More treasures

I've been teaching a little bit on this module at Anglia Ruskin this semester and I've really enjoyed thinking about films that the students and I can watch together.  Today we saw Yuri Norstein's film Tale of Tales, 27", 1979.  Voted as the 'best animated film of all time' by a poll at the Zagreb Animated Film Festival in 2002, I would have voted for it too.

I've seen it many times, (not as many times as Clare Kitson!) and it always seems different, both in structure and in the ideas suggested.  This time I noticed the rhythms of the movements that weave through the film, from the cradle, to the dancers, and the bull who flicks and turns the skipping rope.  It's so simple and so complicated all at once and has such sincerity, goodness, if I'd seen Tale of Tales as a student, maybe I would have felt a little bit daunted?

Last week we saw Ruth Lingford's Death and the Mother, 11", 1997.  It's based on the Hans Christian Anderson tale 'Story of a Mother'.  I've admired the wonderful animation, the spare design and the gravity of the film before, but I had forgotten how very sad it is.