Animation Nation 2009

THE SECRET OF KELLS

2009 | Ireland | English | 75min | 35mm | PG
Drama, Adventure

Director and story: Tomm Moore
Co-director: Nora Twomey
Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Evan Mcguire, Mick Lally and Christen Mooney

Adventure, action and danger await 12 year old Brendan who must fight the Vikings and find a crystal that will help him complete the legendary Book of Kells.

MARY AND MAX <Supported by Australian High Commission in Singapore>

2009 | Australia | English | 88 min | 35mm | NC16 - Some Mature Content
Comedy, Drama, Stop motion

Director and Writer: Adam Elliot
Producer: Melanie Coombs
Cast: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Barry Humphries and Eric Bana

Spanning 20 years and 2 continents, MARY AND MAX tells of a pen-pal relationship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle (Collette), a chubby, lonely 8-year-old living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia; and Max Horovitz (Hoffman), a severely obese, 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome living in the chaos of New York City.

WALTZ WITH BASHIR <Supported by the Embassy of Israel in Singapore>

2008 | Israel | Hebrew with English Subtitles | 90min | 35mm | R21– War Violence and Some Nudity
Drama, Biography, War

Written, Directed and Produced by: Ari Folman
Animation by: Bridgit Folman Film Gang
Art Director and Illustrator: David Polonsky
Director of Animation: Yoni Goodman
Editor: Nili Feller
Sound Designer: Aviv Aldema
Original Music: Max Richter

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that there’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he can’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal images.

MUSASHI: THE DREAM OF THE LAST SAMURAI

Director: Mizuho Nishikubo
Original Concept / Screenplay: Mamoru Oshii
Character Design: Kazuto Nakazawa
Animation Director: Kazuchika Kise
Art Director: Shuichi Hirata
CG Animation: Makoto Endo

The creative team of Ghost in the Shell, Innocence, The Sky Crawlers and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 resurrects the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi in a documentary re-telling of his story that fuses several animation styles.

BAREFOOT GEN (Hadashi no Gen) 1& 2

Directed by Mori Masaki
Written and Produced by: Kenji Nakazawa

Directed by: Toshio Hirata and Akio Sakai
Written by: Kenji Nakazawa

Gen and his family are living in Hiroshima as Japan nears the end of World War II. Gen's father has come to believe that the war is unwinnable, thus earning the wrath of the town officials and, in turn, discrimination from the rest of their neighbours. All these concerns soon pale, however, as the American military begins its final assault on Japan. A powerful statement against war, Barefoot Gen is an autobiographical story of manga artist Kenji Nakazawa.

FROM INSIDE

2008 | USA | English | 71min | Digibeta | NC16 – Some Disturbing Scenes
Drama, Post Apocalypse

Based on a Graphic Novel by John Bergin
Written, Directed and Animated by John Bergin
Starring Corryn Cummins as voice of Cee
Music by Jeff Rona and David Edwards
Sound Design by Dustin Blegstad
Produced by Brian McNelis

Cee, a young pregnant woman, finds herself on a badly damaged train slowly transcribing its way across a bleak post-apocalyptic landscape. Flood, war, starvation and a plague of death threaten the train’s passengers. Cee struggles against these dangers while coping with memories of her lost husband and the imminent birth of her child.

A TOWN CALLED PANIC (PANIQUE AU VILLAGE)

2009 | Belgium | French with English Subtitles | 75min | 35mm | G
Stop Motion, Comedy, Children

Directors: Stéphane Aubier & Vincent Patar
Writers: Stéphane Aubier, Vincent Patar, Vincent Tavier, Guillaume Malandrin
Cinematographer: Jan Vandenbussche
Editor: Anne-Laure Guégan
Sound designer: Valène Leroy

Animated plastic toys like Cowboy, Indian and Horse have problems, too. Cowboy and Indian's plan to surprise Horse with a homemade birthday gift backfires when they destroy his house instead. Surreal adventures take over as the trio travel to the center of the Earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe where pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures live. Each speedy character is voiced - and animated - as if their very air contains both amphetamines and laughing gas. With panic a permanent feature of life in this papier mâché town, will Horse and his girlfriend ever be alone?

PLEASANT GOAT AND BIG BIG WOLF: THE SUPER ADVENTURE
喜洋洋与灰太狼之牛气冲天

As spring returns and the goats of the green grassland celebrate Slowy Snail’s 100th birthday, Slowy Snail has fallen ill. Pleasant Goat and his friends offered to enter into his body - The World of Snail - to battle the bacteria but their plans were sabotaged by Wolf, who is determined to capture the goats this time. An epic battle awaits the goats in this Super Adventure, the first feature length movie of the Pleasant Goat series.

GENIUS PARTY BEYOND

#1 「GALA」 directed by Mahiro Maeda
#2 「MOONDRIVE」 directed by Kazuto Nakazawa
#3 「WANWA THE DOGGY」 directed by Shinya Ohira
#4 「TOJIN KIT」 directed by Tatsuyuki Tanaka
#5 「DIMENSION BOMB」 directed by Koji Morimoto
Music by ：Akira Ifukube, Warsaw Village Band, Minami Nozaki, Juno Reactor

From STUDIO４℃, the Japanese anime studio that produces many of today’s cutting edge animation (“The Animatrix”, “Tekkonkinkreet”) comes Genius Party Beyond - 5 revolutionary short animations from five contemporary anime directors.

BEST OF STUDIO AKA

2003 - 2008 | UK | English | 70min | Digibeta | PG
Short animations

Directors: Marc Craste, Philip Hunt, Grant Orchard and other Studio AKA directors
Producers: Pam Dennis, Sue Goffs

London-based STUDIO AKA is a BAFTA-winning animation production company known internationally for its idiosyncratic and innovative work. Animation Nation is proud to present Best of Studio AKA, a showcase of some of the best work from the UK animation powerhouse that includes award winning shorts and TV commercials.

USAVICH + Dialogue with Satoshi Tomioka

2006 - 2009 | Japan | 60min + 30min| PG
Comedy, Short animation series

Written and Directed by Satoshi Tomioka
Produced by Kanaban Graphics

“Usavich (ウサビッチ) (from Japanese うさぎ "usagi", rabbit, with "vich" giving it faux Russian flavor) is a series of animated short films being produced for MTV Japan by Kanaban Graphics since 2006. The Usavich anime revolves around two rabbits, Putin and Kierenenko and their adventures in a Soviet prison. A collection of episodes that showcase their hilarious misadventures as they work around being stuck in Prison and with each other, and as they make their escape and try to avoid the fearsome Soviet bunnies hot on their trail!

BEST OF SIGGRAPH ASIA 2008 ELECTRONIC THEATRE (Free admission)

69min | Digital | PG | Short animations

The inaugural SIGGRAPH Asia 2008 was a convention where artists, researchers, developers, gaming experts, filmmakers, as well as academics from 49 countries gathered in Singapore, spending four exciting days to discover new products, talents, technology and techniques in the digital media industry.

SINGAPORE SHOWCASE (Free admission)

library@esplanade
Level 3, Esplanade Theatre
8 Raffles Avenue, #03-01

<Free admission> Oct 10, 4pm – 5pm
There will be a post-screening Q&A session with invited filmmakers.

Featuring the winners and participants of Digicon 2009. This showcase is co-presented by the Media Development Authority and the Singapore Film Society.