12TH INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION

This year’s Tournee includes 24 movies from 10 countries. The films were selected from more than 500 that were screened by the International Animated Film Association. Over the years various centers of animation such as Zagreb, Yugoslavia; Budapest, Hungary; France; or Czechoslovakia seem to have periods of extraordinary achievement. This year belongs to the Canadians, who are represented by four movies, including THE STREET by Caroline Leaf and MINDSCAPE by Jacques Drouin, both from the prestigious National Film Board of Canada. Five movies are by women animators, who are becoming more prominent in the field. BANQUET by Zofia Oraczewska from Poland uses”cut-out” forms to animate a bizarre dinner party. A LA VOTRE by Monique Renault of Holland, TOILETTE by Joan Freeman and MADSONG by Kathleen Laughlin all reflect an aspect of women’s fantasies as they rise from bed. Most of the movies are the traditional drawn and “cel” animation, but some use off-beat materials, like the animated cookies in Ferenc Varsanyi’s HONEYMATION from Hungary. From Bulgaria, another center of Eastern European animation, Stojan Dukov contributes his new and witty film about a construction disaster, DE FACTO. The movies that focus on public service announcements include CIAVACCI by the celebrated Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto. His recent feature “Allegro Non Troppo” (1976) was highly praised by critics. This year’s Tournee is dedicated to the late John Hubley, who began at the Disney Studios, then movied to UPS where he worked on the Mr. Magoo series. In 1955 he and his wife Faith set up their own company, where they produced the Academy Award winning “Moonbird,” and other distinguished shorts. The Hubley’s “Tender Game” was made in 1959, and displays the rough wash technique that became a virtual Hubley trademark.