Heartstrings 3: Isabelle Favez & Arnoud Rijken

The film is about the feelings love, hunger and death. A storytelling with a great graphic design. And a surprising timing. Looks simple but there are so much emotions and details in the characters. And everything without dialogue!

I don’t remember the film well, but remember exactly how I felt watching it in Annecy. Never saw a story told like this, with all the parallel stories. Touched by the design of the film. And I loved all the details, like the ants in the opening shot.

L’Egoïste (The Egotist), Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol, France. Choice of Arnoud Rijken

What to choose if you can only choose two films? That’s always hard. So I selected two films that more or less made me decide to become an animation producer and found il Luster. I was in the final year of my Film and TV Science studies and had discovered animation. At the 1996 HAFF, a world opened up for me. All the possibilities that animation offered! So much richer than ordinary film. Because it not only offers numerous possibilities for narrative structures and types of drama, but the image also has its undeniable influence on the film. Back then, several films convinced me of the power of animation. Two of which I can share with you in this section. When I think of Yankale, I see bouncing black crosses on a white surface. I don’t recall what the film is about exactly, because I’ve never seen it again. It is an epic story about a man. But the film particularly strikes the eye through its use of the visual potential of animation. From a figurative image with a simple powerful line, the image becomes almost abstract and the film makes excellent use of the rhythmic possibilities of animation. It will be a thrill to see the film again. I did see L’Egoïste again, but it wasn’t ideal. I had bought the film on video, but my video player couldn’t handle its French encoding, so I could only watch the film in black-and-white. And precisely the design and use of colour makes L’Egoïste so wonderful. A fine example of how design can add an extra layer to the story, besides evoking an aesthetic experience. Great to see the films on a large screen again. Because that’s nice about animation, too. It is ageless.

This program screened as part of HAFF 2009

Showing in this program