08:00pm: A Dream of Lovers and 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed
Lawrence Jordan, Pale Hoarse, Jacob Ciocci, David Wightman in person
SFIAF kicks off with this very special celebration of live music and animation. First, American underground avant-garde legend Lawrence Jordan will present live animation for the first time in his 50-plus-year career. Manning a 16mm analytic projector, Jordan will improvise the frame rate and rhythm to his cutout short film Ein Traum der liebenden ("A Dream of Lovers"), based on the live, plaintive musical accompaniment of local duo Pale Hoarse. This historic performance will be followed by 2 Blessed 2 Be Stressed, a collaboration between Paper Rad founding member Jacob Ciocci and musician David Wightman. Ciocci and Wightman have collaborated on a number of projects, including the musical group Extreme Animals. For this performance, Ciocci will present a mix of original videos and animations and his new performance I Let My Nightmares Go, employing video projection and dance moves to grapple with mental demons, Web 2.0, 21st-century breakdown, real lies, fake truths, cartoon violence and awareness bracelets. Wightman will join in on the fun, then perform solo as Fortress of Amplitude, a guitar-wielding minstrel from another time and place. Accompanied by a beat-blasting drum machine, he will execute a musical composition focusing on fantasy, repetition and ecstasy.
Thursday, November 12th (Opening Night)
07:00pm: Fantastic Mr. Fox (USA; 2009)
{Bay Area Premiere}
Directed by Wes Anderson
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George Clooney brings Mr. Fox to life with nimble character voicing, aided by a heavy-hitting cast including Meryl Streep, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray and Owen Wilson. Anderson's customarily offbeat cadences, deadpan humor and sly moments of touching grace further enliven this rare gem that is both appropriate and wildly entertaining for all ages. Fantastic, indeed! Written by Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach. Photographed by Tristan Oliver. 87 minutes. Distributed by Fox Searchlight.
08:00pm: Opening Night Party with complimentary wine from José Pastor Selections and appetizers provided by Cafe Claude, Chevy's, Palomino, Rotee and Sugar Bowl Bakery, One Embarcadero Center, Lobby Level (the former B. Dalton space).
09:30pm: Fantastic Mr. Fox
Friday, November 13th
04:00pm: SF360 Live - Data in Motion: Information Design and Animation
Apple Store, One Stockton Street {free}
Visionary information designer Joy Mountford will present a fascinating survey on the different approaches to organizing data using methods of visuality and motion. An expert in the field of presenting data in motion, Mountford has mentored numerous artists and engineers through her work with Interval Research Corporation in Palo Alto and at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. Don't miss this rare opportunity to learn about future trends in information design with one of the field's leading thinkers.
07:00 pm: The Breakdown
Animation is especially suited to analysis of all sorts. It probes bodies, investigates movement and questions nature. Animation breaks down the world, love and desire.... and ultimately the unconscious.
"Body Besieged" A favorite of San Francisco audiences, Kelly Sears ("Devil's Canyon," "The Drift") returns with this racy homage to ladies who exercise (Kelly Sears, USA, 5 min.). "Kid 606: Mr. Wobbles House" music maven Kid 606 animates the beats (Joel Trussell, USA, 5 min). Kroak "Partie de Peche" Grunts and groans produce an unexpected bounty for ice fishers (Julie Rembauville, Nicolas Bianco-Levrin, 3 min.). "Mixed Bag" A bag of money is the catalyst for this study on the all-too-familiar push-me/pull-you dynamic inherent in all relationships (Isabelle Favez, Switzerland, 7 min.). "Mobitel Mania" In which technology is fetishized in such a modular way (Darko Vidackovic, Croatia, 5 min.). "Radostki" When people love each other, anything can happen (Magdalena Osinska, Poland, 11 min.). "The Rains" Simple and beautiful rainfall in the city (David Coquard-Dassault, Canada, 7 min.). "The Spine" The therapist is in. Master animator Chris Landreth delivers another tour de force of imagination and wit (Chris Landreth, Canada, 11 min.). "What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks" The rhythms of the sun deliver constantly changing compositions in a typical room made wonderful (Sara Wickens, England, 5 min.). "Wings and Oars" A former pilot trips back in time and through his life (Vladimir Lesciov, Latvia, 5 min.). Total Runtime: 64 minutes.
09:00pm: A Town Called Panic
(Panique au Village, Belgium/France/Luxembourg 2009)
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Directed by Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar
One of the rare feature-length animated films (and the only one in stop-motion) to appear in the Cannes Film Festival, A Town Called Panic is sure to live up to the cult status of the Belgian TV series upon which it delightfully expands.
As in the series, here the town of Panic is populated by a random assortment of plastic figurines whose daily activities recall children's illogical narratives in their herky-jerky disjointedness, celebration of the quotidian and profound brilliance. Cowboy and Indian decide to give their friend Horse a birthday present, but thanks to an Internet shopping typo end up with 50 million bricks for Horse's new barbecue.
The trio must then travel to the center of the earth, trek across frozen tundra and discover a parallel underwater universe populated by pointy-headed (and dishonest!) creatures. In an age of high-tech animation and CGI effects, A Town Called Panic is refreshingly homegrown, the product of ingenious imagination and a surreal, often nostalgic, sense of childhood absurdity. Written by Stéphane Aubier. Vincent Patar, Guillaume Malandrin, Vincent Tavier. Photographed by Jan Vandenbussche. With Stéphane Aubier, Jeanne Balibar, Bruce Ellison, Vincent Patar, Benoît Poelvoorde. 75 minutes. Distributed by Zeitgeist.