ANIMATED CINEMA: REALITY CHECK

For a long time relegated to the fantasy-based world and children’s stories, animation cinema is now undergoing a major revolution by addressing the real world. From Walz with Bachir toThe Swallows of Kabuland from PersepolistoAnimated Conversationswith Noam Chomsky, the cinema of today is characterised by increasing numbers of feature-length documentaries or fiction films that make use of animation to take a fresh look at the world around us.

This master class will shed light on the methods and challenges involved in portraying real life with the use of animation by showing how this was central to the art of animation cinema during the last century, from the work of Winsor McCay to that of Isao Takahata, and how animated real life content, apart from forms, is not a “category” that contrasts with the fantastic or the burlesque but above all falls within the domain of ethics.

Xavier Kawa-Topor est délégué général de NEF animation (www.nefanimation.fr) et auteur du livre Cinéma d’animation, au-delà du réel, 2016 ; et La Tortue Rouge – Michael Dudok de Wit, 2018