feed off, the brutalised society that it left in its wake.
Category: Animation
“Puppeteers are the nightmares of markets and stalls. They don’t ask for two kilos of beans, rather they select from 200 kg according to colour and size,” wrote the director in revealing some back-stage secrets to the filmmaking in October 1975. This brilliantly executed animation played with individual beans documents the world of this planet’s residents from the point of view of an extra-terrestrial being, who is witness to the brutal suppression of a workers’ strike by the police. The film is another stop motion object animation hallmarked by Ottó Foky and based on screenplays by József Nepp. The film was shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1978.
Mother Mouse is singing to her baby. The can’t get him to sleep. A succession of other animals comes to try to help, and they all get increasingly frustrated until eventually they ask the cat. The cat seems helpful but may have other plans for the little mouse…
A groom-to-be wakes up in the morning of his wedding to strange visions triggered by his impatience… Though the nuptial feast is in full flow, the groom is still daydreaming. On the wedding night, the bride ups and melts away before his eyes exhaling air as a deflated balloon…
A two-part program which examines the life of Samuel Coleridge from his orphaned childhood to how his friendship with William and Dorothy Wordsworth inspired him to write The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Part 2 consists of a visualization of Coleridge’s epic poem.
Man’s inner-self lives in a state of perpetual fear as a defense mechanism against the scary things in life. However, fear is subjective and that defense mechanism may be obscuring that which should not be feared. Thus, a scientist develops a pair of spectacles that changes the wearer’s perspective and allows them to overcome their worst fears.
Two cosmonauts arrive on a barren world and begin a clean-up operation. In the course of their duties, they revive the planet’s civilisation and discover the real reason for its devastation- thermonuclear war. Produced after the peak of tensions in the late Cold War, this animated short from Armenfilm reflects a muted optimism that humanity might- just- avoid total destruction. It also demonstrates the strength of animation under the Soviet system, where even the smaller state studios were capable of inventive but technically polished work.