OIAF '07: 10 Reasons #1-Jacques Drouin

Helene Tanguay, the NFB's own earth mother and worldwide spokesperson for animation had herself a special screening at this year's fest. The topic: 10 reasons to love animation, a.k.a. ten of her fave films. She started the set with Jacques Drouin's masterwork 'Mindscape'. Wasn't able to track it down online, but I did find some of his other work, an excellent antiwar piece called 'Ex-Child'. That incredible flowing sandlike graphite-on-paper textured look comes courtesy of his mastery of the Alexeieff-Parker Pinscreen, a massive version of the moveable pin screens on those novelty clocks you can find at Radio Shack (sorry, The Source). The amount of work and attention to detail in a Drouin film is staggering...his flowing, rippling images have become an NFB hallmark. More of Helene's faves later!