From author Laura Buono comes a unique book that examines the noted director’s career, from his earliest works to his latest research, productions, and role in contemporary animated cinema.
Author Laura Buono has shared with AWN their all-new book, “Michel Ocelot: A World of Animated Image,” from CRC Press, now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and other online booksellers.Buono's unique tome examines the career of noted writer, designer, and animation director Michel Ocelot, from his earliest works to his latest research and productions, including an interview regarding his latest film (2022).
The book highlights the César and BAFTA Award-winning French director’s role in the panorama of contemporary animated cinema and his relationship with the tradition, both artistic and cinematographic.Best known for the César and Annecy Cristal winning feature, (1998); the 1981 BAFTA winning short, ; and his 2018 César Award winning feature, , Ocelot received an honorary Cristal at Annecy in 2022.According to Buono, they have carefully analyzed the ethical and social nature of Ocelot’s work to underscore the duality of the director’s oeuvre, both artistic and social, using an interdisciplinary approach that blends film and aesthetic criticism with gender studies and decolonial thought.
Particular attention is given to the themes of multiculturalism, discrimination, and treatment of women, which are at the center of many current cultural debates.In their Introduction, they writes, “The reasons I chose to undertake this project are multiple.Firstly, like many others of my generation, I had watched as a child and still have a very vivid memory of the impression it made on me at the time.
Animated features and series have always been part of my everyday life, I knew Disney films by heart and watched a lot of anime, but the uniqueness of this film amazed me even back then., was a groundbreaking movie, nevertheless, the widespread and well-deserved interest in this film has often overshadowed the rest of his filmography, which, given its complexity and innovative power, deserved a careful and extensive study.However, it is from that all my research started.” The book will be of interest to an audience of experts, animation enthusiasts, and film scholars, as well as to a wider readership interested in learning about the poetics of ’s father.
Buono holds a Master’s degree in Visual Arts from Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna and completed a postgraduate course in Critical Theory of Society at the University of Milano-Bicocca, Italy.They are a minority rights activist and an independent researcher.They contributed to the drafting of (2016) by Giannalberto Bendazzi.
They participated in the production and programming of national and international animation film festivals including Animadrid, Madrid International Animated Image Festival, Spain and ToutCourt, Nuove Voci del Cinema Francofono, Italy.They have been involved in the coordination and development of cultural outreach projects for several museums in Milan.They currently live and study in Rome, Italy.
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
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