Animazione Demente - The Psychedelic World of Italian Cartoons - Thur. Mar. 3rd - 8PM

Image

Oddball Films presents Animazione Demente - The Psychedelic World of Italian Cartoons, an evening of some of the trippiest, most imaginative, and mind-blowing animation to come out of Italy, all on 16mm film from our incredible animation collection, including several "brand new" finds. From the insane surrealism of Bruno Bozzetto to the whimsically sublime cut-outs of Emanuele Luzzati and Giulio Gianini, to the worldwide phenomena of Osvaldo Cavandoli's character "The Line", to the groovy mixed-collage work of Carlos Marchiori, it's more than just your average night of cartoons. From the sick and brilliant mind of Italy's foremost animator Bruno Bozzetto (Allegro Non Troppo, West and Soda) come four deranged shorts: Oddball's all-time favorite cartoon Ego (1970) the surreal nightmarescape of sexuality, fascism, consumerism, a naked Mona Lisa and a host of other explosive imagery, Opera (1973) a hilarious ode to opera that features the destruction of the planet and the Statue of Liberty in a gas mask(!), Pickles (1973) several brief bizarro vignettes about religion, drugs, TV and more, and Mr. Rossi Buys a Car (1966) in which bureaucracy and road rage lead one man on a bloody rampage throughout the city.  From the very different - but no less imaginative - Oscar-nominated team of influential painter, illustrator, and production designer Emanuele Luzzati and screenwriter and animator Giulio Gianini come three breathtaking cut-out shorts imbued with their unique visual style. Oscar nominated short The Thieving Magpie (1967), set to Rossini’s famous overture, shows what happens when birds revolt against their hunters, Ali Baba (1971) animates Luzzati's children's book of a little boy and his turban of butterflies that outwit a motley band of thugs, and Frederick (1971) tells the inspiring tale of a mouse that gathers sunbeams and poetry for the winter. The NFB produced the anti-smoking short The Drag (1967), Carlos Marchiori's psychedelic mix of collage and cell-animation. Osvaldo Cavandoli's La Linea (1973) features a character so popular, it became a worldwide advertising mascot for years. Plus, early birds will get to take a cinematic vacation to many beautiful places in Italy via the vintage travelogue Italian Interludes (1970s).

Image

Date: Thursday, March 3rd, 2016 at 8:00pm

Featuring:

Four by Bruno Bozzetto!

Opera (Color, 1973)The brilliant Bruno Bozzetto (Allegro Non Troppo) takes Opera to the most insane, surreal, political, and hilarious place you could ever imagine.  Morbid and sexual with rips on fascism, sexism, racism and pollution, this over-the-top survey of opera features some of the most eye-popping imagery in animation history including the Statue of Liberty wearing a gas mask and Hitler with a new-wave hair cut! Safety glasses are recommended to keep your eyeballs in your skull!

Image

Ego (Color, 1970)
One of the most phenomenal animated shorts of the collection, this surreal masterpiece starts with traditional comic-style animation until the factory-working family man goes to sleep and unleashes his subconscious thoughts sending him into a battleground of situations. His bizarre dreams lead him to Freudian juxtapositions of sex and gruesome fascism. Bozzetto utilizes a number of animation styles including optical printing and pop art imagery and a wild soundtrack by the ultra-lounge master Franco Godi to create the most unforgettable 9 minutes of cartoon history.

Image

Pickles (Color, 1973)

Another eye-popper from Bruno Bozzetto. In twelve animated vignettes, Bozzetto creates brilliant visual, satirical and comical treatments of some of man's great preoccupations: war, omnipotence, religion, democracy, advertising, drugs, television, hunger, "conquest" of nature.

Image

Mr. Rossi Buys A Car (Color,1966)

Part of Bruno Bozetto’s (Allegro Non Troppo) great series of psychedelic screwball shorts starring the “everyman” Mr. Rossi. Unbelievable animated hijinks with appropriately off kilter soundscore.  Signor Rossi is in the market for his first car. After ridiculous bouts with bureaucracy, car salesmen, and rude motorists, he eventually loses his cool and goes on a high-speed road rage fueled terror spree throughout the city.

Three by Luzzati and Gianini

Image

The Thieving Magpie (Color, 1967)

Three kings who tire of war turn to recreational bird hunting, sweeping the skies with barrages of arrows, and sending countless birds plummeting to their demise.  One wily magpie, however, manages to evade the kings and, in turn, terrorize them with his antics, eventually amassing an army of bird troops to avenge themselves against the killer kings.  Directed by Emanuele Luzzati, this film received an Academy Award nomination. 

Image

Ali Baba (Color, 1971)

Another beautiful cut-out film set to an operatic overture.  Ali Baba animates Luzzati's eye-popping children's book of the age-old folk-tale of a little boy and his turban full of butterflies that goes up against 40 criminals and their ruthless leader Mustafa.

Image

Frederick (Color, 1971)

A groovy adaptation of a much beloved children's book by Leo Lionni, directed by famed Italian animator Giulio Gianini.  This beautiful cut-out animation features a little mouse contemplating poetry and gathering colors and sun rays rather than gathering food for the winter. A lovely film about the importance of artists in civilization.

Image

The Drag (Color, 1965)

Produced for the Canadian Department of Health and Welfare this jaw-dropping film montage depicts the difficulty of breaking the tobacco habit in a child-adulthood go-go frenzy of wild animation by Italian animator Carlos Marchiori. The story depicts the case history of a chain smoker-satirically told  on a psychiatrist's couch, with the patient's recollections--illustrating the psychology of the smoking habit and the part that cigarette advertising plays in the addiction. With hopping music and brilliant kaleidoscopic montages. 

Image

La Linea (Color, 1973)
A witty and self-reflexive short featuring Osvaldo Cavandoli's classic character The Line: a funny little man who is drawn in a continuous line with the world around him and interacts with the hands of his animator.  The character was so popular, it was used for advertising campaigns worldwide.

Curator’s Biography
Kat Shuchter is a graduate of UC Berkeley in Film Studies. She is a filmmaker, artist and esoteric film hoarder. She has helped program shows at the PFA, The Nuart and Cinefamily at the Silent Movie Theater and was crowned “Found Footage Queen” of Los Angeles, 2009. She has programmed over 200 shows at Oddball on everything from puberty primers to experimental animation.

About Oddball Films
Oddball Films is a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Silicon Valley, Kurt Cobain: The Montage of Heck, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.

Our screenings are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educational films, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.