next page
TOC
Features U.S. As the space should be immersive, the sets are in 3D. The tone of the movie is constantly oneiric and poetic. The animation was carefully planned to create the dreamlike universe where every detail is planned to be narrative. There was a great investment in conceptual art, since it lies at the core of the story in this particular storytelling approach. The locations and the characters are charged with suggestive power.”
Music to Soothe the Savage Soul
Island of Lost Souls: Anca Damian follows Marona’s Fantastic Tale with The Island, a bold, surreal and very modern take on Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.
‘Everything happens while we live through the consequences of the ecological imbalance that we created on this planet, so in a way we contemplate the end of the world. It is a colorful, poetic and funny musical fable — a mix of The Little Prince, Robinson Crusoe and Monty Python’s Flying Circus!’ — Writer-director Anca Damian
course,” she explains. “The story is structured very unconventionally, with an emphasis on the association of symbolic images. The narrative pulse is linked to the animation and is meant to flow as a poem. Images and sound (music) are placed in the foreground, emphasizing the fact that the film creates patterns in space, images-representations and vivid paintings. So, the film seeks to rediscover its primary function of spectacle, analyzing the possibilities of moving the spectator through the image and the music, rather than through the story. In its allegorical form full of irony and lyricism, the film is found in this rare vein which combines entertainment, effective surrealism and obvious absurdity.” In other words, she explains, “It is a very outof-the-box project, and even people who worked on the film realized what I had in my head only
when it was finished. But all of those elements are also what I like about it!” How does it compare with Marona? Damian admits that the only elements that connect her films are the themes. “All my films speak about ‘life is a love lesson,’ but in totally different registers or stories,” she notes. “The visual design is following the concept of trying to reproduce a (sur)realistic environment, where the audience should feel immersed; the beauty of the colors is highly attractive but at the same time insinuating a feeling of sickness. The colors of the sea (turquoise), of the clouds (pink) look like paradise but the chemical feeling is haunting.” The concept is a different story: “Everything mankind does should have a realistic texture, because it never integrates in nature. I got a lot of inspiration from the Burning Man event in the
As in Marona, music plays a very important role in The Island’s universe. “I usually work on the music with the composer before starting the animation,” Damian explains. “Here, I had the music before writing the script. Additionally, this process was difficult as the musicians played this concert almost a decade ago, and now, I had to convince them to change it. It was also a moment when we added two additional voices (altogether a quartet and four singers) when the reality of the new reinterpretation came to life. What is also unique with this project is that I am working with a choreographer, Andrea Gavriliu, for the movements of the animated characters. It is a great joy and inspiration. In this project, all the arts have found their place!” Now that she is inviting the world to take a peek at her latest opus, Damian hopes to open new eyes to our 21st century demons and poetic solutions. “The Island is an animated musical that offers the audience a poetic take on the solitude of the individual and the search for meaning on a planet that has collapsed,” Damian muses. “One of its strong assets is its reinterpretation of the story of Robinson Crusoe, updated to our times when we try to repair the colonist’s behavior but we are still limited by the rules and hypocrisy. Everything happens while we live through the consequences of the ecological imbalance that we created on this planet, so in a way we contemplate the end of the world. It is a colorful, poetic and funny musical fable — a mix of The Little Prince, Robinson Crusoe and Monty Python’s Flying Circus!” Damian leaves us with her take on the state of animation in 2021. “I do think that every year, animation gains a wider audience as well as more respectability as an art form, and not only seen as children entertainment,” she concludes. “The richness of the language and the unlimited possibilities are getting their rightful place in both the history of cinema and in the eyes of audiences around the world.” ◆ The Island is one of the 55 new animated features presented at this year’s edition of Cartoon Movie, March 9-11. For more info, visit apartefilm.net/portfolio-items/the-island.
march 21 19
next page
www.animationmagazine.net
TOC
