Ottawa International Animation Festival

[Velvet]

is next week. I think I'll have to miss it, but here ya go:

http://www.awn.com/ottawa/prog_venues.html

[dancingfool]

BradM asked me to make my recommendations here, as I intend (as usual) to take in as much as I can...

The competition shorts are always full of odd stuff, and are not cartoony nor necessarily accessible - meaning they might not have a plot, a point, or even anything resembling entertainment value. Some are short, some are far too long, some are first films, some are ads, and each must be judged accordingly.

What I recommend:

- Any of the Miyazaki showings, especially Porco Rosso (dubbed English, a preview of the upcoming DVD release) and Nausicäa (full version, subtitled), which have never been shown locally on the big screen

- The New Media Competition, which has a lot of flash and other net-friendly pieces and are often short and interesting (includes "The Meatrix" and "The Shining in 30 seconds, reenacted by bunnies")

- Some retrospectives, which at least are less all-over-the-place pieces, though they often have a presentation beforehand ("75 years of Popeye", "Co Hoedeman", "Harvey Birdman")

- The Feature Film competitions, including Plympton's new "Hair High" movie

It all depends how big your tolerance for "experimental" is...