Børge Ring: A Celebration

I was born in Denmark far too long ago (1921) and made my first animated film at the age of 13. I gave up my studies at university for an enjoyable career as a jazz musician. At the age of 28 I returned to my first love, animation, and opened a small studio in Copen-hagen, Denmark, went broke and moved to Holland in 1952 where I spent 21 delightful years working in Amsterdam at the Marten Toonder Studio doing concept, designing, animating, directing, studying and hoarding experiences. I left the Marten Toonder Studio in 1973 and joined the Richard Williams Studio in London - the place was heaven for an animator. Freelancing all over Western Europe and Canada, I spent my time animating and making friends with fellow artists and other people from all sorts of countries. In 1984, I obtained a grant from the Dutch Government to make a traditional animated cartoon, aimed at an adult audience with story material of concern to them, without changing the form: timed to a beat (as in Tom and Jerry) and no dialogue whatsoever. I substituted dialogue with body language and used metaphor to display things that would otherwise need a lot of verbal explanation (given the subject matter).

During the following 15 years, while animating on other people's features and commercials, I managed to make three short personal films which have won more than 3o international Awards including the Prix de Jury in Cannes and an Oscar Nomination in 1978, and Academy Award in 1985 and the UNICEF prize at Annecy in 2000. All three films haves themes that adults can identify with. Oh My Darling deals with two parents, reluctant to set their daughter free when the time comes. Anna and Bella is about two old sisters who spend an evening looking back on their life in the company of old photographs and a little too much red wine. Run of the Mill shows what it feels like when your own child becomes a drug addict. The three stories are fashioned on things and persons I have seen from close by in real life. I wrote the music myself because it is budget-friendly and fun to do.

This program screened as part of HAFF 2006

Showing in this program