SIGGRAPH 2004 Electronic Theater Jurys Choice: Landreth
Awardee(s):
Award:
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Electronic Theater Jurys Choice
Description:
A gentleman panhandler. One of the pioneers of Canadian animation. Oscar nominee. Poor beggar. An artist unable to create. God observing the world. Fallen angel. Arrogant. Shy. Broken. Not destroyed.
?Ryan,? directed by Chris Landreth, hovers between animation and documentary, and defies easy definition. It is based on the life of Ryan Larkin, a Canadian animator who, 30 years ago, at the National Film Board of Canada, produced some of the most influential animated films of his time. Today, Ryan lives on welfare and panhandles for spare change in downtown Montreal. How could such an artistic genius follow this path?
In ?Ryan,? we hear the voice of Ryan Larkin and people who have known him, but these voices speak through strange, twisted, broken, and disembodied 3D-generated characters, people whose appearances are bizarre, humourous, or disturbing. These appearances reflect Chris Landreth?s personal world of ?psychological realism.? A world encapsulated in the words of Anais Nin: ?We don’t see things as they are. We see things as we are.?
