Persistence of Vision Award: An Afternoon with Aardman Animations

Description

Established in 1997, the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award honors the achievement of filmmakers whose main body of work falls outside the realm of narrative feature filmmaking. This year, we recognize the team behind beloved animation studio Aardman. Join co-founder Peter Lord for an in-depth conversation and a filmic celebration of the studio’s 40th anniversary. From the original cel-animated sequence featuring Aardman, an inept superhero, to their visionary collaboration on the video for Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer,” to Nick Park’s cherished The Wrong Trousers, this program is a lively tour through the studio’s remarkable history and a reminder of the versatility, humanism and sly charm that mark their impressive output.

Co-founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in the 1970s, Aardman has grown from the two friends’ kitchen-table experimentation to one of the world’s leading model animation studios, with ten Oscar nominations and four wins. Creating model animation that appeals to both adult and family audiences in work that ranges from animated documentary to madcap adventure, Aardman has produced a stream of stop-motion marvels from Creature Comforts to Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep. Along with directing and producing his own stellar work, Lord and Aardman have encouraged and nurtured the work of many talented new directors. The studio recently debuted their latest short film, Special Delivery, via Google’s 360 film initiative Spotlight Stories.

Recommended for ages 12 and up.