Once upon a time, back when I was a fan
of animation, animation meant 2D animation for the most part. Certainly not 3D animation. And in those
days, perhaps 1977, I used to attend various international animation film
festivals, or at least, would see collections of animation from those
festivals. And although I was not
working in animation (1), I was a member of ASIFA. I remember
having posters about animation festivals from Zagreb and Sofia on my
wall at RAND. People must have thought I used to go there to visit
Soviet Intelligence and pass secrets or something.
As a member of ASIFA, I heard that
Bruno Bozetto of Milan, Italy was coming to this country to speak at UC Santa Barbara and needed a ride from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara and back again. As an alumnus of UCSB, and a fan of Mr.
Bozzetto, I volunteered to be his escort both ways in my old, red,
un-air-conditioned, Chevy Impala.
Mr. Bozzetto having his picture taken with his limo driver. Just kidding!
This was a very long time ago. It
must have been sometime between 1977 and 1978. I am pretty sure his film Allegro non Troppo (1976) was out by then.
I remember driving him both ways, I
have an image of him in my head. I remember a few things from his
talk. That he had a small animation studio in Milan, Italy, and that
they mostly made a living doing commercials. I remember him
describing a system whereby the Italian government would sponsor
short animated films, but that one of the requirements was that they
had to be about 11 minutes long no matter how well the idea fit into
that length. These films showed as short subjects at movie theatres
in front of the main feature, I think. Just like we used to do in
this country in the early days of film. I think he went on to say that this is how his film Allegro non Troppo got made.
A portion of Allegro non Troppo on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSEJC-cVPuA
A portion of Allegro non Troppo on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSEJC-cVPuA
An alien spacecraft litters an alien planet with a soda pop bottle and starts off a whole cascade of evolutionary doom.
Then one day, somehow, I saw his name
on a post that Tom Sito, now a professor at USC, had done. So I
gathered up my courage, and sent him a friend request
Bruno Bozzetto 3:59am Feb 14
Hi Michael! I remember your driving and my friend Roberto, the music composer, trying to tell you a joke in english:) Nice to hear you again!
Yea!
Allegro non Troppo at IMDB
Article about Mr. Bozzetto in an
Italian magazine (in English)
Bruno Bozzetto at IMDB
Allegro_Non_Troppo
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1. Of course essentially no one was
working in 3D animation back then.
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