Anima Festival in Brussels

I've just returned from an extended trip to Europe, 2 stops to publicize "Cheatin'".  It's very important for me to go to Europe, because here in the U.S., it's more difficult to get distribution for an independent, hand-drawn, adult animated film.  So I have to go where my audience is.

My first stop was the great Anima Festival in Brussels, Belgium.  I've been going there since about 1988, and I've always seen great films and had a lot of fun.  I have a lot of fans there because Brussels, as you probably know, is one of the hotbeds of comics (The Smurfs and Tintin).

                                                            Bill's Master Class at Anima

While at Anima, I gave a Master Class, with a drawing demonstration, and screened some of my most recent projects.

But I was also there to check up on my competition.  Anima is one of the best showcases for animated features, for both kids and adults.  Although I was only there for 3 days this time, so I was only able to see one feature: "Lou Lou's Incredible Secret" by Eric Omond, adapted from a very successful book.  I loved the style a lot, but I had difficulty following the story - my French is not so good.

While I was there, the Oscars took place in the U.S.  I was surprised that "Mr. Hublot" won the Oscar for Best Animated Short - I loved the film, but I thought "Get a Horse" from Disney would win.  So much for the Oscar being bought...

As for the animated feature category, "Frozen" was a lock - it was such a popular film and made so much money.  It was no surprise, however it sure would have been great if "Ernest and Celestine" had won.

Speaking of winning, "Cheatin'" won the BeTV award for Best Animated Feature at Anima!  

                                         signing artwork for the crowds at Anima in Brussels

Next, I moved on to Paris, where I did publicity for "Cheatin'", or as it's called there, "Les Amants Electrique".

--Bill P.

Cheatin' reviews

Now that "Cheatin'" is hitting the festival circuit, we've been getting a lot of very cool reviews. For those of you who are following the film - and I hope you all are, here are some of those reviews:

"Loads of sexual humor...one of his best longform toons, an energetic romp...with distinctive, freewheeling visual imagination on giddy display. Without sacrificing his trademark surreal physicality...the writer-director-producer’s pulsing, pencil-etched, pastel-hued animation style is a pleasure to behold" - Dennis Harvey, Variety

"one of Plympton’s most accessible and fluent feature-length works." – Leslie Felperin, Hollywood Reporter

"the Kickstarter-funded Cheatin’ is a sublimely dialogue-free dreamscape. It’s also a story of mad love in a lurid world (akin to David Lynch’s Wild at Heart)...Plympton also affectingly visualizes emotion...Has a Disney movie ever captured such a raw human ache?" - Kristi Mitsuda, Willamette Week

"one of his most accessible and oddly entrancing works to date...gorgeous piece of animation. One of Plympton’s prettiest and most surreal works yet...Inherently absurd...there is certainly no feature quite like this gorgeous romantic picture." - Joshua Brunstine, Criterioncast

"Bill Plympton is back with his first feature in five years, and fans of his signature, hand-drawn style and/or his demented sense of humor are in for a treat....Fresh and alive."
- Marc Mohan, Oregon Live

Revengeance

I first met Jim Lujan through my good buddy Ken Mora in 2009. If my memory is still intact, I recall he came to interview me on one of my visits to L.A. - perhaps I was there for the ASIFA Hollywood awards show, The Annies.

In any case, during the interview, he told me that he himself was an animator and I should check out his shorts online (how many times have I heard that request?)

Naturally, I never got around to it. Yet, I kept running into him at various animation functions: San Diego, The Annies, Burbank Film Festival, etc. He then gave me a DVD of his cartoon shorts and one day while I was bored, I slipped it into my DVD player and discovered a truly original writer, humorist, and designer.

Last year, when I was at the San Diego Comic Con, he had a booth and we hung out. Then, on my return flight, a wonderful thought occurred to me. His characters are so funny and original – Jim Lujan should do a feature film – and I could be the one to produce it. Hell, we should co-create an animated feature.

The only drawback to his animation is that the animations are very crude and raw – which in some cases is their charm. However, to do a feature film, the movement should be a lot more professional and I think I can deliver that.

When I finished the production of Cheatin', my bank account was empty and I was exhausted. Although I love the film and think it's the best thing I've done,

I was looking for a project that wasn't so labor-intensive and so complex.

So I called Jim up to suggest we work together to transform his wonderful characters onto the big screen. He loved the idea – and now he's creating a feature length script that hopefully my studio can turn into a major motion picture starting this summer.

Stay tuned to this blog for more updates on this fantastic project.

We may need to raise some money via Kickstarter so keep your checkbooks close at hand.

If you're interested, you can see Jim's wonderful shorts on www.JimLujan.com

And tell him hello for me.

-Bill

Metropia

I was reading DVD reviews in some obscure film magazine last month, and I stumbled on an animated feature called "Metropia", from Sweden.  I liked the dark semi-realistic visuals of the still image, so I got the film from Netflix.  What a unique and amazing film!  It's a sci-fi film set in a dystopian 2025 Europe. 

Roger, a mid-level bureaucrat, decides to track down these voices in his head, only to discover a nefarious conspiracy, spread through a giant transportation system and shampoo. 

The characters in the film are voiced by Vincent Gallo, Juliette Lewis and Udo Kier, and it's directed by music-video veteran Tarik Saleh.

But what interested me most was the look and style of the film.  It's a digital film with very minimal movement.  The lip-sync is the only real movement - except for an occasional eye-blink.  And the walking is your typical Japanese animé stiff-leg walk. 

In fact, the whole film is very stiff and limited, yet I was seduced by the backgrounds, lighting and story.  Of particular interest were the faces - they used real actors as models, and the resulting imagery was quite powerful. 

I wish this film had enjoyed a bigger release - it's really a fascinating feature film.  But thanks to DVD, it's hopefully finding its audience.

I give "Metropia" a "B".

Bill Plympton

"Hitler's Folly"

I recall that my first intense introduction to Adolf Hitler was in high school. I was reading "900 Days" - I believe that's what it was called - about the German siege of Leningrad, written by Harrison E. Salisbury. After that book, I was hooked - then I read the famous book "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany" by William L. Shirer.

When cable came into our lives, I was constantly watching the History Channel, or as some have called it, "the Hitler Channel."

Now mind you, I'm a staunch liberal who loves democracy, but the whole Nazi mindset was very fascinating to me. The regimentation, the brainwashing of an entire nation, the super-weapons, the fashion, and just the whole personification of Evil.

Then, about a year ago, I read something that said Hitler was a big "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" fan. In fact, he watched it many times. The image of this totally evil guy laughing at the dwarfs as they play with the cute forest animals made my brain turn inside out.

His early career as an artist and his love for Disney inspired me to wonder what would have happened if his art career had been more successful and he had turned to animation? Not that far-fetched!

So as soon as I finished "Cheatin'", I began in earnest to write a script for my new (and much lower budgeted) mockumentary film about Hitler's animation career, and I'm calling it "Hitler's Folly".

The film will be primarily a faux documentary using archival WWII footage, Hitler's early artwork and a few animated shorts "made" by the fuhrer. We will also have some live action sections that we're casting now. The biggest problem is finding a Hitler look-alike - either the guys are too shy to claim their twinship, or they're in denial.

Already the film is causing waves - 3 of my studio staffers have quit because they were so offended by the project.

But I believe it will be one of the funniest projects I've ever worked on. It's so outrageous and absurd - I'll announce its progress in this blog.

Keep tuned in,

Bill P.

Cheatin' festival and distribution update

In my previous posts, I talked about how much fun I had at the Slamdance Festival in Park City, and the Portland International Film Festival. 

Slamdance, of course, was huge for me because it was the North American premiere of the film.  I had hoped to have a sales agent attached to the film, and we were trying to get someone from Submarine, but they already had a full slate, so unfortunately we weren't able to find an agent in time for the festival, which is not really the right way to do things.

Upon our arrival at Slamdance, we were greeted by a wonderful review in Variety - which buoyed our spirits.  The film was scheduled for two screenings there - the opening night screening (very prestigious) was packed, standing room only.  Everyone was very excited, and at the end of the film there was sustained applause (I love that!).  I can never be sure how an audience will respond to my new films, so it was a wonderful joy to hear that they loved the film.  The biggest confirmation of their appreciation of the film came afterwards, when people would randomly walk up to me and rave about the movie.  When it's unsolicited love - that's the true test.

Our second screening, 4 days later, had pretty much the same reaction.  Unfortunately, there were no distributors present at the Slamdance screenings, so our next step is to organize a private screening in NYC for all the distributors, so they can see the kind of reaction it gets from an audience.

My last option, I suppose, will be to send DVDs to these distributors and hope they can imagine the fantastic applause and laughter it would receive in a theater.

Stay tuned to Scribble Junkies for more "Cheatin'" updates.

--Bill

"Fallen Angel"

As you know, I usually comment on animation in my Scribble Junkies blog posts, but today I want to talk about a live-action film - an old live-action film.

I caught the film about three years ago on TCM and thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was classic noir sleaze - all of the characters were evil, selfish and immoral.

That is, until about 2/3 of the way into the film, when the tramp waitress, played by a very sexy Linda Darnell, is murdered.  Then the film takes a hard right turn into a righteous religious sermon about goodness.

A year later, I still couldn't get that film out of my mind - what a great film, ruined by a goody-goody ending.

I wanted to see the film again, perhaps I could remake the story and keep that sinister nasty feeling throughout the whole film.  But damn, I forgot what it was called.  I went through all of my diaries of films watched, but I couldn't find it.  Then, luckily, I found it programmed again on TCM - it was called "Fallen Angel", it sounded like the same movie, and after the first few minutes, I knew this was my lost gem of a movie.

It stars Dana Andrews as a drifter who ends up in a dead-end beach town, where he falls in love with a very sultry, sexy gold-digger waitress, played by Linda Darnell.  She won't take a tumble with him unless he's got a lot of money.  So Dana plots to marry and kill the local spinster, played by Alice Faye.

And it's here that the film is ruined by the waitress's murder. 

It was made in 1945 by Otto Preminger, and I suppose it was the Hollywood distributors that forced the sermonizing ending.  But I bet if Billy Wilder had made the film, we would have a live Linda Darnell and a dead Alice Faye - now there's a film I'd love to see!

Check out "Fallen Angel" - it's got some of the sexiest non-sex scenes I've ever seen in a movie.  I give it an A+.

--Bill

Portland International Film Festival

Being from Portland, I'll use any excuse I can to return home.  I was fortunate enough to get my new feature "Cheatin'" invited to the prestigious Portland International Film Festival.

The festival is sponsored by the Northwest Film Center.  In fact, in a way it was their fault that I got into animation in the first place.  Back in 1983, I was hired to create a short film called "Boomtown" and about halfway through, we ran out of money.  While I was in Portland for the summer, the people at the Film Center suggested that we hold a fund raiser.

"Why not?" I said, not having any clue how to hold one.  But the folks at the Northwest Film Center really came through.  We had a big crowd, showed an early clip of the film, I talked about the interesting aspects of the short and we were able to raise enough money to finish the cartoon.  And because of the success of "Boomtown", I was encouraged to make a small film called "Your Face" - maybe you've heard of it?

In any case, we had another good crowd last week for "Cheatin'" at the famed Cinema 21, and they all loved the film.  Lots of great comments, sustained applause - I loved it!  Also, the reviews of the film were stellar.  So, if you're looking for a great festival in Portlandia, check out the Portland International Film Festival.

I give it a B+.

And if you want to find out whether "Cheatin'" will be playing in a film festival near you, please visit the film's web-site here:

http://cheatinmovie.com/screening-list/


--Bill

                              signing autographs for fans at Portland International Film Festival

Slamdance

I'm not bragging, but by my estimate, I may have have more films screened at Sundance and Slamdance than any other filmmaker.  That's because not only do my features get in, but also my short films are usually accepted.  That said, it's always exciting for me to go to Park City to attend this "mad winter carnival" where indie films are picked up for distribution.

This year, I was hoping that "Cheatin'" would be selected for Sundance, but you just never know how tough it's going to be, so instead it was chosen for the opening night slot at Slamdance.  Hey, that ain't bad!  I've known the guys who run Slamdance - Dan Mirvish, Paul Rachman and Peter Baxter - for a long time.  So I'm always happy to be part of the "Sundance alternative". 

                                       Introducing "Cheatin'" on Slamdance's opening night.

Sundance is all about the agents, executives and the business side of filmmaking, where Slamdance is more concerned with the more low-budget indie films.  Their focus now is on films by first-time filmmakers (but they keep a couple slots open for veterans like me), so as a result you can see films from directors who are right on the verge of making it big.

I found this year that "Cheatin'" was the only animated feature in either festival.  In a way, it was an honor to be the director of the only animated feature screened in Park City, but it also shows how little the programmers respect animation. 

                                         Signing for fans after the U.S. premiere of "Cheatin'"

It's my belief that the festivals are looking to bring in the big stars, and a lot of press, and for that they need live-action films.  Since I know there are many great animated features out there that would fit very well into the Sun/Slamdance festival programming, it's very discouraging.

I looked at the top grossing films of 2013, and out of the top 10, 5 were animated (I'm including "Gravity").  So why the hell don't festivals respect animation more?  What's their prejudice?  My theory is that they don't understand it, they feel like it's a small genre category.  Yet, audiences seem to love it, can't they see that?

                                 These fans got some great DVD's AND a Plympton sketch!

In any case, back to Slamdance.  It's held in the Treasure Mountain Inn, and the screenings are held in two rooms that hold about 100 people each.  The seating is a bit awkward, with bad sight lines, but the films are so good, no one cares.  My favorite film of the festival was "Eliot", a documentary about a Kung Fu / karate wanna-be who lies to everyone, telling them he's the Jean Claude Van Damme of Canada.  It's hilarious and scary.  But all of the films I saw were excellent, except for one.

The staff was very helpful - anything I needed, they bent over backwards to get for me.  I felt so much more loved than at Sundance, where the films from the studios with the big agents get all the attention. 

                                  They've still got "Hot Dog" art at the Festival Co-op!  Cool!

The highlight for me was the "Hot Tub Summit", organized by the genius Dan Mirvish.  It was held, naturally, in a giant hot tub (clothing optional) with about 30 filmmakers talking about the ins and outs of indie filmmaking.  The group included a number of big-name filmmakers - it was a whole new way to learn about the business, and I felt so clean afterwards! 

                                            Things getting steamy at the Hot Tub Summit...                              
            
So, if you want to have a great time in Park City, and see some great films, go check out Slamdance!  I give it an "A"!

--Bill P.

                                                With Dan Mirvish at the Hot Tub Summit

Obscure Namesakes #21

Obscure Namesakes #20

 

The Wind Blows

Last fall, I was at the famous Telluride Festival picnic (my film "Drunker Than a Skunk" screened before "Nebraska") and I was talking to a woman who worked at the New York Film Festival.  I had just learned that my new animated feature "Cheatin'" had been turned down, and Miyazaki's film "The Wind Rises" was selected.  I asked her why she chose the Miyazaki film and she said, "Because it's the last film he'll ever make."

I told her that Miyazaki always claims that each film will be his last. "No," she said, "this one definitely is his last."  Then, sure enough, in early January he announced he was coming out of retirement to make another feature film.

Damn!  He fooled us again!  I think he's used this ploy now five or six times!  The thing that gets me angry is that my film was entered in some very prominent festivals, and in three or four cases "The Wind Rises" was also entered, that his film got in and mine didn't. 

Both films were entered in festivals like Toronto, Venice, Telluride, New York Film Festival, and the Hamptons Film Festival, and my guess is that the programmers all thought, "Wow, this is Miyazaki's farewell film, so we have to program it."  Then they looked at "Cheatin'" and thought, "It's a good film, but we already have an animated film in the line-up, so out it goes."

Now, of course this is just a theory - perhaps "Cheatin'" is not as good.  But I do know that festivals tend to be very stingy in programming animation, and you rarely see more that one animated feature per festival (unless it's an animation festival, of course...)

I tell you, Hayao has a real scam going, he's figured out how to play the game - tell everyone he's retiring, and his film is a festival lock.  I've seen "The Wind Rises", and I think it's one of his weakest films, very sentimental and pro-military.  It's certainly not one of his classics - but because he's the Japanese "Master" and he's retiring, he gets in on all the great festivals.

My friend Signe suggested I should learn from him how to play the game.  I think for my next film I'm going to "retire" right after I finish production - or how about "dying" right after the production, so it will truly seem like my last film.  Then I'll perform a miracle and magically appear at the festival, reborn - imagine the publicity I can generate from that scandal!

--Bill

Michael Sporn 1946-2014

 

Simpsons fallout

I don't know how many of you saw the new Couch Gag I did for "The Simpsons" recently (broadcast the same night as the Golden Globes).  I had a lot of fun making it, and apparently it got a lot of hits on YouTube, someone said over 250,000.  Wow, that's more people than usually watch my films!

Then I heard that there's a rumor going around that near the 0:27 mark there are apparently some "nasty" frames of animation.

You know, I really didn't think that observant fans would spot the naughty art - after all, the images flash by so fast at that part it's hard to make out any details.  The problem is that now the FOX lawyers are going to check it out, and then I'll be in big trouble.  Matt Groening's never going to talk to me again and my TV career will be in shambles and I can't afford a lawyer.

So, if they send me to prison on porn charges I hope you, my fans, will come and visit me often.  In fact, it might be a good opportunity for me to churn out a new feature film - no interruptions, phone calls or annoying meetings.  I can work night and day in peace and quiet.

Hey, thanks, FOX lawyers!

--Bill P.

Best Animated Shorts of the Year

By the time you read this, they may have already announced the 5 animated short films nominated for the Oscar.  Nevertheless, I'll give you my 5 top shorts of the year:

"Subconscious Password", by the great Chris Landreth - hilarious.

"Feral", a beautiful story about a boy raised by wolves, by Daniel Sousa.

"Hollow Land", by Uri Kranot and Michelle Kranot.  Stop-motion animation about immigrants.

"Mr Hublot", by Laurent Witz and Alexandre Espigares - a beautifully animated CG film with great character design.

"Betty's Blues" by Rémi Vandenitte - a gorgeous Delta Blues musical.

--Bill