12 MINUTES ABOUT PEACE A COLLECTION OF 12 ULTRA-SHORT ANIMATED FILMS ON THE THEME OF PEACE TO COMMEMORATE THE CENTENARY OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR
WWW.FLANDERSIMAGE.COM
A Battle for Peace
Border
Charge!
12 MINUTES ABOUT PEACE
One of the most imaginative projects to mark the centenary of the First World War is 12 Minutes About
Peace, a collection of 12 one-minute animated shorts on the theme of peace. They were made by both emerging as well as established talents in Flemish animation.
The initiative came from the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF) and the Flemish Literature Fund (FLF), motivated by a desire both to mark the centenary and to focus attention on short animation and poetry, two forms that rarely find themselves in the spotlight. Peace was chosen as a theme in order to encourage contemporary perspectives and also to accentuate the positive, rather than focus exclusively on the negatives of war. Nevertheless, animators were allowed to address the theme in the way they wanted and with a free choice in form and technique. Films could be narrative or abstract, with or without dialogue, and draw on the widest range of animation styles. However, each film could only be one minute in length. After the completion of the shorts, young Flemish poets were invited to match the images with new words.
A BATTLE FOR PEACE
BRING US THE KEY BY BORIS SVERLOW
BY JOOST JANSEN
Images and symbols of armed conflict shift and change in a red and black animated poster that cries out against the all-devouring monster of modern warfare. The message is underlined with a slam poetry-style voice over. (production: Walking The Dog)
A boy rushes through wrecked streets and devastated countryside, bullets still flying. He is bringing the key that will unlock the box containing the pen that will be used to sign a peace treaty. But the waiting leaders are on a short fuse and may not be able to wait. An animated collage, mainly in black and white, combining photographic and drawn elements. (production: Elementrik Films)
BORDER BY REINOUT SWINNEN & BRAM VAN ROMPAEY
Two characters meet at a line that one insists is a border that should not be crossed by the other. Friendly gestures are seen as provocations until playful cooperation is established. Simple 3D computer animation that plays on the absurdity of lines on a map. (production: S.O.I.L)
Bring Us the Key
FYI
CHARGE! BY GERRIT BEKERS
Two soldiers from opposite sides charge towards each other in the mud of no man’s land but are prevented from engaging by a sudden detonation. As the air clears they find themselves being drawn up into the light of the explosion. Elegant 3D computer animation with a magic realist touch. (prod.: Creative Conspiracy)
Daddy Went. Daddy Did.
Letter from a Soldier
Otto
Peace
CHILD’S PLAY BY BRITT RAES & BERT VAN HAUTE
OTTO BY MARC JAMES ROELS & EMMA DE SWAEF
Two boys play with water pistols in the backyard until suddenly the violence that underlies their game breaks through to the surface. But just as quickly a magical sound recalls them to reality. The novel style combines the innocence of a child’s drawing with the motion of a first-person shooter computer game. (production: Vivi Film)
A young soldier waits anxiously for an artillery strike and is torn
DADDY WENT. DADDY DID BY JOOST JANSEN & THOMAS CEULEMANS
A father watches his son play with toy soldiers, only to see them come to life and act out the horrors of his own military service. Combining live action and 3D computer animation that brings the toy soldiers to life, this short takes its lead from a notorious piece of British war propaganda which goaded men with the question ‘Daddy, what did YOU do in the Great War?’ (production: Sancta Media)
FYI BY WENDY MORRIS A message is passed from one means of wartime communication to another, from carrier pigeons and dogs, to field telephones, signals and lights, before revealing itself to be the time and date of the armistice. Animated pencil drawings merge technical detail with a poetic sense of communication and the message of peace. (production: Vertigo Productions)
LETTER FROM A SOLDIER BY SILVIA DEFRANCE A letter written from the trenches recounts scenes from a soldier’s last days, last words that will be read by a mother sitting in a poppy field. This impressionistic animation of inks and washes combines images with words drawn from Wilfred Owen’s WWI poem ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’. (production: Czar TV)
Child’s Play
to pieces when it lands. Simple yet devastating evocation of the horrors of war, all the more shocking for its depiction in the directors’ trade-make stop-motion animation with fabrics, as seen in the short Oh Willy... (production: Beast Animation)
PEACE BY ROMAN KLOCHKOV War seems inevitable as rival factions bear down on each other, armed to the teeth and unwilling to negotiate. Then a single shot precipitates peace. Cartoon animals drawn in an expressionist style, tightly animated into a moral tale that recalls the work of Raoul Servais. (production: Lunanime)
PEACE? YIPPEE! BY JOKE VAN DER STEEN & VALÈRE LOMMEL
A man emerges from an underground shelter at the end of a war to find peace declared and the world in ruins. When another trapdoor opens and a woman emerges, the prospects for the future suddenly look more attractive. For a moment, at least. Spare cartoon animation that looks at the lighter side of survival. (production: Verenigde Producties)
WHERE THE POPPIES BLOW BY MICHAEL PALMAERS
The life of a poppy plant as it grows, flowers and then sheds its petals connects the craters of Flanders Fields in WWI with the mountains of Afghanistan in the present, with only the change from tanks to drones marking the passage of 100 years. A smooth collage of time-lapse images and digital landscaping. (production: Walking The Dog)
Peace? Yippee!
Where the Poppies Blow
CREDITS various artists (see each film) For full credits info, check www.flandersimage.com
DIRECTOR
FORMAT various from no dialogues to English or Dutch RUNNING TIME 12 x 1’ (+ credits) FORMAT DCP, Blu-ray YEAR 2014
ORIGINAL VERSION
PRODUCTION PRODUCTION COMPANY
(see each film)
various producers
SUPPORTED BY Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), Flemish Literature Fund (FLF), Kinepolis, VRT - Canvas
INFO Flanders Image Bischoffsheimlaan 38 B-1000 Brussels - Belgium T +32 2 226 0630 F + 32 2 219 1936 flandersimage@vaf.be www.flandersimage.com
CONTACT Flanders Image, Bischoffsheimlaan 38 - B-1000 Brussels - Belgium T +32 2 226 06 30 - F +32 2 219 19 36 - flandersimage@vaf.be Flanders Image is a division of the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF)
WWW.FLANDERSIMAGE.COM