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Once again, Oscar night is upon us, and in just a few short hours, we will all be rapturously gazing upon Hugh Jackman throughout an evening of television sure to be at least one-tenth as suspenseful as the final act of Slumdog Millionaire. As a champion of both art and brief attention spans, ZipiNotes is proud to present a quick rundown of this year’s nominees for Best Animated Short. (For a refresher on the 2008 award contenders, check out our post from last year.)

**UPDATE**: La Maison en Petits Cubes won! Click here for the full list of winners.

La Maison en Petits Cubes (clip)
The most languid of the bunch, the melancholy La Maison en Petits Cubes is animator Kunio Kato’s first Oscar nod. Set in a steadily flooding world, the film follows an old man who tries to keep his head above water in a house built of memories. (And if you like what you see here, take a look at this YouTube user, who has a pretty extensive collection of Kato vids.)

Official site: http://kiteretsu.robot.co.jp/kunio/

Lavatory: Lovestory (full)
From Russian animator Konstantin Bronzit, Lavatory: Lovestory is a sweet, simple tale about a lonely washroom attendant and her secret admirer. Get a little more info (and a duplicate video clip) here: http://haha.nu/beautiful/lavatory-lovestory/

Official site: http://www.melnitsa.com

Oktapodi (full)
Put together by a crew of mighty talented film students, Oktapodi is a frenetic romp through windy Euro streets, as one very determined squid fights to save his leggy paramour from certain calamari doom. Oh, and as much as I love the lightweight convenience of YouTube, you really owe it to yourself to watch this one in high-res.

Official site: http://www.oktapodi.com

Presto (clip)
Backed by mighty Pixar muscle, Presto — a manic battle of wills between an uptight magician and his ornery rabbit — is an awfully promising contender in this competition. Actually, my favorite part of this film was the intro: a tip-o’-the-hat to classic Disney shorts. (See the full version here at Truveo.)

Official site: http://www.pixar.com/shorts/presto/index.html

This Way Up (clip)
I saw this BBC-produced short three times in theaters last year (thanks to the always-excellent Animation Show), and it only gets better with every viewing. Two undertakers — glowering dad and hapless son — end up going through a bizarre journey through hell and back when they let their latest corpse slip through their embalming-fluid-stained fingers.

Official site: http://www.thiswayupmovie.com/

Bonus Oscarificness

Let the Right One In

Recently, I polled a bunch of Boston film luminaries (i.e., theater directors, indie filmmakers, festival organizers, etc.) on their fantasy Oscar picks. Here are the results, as published in Stuff magazine (nee Stuff@night) last week.

http://stuffboston.com/get/archive/2009/02/09/oscar-wild.aspx

Their answers were all illuminating, but here are the major lessons I took away from this experience:

1) Everyone needs to watch Swedish vampire movie Let the Right One In, pronto.
2) Someone decided to pair up Will Smith with a jellyfish.
3) Boston’s film elite have no problem dispensing the lulz.

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Tomorrow, World Fair Trade Day 2008 is being celebrated in over 70 countries, with free food, lectures, concerts, fashion shows and art exhibits. Surrounding WFT Day is the first-annual Fair Trade Fortnight, which is running through May 18. For this inaugural Fortnight, the theme is environmental justice.

For example, Trade Aid New Zealand is going all-out with their “Junk 2 Green Funk” contest, in which participants re-fashion trash into art. The aim is to to heighten awareness of conservation and the role of the artisan in fair-trade craftsmanship.

So what do you get out of World Fair Trade Day?
Retailers all over the country are going to be handing out free fair trade coffee, chocolate and other samples. And we’re not talking just any caffeinated swill here — this is quality stuff. Great art and film events abound, too.

What do the fair-trade craftsmen and farmers get out of it?
Where to start? Living wages; safe working environments; ecologically sound production methods; long-term working relationships between producers and retailers.

Of course, just because Mother’s Day comes only once a year (you didn’t forget, did you?), doesn’t mean you should ignore your mom for the other 364 days. So it goes without saying that it’s important to support fair-trade producers whenever you can. At zipiZape Artisans, we celebrate Fair Trade Day every day, offering handmade crafts from artisans from all over the world — Mexico, Nepal, South Africa and Peru, to name just a few of the countries our producers hail from, as well as Navajo and Zuni art from right here in the US.

Back to WFT Day: There are fair-trade throwdowns going on all over the country this weekend. These 6 listings should give you a little taste of what’s going on in our neck of the woods (New England), including trunk shows, free coffee and chocolate, film screenings and wine samplings:

Worlds Biggest Coffee Break
Saturday, May 10 | 3pm-4pm

Description: “Aiming to set a world record for the biggest ever coffee break, Amherst Fair Trade Partnership (AFTP) will stage a ‘Fair Trade Coffee Break’ on May 10, World Fair Trade Day. It will be one of hundred’s of Fair Trade coffee breaks held simultaneously around the world, and will focus on the benefits of Fair Trade for farmers, consumers, and the environment. AFTP will distribute Free Fair Trade coffee, chocolate and flowers at various businesses throughout Amherst at 3pm. Live music will be at some locations. AFTP will also distribute a guide to all the places that carry Fair Trade products in town. In order to set the world record, the events will have to draw over 5,000 people throughout the U.S. participating at the same time.”

Participating venues: Black Sheep Deli/Cafe, Loose Goose Deli, Henions Bakery, Wheatberry Bakery, Bart’s Ice Cream, Collective Copies, Tabella Restaurant

[Amherst, MA (downtown). 413.687.1434. amherstfairtrade@earthlink.net]

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Fair Trade Film Screening: “Chocolate Country”
Saturday, May 10 | 2pm

Description: “This 30 minute film won Best Short Documentary at the Seattle International Film Festival and is an exciting, positive story set to local Dominican folk music. It will take you into another world and culture and show you where chocolate comes from, how it’s grown and prepared, and how you can support a better life for the farmers who grow it. You can read about it and see the trailer at ChocolateCountryFilm.com. The director, Robin Blotnick, and the producers, Northampton locals Jill Higgins and Joe Blotnick, will be there to present and discuss the film. Chocolate Country came into being while Jill and Joe were Peace Corps volunteers in the Dominican Republic working with the cacao farmers’ cooperative and their film maker son came to visit.” Admission is $3, and apparently comes with free Pierce Brothers coffee and Divine chocolate.

View trailer (click here if you’re having trouble viewing the embedded video below):

[Amherst Cinema, Amherst Cinema Arts Center, 28 Amity St., Amherst, MA. 413.687.1434. $3. amherstcinema.org, chocolatecountryfilm.com. amherstfairtrade@earthlink.net]

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World Fair Trade Day @ Made on Earth and Lydia’s Cafe
Saturday, May 10 | 9am-5:30pm

Description: “Made on Earth and Lydia’s cafe will join together to celebrate Fair Trade Day. Lydia’s will provide free Fair Trade coffee between 3-3:30pm and Made on Earth will donate 10% of it’s sales to GALA, a local organization promoting just and equitable commerce and environmental intergrity on a local level.”

[Made on Earth and Lydia's Cafe, Wolfeboro Marketplace, Wolfeboro, NH. 603.569.9100. madeonearthwolfeboro.com

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World's Largest Coffee Break
Saturday, May 10 | 10am-5pm

Description: "Join us in Celebrating World Fair Trade Day on Saturday, May 10th. Simply Unique Boutique will join with people from 70 countries worldwide to celebrate World Fair Trade Day. We're trying to set the World Record for the Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break at 3:00pm. Come learn about Fair Trade and How you can Make a Difference. We will be introducing Fair Trade Coffee, Tea and Chocolate. Don't forget to put your name in for Fair Trade Gift Raffles!"

[Simply Unique Boutique, 206 East Main Street (Rt. 16), Milford, MA. 508.473.3473. simplyuniqueboutique@verizon.net]

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Faith Brewing Justice
Saturday, May 10 | 1pm-5pm

Description: “World Fair Trade Day Resource event for Christians and Churches (and anybody else!) in the Boston area: –Fair Trade Coffee Break –Interactive Workshops –Local Fair Trade Organizations –Ecumenical Worship.”

[Harvard Epworth Church, 1555 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA. 978.979.7878. bostonfaithjustice.org]

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WFT Day Trunk Show and Wine Tasting
Saturday, May 10 | 3pm-5pm

Description: “Autonomie Project, a new Fair Trade fashion company, is hosting it’s first trunk show in honor of World Fair Trade Day. Shop Autonomie’s new collection of Fair Trade sneakers, flip flops and hand bags; hear a presentation about the workers behind the products and how Fair Trade helps them and their communities; sample Fair Trade wines while you shop; get a free goodie bag full of Fair Trade swag and coupons!”

[Greenward Shop, 776 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA. 617.395.1338. autonomieproject.com]

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Enter Javan Ivey.

^{[images courtesy Javan Ivey]}

Inspired by the mind-blowingly intricate strata-cut stop-motion technique used in some claymation, Ivey uses an approach he dubs “stratastencil,” in which each frame of the film is a layer of cut paper. The results are eerily beautiful, as the motion flows like a river of time. Link [via Make]

Bonus video (discovered while doing research for this post):

Here’s “Buzz Box,” the epileptic opus of strata-cut master David Daniels. This film demonstrates the slice-and-shoot process pretty clearly — maybe not terribly pleasant to watch (and YouTube’s pixelation is brutal), but it’s quite a marvel nonetheless. (For beautiful high-res videos by Daniels, go to BentImageLab.com and click on “New Scientists.”)

In case you’re having trouble viewing the embedded video, here’s a direct link.

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Sorry for the lack of posts/erratic site behavior — we’ve run into a few technical difficulties this week. (Looks like I’m well on my way to filling out my “newbie blogger” bingo card!) Anyway, thanks for your patience, folks; things should be getting back to normal very soon now.

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Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)
Here’s a rather bonkers French film about shyster priests and cheating death, with a cute micro-twist sprinkled on at the end like visual bacon bits. (Knuckle-dragging philistine that I am, my favorite part was hearing them say “highway to hell” en français.)

Madame Tutli-Putli
Here we find a rheumy-eyed puppet maiden riding the night train to Sadsville, pursued by her own personal demons — and it’s just gorgeous. Canadian animators Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski spent two years either holed up in their studios (they report that “a 16-second shot would take maybe a week” to film) or gathering bits of smashed mirror off the road, which they used to create Madame Tutli-Putli’s ethereal lighting.

Part 2

I Met the Walrus
In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatles fan barged into one of John Lennon’s hotel “bed-ins,” jammed a reel-to-reel tape recorder in his face and managed to nab a great interview. Forty years later, animators Alex Kurina and James Braithwaite have taken these clips and bathed them in splashy, frenetic, stream-of-consciousness imagery.

Moya Lyubov (My Love)
Backed by three previous Oscar nominations, animator Aleksandr Petrov wields a lovely technique that involves filming oil paints directly on glass — a tricky medium. The plot of this may love story set in 19th-century Russia might seem a little sterile (it’s not a huge surprise to learn that the majority of Petrov’s work consists of commercials), but never mind; there’s plenty of visual distraction here. (Note: A lot of the effect gets lost in YouTube’s pixel-squishing format. For a crisper vid, see the trailer at Studio Ghibli.)

Parts 2 and 3

Peter & The Wolf
Suzie Templeton breathes new life into Sergei Prokofiev’s musical tale with her mesmerizing stop-motion work — her sinewy wolf is disturbingly realistic, as it slinks through the forest, while scrawny little underdog Peter has an intriguingly dark tinge to him.

Parts 2 and 3

Bonus Oscarificness

MoviePosterAddict.com has put together a neat little collection of movie posters for (nearly) every single Best Picture winner since the Academy Awards kicked off its first awards ceremony 79 years ago. [via Neatorama]

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