BARRY PURVES

Plevna 6, Tampere Film Festival, 12 March 2005. Six puppet animations, the last of which, Hamilton Mattress (2001), I missed because the programme was delayed, and I had an appointment to meet. This is animation for grown-up audiences, with irony, sex, and violence. A vigorous feeling for life and a joy of theatricality. Each film has a different imagery, a fresh approach to the characters and mythology, usually created by other artists. All films are also approaches to the respective, different theatrical traditions. Powerful proofs of the continuing force of analogue, hand-made animation. Beautiful all-analogue 35mm projection (save Rigoletto, which looked partially like a HD video>film transfer).