TRIBUTE TO PAUL DRIESSEN
The 5th Athens ANIMFEST 2010 in collaboration with Netherlands Instituut Voor Animatie Film, is organizing a Special Event about the well-known Dutch animator Paul DRIESSEN.
This Special Event about Paul DRIESSEN is kindly supported by the Royal Dutch Embassy in Athens.
Ton CRONE, director of NIAF, presents to the Greek audience Paul Driessen's movies.
Paul DRIESSEN was born in 1940 in the Netherlands.
After graduating from art school, he joined Cinecartooncentre, a small animation studio near Amsterdam.
A few years later, he went to London to work on the Beatles’ feature The Yellow Submarine.
In the seventies, Driessen moved to Canada, where he made many award-winning animated films.
In 2000 3 Misses, a Dutch production, earned him an Oscar nomination.
Recently he made his debut as a writer/illustrator with The Fiddle Fumble Stories series.
They reflect the playful ideas Paul Driessen frequently explores in his films.
Paul Driessen's movies that will be screened
01. AIR!, 2’03’’
Canada 1972 
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Rostrum camera: Pierre Provost
Sound Editing: Don Wellington, Sidney Pearson
Re-recording: Jean-Pierre Joutel
Production: Pierre Moretti (National Film Board of Canada)
No dialogue
Awards
Special Jury Mention (Ecology category), San Fransisco International Film festival, USA 1973
Silver medal, First International Ecological Film Festival, Belgrade, Yugoslavia 1973
Oxygen is the stuff of life, whether on land, in the air or water. But it is becoming scarcer as man-made pollutants crowd it out. Fish, birds and plants are gasping for breath and finally come to a breathless end. People aren’t able to ward of this self-created fate as well.
02. CAT'S CRADLE /Cat’s Cradle, 10’18’’
Canada 1974
Script, design and animation: Paul Driessen
Assistance: Huguette Baril, Michèle Pauzé
Rostrum camera: Jacques Avoine, Pierre Provost
Editing: Jacques Drouin
Sound: Normand Roger
Re-recording: Michel Descombes
Production: Gaston Sarault (National Film Board of Canada)
No dialogue
Awards
Jury Award (for special quality of graphic art) 2ndWorld Festival of Animated Film, Zagreb,Yugoslavia 1974
Based on the legend of fugitives who hide in a cave and are protected by a spider. The web it has woven is still untouched when their prosecutors arrive. This is combined with a series of episodes in which unlikely creatures devour each other. Their lives are all connected by the thread of the spider’s web. The artist plays cat’s cradle with ideas, especially the notion that one thing leads to another and that lives lead from one to another.
03. DAVID, 8’ 23’’
The Netherlands 1977
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
with a little help from: Anouk, Kaj & Karyn
Rostrum camera: Bert Gehner
Sound: Meep Mulder
Voice: Aart Staartjes (Dutch), Peter Bierman (English)
Production: An Hoogendoorn (Cine Cartoon Centre)
Dialogue: Dutch/English
Awards
Grand Prix (ex aequo), Festival International du Film d’Animation Annecy, France 1977.
Mention de qualité, Centre National de la Cinématographie, Paris, France 1977.
Premio di Qualità, Rome, Italy 1978.
David is the personification of everything that is small. To the giants who populate his world he is invisible. Nevertheless, he wishes to make his presence felt in the big wide world. This is a dangerous game, but at first he is successful. Then, however, he becomes reckless and creates problems for himself by the rash behaviour. After a struggle, he wins his fight for survival but just as he is enjoying his victory he is trampled underfoot by inconsiderate people.
04. ON LAND, AT SEA AND IN THE AIR / Land, ter zee en in de lucht, 9’ 46’’
The Netherlands 1980
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Tracing, painting: Esther Zacks
Rostrum camera: Wim van Beelen
Sound: Ronald Nadorp (Bob Kommer Studios)
Production: Peter Brouwer, Sylvia Steinert (Peter Brouwer Audio-Visual Productions)
No dialogue
Awards
Silver Bear, 31. International Filmfestspiele Berlin, Germany 1981.
Mention de qualité, Ventre National de la Cinématographie, Paris, France 1981.
Jury Mention, 11e Festival International du Film Court-Métrage et du Film Documentaire, Lille, France 1982.
This animated triptych tells the story of the parallel worldes of a sleeper, a fisherman and his wife, and a bird. Their daily lives are not as smooth as one would expect. Although at first it seems as if the three worlds have nothing to do with each other, in the end we learn that this has been a misconception.
05. THE WRITER / De schrijver en de dood / L’Ecrivain et la mort, 11’ 45’’
The Netherlands 1988
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Backgrounds: Georgien Overwater
tracing, painting: Colin Nawrot, Georgien Overwater
Theo de Nooy, Karen Kommer
Rostrum camera: Colin Nawrot
Editing, Sound: Marcel de Vré, Ronald Nadorp
(Bob Kommer Studios)
Music: Jakob Klaasse
Production: Nico Crama (Holland Animation Foundation)
No dialogue
Awards
Silver Hugo, 24th Chicago International Film Festival, USA 1988.
Grand Prix Golden Kouker, Sixth International Animated Film Festival Vrana, Bulgaria 1989.
Best Short Film, X Festival Internacional de Cine de Madrid, Imagfic, Spain 1989.
Best Foreign Film, 16_Festival internazionale del Film d’Animazione e delle Nuovo Immagini Trevisocartoon, Treviso, Italy 1990.
L.J. Jordaanprijs, Amsterdams Fonds voor de Kunst (together with Uncles and Aunts) The Netherlands 1991.
There was a time he outwitted Death and brought light to the Drak Ages. Now, while the old writer puts down his memories, the shadow of Death is once again cast upon him.
06. SUNNY SIDE UP / L’Ile miroir, 2’ 45’’
The Netherlands 1985
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Rostrum camera: Colin Nawrot
Music: Igor Savin
Sound: Marcel de Vré, Ronald Nadorp (Bob Kommer Studios)
Production: Nico Crama (Nico Crama Films)
No dialogue
Awards
Official selection for Filmfestspiele Berlin, Germany 1986.
1st Prize, 5th World Animated Film Festival, Varna, Bulgaria 1987.
A castaway on a desert island gets lost in his dreams. Confusion about reality and fantasy proves fatal. But then are we not confused ourselves?
07. THE WATER PEOPLE, 25’56’’ / 13’10’’
The Netherlands 1992
Script, design, direction: Paul Driessen
Animation: Jan Sanctorum, Piet Kroon, Paul Driessen, Kris van Alphen
Backgrounds: Georgien Overwater
Tracing, painting: Studio Schopman Belgium
Rostrum camera: Edo Jansen
Editing: Hans van der Steen
Sound: Hans van der Steen, Colin Nawrot,Ronald Nadorp (Bob Kommer Studios)
Music: Jakob Klaasse
Production: Nico Crama (Nico Crama Films)
Executive producer: Hideo Ihara (NHK Enterprises & Magasaki Holland Village)
No dialogue
The Water People dwell in a small country, surrounded by a dyke. They live partly submerged in water, for instead of keeping it out, the dyke keeps the water in. The Water People like it that way. Their King, however, hates water and tries to sell out.
08. OH WHAT A KNIGHT / La belle et la boîte,3’ 06’’
The Netherlands 1982
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Rostrum camera: Toon de Wit
Editing, Sound: Marcel de Vré, Ronald Nadorp
(Bob Kommer Studios)
Production: Nico Crama (Nico Crama Films)
No dialogue
Awards
First Prize, International Animation Festival Ottawa, Canada 1982.
Gold Plaque, Chicago International Film Festival, USA 1983.
Mention de Qualité, Centre National de la Cinématographie, Paris, France 1983.
A short cartoon about a gallant knight who braves many dangers to rescue a damsel in distress. Will she realise who the real saviour is?
09. 3 MISSES, 10’ 30’’
The Netherlands 1998
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Backgrounds: Georgien Overwater
Digital imaging: Marc Schopman (Studio Schopman Belgium)
Picture editor: Hans van der Steen
Music: Michiel Heeneman
foley, Re-recording: Ronald Nadorp, Jeroen Nadorp (Bob Kommer Sound Studios)
Production: Nico Crama, Willem Thijssen (CinéTé Filmproduktie) in association with Channel 4 Television and La Sept ARTE
No dialogue
Awards
Oscar Nomination 2000.
Prize for Best European Short Film, I Castelli Animati, Italy 1999.
Special Prize Hiroshima, Japan 2000.
Buster’s Short Film Prize, Copenhagen International Children’s Film Festival Buster, Denmark 2000.
High up, in his top floor appartement a tenant sees a woman falling off the roof of the opposite building. Far away in the prairies a cowboy hears cries for help from a woman who is tied to the railroad track, with a train approaching fast. And deep in their cave the seven dwarfs learn that Snow White is about to be poisoned by the witch.
They all run to rescue of these 3 misses in distress. Unfortunately they are not very good at it.
10. 2D OR NOT 2D, 17’ 00’’
The Netherlands / Canada 2003 
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Backgrounds: Diane Dauphinais
Digital imaging: Randall Finnerty
Production: Willem Thijssen (CinéTé Filmproduktie) Marcy Page (National Film Board of Canada)
No dialogue
A fat boy and a girl living on separate mountains are bothered by the oddities of the different dimensions. They experience thir own version of the classic story of Romeo and Juliet.
11. THE BOY WHO SAW THE ICEBERG / La garçon qui a vu l’iceberg, 9’ 01’’
Canada 1999
Script, design, animation: Paul Driessen
Digital imaging: Randall Finnerty
Sound design: Normand Roger, Jean-Baptiste Roger
Music: Normand Roger
Re-recording: Serge Boivin, Jean Paul Vialard
Production: Marcy Page, David Verrall (National Film Board of Canada)
No dialogue
Awards
Fipresci(international Film Critics) Award + Special Jury Award, Festival International du Film d’Animation Annecy, France 2000.
Silver Dove, International Festival for Documentary and Animation Film, Leipzig, Germany 2000.
Prize Centaur, Message to Man, St. Petersburg, Russia 2001.
Golden Sheaf Award for Best Animation, Short Film and Video Festival, Yorkton, Canada 2001.
A boy with an overactive imagination os bored with his lot. To the left, we see his boring daily routine (getting up, getting dressed, going to school); to the right, his wild imaginations (kidnappings, pursuits, shooting matches). Then, his parents take him on an ocean cruise. But when our would-be hero finally finds himself facing a real-life drama, he can’t believe his eyes. It’s even harder for him to convince anyone else of whta he’s seen an iceberg! Suddenly, the mundane life that he always wanted to escape, is what he wishes to recapture.
12. THE 7 BROTHERS, 12'
The Netherlands 2008
Direction: Paul & Kaj Driessen
Music: Bo Spaenc
No dialogue
Once upon a time there were seven brothers who wandered through the streets of their village, looking for inspiration for fairy tales.
The ideas they came up with, however, didn't look much like the traditional fairy tales we are used to.
At home, the brothers wrote their stories down, unaware of their shortcomings.
But then they heard their last tale being acted out next door, quite differently from the way they had written it.....
The brother's wanderings are shown in live action; the fairy tales are animated
Paul DRIESSEN's official website
