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The Visions of Jim Woodring

woodring-movie

It seems almost trite to say it, but it’s true – Montreal is a great place to be in the summer – and it just got better.

Jim Woodring is going to be in town for a special appearance at the Fantasia Film Festival on July 15. Fantasia is one of the biggest “genre” film festivals in the world, and this year it’s hosting the international premiere of The Visions of Jim Woodring, which is a 90 minute journey through his surreal cartoon-scapes. The film also follows a presentation of, Visions of Frank, which is the critically acclaimed series of interpretations of Woodring’s work by young Japanese animators.

Woodring himself will be on hand for a rare live narration of the short film, Lazy Robinson. According to Woodring, Lazy Robinson consists of, “a series of charcoal drawings of unnatural objects floating in a black that cross-dissolve into each other.”

Of course, I’ll be out of town that week-end. In another city that isn’t Montreal.

Just my luck.

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  • http://www.twink.net/ Mike

    I can’t praise this DVD enough. I really feared Jim Woodring’s unique style wouldn’t translate at all to animation, but almost every piece proved me wrong. An outstanding feat, considering how far some of the artists stray from Jim’s distinct line work with their own mediums. Frank and his little friends look great in 3D (as opposed to say, The Simpsons characters), and the music for each bit really sounds like something that would come from that world. Even the packaging is awesome. Just go buy it!

  • http://www.twink.net Mike

    I can’t praise this DVD enough. I really feared Jim Woodring’s unique style wouldn’t translate at all to animation, but almost every piece proved me wrong. An outstanding feat, considering how far some of the artists stray from Jim’s distinct line work with their own mediums. Frank and his little friends look great in 3D (as opposed to say, The Simpsons characters), and the music for each bit really sounds like something that would come from that world. Even the packaging is awesome. Just go buy it!

  • Geoff

    I’ll have to check out these animations. I’ve always imagined that the wavy lines that he inks would wiggle in animation!

  • Geoff

    I’ll have to check out these animations. I’ve always imagined that the wavy lines that he inks would wiggle in animation!

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com/ Jed Alexander

    I have this DVD and really loved it as well–Frank is very well suited to animation, and the animators were given a lot of latitude in their interpretations, which was terrific to see. I have to say though, that I maybe a little conservatively prefered the ones closer to Jim’s vision in the comics. And yes, the 3D one worked very well.

    It’s amazing how well Frank translates to other media–the toys that have been made recently retain their essential Frankness, even out of context, just wish they weren’t so damned expensive though! They’re so cool!

    I’ll be glad to buy the first ticket to the Frank amusement park, if ever anyone has the insight to design one.

  • http://jedalexander.blogspot.com Jed Alexander

    I have this DVD and really loved it as well–Frank is very well suited to animation, and the animators were given a lot of latitude in their interpretations, which was terrific to see. I have to say though, that I maybe a little conservatively prefered the ones closer to Jim’s vision in the comics. And yes, the 3D one worked very well.

    It’s amazing how well Frank translates to other media–the toys that have been made recently retain their essential Frankness, even out of context, just wish they weren’t so damned expensive though! They’re so cool!

    I’ll be glad to buy the first ticket to the Frank amusement park, if ever anyone has the insight to design one.