International Festival of Animation

It amazes me that I remember this series from my childhood. I was in kindergarten when I first saw this series and was haunted by the animations every night. I remember being terrified by the thought of a giant butterfly chasing me down and pinning me. The animations in this series are what made animation it is today. No one ever went against the Disney inspired grain of animation, until this series aired. The shorts all seem to escape me accept for two very vivid ones.

1.) The butterfly collector one gave me nightmares forever. It was beautiful in its animation and I just remember a butterfly collector chasing down butterflies and pinning them to his collection.

2.) This one is still a little sketchy to my memory, it was animated in a similar style as the butterfly one although, it featured a little girl at a table talking to an older gentleman. She would continually talk to the older man and he would continually get more aggravated with the little girl. I can't remember much more about it but it stuck in my mind like glue.

3.) The Hunger about killed me. The thought of it now gives me chills. It had the same theme as the butterfly one. With the main character ending up getting what he was giving.

PBS should really consider giving the kids (and adults) a chance at this series once again. This shows everyone that animation was something to enjoy, without the computer generated characters, the 3d effects and all of the other current effects that people throw together just to make what they think is entertainment for kids.

This was a fantastic series on PBS! It was one of those shows you would watch on a rainy weekend and there was nothing else to watch on television. I was drawn to this show on such an event. It had some wonderful animations from some very creative people. I was once inspired to be an animator myself because of the show, but certain career choice put me in the other direction. I was a kid watching this and Jean Marsh was like a babe then to me. The last show I remember watching was Jerry Stiller an a very young Ben Stiller talking over the kitchen table about the many different types of fruit. When the walked away the fruit became alive and created mischief in the kitchen. I also remember Count Bakeula and Bakenstien. Very funny. I do wish these were all on DVD.

The TV Guide site for this series includes episode descriptions from the old shows, many of which include film titles. For example, I found out that the mosquito one is called "Self Service," and it's indeed from Italy.

http://www.tvguide.com/detail/TV-show.aspx? tvobjectid=407838&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=691333

Here are the episode descriptions:

• Cartoons from five different countries include a 1967 Oscar winner about Noah and the ark, and a parody of life in the industrial age.

• Oscar-winning films from Yugoslavia and America and an innovative Canadian cartoon.

• Included: "Self Service," an Italian film about mosquitoes; and "The Shepherd," an American cartoon about a sheepherder in a city.

• Walter Lantz's "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company 'B' " and a Canadian cartoon about bandits who rob Santa Claus.

• A program of cartoons leaning toward the macabre includes "Homo Augens," "The Spider" and "Mr. Hyde."

• A 1911 cartoon by the French animation pioneer Emile Cohl and a 1974 Oscar winner utilizing animated clay figures.

• An animated version of Edgar Allen Poe's macabre story "The Masque of the Red Death" and a tale about a mad baker.

• A submarine kidnaps the Statue of Liberty, a pesky housefly won't stop growing, and insatiable humankind gets its just deserts in the program's three cartoons.

• An all-Canadian program salutes the National Film Board of Canada. Cartoons include "Hot Stuff," about the gods' gift of fire to man.

• Comedies from Hungary, Yugoslavia and Canada look at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, a train ride and evolution.

• "Opera," an Italian satire; and "Bigger Is Better," about the growth of a megalopolis

• The common man is the subject of cartoons from Poland (including the film "Tomorrow"), Hungary, Czechoslovakia and England.

• Cartoons about birds and flying from America's Walter Lantz, Soviet animators and England's Terry Gilliam. Included: Woody Woodpecker as the "Barber of Seville."

• Cartoons about a hot-tempered Italian driver, a daydreaming English couple and an American weight lifter.

• A film of a boy's nightmare about a land where everyone must smoke, a 1908 cartoon and an adaptation of an old song about a logger.

• A cartoon based on James Thurber's "Many Moons," a film about a clumsy magician and an abstract work.

• A 1962 Oscar winner about chance accidents and nuclear disasters, and a film about life in a police state.

• Freedom is the subject of a Yugoslav short and a Czech tale about an artist in a totalitarian society. The program concludes with a 1936 commercial.

• A program honoring Yugoslavia's Zagreb Studios includes an interpretation of Balzac's "La Peau de chagrin."

• Roberta Flack sings in a performance of "The Legend of John Henry"; E.B. White narrates an animated version of his story "The Family That Dwelt Apart."

• Walter Lantz's "Musical Moments," starring Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda.

• "A Bird's Life," about a housewife who literally takes wing to escape tedium; and "Sisyphus," based on Greek mythology.

• A cartoon based on James Thurber's "A Unicorn in the Garden," about achieving success, a Yugoslav animator's impressions of America.

• A 1960 Oscar winner about a 4-year-old draftee, and cartoons about exploding flowers and a character living in a one-dimensional world.

• "Puttin' On the Ritz," a tribute to Fred Astaire; "Let's Keep a Dog," or 11 reasons not to.

• Seven cartoons include playwright Eugene Ionesco's "Rhinoceros," and "The Critic," a 1963 Oscar winner written and narrated by Mel Brooks.

This programme was an always interesting, innovative smorgasbord of international animation. It was my first glimpse of European animation, and made foreign animated films available to a much wider North American audience than would normally have seen them. These are the sorts of movies usually shown once a year at repertory cinemas in the larger cities - for them to come on television regularly was quite an achievement, and an example of public television programming at its best. My favorite films were the Canadian NFB shorts, but there were many other memorable and often disturbing films included. Jean Marsh (along with her partner, Grover the Muppet) was a fine choice as presenter, at the height of her recognition in North America for her recent performance on "Upstairs, Downstairs".

I, too, could not remember the proper title for this series, and had it not been for reading of the death of Jean Simmons, I would never have thought to seek it out( I had confused her with Jean Marsh ).

I grew up during the '60's and '70's, when all three NY networks and one of the independent stations broadcast Saturday morning cartoons. As I got older and my tastes changed and matured, I began to turn to decidedly darker animation to keep up with my social circle, but how many times can you view "Fritz the Cat" before you fry your remaining brain cells?

Then, I stumbled across "The International Festival of Animation" one evening, and man, was I hooked! I have a collage of images running through my head of the various submissions from all over the world, my personal favorite being a short entitled "Ersatz". They were all fascinating and mind-blowing and even educational ( I discovered that "ersatz" means "substitute", and armed with this bit of trivia received extra credit during a vocabulary quiz in English class ).

Note to poster Bou: Don't feel discouraged about the PBS staffer who didn't know what show you were asking about. It's a safe bet that individual was too young to remember the program ( I'd hate to think the person was too lazy to check; I myself have always found PBS staff to be very helpful and diligent in their researching skills ).

If PBS isn't going to release it on DVD, then they should re-broadcast the series. I'd happily watch it again.