Christina's World

Christina's World, a 1948 painting by Andrew Wyeth who died in 2009. Click here for a larger version. Christina Olson, a friend of Wyeth's, had an undiagnosed muscular deterioration that left her lower body paralyzed.

Surogat

It seems right to take my leave at the beginning. We began and we end with Dušan Vukotić. This is Surogat, a superb animated short for which Dušan Vukotić received an Academy Award (1961).
This week, I brought to you a selection of animated shorts that got my imagination going. An absolute winner on my list is Three Blue Blue Lakes of Colour Crimson. Surprisingly, it will be exactly Three Blue Blue Lakes of Colour Crimson that goes unmentioned in most other animation lists.
It will likely not surprise you that I will give you the Russian gems in a week, when it may be summer, or it may be morning, or it may be Sunday, or...

Three blue blue lakes of colour crimson

This animation, an absolute personal favourite, comes from Armenia.
Three Blue Blue Lakes of Colour Crimson (in Russian: Три синих-синих озера малинового цвета) was created by Robert Saakyants (1981).

Madame Tutli-Putli

Madame Tutli-Putli, together with everything that makes up her life, boards a night train. Two men who live in their trunks travel above her. She sits diagonally from an Asian child who studies a manual on How to handle your enemies. Opposite her, a tennis player offers obscene services.
As the train rides, the day descends into dark.
Madame Tutli-Putli is a highly praised and continuously awarded Canadian stop-motion animated film created by Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski (2007). The short was in the making for five whole years.
The puppet of Madame Tutli-Putli was modelled on the actress Laurie Maher. In a revolutionary techological move, Maher's actual eyes were filmed and merged with the puppet. I very much hope that this technique does not make it into the animation for children. This is not the stuff of dreams. This is the stuff of nightmares.

Kutoja

The Last Knit (originally Kutoja), a brilliant Finnish animated short created by Laura Neuvonen (2005).

Cow on the Moon

Cow on the Moon (originally Krava na mjesecu), a Yugoslavian (Croatian) short animation directed by Dušan Vukotić (1959).

Time wand

2009 certainly had a go at me.
I wish... that my future makes it possible to go back to 2009 and make things right again. And I certainly wish that no such time interventions will be wanted for 2010.
So bring it on, 2010.

Isn't it rich?
Isn't it queer?
Losing my timing this late
In my career?
And where are the clowns?
There ought to be clowns.
Well, maybe next year.

These lines, and above video, are from Lorez Alexandria's take on Send In The Clowns (1977), a jazz standard written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music. For complete lyrics (they are excellent) press here.