06.19.03 - Sam Chen recently won the Atlanta Film Festival's Best Animated Short Film Award for "Eternal Gaze," a brilliantly animated film depicting the life and death of sculptor Alberto Giacometti. The film has won numerous other awards, including Best Animation at the Tiburaon International Film Festival, Best Animated Short at the Newport Beach Film Festival, and a Gold Special Jury Award from Worldfest Houston. AsianAmericanFilm.com talked with Sam about his film and film festival experiences.
AAF Congratulations on the Atlanta Film Festival award! Did you attend the festival in person? What was it like to hear your name called out?
SC Unfortunately, there's a peculiar trend where I seem to win awards at festivals that I'm not attending and lose out at festivals where I do make it out to. This month, I had a choice to attend the Atlanta Film Festival or Toronto's WorldWide Short Film Fest during the same week and I chose to go to the land of SARS instead. That turned out to be a really fun festival and though my film was very well received, it did not win an award. Instead, had I gone to the Atlanta Film Festival, I could've accepted my award in person. The same exact thing happened last month at the Brooklyn Int'l Film Festival and the 3D Awards Animation Festival in Denmark.
AAF I understand winners in the short film category at Atlanta are eligible to submit their projects to the Academy Awards. Does this apply to you, as the winner of Best Animated Short? Are you completely bugging out?
SC Yes, I was well aware of Atlanta Film Festival's Academy-accredited status. That was one of the reasons I chose to submit there. I'm extremely honored and grateful for this award and opportunity to be considered for Oscar nomination consideration for the Best Animated Short Category, but I'm not exactly "bugging out." This is because we're fortunately already qualified for Oscar nomination consideration from our Grand Jury Award at Siggraph2003 as well as the USA Film Festival in Dallas. But trust me, winning film festival awards never gets old.
AAF Tell us a little about the film. What inspired to you explore Alberto Giaccometti?
SC "Eternal Gaze" is really a loving tribute to one of the most brilliant but least recognized of all modern artists -- Alberto Giacometti. The film is a 16 minute computer-animated film that follows Giacometti through the last nine years of his remarkable but tormented life and was inspired by his biography. The film is the result of a two year collaboration between two artists -- myself and Jamey Scott who composed the score and designed the soundscape. Another year was spent by myself in research, writing, and pre-production. So it has been a long and rewarding three years total.
I was introduced to the subject matter of Giacometti through my Stanford life-drawing instructor through a reading assignment which was to read an eighteen day diary written by American writer James Lord about what it was like to pose for Giacometti. However, it wasn't until a particular essay by a writer named Tahar which imagined Giacometti's sculptures running amok through the streets of Paris that catalyzed the screenplay and ultimately, the film itself.
AAF I've heard rumors that you're an entirely self-taught animator. Can you tell us how you acquired your skills and what it was like tackling a huge project like "Eternal Gaze"?
SC Rumors huh? I guess there are always some truths to them. I was indeed a self-taught animator. This isn't too surprising as I am a horrible classroom student. All my teachers have always thought I had "ants in my pants" as I could hardly sit still in that sort of environment. I consider myself a "Jack of All Trades but Master of None," which turns out to be beneficial for producing computer-animated films by yourself as it requires multiple disciplines that bridge the arts and the sciences. So being innately curious and adventurous, being self-taught was quite natural and inevitable really.
Given that, it does require lots of dedication and a healthy dose of insanity to tackle a project like "Eternal Gaze" as its scope is beyond the average independent CG projects out there. Ultimately, it comes down to just how bad you want to see your vision to fruition and your curiosity fulfilled.
AAF Tell us a bit about your festival strategy. What's it been like attending festivals, where are you going next and what are your hopes for the film?
SC For the last three months, I've been traveling quite a bit all over North America promoting my film and it's been extremely rewarding. I consider this phase the icing on the cake, where you get to share your labor of love with the world and connect with your audiences. What a privilege! The fact that the film has been very well received and winning lots of awards (eight First Place Awards and counting) surely doesn't hurt either. My strategy really is to apply to as many reputable festivals as I can afford to and let the film resonate with its audiences on its own. Now that we are qualified for Oscar nomination consideration, of course we'll be submitting it to the Academy of Motion Pictures this November and hoping for a nomination. That would be quite a coup. We're definitely shooting for the stars on this one.
As for where I'm going next, I like to continue to tour with the film for at least six more months if possible and eventually apply to Pixar or one of those studios where I can continue to explore this new artform of computer animation in an environment that's supportive of creative freedom. I have a couple of ideas up my sleeves and may indulge in them in my freetime. All I can say is that whatever I end up doing next, it will be focused on innovative visual storytelling -- most likely with compelling CG characters that the audience can empathize with.
AAF Any new projects in the works?
SC I have no new projects currently in the works. This is because marketing and PR for "Eternal Gaze" is really a fulltime job, especially with all the traveling involved. But I'm loving every minute of it really. One idea I have is to push my future CG characters toward the wacky styles of Tex Avery and Chuck Jones (ala Wild E. Coyote and Daffy Duck) where anything goes. I want to unshackle the limitations of CG so CG can feel less like CG.
AAF You've been deeply involved with the San Diego Asian Film Festival. Can you tell us about your role there and what's on tap for this year?
SC Part of keeping sane during the long and laborious production of "Eternal Gaze" has been my deep involvement with the San Diego Asian Film Festival as their Artistic Programmer and resident filmmaker. It's been thoroughly rewarding to give back to other indie filmmakers and to live the experience from the "other side" as a festival programmer. 2003 will be my third year in this role for SDAFF and once again, I'll be championing our unique All-Animation Program featuring the latest in animation produced by Asian Americans today. I have met so many talented and friendly filmmakers and film-lovers and that's really one of the best things about my involvement with SDAFF.
This year, we received an increase of submissions by about 50 percent which means there's that many more films to comb through. One of my personal goals has always been to look outside of the box -- in this case, outside of the Asian American festival circuit for quality films that can differentiate our programming from the rest of the pack. Traveling on the mainstream festival circuit has allowed me to meet these "undiscovered" Asian American filmmakers and recruit their films into our programming. So I'm quite comfortable wearing two hats while I'm on the road. Look forward to another crazy year of SDAFF with lots of eclectic programming as we continue to celebrate AsianAmerican independent filmmaking.
In the meantime, you can track the journey of "Eternal Gaze" at its official website: www.EternalGaze.com
