PLASTIC PAPER: WINNIPEG'S FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED, ILLUSTRATED + PUPPET FILM is an international festival that takes place May 4-7, 2011 at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg, Canada, with a special opening on May 3 at RAW Gallery of Ralph Bakshi's exhibit THE STREETS. The festival is one component of the year-round organizational activities of the Big Smash! Film Collective. PLASTIC PAPER’s programming is a mix of premieres, retrospective screenings, short films and features with special guests, workshops, multi-media presentations, installations and exhibits, artist talks, and gatherings where the artists and the audience can interact more informally.
Special guests for the 2011 edition will include animation legend RALPH BAKSHI (Fritz the Cat, Lord of the Rings), who will be appearing in person to present his film American Pop and to give an artist talk at the opening vernissage for his visual arts exhibit THE STREETS at RAW Gallery, and Montreal underground cartoonist RICK TREMBLES, who will present his Motion Picture Purgatory: De-Censortized expanded cinema show at our main venue, The Park Theatre.
Other treats in this year's lineup include the animated documentary AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, Brent Green's elegiac stop-motion feature GRAVITY WAS EVERYWHERE BACK THEN, a retrospective of the psychedelic short films of Japanese artist Keiichi Tanaami, Mathieu Weschler's feature-length machinima THE TRASHMASTER (made completely using source images from Grand Theft Auto 4), Albert Birney + Jon Moses' musical stop-motion oddity THE BEAST PAGEANT and CODE IN MOTION, a short film program showcasing early computer animation, curated by Clint Enns. Plastic Paper is also honoured to be presenting the Manitoba premiere of THE FLORESTINE COLLECTION, the last film by animator Helen Hill, which was completed posthumously by her husband Paul Galiunas.
Scroll down for complete listings and showtimes.
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About PLASTIC PAPER:
PLASTIC
PAPER started in 2008 as a mini-program curated by Kier-La Janisse
and Dave Barber, and hosted by the Winnipeg Cinematheque before
branching out
into an independent event. PLASTIC PAPER
2008 featured the Manitoba premieres of Bill Plympton's IDIOTS
AND ANGELS, Nina Paley's
multi-award winning SITA SINGS THE BLUES,
John Bergin's apocalyptic FROM INSIDE
and much more. Special guests have included BILL PLYMPTON, HEATHER HENSON and curator NAOMI HOCURA.
PLASTIC PAPER is unique in Winnipeg as an event that serves to explore the animated output of different regions and cultural communities around the world. With an emphasis on self-made work and a careful balance of accessible and experimental animation styles, PLASTIC PAPER’s presentation and outreach offerings serve to educate, enlighten and inspire Winnipeg’s burgeoning roster of independent animators, who will benefit greatly from the international programming as well as personal interaction with visiting international filmmakers.
Many of the featured works come in a variety of animation styles with sometimes challenging subject matter; although some films are kid-friendly, PLASTIC PAPER is mainly geared towards adult animation fans as well as animators themselves. The programming is widely eclectic, but shows a preference for independently-financed films, films with an adult sensibility, and films using traditional methods of animation, such as 2-D illustration, cut-outs and stop-motion. The festival also showcases films about animators or illustrators, as well as puppetry films. The connecting thread in the programming is that all selections celebrate the labour-intensity, the obsessiveness, and the unique personalities of these very hands-on crafts.
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UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
