Animation spotlight

I've only recently realized animation as an unrecognized form of genius. Disney produces stereotypical stories with boring characters, and I for one, have often shied away from animated films thinking "Isn't this for kids?" But there are some treasures out there, and it's nice to know that some of them have been created by women.

Two of the five Oscar-nominated animated shorts from this past year came from the National Film Board of Canada, a government agency known for supporting high quality animation and documentaries. When the Day Breaks and My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts are only serve to compliment their acclaimed predecessors.

Both of these particular films were written/directed by women. Each is only about ten minutes long, but so poignant and entertaining that it can be understood and enjoyed by an audience ranging from 5 to 70. Unfortunately they can only be ordered by calling the Film Board's library at 1-800-542-2164 (in the U.S. only). However, you can check out the NFB website (listed in my links) to see if they are coming to a film festival near you.

When the Day Breaks tells a human story through endearing animal characters. We see a pig (Ruby) starting her morning with a breakfast of potato peal and milk. You can't help but chuckle as she sings along to the radio and tosses the whole potato away once she has finished taking its skin. When she finds that her milk is spoiled she must run out to the store. On her way into the store, she bumps into a bird on his way out. (He was briefly introduced finishing a serious grocery list and eating his toast.) He scowls and starts off, and as she goes indoors we hear a crash outside.

You don't see anything grotesque and it isn't necessarily. The stranger's hat is lying on the ground, and his lemons are scattered, one falling into a sewer, where begins a journey to see just how connected we all are. The sewer water eventually leads back to the apartment that Ruby lives in, along with some of the other inhabitants and the empty stranger's apartment. There is also an insistence on universality as we see similar objects in each of the varying animal apartments.

The two filmmakers, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, went to school together. Tilby was previously nominated for an Oscar for another animated short film, Strings.

My Grandmother Ironed the King's Shirts is the journey of the grandmother of the filmmaker, Torill Kove, in Oslo during World War II. For a first-time filmmaker, she shows a wonderful talent for storytelling. And how many novices in a section of the entertainment industry that doesn't make large box office grosses get to be nominated for an Academy Award by a foreign country? (Canada and the U.S. are separate countries, despite having land that is attached.)

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