The Northwest Film Center’s School of Film is offering HISOTRY OF ANIMATION: A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE this spring.
How has animation shaped cultural sensibilities of different societies? What does the international evolution of animation look like and how did a cultural context define that evolution?
The course will cover these topics and more, registration open now!
HISTORY OF ANIMATION: A CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE
Inst: Laura Di Trapani
This informal enrichment class for film lovers and students of cinema (self-appointed or formally enrolled) examines the rich history and evolution of animation from an international perspective, discussing its inventors and innovators and placing a wide range of animators and their works within a cultural context. Beginning in the late 1800s with the French Industrial Revolution and highlighting the art form’s sources in vaudeville, drawing, painting, photography, and film, the course discusses such early animators as J. Stuart Blackton, Emile Cohl, and Winsor McCay; looks at the rise of production studios and aggressive commercialization in America; and contrasts these with such works as Russia’s Wladyslaw Starewicz’s stop-motion stag beetle animation and Jiri Trnka’s film THE HAND, which openly questioned the power of the Czechoslovakian government. European avant garde artists such as Hans Richter, Man Ray, and Fernand Léger are considered, along with American filmmaker Mary Ellen Bute, the modern self-referential personal films of George Griffin and Chris Landreth, and Portland’s own Will Vinton, Joanna Priestley, Joan Gratz, and others. Through lecture, in-class screenings, and discussion, emphasis is placed on the creative process and how animation has helped define the cultural sensibilities of societies around the world.
THURSDAYS, APR 5-JUN 7, 6:30-9:30 PM
10 Sessions – Tuition: $295
LOCATION
Northwest Film Center School of Film
934 SW Salmon Street, Portland, OR (Corner of 10th & Salmon)
To register and for more information visit nwfilm.org/school email [email protected] or call 503-221-1156
