The San Francisco International Animation Festival 2009

It's just about time for this year's San Francisco International Animation Festival, and event organizers are excited to offer animation enthusiasts another fantastic mesh of stop-motion, computer animation, short form, theatrical cartooning sure to cross as many genres as it does creative sensibilities. Kicking off in mid-November 2009, this year's San Fran Int'l Animation Festival is a five-day celebration of all animated media, and this year looks to include a few notable theatrical showings playfully interspersed with the requisite collection of award-winning short films from students and professionals alike.

Key films making an appearance at the 2009 San Francisco International Animation Festival include Wes Anderson's long-awaited adaptation Fantastic Mr. Fox; the Belgium/France/Luxembourg cult hit Panique au Village ("A Town Called Panic"); and the United States premiere of the anime film Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai. Apart from these, the usual assortment of the summer festival circuit's best, a few collections of instant classics from the realm of experimental and commercial animation, and more.

The SF Int'l Animation Festival will open at Mezzanine, Wednesday, November 11th and screen November 12th-15th at Landmark's Embarcadero Center Cinema, with a special live event at the Apple Store on Friday, November 13th. "With everything from cutout and claymation to cutting-edge CGI, SFIAF continues to explore animation in all its forms," programmer Sean Uyehara, commented on the event schedule. "The Festival approaches animation both as a multifaceted artistic practice and as a mode of production."

from Musashi (2009)

Musashi: The Dream of the Last Samurai, for example, was scribed by notable anime writer/director Mamoru Oshii (The Sky Crawlers), and provides a glimpse into the early Edo period and the circumstances surrounding one of Japan's most famous warriors.

Interested in crafting a film about Musashi Miyamoto for quite a while, Oshii has previously stated his interest in "portray[ing] a Japanese who was very different from contemporary Japanese people [....] He was a multi-talented man who lived in a very particular period. But Japanese people tend to admire those who achieve perfection in one craft or discipline, and are strangely indifferent if not suspicious toward universal men." Such was his journey to chronicle the bloodstained exploits of a "universal man."

Other highlights of the festival include a partnership between event organizers and the recently opened Walt Disney Family Museum, presented by Russell Merritt and J.B. Kaufman; the "Play It By Eye" hyper-mix of style and substance through music videos; and this year's Best of Annecy. A detailed schedule of this year's San Francisco International Animation Festival is available on the following pages of this AnimationInsider.net news article.

Box office information: $12.50 general/$10.00 SFFS members/$11.00 seniors, students and persons with disabilities. Additional info: www.SFFS.org