SUNDAY, JUNE 10: ANIMATION FOR ALL
3:00 PM THE LOONIEST TUNES
Think cartoons are just for kids? Guess again. We’ve handpicked the most crazy, fast paced, and surreal cartoons ever to appear on the small screen. Little Red Riding Hood stars as a sexy cabaret singer and the Wolf as a liquor bootlegger. Porky Pig hunts Dodo birds in a landscape drawn directly from Salvador Dali. Daffy Duck runs a sadistic game show, Betty Boop grows dog ears, and much more. Many of these gems by anarchic animators Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, and Max Fleischer haven’t been shown in ages. Check out these strange cartoons with fresh eyes and be amazed at how entertaining they still are.
85 minutes
5:00 PM THE FABULOUS BARON MUNCHAUSEN
(Karel Zeman, 1961)
“Combining live action, stop-motion animation, and deliberately unreal backgrounds, The Fabulous Baron Munchausen is a wonderful bouquet to the spirit of imagination.”
– All Movie Guide
“The best-ever version of Baron Munchausen. See it on a screen large enough to do the hand-carved details justice.”
– Village Voice
A major influence on Monty Python and Terry Gilliam, Karel Zeman's The Fabulous Baron Munchausen is a lost classic of animation. Although it won the Grand Prize at Cannes, this exceptional film never received U.S. distribution. The movie recounts Baron Munchausen’s fantastical visits to the moon, his flights across battlefields atop a cannonball, and his duels with a mechanical sultan. Still not available domestically in any form, this is your only chance to catch this most delightful and inventive film. In English.
80 minutes
7:00 PM CREATIVE CLAYMATIONS W/ WALLACE & GROMIT
“Wallace and Gromit are arguably the two most delightful characters in the history of animation.”
– Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times
Don't miss this cavalcade of claymation, featuring acclaimed short films by Oscar Award winners Nick Park and Adam Elliott. "Creature Comforts" takes interviews with ordinary folks and attaches their voices to animated animals, creating sly and hilarious juxtapositions. In his celebrated trilogy, Adam Elliott examines his unusual family with a mix of dark humor and pathos. The program concludes with the beloved owner-and-dog pair Wallace and Gromit in the Oscar winning "The Wrong Trousers." A charming adventure featuring a pair of robotic pants and an evil penguin. 'Nuff said.
85 minutes
MONDAY, JUNE 11: ANIME
7:00 PM AKIRA
(Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988)
“Easily the most breathtaking and kinetic anime ever made.”
– Michael Atkinson, Village Voice
“The definitive classic of anime. For dark cyberpunk and gorgeous animation, it doesn’t get any better than this.”
– Anime World
“A phenomenal work of animation with all the hallmarks of a classic.”
– Janet Maslin, New York Times
The film that defined the cutting edge of Anime around the world, Akira retains the explosive impact of its detailed animation and intense story about power and corruption. The intricate plot unfolds in Neo-Tokyo, a city risen from the ashes of World War III to become a megalopolis infested with gangs and terrorists. Childhood friends Tetsuo and Kaneda plunge into the city’s darkest secret when their motorcycle gang encounters a military operation to retrieve an escaped experimental subject. The ultimate cyberpunk classic, Akira is filled with incredible action sequences and a finale that ranks among the most spectacular in all sci-fi cinema.
120 minutes
WARNING: GRAPHIC VIOLENCE. NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN.
9:00 PM TAMALA 2010: A PUNK CAT IN SPACE
(ToL, 2001)
“Hello Kitty meets David Lynch in outer space.”
– The Boston Globe
“An amazing piece of work, on a par with The Triplets of Belleville and Spirited Away.”
– City Pages
“A dark allegory and dazzling example of Japanese anime.”
– Los Angeles Times
Are you ready for something truly different? Meet Tamala: A wide-eyed kitten who's also an astronaut and punk rocker. Watch as the super-cute space kitty goes head-to-head with the Dark God of Death, killer dogs, a robotic Colonel Sanders with an axe in his head and more, using her trademark karate kick and go-go boots. Winner of the prestigious Fantasia Festival, Tamala 2010 was created by the mysterious arts collective ToL. They painstakingly combine various animation styles to create a bizarre universe of cat planets, techno raves, and corporate necromancy. "It's the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen," says the San Francisco Examiner. No kidding. We're proud to screen this rarely shown, one-of-a-kind marvel.
90 minutes
WARNING: NOT APPROPRIATE FOR CHILDREN.
TUESDAY, JUNE 12: INTERNATIONAL
7:00 PM THE BEST SHORTS FROM AROUND THE WORLD
We've scoured the globe to select some of the best animated shorts ever made. The program showcases stunning pieces from Russia, France, Mexico, England, Italy, Canada, the Czech Republic, and beyond. These shorts include past Oscar winners as well as hidden treasures, coming in an eye-popping variety of styles from pin-screen animation to puppetry. Witness an entire world spawned from a drop of Coca-Cola, visit an inflatable beach, marvel at a Native American myth about the creation of fire, and much more.
90 minutes
9:00 PM JAN SVANKMAJER’S ALICE IN WONDERLAND
(Jan Svankmajer, 1989)
“An extraordinary piece of work: Brilliantly inventive. A piercing, original vision.”
– Terrence Rafferty, The New Yorker
“Svankmajer's film explores Alice in Wonderland's dark undercurrents: It unearths the fears that animate dreams and nightmares.”
– The New York Times
You may be familiar with Alice in Wonderland, but you've never seen it like this. Master Czech animator Jan Svankmajer has created a strikingly original interpretation of Lewis Carroll's classic story. Combining live action and puppet animation, the movie conjures a surrealist dream universe filled with strange delights and unnerving dangers. Svankmajer's Alice adds new and fascinating dimensions to the timeless tale of childhood fantasies.
85 minutes
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13: CUTTING-EDGE
7:00 PM CUTTING-EDGE ANIMATED SHORTS
From the formally experimental to the crudely hilarious, we're highlighting the most inventive and exciting animation to appear in recent years. These films are both eye-opening and fun. You'll see cutting-edge computer animation, dazzling stop-motion collages, complex claymation, and mind-bending movies that morph seamlessly between a multitude of styles. Don't pass up this opportunity to see the films influencing the shape of animation to come.
95 minutes
WARNING: THESE FILMS ARE NOT BE APPROPRIATE FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.