The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) Catalogue

Cinema The 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 182 Production still from The Gods of Tiny Things 2021 / Director: Deborah Kelly / Digital, 2D computer animation, colour, stereo, 5:35 minutes, Australia / Image courtesy: Deborah Kelly Production still from Bush Mechanics 2013 / Directors: Jonathan Daw and Jason Japaljarri Woods / Digital, stop motion animation, colour, stereo, 11 minutes, Australia, Warlpiri (English subtitles) / Image courtesy: PAW Media and Communications Production still from Mary and Max 2009 / Director: Adam Elliot / 35mm, stop motion (clay) animation, colour and black and white, 5.1 surround sound, 93 minutes, Australia, English / Image courtesy: Icon Film Distribution One of the most successful advertisements to be produced in this time was Bertie the Aeroplane 1942 by Eric Porter Productions, led by Porter himself, a self-taught innovator actively producing animation in Sydney from the 1930s, and director of Australia's first animated feature Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon 1972. With its likable lead and catchy jingle advertising Aeroplane Jelly, it became one of Australia’s most iconic animated advertisements. Bertie was to be followed by similarly beloved animated personalities: Louie the Fly 1957, conceived by author Bryce Courtenay and drawn by Geoff Pike to advertise Mortein’s household insecticides; Norm in ‘Life. Be In It.’ — a Victorian Government health initiative launched in 1975; and Sid the Seagull in Slip! Slop! Slap! 1981, launched for Cancer Council Victoria to promote sun safety. Both Norm and Sid were created collaboratively by advertising executive Phillip Adams and graphic designer and renowned Australian animator Alexander Stitt who together would also create two pivotal animated feature films, Grendel Grendel Grendel 1981 and Abra Cadabra 1983. The introduction of the television to Australia in 1956 saw a major revival of the industry. While television screens were broadcasting a large quantity of overseas content, the local industry benefited from the medium’s high demand for new animated series, television specials and advertisements. Commercial contracts were a lucrative option for many Australian studios, who began producing work for studios in the United States. The industry was further supported by a government-imposed quota for a minimum broadcast of Australian-made content, while also banning the screening of non-Australian-made advertising. This heightened content demand required studios to increase staffing. Many studios hired local artists, including experienced animators who had migrated to Australia from Europe during the 1940s and 1950s; recruited animators from overseas; and provided on-the-job training to a new wave of emerging talent. 2 These strides forward supported the strength and growing maturity of the film and animation industry into the 1970s. The landscape changed for Australian filmmakers, with advances in access to government funding, increased recognition on local and global stages, and the introduction of new training possibilities through expanding university courses. 3 In 1970, the Experimental Film Fund was formed, which not only acknowledged the experimental works produced by emerging film and animation collectives in Melbourne and Sydney in the 1960s, but also provided a much-needed financial boost to the growth of independent non-studio based production. With a strong pool of talented artists leading the way, Australian independent animation began winning awards. Most notably, Leisure 1976, a hand-drawn animation by Bruce Petty, won Australia’s first Academy Award for Best Short Film (Animated) in 1977. (Australia’s follow-up accolades in this category — so far — have gone to Harvie Krumpet 2003 by Adam Elliot and The Lost Thing 2010 by Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann.) Local recognition also increased, with Australia’s first animation festival, held in 1976, organised by Alexander Stitt; the addition of a ‘Best Animated Short Film’ category by the Australian Film Institute to their Awards line-up from 1979 (known, since 2011, as the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards); the support of SBS television through their commissioning of a number of independent animations for broadcast in the 1990s; and, in 2001, the establishment of Melbourne International Animation Festival (MIAF) by Susi Allender, Nag Vladermersky and Malcolm Turner. The growth of the Australian animation industry since the 1970s has enabled artists and animators to produce work both commercially and independently outside the studio system, creating insightful and challenging work that explores a multiplicity of stories, experiences and cultures. While larger studio projects were challenged in the 1970s and 1980s by the diversion of Australian talent to international productions by Hanna-Barbera Studios and Walt Disney, which both established large Sydney-based production facilities during this time, recent years have seen the support of international co-partnerships become a welcome fixture, particularly in the delivery of episodic and feature-length productions. Not only has international support been key to the success of a number of Australian commercial studios competing in a global market dominated by big-budget studio productions, but the scale of investment has also assisted in the hiring of animation talent, a greater commitment to project development and helping protect projects against vulnerability to changes in licence fees and regulations. 4 This increased frequency of co-productions has led to a broadening of what defines an ‘Australian’ animation today, acknowledging the work of the local studios and their placement on the world stage. ‘The Magic Arts’ brings together highlights from commercial studios and independent animators alike. It celebrates the success of films from Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon 1972 (Eric Porter), Australia’s first animated feature film entirely directed and animated in Australia, animated musical Dot and the Kangaroo 1977 and adventure comedy Blinky Bill: The Mischievous Koala 1992 (both directed by Yoram Gross), through to the Academy Award–winning Happy Feet 2006 (George Miller), and the most recent film in the ‘Sanctuary City’ trilogy, Daisy Quokka: World's Scariest Animal 2020 (Ricard Cussó). The program also looks at the success of television series such as the Emmy Award–winning children’s program Bluey 2018–present (Joe Brumm), Logie Award– winning Little J & Big Cuz 2017–18 (Tony Thorne) and others, as well as the work of community-led projects and cooperatives such as PAW Media and Communications, a not-for-profit Aboriginal media organisation in Central Australia using clay, sand and 2D computer animation to tell Jukurrpa stories, oral histories, contemporary stories and comedies in language. Lastly ‘The Magic Arts’ celebrates the work of independent Australian animators who continue to provide intelligent and thought-provoking perspectives on local and global contemporary issues. Amanda Slack-Smith Endnotes 1 Dan Torre and Lienors Torre, ‘The pioneering years of Australian animation (1900–1930): From animated sketches to animation empire’, Senses of Cinema , <https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2015/australian-film-history/australian- animation-1900-1930/>, viewed May 2021. 2 Dan Torre and Lienors Torre, Australian Animation an International History , Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2018, pp.79–103. 3 Torre and Torre, Australian Animation an International History , p.211. 4 Caris Bizzaca, ‘Podcast – Barbara Stephen: Flying bark and Australian animation’, Screen Australia , 24 June 2020, <https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/sa/screen- news/2020/06-24-podcast-flying-bark-barbara-stephen>, viewed May 2021.