7th MUMIA - OVERTURE

It's a pleasure and a proud to announce that the opening film will be IDIOTS AND ANGELS by Bill Plympton - 78’ - Estados Unidos - 2008

Angel is a selfish, abusive, morally bankrupt man who hangs out at his local bar, berating the other patrons. One day, Angel mysteriously wakes up with a pair of wings on his back. The wings make him do good deeds, contrary to his nature. He desperately tries to rid himself of the good wings, but eventually finds himself fighting those who view the wings as their ticket to fame and fortune.

The idea behind " idiots and angels" came in 2005, when Plympton, after being asked what would be "about na angel who does not wants his wings", developing this concept in the following years and exploring the story potential of a reluctant angel.

By then, Bill had finished making "Hair High", which was a tremendous sucecess. Even though it was a great film and made him quite wealthy, the production was particulary bumpy and troublesome; Bill was exhausted and need something different, deciding on a radical change of style for his next feature. While "Hair Light" was glossy, colorful and dynamic, "Idiots and Angels" ended up being na animated exercise on wordless stoytelling, sustained by the strenght of the score and sound effects, in a more comtemplative and poetic register. For all those reasons, plympton finds many paralels in the feature with Eastern Europe cinematography, in the vein of Jan Svankmajer, very darkand surreal – "Like David Lynch, if her ever did animation", says Plympton.

A VERY PECULIAR KIND OF HUMOR

"Idiots and angels" had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, in the april 2008, and won the Special Disctition Awards in the festure-length category at the Annecy International Animated Film festival in june 2008.

Onde again, like in his previous films, Bill Plympton wants to break the stereotype that animation is aimed solely at children. Quite on the comtrary, Plympton´s films are filled with dark and sarcastic themes, with a delirious style blends surrealism with unrelenting humor and non-sense. " Idiots and angels" is a dark and mysterious comedy that sands apart in Plympton´s oeuvre.

Noteworthy is the score by Tom Waits, Moby and Pink Martini. The music takes on a particulary relevant role, since this is a movie totally deprived of dialogue, leaning solely on yhe caravters´action and the dreamlike universe of their fantasies, in order to tell the tale of someone who one day wakes up with a set of wings on his back.

A VERY FERTILE IMAGINATION

Bill Plympton I a world renowned Amercan director and cartoonist, who does not cease to surprise and be surprised with successive nominations, awards and distinctions for his work, by frame, but most of all for his deranged animated works of art.

Born en 1946 in the city of Portland (state of Oregon, USA), found his vocation early on and never looked back ever since. After graduating at the Portland State University and, later on, at the Visual Arts School in New York City, he published his first illustrations on newspaper such as The New York Times and The Village Voice. His popularity was increasing and soon enough his drawings were featured on the pages of such high profile magazines as Vogue, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Penthouse and National Lampoon. Over the course of his career, Bill has made two to three short features, Plympton has been renowned for drawing himself every single frame of his animated films. Bill Plympton has created a unique and easily recognizable personal style. He took a 5 year hiatus from animated films to release his live action projects: J.Lyle (1993), Guns on the Clackamas (1995) and Walt Curtis, the Peckerneck Poet (1997). In 1998, Bill returns to animation with the extravagant I Married a Strange Person. In 2001, he is awarded the Annecy Grand Prize with Mutant Aliens, which tells us the story of an astronaut who returns to earth after 20 years in space. His short feature Guard Dog was a hit in several movie festivals and ensured him his second Oscar nomination, in January 2005.

Test from: The 32nd International Animated Film Festival Cinanima background, contents and curiosites - Espinho - Portugal