Tag: Stop-Motion Animation

Spotlighting National Film Board of Canada at the 2018 Victoria Film Festival

National Film Board of Canada

By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)

Over the years, the many various works created by the talents at National Film Board of Canada has always managed to enthrall, entertain and impress. Many have won awards from many well-established shows like the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. Even for an event like the Victoria Film Festival beginning this weekend, the offerings are a lot more this year to acknowledge the short film medium. They have six instead of the usual three specialized programs to spotlight the talent of many a filmmaker, be it local to international. The NFB have eight animated and documentary pieces being featured. In attendance will be Alanis Obomsawin and Hart Snider to present.

If this company’s works are being screened at a film festival near you, please do not hesitate to check them out. Eventually, they will all be offered online or through their streaming service.

Selections include:

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A Look at Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams. A DVD Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

910gsOx1UrL._SY445_I’ve always been fascinated with discovering what dreams are made of and there’s plenty of library material to look at for self-study or to be entertained by. On this special list is the stop motion animated epic, Sandman and the Lost Sand of Dreams (Das Sandmännchen: Abenteuer im Traumland).

It’s a wonderful film because of the positive messages it imparts to younger audiences and for myself, the world it presents is comparable to other dream tales I enjoyed prior. The fantastic that’s evoked in H.P. Lovecraft‘s haunting world of the Dreamlands, the endlessness of the beauty found in Robin Williams‘ What Dreams May Come and the innocence of youth that Nemo represented in his Adventures In Slumberland are recalled in this German-made film originally released in 2010. Shout! Factory Kids released this English dubbed piece last month and my order did not arrive till recently for me to watch. There’s no bonus material with this release.

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Unwrapping The Boxtrolls, A Blu-ray/DVD Review

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Available on AmazonThe Boxtrolls

Studio Laika’s The Boxtrolls is a very bourgeois film. Unless viewers know something about how European nations historically treated the lower class, some aspects of the tale will feel alien. Some explanation is offered in the home video release’s director’s commentary, but for the most part, the point of the bonus material is to show how much work was put into this adaptation of Alan Snow’s children’s novel, “Here Be Monsters!”

The story takes place in the fictional country of Norvenia rather than some real world. Anyone who has studied Western Civilization knows how some growing cities saw revolt when one social class chastised another. As a result, this film examines the problems facing the town of Cheesebridge. A baby is lost, and Archibald Snatcher (wonderfully voiced by Ben Kingsley) blames the trolls! Those who fear them stay safe in their domiciles, while the monsters and a human boy named Eggs (Isaac Hempstead Wright) skirt the city at night. These night crawlers scavenge for food and other sundries to make their life underground possible.

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