Georges Schwizgebel

1974_Le_Vol_D_icare
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I came across the works by Georges Schwizgebel while having a look at another blog.

Schwizgebel is a Swiss animation film director, using mostly painting on cellulose; he has also used paint-on-glass animation* technique in 2 of his movies, L'Hommes sans ombre and Retouches.

In - most of - his animations you quickly get the impact of strong brush strokes, often used in maximum economy, to express the subject of animation. The transitions between scenes are flawlessly interwoven and the movements and story-telling are always in accordance with the music playing, at some point giving you the impression as if you have been watching animated notes. One would not be wrong to say that every single scene is a mastered painting itself, making the whole list of Schwizgebel's works an art movement itself within the history.

Taken from 5th International Animation Film Festival in Ljubljana, a retrospective view to his works will be:

Le Vol D'Icare
A pointillist musical illustration of the tale of Icarus wishing to imitate the birds right up to burning his wings close to the sun.

Perspectives
The putting into perspective of a person walking.

Hors-Jeu
Description of a game in which one of the two teams changes the rules to its advantage.

Le Ravissement de Frank N. Stein
The slow construction of an image, to a rhythm of footsteps, ends with the meeting of the monster and his fiancée. Using a subjective vision, the viewer is literally in the
position of the monster and crosses several rooms filled with objects and beings along the line of progression until emerging into the face of the loved one who lets off a cry of horror.

78 Tours
A subjective camera and a fixed framing alternate to an accordion waltz which triggers a short story recalling the passing of time. The entire film is based on the graphic notion of circles and rings.

Nakounine
A bicycle trip through the streets of Shanghai between winter and summer, from the suburbs to the city centre.

Le Sujet du Tableau
Thanks to the painter brushing his portrait, an old man rediscovers his youth. This is an adaptation of the myth of Faust, the character being guided, manipulated by the devilish painter.

La Course a L'Abime
At an average cycle of six seconds, an animated painting illustrates a fragment of an opera.

L'Annee du Daim
The tragic destiny of a young deer deceived by appearances. The visual, very illustrative and polished film is inspired by the atmospheres of the 4 seasons corresponding to the 4 musical movements. The film is made up not solely of painted cellulose but also of pastel animations on glass paper.

Zig Zag
A zigzag journey inspired by the drawings of Rodolphe Töpffer.

Fugue
A person dozing in a hotel room allows himself to be invaded by memories which form an escape expressed in drawings. The film is one of the most complex by Georges Schwizgebel.

La Jeune Fille et Les Nuages
The story of Cinderella is modernised. Cinderella dreams of clouds and ends up fleeing by plane with her Prince Charming.

L'Homme Sans Ombre
A man exchanges his shadow for richness. Disillusioned, he has to be content with seven-league boots.

Jeu
From the detailed account announcing the beginning to the rigid appearance of the word END, Jeu provokes a magnificent vertigo with its uninterrupted running, full of surprises. A furious race towards final immobilisation, like a metaphor of modern restlessness, the illustration of a world resting on a succession of forms which become distorted to deceive the senses again and again in a pirouetting and playful choreography.

Retouches
Between a wave’s rhythm and the breath of a young woman in her sleep, some animated paintings go on modifying each other.


* Paint-on-glass animation is a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow-drying oil-paints on sheets of glass.