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May 05, 2006
Tribeca Gets 'Animated' With Bill Plympton
The Reeler grabbed a few minutes Thursday with Bill Plympton, the estimable filmmaker behind the Tribeca Film Festival's first-ever Animated NY program. And by "a few," I mean "roughly seven"--about all the friendly-but-busy animation pioneer had to spare before jamming off to another packed screening at the AMC 34th Street.
Not surprisingly, considering the pedigree, the accolades have developed into something of a trend.
"The opening night was on Monday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, which is impossible to get to because it's all surrounded by construction," Plympton told me. "And we had to turn away 30 people. It was nice in that regard, but bad for the people who wanted to see the film. And they had to bring in chairs from the basement so that everybody who got in could get a seat. And they were rapturous--the applause never ended. It was really a fun experience. And then yesterday, we had a noon show, which I thought was bad programming since it's adult animation. It should have been a midnight show. And we almost filled that house, too. So it's been a pleasant surprise. I don't know if it's the program that's so good, or if it's Tribeca that's such a powerful force. Maybe it's the two together."
The New York-based Plympton had witnessed at least a hint of Tribeca's pull after last year's event, when he had screened his Oscar-nominated short Guard Dog to similar festival acclaim. Months later, while chatting with TFF executive director (and Plympton fan) Peter Scarlet, the filmmaker proposed a full collection of short films comprising work by other independent New York animators. "It's kind of been neglected by all the media looking for superstars and actors and directors and things like that," Plympton said. "And [Scarlet] thought that was a great idea. So I started screening a lot of films that came out of New York."
He came up with nearly a dozen shorts from local peers, from Nina Paley's sharply geometric Indian melodrama-meets-American jazz saga Sita to Signe Baumane's deceptively simple, stomach-churning dark comedy Dentist. Plympton had a few basic ground rules in programming the set: For starters, he sought a mix of different animation techniques as well as a blend of comedy and more "artsy" films. No film in the program was made before 2001, and most are newer films introduced either last year or making their debuts at Tribeca. To wit, Christy Karacas's epic Barfight and PES's cheeky, stop-motion Roof Sex emerge from the early part of this decade, while Plympton's brand-new Guide Dog enjoyed its world premiere Monday night.
"It's a wide variety of not only techniques but of filmmakers," he told me. "There are a couple of students in there. There are a lot of professionals like me. There are people who do commercials, people who do stop motion, but they're all New Yorkers, and they're all films made in New York, which I think is the real beauty of this show. It shows that New York City is probably the world's center of independent animation."
And trust me--Bill Plympton would know. Anyway, the final screening of Plympton's Animated NY program unspools Sunday at 10:15 a.m. at the AMC Lincoln Square. NB: Sure, it is a morning show, but Plympton's admonition stands: You should probably leave the kids at home--at least if you ever want them to visit a dentist again.
Posted by stvanairsdale at May 5, 2006 08:09 AM
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