Dispatches #6
A repeat screening of Collision #2, Alisi Telengut's music recommendations and Jonah Primiano on the "Ghibli-style" AI Trend
Collision #2, again
Firstly some screening news. Such was the appetite for the Collision #2 screening on Saturday, that I’m happy to say there will be a repeat screening of the programme at Close Up on Wednesday 16th April (next week) at 8.15pm. So if you missed the chance to see these eye-popping films the first time, you can book tickets and get all the info here! Essential viewing for all animation heads within travelling distance of London.
Alisi Telengut’s recommendations
Last month’s exclusive members-only Edge of Frame interview was with Alisi Telengut. Alisi’s powerful animations invite us to consider our interrelatedness with the world by generating a sense of connection and empathy. In the interview she talks about her work’s exploration of Indigenous worldviews, “I believe there is a profound connection between humans, their traditional pastoral nomadic way of life, and their land - a relationship I learned about from my grandmother, who lived a pastoral nomadic lifestyle in her youth. This wisdom and the intricate human-nature relationships remain deeply relevant in our contemporary ecological crisis, as they help de-center the exploitative human-centered perspective”. She also discusses her fascinating process and inspirations. Its a great read!
As a complement to her interview Alisi has put together a selection of links relating to the extraordinary music in her films. But first here’s a short video about her 2023 film Baigal Nuur – Lake Baikal, a handmade, under-the-camera animation, incorporating painting and found objects to reimagine Lake Baikal in Siberia, the world’s deepest and oldest freshwater lake.
Alisi Telengut: “I would like to share two music groups whose music I requested permission to incorporate into the soundtracks of my short films. The first group is Huun-Huur-Tu, from Tuva, a region bordering Mongolia and Russia. Their music features traditional khoomei (throat singing or overtone singing) and folk instruments native to this geographic region. They have collaborated with various artists, such as the Bulgarian choir Angelite on the album Fly, Fly My Sadness. Some of their songs have been remixed by collaborators like Carmen Rizzo and Dhani Harrison, as heard in the album Dreamers in the Field, which blends traditional folk songs with modern electroacoustic elements.
Huun Huur Tu - on Spotify here
Huun Huur Tu & Carmen Rizzo on Youtube here:
Huun Huur Tu, Carmen Rizzo & Dhani Harrison on Youtube here:
Another musician I would like to highlight is Spiridon Shishigin, a Siberian Khomus (mouth harp) artist from Yakutia, a region in the Russian Far East known for its extreme climate. I was fascinated by his performances, as the way he plays the instrument sometimes makes the music sound completely different from what one might typically expect from a mouth harp.
Spiridon Shishigin on Spotify here and on Youtube here:
A big thanks to Alisi for sharing those links with us here. Truly incredible sounds!
Don’t forget you can access Alisi’s interview, along with the growing Substack archive of other interviews, by subscribing as a paid member to Edge of Frame. You’ll get a new interview with an amazing animation artist each month and also help support one of the very few platforms devoted to experimental animation.
Jonah Primiano
Jonah Primiano is a wonderful animator, curator and thinker-about-animation. He delved into the murky waters of AI “art” last week on his Substack, prompted by the Ghibli-style AI stuff you may have seen recently on your socials. Read Jonah’s thoughtful essay here.
Jonah also used to publish really a great magazine called Mostly Moving, featuring interviews on and essays by contemporary animators - the contents of which are all still online for free here. Well worth checking out.
And I’ll leave you with Jonah’s beautiful 2019 film Driftless, which I included in a programme I put together for LIAF in 2020, in the midst of the pandemic. It was an online-only edition of the festival and this particular programme was just of work completed in the USA during 2019-20. It was called States of Emergency. I’m looking forward to a time when such a programme title may no longer still seem quite so apt.