Norman McLaren Classics
75 minutes
The award-winning animation filmmaker Norman McLaren was born in Scotland on 11 April 1914. In 1941, he joined the National Film Board of Canada, realising a comprehensive body of works with innovative techniques like scratching and painting on film, cut-out animation and pixelation. On the occasion of McLaren’s 100th birthday, HAFF presents, alongside the world première of an installation with his work, a film programme of McLaren classics on the silver screen.
McLaren’s films constitute a special oeuvre, remarkable for its inventiveness, research and humanity. He is a master of the experimental film, inspired by surrealism, and a dance and music lover. His filmography is the reflection of a prolific and brilliant career.
He inspired artists and filmmakers across the world. Gerrit van Dijk, who stood at the cradle of HAFF and passed away in December 2012, coincidentally saw a few of McLaren’s films in 1965 at the Haarlem Filmliga and decided to become an animator. In 1952, McLaren realised Neighbours, a distinctly political pamphlet against violence. This film was one of the sources of inspiration for the special theme programme on committed films that HAFF compiled in consultation with Gerrit van Dijk prior to his demise.
This program screened as part of HAFF 2014
Showing in this program
Begone Dull Care
Blinkity Blank
This experimental short film by Norman McLaren is a playful exercise in intermittent animation and spasmodic imagery. Playing with the laws relating to persistence of vision and after-image on the retina of the eye, McLaren engraves pictures on blank film creating vivid, percussive effects.
Hen Hop
Le Merle
Lines Horizontal
Neighbours
Opening Speech: McLaren
Pas de Deux
Norman McLaren's short film is a cinematic study of the choreography of ballet. A bare, black set with the back-lit figures of dancers Margaret Mercier and Vincent Warren create a dream-like, hypnotic effect. This award-winning film comes complete with the visual effects one expects from this master filmmaker. (National Film Board of Canada)
Stars and Stripes
