Stop Motion Montreal Adds Tippett Doc, Daniel Gies, ‘Hairy Hill’ to Lineup

Festival Stop Motion Montreal announces exciting additions to the program for its 11th edition. The unique festival offers a week entirely devoted to the art of stop-motion animation, and takes place on September 20-22 at Concordia University and at Cinéma Moderne, while professional workshops will be held from September 16-19 around the city.

Under the theme “Stop Motion in the Digital Age,” this edition celebrates the intersection where new hybrid filmmaking techniques meet traditional frame-by-frame animation. This will be the opportunity to explore developments in the world of 3D printing, computer-generated imagery and discover stop motion in new mediums, such as virtual reality and interactive video games.

This year, the Festival welcomes Oscar and Emmy awards winner Phil Tippett. Tippett has witnessed the evolution of stop motion since 1970, contributing to the industry as a pioneer of special effects for Star Wars, Jurassic Park and RoboCop. He will offer festival-goers a masterclass on the creative process behind his series Mad God and attend the Canadian Premiere screening of documentary Phil Tippett: Mad Dreams and Monsters, directed by Gilles Penso and Alexandre Poncet.

Newly announced as a special guest is Daniel Gies, an accomplished animator and programmer as well as cofounder of Montreal-based E*D Films. Gies will present a masterclass on the production of Hairy Hill, whose visuals are created using 3D animation, 2D traditional animation and paper puppets with the objective of giving the film a fable-like quality.

Out of nearly 100 films selected, Festival-goers can opt to discover local director Alexanne Desrosiers’ Disco Still Sucks in its World Premiere — and relive the unease of first love with humor. Other films not to be missed include Coeur Fondant, an ode to friendship by Benoît Chieux (France), and Poustet Draka (The Kite) by Martin Smatana (Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland), an evocative film about the grief; both films are part of the youth film competition. Canadian Alicia Eisen offers, as a Quebec premiere, Deady Freddy, an original story of a man who dies and re-watches his life through the eyes of all the insects he has killed.

For all of the program highlights, don’t miss Festival Stop Motion Montreal’s Best Of – 11th Edition, which compiles flagship films from this year’s festival on screen Sunday, September 22 at 3 p.m. at Cinéma Moderne.

Select tickets and VIP Passes are now available in limited quantities online.