The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) showcased new films, student art, and the debut of some films.
One of the main events was a retrospective of Michèle Cournoyer’s short films titled Isolation Drills, featuring titles from throughout her decades-long career, including a debut of her new film, Soif.
According to the OIAF festival guide, Cournoyer’s films grapple with such issues as aging, rape, war, and addiction, but Cournoyer said she uses surrealist techniques to keep the films more interpretive and less intense.
“That’s what I do now, metamorphosis, because all my subjects are so serious and have such deep content so it’s a way for me to make it lighter . . . Then you can digest them a little bit more,” Cournoyer said.
Her latest four films, The Hat, Accordion, Robes of War, and Soif, were all created by hand and all drawn using the same technique. Working with the National Film Board, Cournoyer said she got a lot of encouragement and guidance in making her pieces, especially from her producer, acclaimed visual artist Pierre Hubert.
“I was surrounded by masters, they helped me very much . . . It was [a] difficult subject and they were helping me to express myself with freedom, without a net,” Cournoyer said. “It was a risk. There is so much sexuality, explicitness. [Hubert] was always telling me ‘be prepared.’”
Artistic director Chris Robinson, who invited Cournoyer to hold the retrospective, came up with the name for the event and organized a blow-up of stills from her most recent works, on display at Arts Court Studio.
“He called it Isolation Drills because it’s like exercise, because I work like a soldier. That’s what he said because I work everyday,” Cournoyer said. “For me, a drill is like drilling in my head to have my ideas come, so I have another meaning for his title.”
The OIAF held its annual Canadian Student Competition in the National Gallery Theatre on Sept. 19 and Sept. 20. The showcase was host to 24 different short films.
Christine Rannie, a second-year animation student at Algonquin College, went to go see the student competition after watching the same event last year, and said she was impressed by the quality of the animation and storytelling.
“I think that they were really strong this year,” Rannie said. Her favourite was the short film Michi, created by Kalho Yoshida from Emily Carr University.
“I felt that one had a very simple story and told it the strongest,” Rannie said.
All films were made by Canadians, mostly university and college students. There was a wide range of concepts, styles, and subject matters covered in the different movies throughout the day.
“I think that’s what makes me glad . . . Even though it’s just from Canada, it still has good variety to it—everyone’s got a different idea,” Rannie said.
