Anijammin’
Please not this session is rated: Unrestricted M (Mature) – Restricted to persons aged 15 and over unless accompanied by an adult.
Tickets
(sold out) VERY LIMTED late release tickets available!
Guest Co-Curator: Marv Newland
Gotta love a great ANIJAM! A bunch of disparate animators come together and individually animate their own section of a film usually without knowing what any of the animators have done. Each animator passes on only the last frame of their shot – the next animator has to take that frame, craft their own sequence in their own style before passing on their last frame… and down the line it goes. Sometimes there’s a theme, sometimes not. All the pieces get stitched together and the results are encyclopaedic compendiums of style, energy and ideas from a who’s-who roll-call of international indie animating talent. This is animators coming out to play.
The leader of the Anijammin’ pack has got to be master Canadian animator, Marv Newland. Marv is one of our favourite human units and is the genius behind the ultra classic “Bambi Meets Godzilla” (1969) and an incredible catalogue of animated shorts spanning four decades. He’s even seen a bit of “Duckman” action and animated a series of Gary Larson cartoons. Buuuut back in 1984, he gathered together a constellation of nearly two dozen of the world’s most renowned indie animators and got each of them separately animating the adventures of a bizarre, trippy character named Foska. The resulting film “Anijam” (1984) cracked open the whole anijam genre whistles, bells, fireworks and all.
MIAF Creative Director, Malcolm Turner, sat down with Marv and spent a couple of months going through a pile of films that picked up that anijam baton and ran with it. Working with Marv is always a delight and the collection of anijam films he lead us through on our way to this final selection is a joy to behold; brilliant clusters of work from a bewilderingly diverse range of animators and the absolutely perfect, anarchically fun way to kick off MIAF’s International Animation Day line-up.
Kee Koo’s Initiation
VFS
Canada, 4’45, 2023
The perfect Anijammin’ opener – the Vancouver Film School Grad Class of ’22 take Marv Newland’s classic character Kee Koo back to anijam boot camp.
Your Face Global Jam
Ken Mora, Bill Plympton
USA, 3’30, 2017
A ‘mega-jam’ made up of 50+ sequences seamlessly sewn together to create a 30th anniversary tribute to one of the most renowned films by the US indie king of animation.
Mosaic
UMBC Animation – Corrie Francis Parks
USA, 4’00, 2023
Don’t let yourself be boxed in. A digital/physical music video created by 16 animators from UMBC.
Le Cadavre Exquis
Image Par Image Festival
France, 5’00, 2015
A Who’s Who of French animators revisit one of the great anijams of all time.
Yellow Sticky Notes | Canadian Anijam
Jeff Chiba Stearns
Canada, 7’53, 2013
15 of Canada’s most acclaimed indie animators reflect on one day of their lives using only yellow Post-It Notes, black pens, and their colourful wits.
The Opening
Zorobabel
Belgium, 6’05, 2015
16 animators descend on Belgium studio Zorobabel to turn a disparate collection of film openings into something approaching a narrative.
When I Was Done Dying
Dave Hughes
USA, 4’20, 2015
Nine animators create an extreme set of ‘space-shifting’ sequences in the process of generating this music video.
Swap Meet
Caleb Wood
USA, 7’09, 2015
An anijam with a twist – 14 animators create a series of individual sequences inspired entirely by the background artwork of 14 different artists.
Anijam
Marv Newland
Canada, 9’52, 1984
The ultimate anijam marshalled by the maestro of the form – 22 animators were handed the character of Foska to do with as they pleased. A film that can’t be unseen.
Tickets
(sold out) VERY LIMTED late release tickets available!