In the 1960’s, filmmaking was undergoing a democratization process similar
to the one that happened a few decades later with digital technology: the
popularization of cheaper 16 and 8mm film stock meant that film making was
almost affordable for everyone. It began to be taught in liberal arts colleges.
Harvard University offered a one year animation class taught by Derek Lamb
who came from London via Montreal and the National Film Board of Canada,
where there was a culture of purposeful short animation films.
Animation at Harvard in 1968, when I took the course, was taught not as
professional training to become an animator, God forbid, which would have
involved laborious cel painting, team work, and industry standard drawing
skills. Rather, it was taught as a form of artistic self-expression, perhaps like
writing poetry, and the class was open to everyone. We came from all parts
of the university as well as MIT. Drawing abilities and film knowledge were
not prerequisites. And so we animated keychains and quarters, breathing life
into inanimate objects. We did stop motion and pixilation and worked with
cutouts. I discovered that I could draw with beach sand and could make the
drawings move. We drew however we could, and we told stories. The main
goal was to make it move, and we believed Norman McLaren’s observation
that what happens between the frames is more important than what happens
on each frame.
I remember very little formal teaching. I don’t think we were taught film
language or editing. We learned to hot splice our original film shots together
and make our own A and B rolls. These were days of film and laboratory
processing, when you waited on pins and needles for the driver to return from
the lab with the rushes, and saw what you had shot a week earlier. All my
animating life I did not know how to make an edited cut, and found my way
around the problem by making morphed scene changes. Some would say my
animation is noteworthy for its moving camera and morphing scene changes.
I credit my particular animation trajectory to the animation class, where we
were left alone for the most part and found our own solutions. I loved the
hours I spent hunched over a lightbox. There wasn’t structure or schedule
but there was enthusiasm, and sharing, and energy in that basement room of
the Carpenter Center, and we were carried away by the animated life we
were creating.
My animated films are known for their story telling, emotional content, and
graphic style, which evolved from the innovative handcrafted animation
techniques I invented. At different times, this has been beach sand
manipulated on a lightbox, watercolor and gouache fingerpainting on glass,
and images made by scratching in the soft emulsion of exposed color 35mm
and 70mm film stock.
My first film, ‘Sand or Peter and the Wolf’, was made with a jar of local beach
sand poured out onto a light box. Lit from below and manipulated with my
fingers, the film’s black and white silhouetted sand figures move in a fluid and
shadowy world. The camera was fixed to the wall above the lightbox. From
these beginnings, I developed a style of animating that was an ongoing
process of drawing, shooting and redrawing the images to create a sense of
movement. My subsequent films are refinements and extensions of this
handmade straight ahead under-the- camera technique.
Mary Beams and I discuss our early animation work with Robert Gardner
in
his TV broadcast program Screening Room:
In 1972 I moved to Montreal at the invitation of
The National Film Board of Canada, a publicly funded Canadian production center which allows it’s
filmmakers considerable creative freedom. It is famous for it’s animation
films. I worked at the Film Board as a staff animator/director until 1991. And I
became a naturalized Canadian citizen.
My major animated films from the Montreal years are:
- The Owl Who Married a Goose(1974) an adaptation of an Inuit legend,
- The Street (1976) adapted from a short story by Mordecai Richler, which received an Academy Award nomination and was voted 2nd best animation film of all time by the Olympiad of Animation
Los Angeles 1984,
- The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa (1977) adapted from Franz Kafka's story 'The Metamorphosis' and begun with a grant from the American Film Institute, - Interview (1979) an autobiographical collaboration with director Veronika Soul, - Two Sisters/Entre Deux Soeurs (1990) an original story etched in the layers of 70mm film emulsion.
The Owl Who Married a Goose
The Street
The Metamorphosis of Mr Samsa
Interview
Two Sisters
To watch the following films at the NFB on-line screening room: CLICK HEREto view The Street CLICK HEREto view La Rue CLICK HEREto view The Owl Who Married a Goose CLICK HEREto view Le Mariage du Hibou CLICK HEREto view Two Sisters CLICK HEREto view Entre Deux Soeurs CLICK HEREto view Kate and Anna McGarrigle
In 1984, the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
(Oscars) organized a mammoth event with 50 critic and filmmaker judges
from all over the world. All animated films ever made were judged in this
international ‘Olympic' competition, and my film ‘The Street' came in second,
winning comfortably over Disney and all other commercial productions' John
Canemaker. This event was organized to coincide with the 1984 Olympic
Games which were held in Los Angeles. First place went to Yuri Norstein's
film Tale of Tales.
My under-the- camera techniques were solo work. They did not allow for the
kinds of teamwork that produced traditional cel or computor drawn styles of
animation. I was director and animator for all my films, as well as designer,
story adaptor and/or scriptwriter, and I worked closely on the sound tracks
and editing my films. The films were initially distributed in 16mm film format
for educational purposes to Canadian audiences. Because of the National
Film Board’s worldwide distribution system and the network of animation film
festivals that were springing up, my films also became known to a world
audience interested in animation.
CLICK HEREto view a review of my animation by Haden Guest, director of the Harvard Film Archive. CLICK HEREto view a 2 page fim bio. CLICK HEREto view a shorter film bio. CLICK HERE to read an interview of Leaf talking to Nag Vladermersky in 2003. CLICK HERE to view Hand-Crafted Cinema Animation Workshop with Caroline Leaf
36 minute documentary made during a direct animation workshop in Queensland Australia.
COMMERCIALS
I made a small number of commercial animations. In Montreal, I worked for
Pascal Blais Productions. I was affiliated with Acme Filmworks in Los
Angeles. With Acme I made a 4 minute film commissioned by the
Underground Railroad National Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Dragon of Dragons Life Time Achievement Award, Krakow Film Festival, Krakow, Poland May 2019
Caroline Leaf is the author of few films, but here a small amount translates into outstanding quality. The Dragon Dragons Award was given to her for three reasons: her ability to tell stories, inventiveness and innovation in the field of materials and techniques for creating animations, and finally her openness to different cultures –
Tadeusz Lubelski, film critic and theoretician, Chairman of the Program Council
External Examiner for the Royal College of Art London 2016 - 2018
Special Guest of the Ottawa International Animation Festival as first Grand Prix recipient, Ottawa, Canada, 2016
The Caroline Leaf Collection established at the Harvard Film Archive,
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts,
Harvard University, 2008. Address: 24 Quincy Street, Cambridge, Mass. 02138, USA
Voted member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Beverly Hills, CA 2008
Life Achievement Award Prix Klingsor 2006, the Bienale animacie Bratislava, Bratislava, Slovakia 2006
Life Achievement Award Luna de Valencia, Valencia, Spain 2004
Masterworks Award for 'The Street', AV Preservation Trust, Ottawa, Canada 2004
Master of Arts, The Surrey Institute of Art and Design, University College, Farnham, 2003
Doctor of Fine Arts, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, Michigan, 2003
Life Achievement Award,
12th World Festival of Animated Films Zagreb, 1996
Norman McLaren Award, Ottawa 1994
Canada Council Production Grant, 1983
Nomination to the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, London, 1976
Wendy Michner Award, Canadian Film Awards, 1976
Loeb Grant, Harvard University Fellowship, 1970
American Film Institute Independent Filmmakers’ Grant, 1970
Member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
HONOURS
Honors include being a jury member for international animation festivals in Cracow, Poland, Annecy France, Varna Bulgaria, and Ottawa Canada. I had a Cineprobe retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art, was a guest of the Israel Film Archive and Cinemateque in Jerusalem, and in 1985 was a guest of the Union of Soviet Filmmakers, touring the former Soviet Union with my films. My films and I were featured at theAmerican Film Institute Lanz Seminar of Animation in Los Angeles, and my films were shown for 2 weeks at the Film Forum in New York
.
I was honored with a Guardian Lecture at the National Film Theater in London. My work was displayed in the Museum of the Moving Image, London Southbank.
In 1996 I received a Life Achievement Award
from the Zagreb International Animation Festival.
2016 - 2018 External Examiner for the Royal College of Art, Animation, London
photo: Marion Walter at Museum of the Moving Image
FILM AWARDS INCLUDE:The Street
Academy Award Nomination (1977), Grand Prix at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (1976), named 2nd best film of all time in the world by the Olympiad of Animation in Los Angeles (1984),
The Metamorphosis of Mr. Samsa
Grand Prix at the International Festival of Short Films Cracow, Poland (1978),
InterviewGrand Prix at Melbourne (1980),
Two Sisters
Grand Prix at the 4th Los Angeles International Animation Celebration (1991), Grand Prix at Ottawa International Animation Festival (1992).
JURYING
International Festival of Short Films, Cracow, Poland, 1979
International Festival of Animation, Annecy, France, 1979
Athens Film Festival, Athens, Ohio, 1979
The Artists’ Foundation, Fellowship Program for State Grants in Film, Boston, Mass,1980
International Animated Film Festival Varna ‘81, Varna, Bulgaria, 1981
Canadian Independent Short Film showcase of the Canada Council, Toronto, Ontario, 1982
Concordia University Student Film Festival, Montreal, 1983
Cinanima ‘84, Espinho, Portugal, 1984
Selection Committee Concordia University of head of Animation Dept, Montreal, 1988
Ottawa ‘88 International Animation Festival, Ottawa, 1988
International Festival of Short Films, Bilbao, Spain, 1999
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design & the Israel Film Archives and Cinemateque, Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa, (Dept of External Affairs Speakers’Program Travel Assistance),1982
Canadian Embassy in Rome, Rome, Italy, 1982
Sheldon Film Theater, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 1983
New Cinema Cooperative, Omaha, Nebraska, 1983|
Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1983
State University of New York (SUNY), Purchase, N.Y., 1983
The Swedish Film Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, 1983
Film School of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark, 1983
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I., 1985
Guardian Lecture, National Film Theater, London, England, 1985
Union of Soviet Filmmakers guest, Moscow,Yerevan, Tblissi, Kiev, USSR, 1985
Cinema Femme, Festival of Women’s Films, Montreal, 1986
The School of the Arts Institute, Chicago, Illinois, 1987
VII Semaine du Dessin Anime, Bruxelles, Belgium, 1988
La Cinemateque Quebecoise, Montreal, screening and Carte Blanche, 1988
American Film Institute Lanz Seminar on Animation, Los Angeles, 1988
Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 1988
The Film Forum, New York City, 6 - 19 May, 1992
Cinemateque Quebecoise, Montreal, 1992
Chapter Arts Center, Cardiff, Wales, 1992
Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Scotland, 1992
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1992
Port Washington Public Library, Port Washington, N.Y., 1993
16th Norwegian Short Film Festival, Grimstadt, Norway, 1993
Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 1994
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Australia, 1994
The Film Centre, 2nd Irish Animation Festival, dublin, Ireland, 1994
Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., 1995
Cal Arts, USC, Dreamworks, Los Angeles, 1996
Folimage, Valence, France, 1997
Harvard Film Studies Center, Cambridge, Mass., 1997
Museum of the Moving Image, South Bank, Waterloo, London, England, 1997
Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Farnham, England, 1997
ANIMA MUNDI ‘97, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1997
The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, 1998
Universidad del Pais Vasco, Bilbao, Spain, 1999
Filme in Schloss, Weisbaden, Germany, 2000
Academy of Media Arts, Cologne, Germany, 2001
Royal College of Art, London, England 2002
Art and Animation Symposium, Tate Modern and National Film Theater, London, England 2002
Rencontres Internationales, Bretagne, France, 2002
Zagreb International Animation Festival, Zagreb, Croatia, 2002
Forum des Images, Paris, France 2003
Creativity Panel, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 2004
National Film Theater, London, participant in symposium 'Textures of Memory', February 2005 Ensad, Paris, March 2005
BAFICI screenings Buenos Aires, Neuquen, and Cordoba, Argentina, April 2005
Norwich International Animation Festival, symposium participant, October 2005
The Arts Institute at Bournmouth, March 2006
The National Film School in IADT, Dublin, Ireland, March 2006
Wuhan Animation Salon, symposium participant, Wuhan, China, November 2006
Beijing Film Academy, November 2006
La Caixa, Palma, Majorca, June 2007
Participant in the Marc Davis Lecture, Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences, Los Angeles, October 2007
Zagreb World Festival of Animated Film, Zagreb, June 2008
Regina Public Library, Regina, Saskatchewan, February 2009
International Animation, Comics & Games Forum, symposium participant, Jilin, China 2009
Cinematheque Quebecoise, Montreal, Canada 2009
Goteborg International Film Festival, Animator in Focus, Goteborg, Sweden, 2010
Poznan International Animated Film Festival, Poznan, Poland, July 2010
Ottawa International Animation Festival, masterclass, Ottawa, October 2010
Tricky Women, Vienna, Austria 2011
Accademia di Belle Arti, Palermo, Italy, June 2011
The Barbican Centre, masterclass, London, England, July 2011
Tokyo University of the Arts, Yokohama, Japan, October 2011
Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, Mass. November 2012
Animateka, Ljubljana, Slovenia, December 2012
2nd International Animation Festival Chilemonos, masterclass and screening, Santiago, Chile, May 2013
Festival International du Film de La Rochelle, La Rochelle, France, July 2013
Krakow Film Festival, Krakow, Poland, May 2019
commissioned for Nicole Salomon
PARTICIPANT IN FILM EXHIBITIONS
The Owl Who Married a Goose was included in Watch Me Move, an exhibition of all time world wide animation which opened at The Barbican, London, then toured to Calgary Canada, Taipei Taiwan, Rio de Janeiro Brazil, Detroit USA, Monterrey Mexico, Madrid Spain, and Moscow Russia.
TWO SISTERS included in SPACETRICKS/TRICKAUM at the Museum fur Gestaltung, Zurich, 2005: continuing to James Hockey Gallery,
Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Farnham, England, from February 2006.
Sand animation permanent and travelling exhibition National Film Board of Canada, Montreal
70mm etch-in-film technique and paint-on-glass
Private collection, California 70mm etch-in-film frames from ‘Entre Deux Soeurs’
Permanent collection of MOMI Museum of the Moving Image, South Bank, London, England
