Anima 2021 Stop-motion: what a wonderful world

Until the end of October, Cinematek is going to make the dolls dance. And sing, grunt, fight and cry. Together with Anima, it is presenting a series of groundbreaking stop-motion animated films. Amazement and wonder are ensured.

Stop-motion films require a ridiculous amount of angelic patience, manual labour and hard artisanal work. Whether they are made of clay, wool, plastic or anything else, to create the illusion of movement, dolls must be moved and photographed image by image. The good news: that work is all done for you, as a viewer you only have to sit back and enjoy the wonderful and wonderfully tangible fantasy worlds that are conjured up.

Following a book on stop-­motion by Philippe Moins, founder of the Anima film festival, Cinematek offers an overview of stop-motion films “that left their mark on their generation”. It is not by chance that it is a very varied survey.

You can do anything with stop-motion. Belgians Stéphane Aubier and Vincent Patar will make you laugh until your stomach hurts with Panique au village: crazy, cult DIY cinema about Horse, Cowboy and Indian, indistinguishable from children's toys. The chickens that brood on escape in Chicken Run are hardly distinguishable from clay. With this family film, full of jokes and cinephile references, the British company Aardman Animations set itself up as a world player.

Mary and Max, also made of clay, is about suicide, loneliness, bullying, neuroses, psychoses and mothers who can't stay away from sherry. Ma vie de Courgette also touches on a serious subject in a heartwarming, particularly intelligent and sensitive way. After the death of his aggressive mother, a young boy ends up in an orphanage...and thanks to friendship, love and solidarity, crawls out of the hole.

Tim Burton and Henry Selick's fantastic, sing-along The Nightmare Before Christmas is an ode to the outsider. With Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson, the adored director of Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel, also emerged as a puppeteer out of category. Stop in the name of love for stop-motion in Cinematek.

ANIMA 2021 STOP-MOTION
> 30/10, Cinematek, www.cinematek.be