Magma 2008 will devote a special retrospective to the President of the Jury, titled I move so I am: the art of Gerrit van Dijk, including eight animated short films created since the seventies up to the present day. Among them, Pas a Deux and I move so I am, winners of the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival, and Sold out, awarded as the best animated film at Magma 2007. The retrospective, subdivided in three short screenings, will open the International Competition on 12th, 13th and 14th September at Multisala Margherita.

Short Films:

12th september

Butterfly†1975 (1973) – 3.30
(together with Peter Brouwer)

A protest against advancing urbanisation. A static shot portrays the story of a butterfly whose living space is increasingly restricted through the building of houses and factories. New development invades the butterfly’s green environment at a rapid pace until it is pinned up and framed on the wall.

Janneke (1990) – 8.25

In an uninterrupted series of chalk drawings, the process of procreation through to the birth of a child is portrayed, against the background of Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (The Song of the Earth). The film is an ode to the creation of a new life and a homage to Van Dijk’s daughter, Janneke.

Sold Out (2007) – 8.00
(insieme a Marie Jose van der Linden)

A tribute to the largely vanished breed of small shopkeepers. In the course of one day we get a glimpse of the life of a middle-class family in Catholic Brabant – in the south of the Netherlands – in the sixties and seventies of the 20th century. A village shop stood for social contacts, long working hours, minimal income and a shared responsibility: the whole family worked in the shop. The children grew up and moved away. This one day illustrates the demise of this kind of family business. Because of the advent of the supermarket and the lack of a successor, many small shopkeepers had to close up for good. Best Animation at Magma 2007

13th september

CubeMenCube (1975) – 10′

A surrealistic animation film about two cubes that come to life against an ever-changing background. The cubes pass through the process of growing up and ageing. They fall in love, make love, and create new cubes. The idyll ends cruelly in a devastating war.

Pas a deux (1988) – 5.40
(together with Monique Renault)

A frequently awarded collaboration between Van Dijk and Monique Renault, in which the appearance of two dance partners changes constantly. Countless historical figures and icons twirl by; Tarzan becomes entangled in a duet with Snow White and the Pope dances with Joanne of Arc. Van Dijk drew the female figures, Renault the male ones.
Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 1989.

Frieze Frame (1991) – 4.40

Frieze Frame displays Van Dijk’s deep and intimate bond with the visual arts. Thirty-nine paintings from the Franz Hals museum collection in Haarlem are brought to life by re-modelling the representations in the paintings into impassioned tableaus and merging them with each other.

14th september

A good turn daily (1983) – 12.50

In A Good Turn Daily the rebellion and the idealism of Van Dijk’s earlier films make way for a more cynical approach. A boy scout tries to help everyone he encounters, but before he can lend a helping hand he is already distracted by the next problem. A mix of historical recordings and animation film; the film is a visual display of animation forms and techniques.

I move so I am (1997) – 8.20

International prize-winning self-portrait in which the artist wrestles with the subject matter. With a pencil, the artist draws his own body in uninterrupted lines. In the background images and sound fragments appear that influence the work, including personal memories and references to other artists and works.
Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival 1998.

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