(Linda Beck)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences events are always a classy affair. Last night’s Academy Salute to John Hubley was no exception. Introduced by stylish Academy Program Director Patrick Harrison and hosted by the ever eloquent Oscar winner John Canemaker, the evening was informative, inspiring, and a great tribute to an animation legend. Canemaker’s succinct and occasionally poetic biographical summary of Hubley’s life preceded the main event: the screening of Channel 13 TV’s “Personal Report” (an exerpt from an interview), “Brotherhood of Man,” Flat Hatting,” “The Magic Fluke,” “The Ragtime Bear,” “Rooty Toot Toot,” “Smattering of Spots” (a collection of commercials), “Adventures of an Asterix,” “The Tender Game,” “Voyage to Next,” and an unreleased work-in-progress “Facade.” If you are unfamiliar with Hubley’s work, take a couple of minutes to at least watch “Rooty Toot Toot,” and “The Ragtime Bear.” I wish “Adventures of an Asterix” was online somewhere, as that’s my favourite from the program last night but, alas, no. And I really hesitate to choose favourites at all from the list above as my personal choosings are a poor example of the great range of this animator and his collaborators. The evening concluded with a short...
September starts off Fall with a very exciting event in animation. The MOMA will hold a master class with Richard Williams, hosted by renowned animation historian John Canemaker. Two masters in one room, this is an event not to be missed. Details follow below: http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/film_exhibitions.php?id=10045&ref=calendar#screenings Master Class: Richard Williams in Conversation with John Canemaker September 22, 2008 Visit Richard Williams’s The Animator’s Survival Kit Web site A three-time Academy Award winner—for Special Achievement and for Visual Effects as the director of animation of the Walt Disney/Steven Spielberg blockbuster Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), and for his short film A Christmas Carol (1971)—Richard Williams discusses his long and influential career in a conversation with animation filmmaker and historian (and fellow Oscar-winner) John Canemaker. Born in Toronto in 1933, Williams became one of the finest animation filmmakers of the late twentieth century and has been a mentor to countless others. During the 1970s, his London-based studio created scores of stunningly crafted, award-winning commercials, titles, short films, and television specials. Not content with these successes, Williams then went on to hire veteran animators from the Disney studio’s “Golden Age” and from Warner Bros. Cartoons, most notably Grim Natwick (Snow White), Art Babbitt...