Genre (, also ; from French, genre , "kind" or "sort", from Latin: genus (stem gener-), Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature as well as various other forms of art or culture, e.g., music, based on some loose set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones are discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

While the scope of the word "genre" is commonly confined to art and culture, it also defines individuals' interactions with and within their environments. In order to be recognized as genre these interactions and environments must be recurring.

History

The concept of genre originated from the classification systems created by Aristotle and Plato. Plato divided literature into the three classic genres accepted in Ancient Greece: poetry, drama, and prose. Poetry is further subdivided into epic, lyric, and drama. The divisions are recognized as being set by Aristotle and Plato; however, they were not alone. Many genre theorists contributed to these universally accepted forms of poetry. Similarly many theorists continued to philosophize about genre and its uses, which caused genre as Plato and Aristotle knew it to evolve and further expand.

Classical and Romance genre theory

The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette explains his interpretation of the history of genre in "The Architext". He described Plato as the creator of three imitational, mimetic genres distinguished by mode of imitation rather than content. These three imitational genres include dramatic dialogue, the drama; pure narrative, the dithyramb; and a mixture of the two, the epic. Plato excluded lyric poetry as a non-mimetic, imitational mode. Genette further discussed how Aristotle revised Plato's system by first eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode. He then uses two additional criteria to distinguish the system. The first of the criteria is the object to be imitated, whether superior or inferior. The second criterion is the medium of presentation: words, gestures, or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy, epic, comedy, and parody. Genette explained the integration of lyric poetry into the classical system by replacing the removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third "Architext," a term coined by Gennette, of a new long-enduring tripartite system: lyrical; epical, the mixed narrative; and dramatic, the dialogue. This new system that came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism" (Genette 38) has seen numerous attempts at expansion and revision. Such attempts include Friedrich Schlegel's triad of subjective form, the lyric; objective form, the dramatic; and subjective-objective form, the epic. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing complexity. Gennette reflected upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to most of those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (Genette 74).

Contemporary genre theories

Rhetorical situation

In 1968, Lloyd Bitzer claimed that discourse is determined by rhetorical situations in his article titled, "The Rhetorical Situation". A rhetorical situation refers to the fact that every situation has the potential for a rhetorical response. He looks to understand the nature behind the context that determines discourse. Bitzer states, "it is the situation which calls discourse into existence" (Bitzer 2). Thus, the situation controls what type of rhetorical response takes place. Each situation has an appropriate response in which the rhetor can either act upon or not act upon (Bitzer). He expresses the imperative nature of the situation in creating discourse, because discourse only comes into being as a response to a particular situation. Discourse varies depending upon the meaning-context that is created due to the situation, and because of this, it is "embedded in the situation" (Bitzer 4).

According to Bitzer, rhetorical situations come into existence, at which point, they can either mature and go away, or mature and continue to exist. Bitzer describes rhetorical situations as containing three components: exigence, audience, and constraints. Bitzer highlights six characteristics needed from a rhetorical situation that are detrimental to creating discourse. A situation calls a rhetor to create discourse, it invites a response to fit the situation, the response meets the necessary requirements of the situation, the exigence which creates the discourse is located in reality, rhetorical situations exhibit simple or complex structures, rhetorical situations after coming into creation either decline or persist. Bitzer's main argument is the concept that rhetoric is used to "effect valuable changes in reality" (Bitzer 14).

In 1984, Carolyn Miller examined genre in terms of rhetorical situations. She claimed that "situations are social constructs that are the result, not of 'perception,' but of 'definition'" (Miller 156). In other words, we essentially define our situations. Miller seems to build from Bitzer's argument regarding what makes something rhetorical, which is the ability of change to occur. Opposite of Bitzer's predestined and limited view of the creation of genres, Miller believes genres are created through social constructs. She agreed with Bitzer that past responses can indicate what is an appropriate response to the current situation, but Miller holds that, rhetorically, genre should be "centered not on the substance or the form of discourse but on the action it is used to accomplish" (Miller 151). Since her view focuses on action, it cannot ignore that humans depend on the "context of the situation" as well as "motives" that drive them to this action (Miller 152). Essentially, "we create recurrence," or similar responses, through our "construal" of types (Miller 157). Miller defines "types" as "recognition of relevant similarities" (Miller 156-7). Types come about only after we have attempted to interpret the situation by way of social context, which causes us to stick to "tradition" (Miller 152). Miller does not want to deem recurrence as a constraint, but rather she views it as insight into the "human condition" (Miller 156). The way to bring about a new "type" (Miller 157), is to allow for past routines to evolve into new routines, thereby maintaining a cycle that is always open for change. Either way, Miller's view is in accordance with the fact that as humans, we are creatures of habit that tightly hold on to a certain "stock of knowledge" (Miller 157). However, change is considered innovation, and by creating new "types" (Miller 157) we can still keep "tradition" (Miller 152) and innovation at the same time.

Ecology of genre

In 2001, Anis Bawarshi's "Ecology of Genre" argues for the teaching of genre as an ecosystem. He compares genre to an ecosystem in order to demonstrate how writing recreates genres as well as genre recreates writing. The genre itself serves as an ecosystem, defining our interpretation and creation of genre. Bawarshi uses the idea of a doctor's office as an ecosystem in order to demonstrate his point more clearly. He does this by defining the Patient Medical History Form as a genre. We recognize this genre; thus, expectations are set. Judging the pre-imposed expectations, we react accordingly within this genre. This genre consists of microenvironments, each consisting of the doctor, patient, and nurse, which form the ecosystem as a whole. As a result, Bawarshi states we are rhetorical beings that act within these ecosystems. We are shaped by the rhetoric surrounding us and we act accordingly. We gather our impressions from rhetoric presented to us, which shapes our actions and perceptions. He also introduces exigence, motive, and intention. Motive operates on the conceptual level and exigence shapes our actions. (Bawarshi)

Reciprocity of genre

People often recognize genre based on the characteristics that the situation offers. Amy Devitt states this when she says, "A genre is named because of its formal markers" (Devitt 10). However she also says, "the formal markers can be defined because a genre has been named" (Devitt 10). When we label something as a certain genre, we also flag these same characteristics as contributing to what we already believe the genre to be. These two quotes show how reciprocity functions within genre. Devitt displays the reciprocal nature of genre and situation according to the individual by using an example of a grocery store list. A question posed by this example is, is something a grocery list because it lists groceries or is it a grocery list because one person says it is a grocery list and we thus recognize all the items on the list as groceries? Though each possible answer to this raised question contradict one another, they are both correct. Similarly, individuals recognize the characteristics of the recurring rhetorical situations in the same way as they see them as affirmation of what they already know about the preexisting genre. The rhetorical attributes of the genre act as both objects which define and are defined by genre. In other words, genre and rhetorical situations are reciprocals of one another. Devitt focused on activity system of genre and that the participants situation, contexts and text are all mutually created "no one aspect fully determines the other." (Devitt)

Antecedent genres

Written in 1975, Kathleen Jamieson's "Antecedent Genre as Rhetorical Constraint" declares that discourse is determined by the Rhetorical Situation, as well as antecedent genres. Antecedent genres are genres of the past that are used as a basis to shape and form current rhetorical responses. When placed in an unprecedented situation, a rhetor can draw on antecedent genres of similar situations in order to guide their response. However, caution should be taken when drawing on antecedent genres because sometimes antecedent genres are capable of imposing powerful constraints (Jamieson 414). The intent of antecedent genres are to guide the rhetor toward a response consistent with situational demands, and if the situational demands are not the same as when the antecedent genre was created, the response to the situation might be inappropriate (Jamieson 414).

Through three examples of discourse, the papal encyclical, the early State of the Union Address, and congressional replies, she demonstrates how traces of antecedent genres can be found within each. These examples clarify how a rhetor will tend to draw from past experiences that are similar to the present situation in order to guide them how to act or respond when they are placed in an unprecedented situation. Jamieson explains, by use of these three examples, that choices of antecedent genre may not always be appropriate to the present situation. She discusses how antecedent genres place powerful constraints on the rhetor and may cause them to become "bound by the manacles of the antecedent genre" (Jamieson 414). These "manacles," she says, may range in level of difficultly to escape. Jamieson urges one to be careful when drawing on the past to respond to the present, because of the consequences that may follow ones choice of antecedent genre. She reiterates the intended outcome through her statement of "choice of an appropriate antecedent genre guides the rhetor toward a response consonant with situational demands" (Jamieson 414).

===Social construct==romance and comedy are genres. Bitzer's definition of exigence as "an imperfection marked by urgency... something waiting to be done" (Bitzer 6) ties in with Miller's idea of social action as the next step after an exigency is realized. Miller also points towards the theory that genres recur, based on Jamieson's observation that antecedent genres finding their way into new genres. More importantly, Miller takes on the bigger picture of a rhetorical situation in which all of these steps happen. "Situations are social constructs that are the result, not of 'perception,' but of definition" (Miller 156). From this, it is understood that social constructs define situations and, therefore, exigence is also socially situated.

Genre, also, understood in terms of social contexts provides greater meaning to each recurring situation; it essentially allows for differentiation, though past genres have a role in present and new genres. Through this differentiation, genre is allowed to continue evolving, just as social contexts continue to change with time. Bawarshi describes the way in which this happens as "communicants and their social environments are constantly in the process of reproducing one another" (Bawarshi 69). Rhetoric essentially works the same way, as seen in the example of writing Bawarshi provides, "writing is not a social act simply because it takes place in some social context; it is social because it is at work in shaping the very context within which it functions" (Bawarshi 70). Therefore, through social constructs, one can shape rhetorical works, and in turn, the works can shape the social context: "we create our contexts as we create our texts" (Bawarshi 70).

Genre as social action

The concept of genre is not limited to classifications and lists. People interact within genres daily. Genre is determined based "on the action it is used to accomplish" by the individuals using that particular genre (Miller 151). The distance between the text or action of genre and its users does not have to be vast. People respond to exigencies provided by genre every day. Exigence is "a set of particular social patterns and expectations that provides a socially objectified motive for addressing" the recurring situation of a particular genre (Miller 158). Seeing genre as a social action provides the "keys to understanding how to participate in the actions of a community" (Miller 165). Carolyn Miller argues that, "a rhetorical sound definition of genre must be centered not on the substance or the form of discourse, but on the action it is used to accomplish" (Miller 151).

The idea that rhetorical situations define genre means that participants in genre make decisions based on commonalities and repeat those instances. Genre is not only about the form of but also the mere repetitiveness of similarities. The classroom setting exemplifies this. When students wish to speak, they raise their hands to signify that desire. Raising a hand is the correct response to speaking in turn in that particular social setting. A person at lunch with a group of friends would not raise their hand to speak because the social situation is different. Miller concludes that social actions are the response to "understanding how to participate in the actions of a community" (Miller 156).

Carolyn Miller builds on arguments made by other scholars while also contradicting Bitzer's argument by giving her readers five features to understand genre (Miller 163). She believes that if something is rhetorical, then there will be action. Not only will there be action, but this action will also be repeated. The repetition of action creates a regularized form of discourse. Miller would add that the result has more to do with the action accomplished by the situation. Miller recognizes that a person chooses to take a certain social action within a defined set of rules - rules set in place by that user. Lastly, a situation cannot dictate a response. Miller ends her article with the thought that genres are partly rhetorical education through her statement, "as a recurrent, significant action, a genre embodies an aspect of cultural rationality" (Miller 165). Here, Miller unknowingly encapsulates a future ideology about genre: that genres are created by culture. According to Mnotho Dlamini genre is basically a deep information in a particular context.

Tyranny of genre

The phrase "tyranny of genre" comes from genre theorist Richard Coe, who wrote that "the 'tyranny of genre' is normally taken to signify how generic structures constrain individual creativity" (Coe 188). If genre functions as a taxonomic classification system, it could constrain individual creativity, since "the presence of many of the conventional features of a genre will allow a strong genre identification; the presence of fewer features, or the presence of features of other genres, will result in a weak or ambiguous genre identification" (Schauber 403). Under the classification-system concept of genre, placing a text into a genre is vital, since "every text is read according to a genre which governs its interpretation" (Schauber 401). The classification-system concept results in a polarization of responses to texts that do not fit neatly into a genre or exhibit features of multiple genres: "The status of genres as discursive institutions does create constraints that may make a text that combines or mixes genres appear to be a cultural monstrosity. Such a text may be attacked or even made a scapegoat by some as well as be defended by others" (LaCapra 220).

Under the more modern understanding of the concept of genre as "social action" à la Miller (Miller 152), a more situational approach to genre is enabled. This situational approach frees genre from the classification system, genre's "tyranny of genre". Relying on the importance of the rhetorical situation in the concept of genre results in an exponential expansion of genre study, which benefits literary analysis. One literature professor writes, "The use of the contemporary, revised genre idea [as social action] is a breath of fresh air, and it has opened important doors in language and literature pedagogy" (Bleich 130). Instead of a codified classification as the pragmatic application of genre, the new genre idea insists that "human agents not only have the creative capacities to reproduce past action, such as action embedded in genres, but also can respond to changes in their environment, and in turn change that environment, to produce under-determined and possibly unprecedented action, such as by modifying genres" (Killoran 72).

Stabilization, homogenization and fixity

Never is there total stabilization in a recognized genre, nor are there instances that indicate a complete lack of homogenization. However, because of the relative similarities between the terms "stabilization" and "homogenization", the amount of stabilization or homogenization a certain genre maintains is based on opinion. Necessary discourse is, obviously, always needed and is thus considered perfectly stabilized. In rhetorical situation or antecedent genres, that which is unprecedented mostly leads to stable and predictable responses. Outside the natural setting of a given form of discourse, one may respond inappropriately due to an unrecognized alternate. The unrecognized alternate is created by the lack of homogenization or differing expectations in the presented rhetorical situation. (Jamieson)

Fixity is uncontrolled by a given situation and is deliberately utilized by the affected before the rhetorical situation occurs. Fixity almost always directly effects stabilization, and has little to no bearing on homogenization. The choice of discourse will provide a certain value of fixity, dependent on the specific choice. If a situation calls for more mediated responses, the fixity of the situation is more prevalent, and therefore is attributed with a stable demand of expectations. Stability nor fixity can be directly affected by the subject at hand. The only option is affecting homogenization which in turn, can positively or negatively affect stability. Directly choosing a fixed arena within genre inversely alters the homogenization of said chooser constituting as a new genre accompanied with modified genre subsets and a newly desired urgency. The same ideological theory can be applied to how one serves different purposes, creating either separate genres or modernized micro-genres. (Fairclough)

Culture

Genre is embedded in culture, but may clash with it at times. There are occasions in which a cultural group may not be inclined to keep within the set structures of a genre. Anthony Pare’s studied Inuit social workers in "Genre and Identity: Individuals, Institutions and Ideology". In this study, Pare described the conflict between the genre of Inuit social workers’ record keeping forms and the cultural values that prohibited them from fully being able to fulfill the expectations of this genre. Amy Devitt further expands on the concept of culture in her 2004 essay, "A Theory of Genre" by adding “culture defines what situations and genres are likely or possible” (Devitt 24).

Genre not only coexists with culture, but also defines its very components. Genres abound in daily life and people often work within them unconsciously; people often take for granted their prominence and ever present residence in society. Devitt touches on Miller’s idea of situation, but expands on it and adds that the relationship with genre and situation is reciprocal. An individual may find him- or herself shaping the rhetorical situations, which in turn affects the rhetorical responses that arise out of the situation. Because the social workers worked closely with different families, they did not want to disclose many of the details that are standard in the genre of record keeping related to this field. Giving out such information would violate close cultural ties with the members of their community.

Pop culture

Outside of the academic field, genre regularly affects societies' pop culture. The mass media uses genre to differentiate between classes of popular subjects such as music, movies, TV, books, etc. Favoritism plays an important part of distinguishing one genre from another; fans of Horror look differently upon Comedy than fans of Romance do. Genre has also been used to shape differences in cultural aspects of these popular subjects. American comedies are distinctly different from French ones, as Country music is noticeably unlike Irish folk music. Genres sort subjects (such as movies, music, books, etc.) efficiently, especially when following trends set by society. From walking in to the nearest movie rental store to searching for music via ITunes, genres are applicable in everyday life as organized classification systems. Even in places such as grocery stores or clothing stores, genres are utilized to form an ordered flow to determine the differences between smaller classes within one particular subject, pointing out the differences between fruit and dairy, and punk to mod.

Audiences

Although genres are not always precisely definable, genre considerations are one of the most important factors in determining what a person will see or read. The classification properties of genre can attract or repel potential users depending on the individual's understanding of a genre.

Genre creates an expectation in the minds of its audience and may fail or succeed depending on if that expectation is met or not. Many genres have built-in audiences and corresponding publications that support them, such as magazines and websites. Inversely, audiences may call out for change in a antecedent genre and create an entirely new genre.

The term may be used in categorizing web pages, like "newspage" and "fanpage", with both very different layout, audience, and intention. Some search engines like Vivísimo try to group found web pages into automated categories in an attempt to show various genres the search hits might fit.

Visual arts

The term "genre" is much used in the history and criticism of visual art, but in art history has meanings that overlap rather confusingly. Genre painting is a term for paintings where the main subject features human figures to whom no specific identity attaches - in other words, figures are not portraits, characters from a story, or allegorical personifications. Many genre paintings are scenes from common life particularly portraying the lower class. These are distinguished from staffage: incidental figures in what is primarily a landscape or architectural painting. Genre painting may also be used as a wider term covering genre painting proper, and other specialized types of paintings such as still-life, landscapes, marine paintings and animal paintings.

The concept of the "hierarchy of genres" was a powerful one in artistic theory, especially between the 17th and 19th centuries. It was strongest in France, where it was associated with the Académie française which held a central role in academic art. The genres in hierarchical order are:

genre painting

history painting

landscape painting

portrait painting

still life painting

Linguistics

In philosophy of language, figuring very prominently in the works of philosopher and literary scholar Mikhail Bakhtin. Bakhtin's basic observations were of "speech genres" (the idea of heteroglossia), modes of speaking or writing that people learn to mimic, weave together, and manipulate (such as "formal letter" and "grocery list", or "university lecture" and "personal anecdote"). In this sense genres are socially specified: recognized and defined (often informally) by a particular culture or community. The work of Georg Lukács also touches on the nature of literary genres, appearing separately but around the same time (1920s–1930s) as Bakhtin. Norman Fairclough has a similar concept of genre that emphasizes the social context of the text: Genres are "different ways of (inter)acting discoursally" (Fairclough, 2003: 26)

However, this is just one way of conceiving genre. Charaudeau & Maingueneau determine four different analytic conceptualizations of genre. A text's genre may be determined by its:

#Linguistic function. #Formal traits. #Textual organization. #Relation of communicative situation to formal and organizational traits of the text (Charaudeau & Maingueneau, 2002:278-280).

Literature

In literature, genre has been known as an intangible taxonomy. This taxonomy implies a concept of containment or that an idea will be stable forever.The earliest recorded systems of genre in Western history can be traced back to Plato and Aristotle. Gérard Genette, a French literary theorist and author of The Architext, describes Plato as creating three imitational genres: dramatic dialogue, pure narrative and epic (a mixture of dialogue and narrative). Lyric poetry, the fourth and final type of Greek literature, was excluded by Plato as a non-mimetic mode. Aristotle later revised Plato's system by eliminating the pure narrative as a viable mode and distinguishing by two additional criteria: the object to be imitated, as objects could be either superior or inferior, and the medium of presentation such as words, gestures or verse. Essentially, the three categories of mode, object, and medium can be visualized along an XYZ axis. Excluding the criteria of medium, Aristotle's system distinguished four types of classical genres: tragedy (superior-dramatic dialogue), epic (superior-mixed narrative), comedy (inferior-dramatic dialogue), and parody (inferior-mixed narrative). Genette continues by explaining the later integration of lyric poetry into the classical system during the romantic period, replacing the now removed pure narrative mode. Lyric poetry, once considered non-mimetic, was deemed to imitate feelings, becoming the third leg of a new tripartite system: lyrical, epical, and dramatic dialogue. This system, which came to "dominate all the literary theory of German romanticism (and therefore well beyond)…" (38), has seen numerous attempts at expansion or revision. However, more ambitious efforts to expand the tripartite system resulted in new taxonomic systems of increasing scope and complexity. Genette reflects upon these various systems, comparing them to the original tripartite arrangement: "its structure is somewhat superior to…those that have come after, fundamentally flawed as they are by their inclusive and hierarchical taxonomy, which each time immediately brings the whole game to a standstill and produces an impasse" (74). Taxonomy allows for a structured classification system of genre, as opposed to a more contemporary rhetorical model of genre.

References

Bawarshi, Anis. "The Ecology of Genre." Ecocomposition: Theoretical and Pedagogical Approaches. Eds. Christian R. Weisser and Sydney I. Dobrin. Albany: SUNY Press, 2001. 69-80.

Bitzer, Lloydof Language and the Pedagogy of Exchange." Pedagogy 1.1 (2001): 117-141.

Charaudeau, P.; Maingueneau, D. & Adam, J. Dictionnaire d'analyse du discours Seuil, 2002.

Coe, Richard. "'An Arousing and Fulfillment of Desires': The Rhetoric of Genre in the Process Era - and Beyond." Genre and the New Rhetoric. Ed. Aviva Freedman and Peter Medway. London: Taylor & Francis, 1994. 181-190.

Devitt, Amy J. "A Theory of Genre." Writing Genres. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004. 1-32.

Fairclough, Norman. Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research Routledge, 2003.

Genette, Gérard. The Architext: An Introduction. 1979. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.

Jamieson, Kathleen M. "Antecedent Genre as Rhetorical Constraint." Quarterly Journal of Speech 61 (1975): 406‐415.

Killoran, John B. "The Gnome In The Front Yard and Other Public Figurations: Genres of Self-Presentation on Personal Home Pages." Biography 26.1 (2003): 66-83.

LaCapra, Dominick. "History and Genre: Comment." New Literary History 17.2 (1986): 219-221.

Miller, Carolyn. "Genre as Social Action." Quarterly Journal of Speech. 70 (1984): 151-67.

Schauber, Ellen, and Ellen Spolsky. "Stalking a Generative Poetics." New Literary History 12.3 (1981): 397-413.

Further reading

Sullivan, Ceri (2007) 'Disposable elements? Indications of genre in early modern titles', Modern Language Review 102.3, pp. 641–53

Pare, Anthony. "Genre and Identity." The Rhetoric and Ideology of Genre: Strategies for Stability and Change. Eds. Richard M. Coe, Lorelei Lingard, and Tatiana Teslenko. Creskill, N.J. Hampton Press, 2002.

External links

Development of the Genre Concept

Genres of film at the Internet Movie Database

Helping Children Understand Literary Genres

Rhetorica Genre

Museum of Broadcast Communications

Dictionary.com

Category:Narratology Category:Fiction Category:Theme

Richard Desjardins (born March 16, 1948 in Rouyn, Quebec, Canada) is a Québécois folk singer and film director. He and his friends formed the country rock ensemble Abbitibbi in the 1970s. Desjardins played piano, guitar, and sang. When the group disbanded in 1982, Desjardins pursued a solo career. He also found work scoring films, especially documentaries. This involvement in the Quebec film industry even led him to co-direct a number of feature length documentaries. As well as his singing career, he is well known for his environmental activism, especially with regards to protecting forests from over-exploitation.

Biography

He was born on March 16, 1948 in Rouyn, a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada, Richard Desjardins is a poetic and personal Quebec singer-songwriter. Under his mother’s influence he began taking piano lessons when he was nine years old. When he was 16 he accompanied his older brother, Roger, on piano. They performed in coffee houses in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region. During this time he joined various music groups, of these the best know was the Fabulous Cascades. In 1969 he started working as a publicity writer for Radio North; a job he held for about a year.

He became friends with the poet Michel X. Côté. It was through Côté’s inspiration that Desjardins started writing poems, which he printed and sold in bars.

The poetry of Mexico and South America interested him, and he traveled to Central and South America in 1971. He found poetry in the villages as well as in the cities. The somber, self-reflective, and marginal nature of this poetry struck a deep chord in Desjardins; and lack of money gave him a taste of a truly subsistence life-style – he lived on the beaches and ate fruit and fish.

At the age of 23 he was back home where he began to write his own songs in French. With little or no money Desjardins went to the Municipality of Baie-James, Quebec and found what work he could – such as gas station attendant.

Then, in 1975 he and four friends(including guitarist Francis Grandmont and violinist Theo Butsh)formed a country-rock group called Abbittibbi, they played in hotels in northern Ontario, and performed the popular Anglophone songs of the day. Desjardins wrote some songs in French which Abbittibbi performed but according to Desjardins, “At the time these were as welcome as a strip-tease artist in Tehran.” After only a few months the group broke up. But that was not the end of the influence that this group had on Desjardins or the last time they played together.

In 1976, he and some of his Abbittibbi friends moved to Montreal. They began performing in the metropolis, but in spite of hard work they did not get much in the way of appreciation or money.

In 1977 a call from [Robert Monderie] redirected Desjardins’ life. Monderie asked Desjardins to make a documentary with him in honour of the 50th anniversary of Rouyn municipality. The documentary was called “Comme des chiens en pacage” (best translated as, “A Raging Disaster”). This documentary traced the troubled beginning of the region of Abitibi and the Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec|Rouyn municipality. It also drew attention to present day concerns such as lack of work, the control big companies had and still have on Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec|Rouyn’s development, and their responsibility for the surrounding environmental degradation. This documentary was the first in a series of attempts by Desjardins and Monderie to bring into public awareness the environmental problems that Quebec faces.

Desjardins also began to perform music for film. His first was “Beat” by André Blanchard in 1976, Desjardins and Abbittibbi as well as other musicians were on the sound track of this film. Then, in his first effort at composing for film, he wrote the music for the film “L’ Hiver bleu” (“Blue winter”) again by André Blanchard in 1978. The music for this film was performed by Abbittibbi.

Then finally, in 1981, Abbittibbi, recorded its first album, “Boom Town Café”, The group disbanded in 1982 due to record company problems.

That same year, 1982, Desjardins again teamed up with Robert Monderie, this time to make a documentary about the life of a Québécois country and western singer known as Mouche à feu (Firefly), which is also the title of the film.

At this time, 1982, Desjardins went out as a solo performer, accompanying himself on guitar and piano. He wrote songs and sang in bars, and, in short, “paid his dues” as a singer-songwriter for the next few years.

But composing music for films, whether they were fictional or documentaries, was never something Desjardins ignored. He composed music for “Depuis que le monde est monde” (Since the world is world) (1981) and “Le doux partage” (Soft Sharing) (1983) both written and directed Sylvie van Brabant. In 1984 he wrote the music for Robert Monderie and Daniel Corvec’s “Noranda” (1984) and in 1988 he wrote the music for [Jean Chabot]’s “La Nuit avec Hortense” (“The night with Hortense”).

And, in between all of his work on film, Desjardins managed to write the music for and was musical director of a performance of a play by Bertold Brecht, ”Têtes rondes et têtes pointues“ ("The Roundheads and the Peakheads") at the Brecht International Festival in Toronto, he also taught music to Inuit children in northern Quebec, and put out his first solo album called, “Les derniers humains”, (“The Last Humans”, from a line in the song "Les Yankees"). He produced and recorded this album with the help of friends, who were given a copy of the album in return for their financial support.

“Les derniers humains” was relatively successful and brought him a larger audience. Desjardins was inspired to continue to write songs, songs that would appear on his next solo album. In 1989 Desjardins gave his first concert in Paris.

Richard Desjardins participated in the making of the audio-documentary/album Le trésor de la langue released in 1989 by multi-instrumentalist René Lussier and produced by the SOCAN and Radio-Canada. Le trésor de la langue documented the outlook of French Canadians on their culture, heritage and language. The album is a collage of dialogues taken from various interviews (from 1987 to 1989), the Radio-Canada archives, music composed by René Lussier and texts composed and sung by Richard Desjardins.

The year 1990 was a turning point in his career. The film “Le Party” (directed by Pierre Falardeau), which Desjardins wrote the music for (and had a small role in), dramatized a maximum-security prison's annual variety show.

That same year, unable to find producers willing to back the production of his next solo album, and with the continued financial help of some of his supporters, Desjardins produced the album himself. The album was called "Tu m'aimes-tu?" (Do you love me?). It was a resounding success. Although some critics thought the album too raw in imagery and language, Desjardins’ poetic sensibility is remarkable both for the depth of such songs as “Nataq” and "Et j'ai couché dans mon char" and for the humor of songs such as “Le bon gars” – in any case, he found a wider and a very appreciative audience. He was invited to perform at the Quebec Summer Festival. His performance was an extraordinary success, and he was awarded the Festival’s Prix Miroir of the French language song. The following year [ADISQ] awarded him with three Felix awards; one for “Writer-composer of the Year” (for "Tu m'aimes-tu?), another one for “Popular Album of the Year”, and one for “Producer of the Year”.

His success spread to French speaking Europe where his artistry was acknowledged by critics, by award winning performances, and by a rapidly growing audience. In 1993, Desjardins was invited to Paris to perform at the Paris City Theatre. For three nights he magnetized the audience. This marked the beginning of several years of concert performances and awards both in Canada and in Europe. It also marked the beginning of other performers recording his music: the French artist Francis Cabrel recorded his song "Quand j'aime une fois j'aime pour toujours"; Karen Young (a Canadian jazz singer) also recorded songs from "Tu m'aimes-tu?".

Desjardin’s next album was recorded live at the Club Soda in Montreal in 1993. He performed some new material and some songs from the Abbittibbi days, and he included a humorous monolog or two for good measure.

Never far from the big screen, Desjardins, along with Karen Young, wrote music for Marie Cadieux’s film “À double tour” (“Twice Convicted”). A film about a woman’s prison.

In 1994 Desjardins realized an old dream, the reunion of Abbittibbi. He brought the group back together and they recorded an album called “Chaude était la nuit” ("The night was hot"). They performed concerts in Quebec and in Europe and the group played at the 1995 Quebec Summer Festival and were awarded the Prix Miroir of the French Song at the Festival. They continued to perform for the next couple of years and wanting to get the feel and energy of a live performance Desjardins had them record a live performance. In 1996 they put out "Desjardins - Abbittibbi Live ".

His third solo album, entitled "Boom Boom", appeared in 1998, and consisted of some new songs and others, such as "Y va toujours y avoir", recorded with Abbittibi. He continued to tour and to perform for the next two years.

While touring with Abbittibbi in Quebec, Desjardins’ concerns about the effects of deforestation and the resulting environmental degradation became an issue he wanted to tackle in greater depth. With his friend, Robert Monderie, Desjardins began to document the extent and the consequences of deforestation – to their own surprise; they seemed to be the first to thoroughly investigate the problem. They collected a vast amount of information. A few years later their efforts resulted in a ground-breaking documentary film, “L’erreur boréal” (English title: “Forest Alert”).

In 1999, “L’erreur boréale” was released. Its effect was profound. The government of Quebec quickly tried to discredit the film. But it was factual and accurate and its message could not be subverted.

The film proved its relevance, its accuracy, as well as Desjardins and Monderie’s creative presentation of the information, by garnering many awards, among them were:

• Prix Jutra du meilleur documentaire (Jutra Prize for the best documentary film in 1999). • Prix Robert-Claude Bérubé, décerné par l’Office des communications sociales. • Prix du développement durable en milieu rural, (Prize for Sustainable Development in Rural Areas) Festival international du film environnemental Ecofilm de Lille, en France. • Prix du reportage magazine (Prize for Journalism), Festival international du film d’environnement de Paris. • Grand Prix du festival, mention environnement, (Festival Grand Prize Environmental Citation) Festival international du film nature et environnement de Grenoble, en France.

Finally, to cap off 1999, Desjardins was chosen as man of the year by the magazine L’actualité.

In 2000, Richard Desjardins moved to Toulouse, France for a year; where he occasionally performed in the surrounding area. And he found time to travel as a “tourist”, Spain was his favorite destination. During his stay in France he also collaborated with his sister, Louise and others, in the formation of an organization dedicated exclusively to collecting data on the condition of Quebec forests. The organization is called “L’action boréale” (Boreal Action).

He returned to Canada in 2001. For the next couple of years not only songs but the idea for a different presentation of them was brewing in Desjardins head for his next album. Desjardins toured about 50 towns in Quebec; the tour was called “Desjardins et sa guétard” -- once again he performed solo accompanying himself on guitar and piano.

In September 2003 the CD “Kanasuta” was released. The name of the album is taken from an area in Abitibi-Témiscamingue named Kanasuta or « Là où les diables vont danser » (“There where the Devils Dance”) -- an area which was preserved through the efforts of l’action boreal.

On “Kanasuta” Desjardins had his words and music produced and arranged by Yves Desrosiers. On the resulting recording Desjardins sings and the Desrosier’s arrangements employ a variety of musicians and instruments. The words to the songs display, among other things, an unfaltering love for this region of the province of Quebec.

In 2004 Desjardins put together a touring performance of Kanasuta with Normand Guilbeault (bass), Claude Fradette (guitars), Marie-Soleil Bélanger (violins) et Didier Dumoutier (accordion). But he expanded his Kanasuta project even further with a symphonic concert at Montréal, with 50 musicians from the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières under the direction of Gilles Bellemare. Desjardins received five Félix awards for the CD and for the Kanasuta touring performance, among them were: the “singer-songwriter of the year” and the “Performance of the Year”. He brought a performance of Kanasuta to the Olympia in Paris, which also toured in Europe and Quebec. In 2005 Desjardins’ Concert Symphonique was performed at the Summer Music Festival of the City of Quebec, again under the direction of Gilles Bellemare. He was awarded the “Prix Miroir du spectacle le plus populaire” of the Festival for Kanasuta. Desjardins also released a DVD version of Kanasuta appeared that year.

Desjardins was chosen “Environmental Hero of the year 2005” by the readers of The Reader’s Digest Selection. In its January 2006 issue, when the award was announced, the magazine underscored Desjardins’ unfailing commitment to protecting the Quebec forests and acknowledged the respect of its readers.

In January 2006 Le Journal de Montréal began printing a series of articles written by Desjardins underlining the urgency of acting to save the forest by putting as much pressure as possible on the logging companies and the government officials that have okayed the logging company operations removal of the forest. The six articles were published daily starting with the January 30th issue.

Desjardins’ current project is a documentary film about the Algonquin people and about the unacceptable conditions that they live under. He is collaborating with Robert Monderie on this film. It will be produced by the National Film Board. It is expected to be released in 2007.

On 25 February 2010, Richard Desjardins has signed, together with 500 artists, the call to support the international campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli apartheid.

Discography

Albums

1981 Boom Town Café (with Abbittibbi)

1988 Les derniers humains

1989 Le trésor de la langue (with René Lussier)

1990 Tu m'aimes-tu

1992 Les derniers humains (new recording)

1994 Chaude était la nuit (with Abbittibbi)

1998 Boom Boom

2003 Kanasuta

Live albums

1993 Richard Desjardins au Club Soda

1996 Desjardins Abbittibbi Live (with Abbittibbi)

Soundtrack

1990 Le Party

DVD

Kanasuta - Là où les diables vont danser (2005)

Filmography

2007 Le peuple invisible (The invisible nation) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie

1999 L'erreur boréale (English title: Forest Alert) by Desjardins and Robert Monderie

1978 Mouche à feu (Firefly), by Desjardins and Robert Monderie

1977 Comme des chiens en pacage ("A raging Disaster") by Desjardins and Robert Monderie

Music for Films and Theater

À double tour (English title: Twice Convicted), by Marie Cadieux, 1994

Le party, by Pierre Falardeau, 1990

La Nuit avec Hortense (The night with Hortense), by Jean Chabot, 1988

Noranda, by Robert Monderie and Daniel Corvec, 1984

Le doux partage (Soft Sharing) by Sylvie van Brabant, 1983

Depuis que le monde est monde (Since the world is world) by Sylvie van Brabant, 1981

L’hiver bleu (Blue winter) by André Blanchard, 1978

Beat by André Blanchard, 1976 (Desjardins and Abbittibbi as well as other musicians)

Composed music for and was musical director of ”Têtes rondes et têtes pointues“ ("The Roundheads and the Peakheads") by Bertold Brecht, at the 1986 Brecht International Festival in Toronto.

Bibliography

Carole Couture, "la parole est mine d’or", Éditions Tryptique, Montreal, 1999.

References

Web Sites

Desjardins' web site.

Words to 59 of Desjardins' songs.

Radio Canada (Documentary about Richard Desjardins)

Radio France, France Blue (Interviews with Desjardins) Summary of Desjardins Life’s work

Category:1948 births Category:Quebec songwriters Category:Living people Category:French Quebecers Category:Musicians from Quebec Category:Canadian male singers Category:Canadian singer-songwriters Category:French-language singers Category:People from Rouyn-Noranda

Name	Don Hertzfeldt
Caption	Don Hertzfeldt at his animation desk, during production of "The Meaning of Life"
Birthdate	August 01, 1976
Birthplace	Fremont, California
Nationality	American
Field	Independent film, Animation
Training	University of California, Santa Barbara
Works	Billy's Balloon, Rejected, Everything Will Be OK
Influenced by	Stanley Kubrick, Monty Python, David Lynch, Edward Gorey, Buster Keaton
Awards	2001 Academy Award nominee 1998 Palme d'Or nominee: Cannes Film Festival 2007 Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: Sundance Film Festival winner of over 150 other film festival awards

Don Hertzfeldt (born August 1, 1976) is the creator of many short animated films, including the Academy-Award nominated Rejected and Everything Will Be OK. His animated films have received over one hundred and fifty awards and have been presented around the world. Before the age of thirty, his films were already the subject of several career retrospectives. He was the youngest director named in the "They Shoot Pictures, Don't They" list of "The 100 Important Animation Directors" of all time, and in 2010 he received the San Francisco International Film Festival's "Persistence of Vision" Lifetime Achievement Award at the age of 33.

The popularity of Hertzfeldt's work is unprecedented in the history of independent animation and his films are frequently quoted and referenced in pop culture. In 2009, the Sundance Film Festival noted, "If cinephiles think shorts don't generate the same sort of hype and fanbase as feature films, they obviously haven't heard of Don Hertzfeldt."

In 2008 and 2009, Hertzfeldt embarked on a 22-city theatrical tour in support of his latest short film, the 22 minute I am so proud of you. "An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt" presented a retrospective of his animated films followed by the regional premiere(s) of I am so proud of you and a rare onstage interview and audience chat with him. At the conclusion of the tour at the Ottawa Animation Festival in October 2009, Hertzfeldt premiered a brand new five minute comedy short called Wisdom Teeth as a surprise.

Early life and student films

Hertzfeldt was born in Fremont, California where he attended local schools and drew comic books. At 15, he began to teach himself animation with a small video camera. From a 2001 interview, Don says: "I watched films relentlessly growing up, and was fascinated by visual effects. My family used to make outings to animation festivals in San Francisco every year, so credit my parents for that. I ended up seeing all of those classic [independent] cartoons throughout my teenage years. But animation production for me sort of just happened as a by-product. I've been drawing things and writing things all my life, and animating my stories was always cheaper to do and looked more interesting than low budget live action."

Hertzfeldt has never held any job other than creating his own animated films, not even in his youth. His earliest video animations found film festival exposure, and in film school at the University of California, Santa Barbara, he was able to find international distribution for all of his 16mm student films: Ah, L'Amour, Genre, Lily and Jim, and Billy's Balloon (all created between the ages of 18-22).

Hertzfeldt lives in Santa Barbara, California and has, to date, produced all his films there. He keeps a blog on his website that has been continually updated (and archived) since 1999.

Technique

Hertzfeldt's work commonly features hand-drawn stick figures, in stories of black humor, surrealism, and tragicomedy. Some films contain deeper existential and philosophical themes while others are more straightforwardly slapstick and absurdist. His animation is created traditionally with pen and paper without the aid of computers. Hertzfeldt uses antique 16mm or 35mm film cameras to photograph his artwork and often employs old-fashioned special effect techniques such as multiple exposures, in-camera mattes, and experimental photography (significantly used in works such as Everything Will Be OK and I am so proud of you). While some of these techniques are as established as an occasional stop-motion animation sequence (as in Intermission in the Third Dimension) or a universe of moving stars created by back-lit pin holes (The Meaning of Life), other effects are new innovations on classical methods, as seen with the rippling and blurring paper landscapes of Rejected or the in-camera compositing of multiple, split-screen windows of action in the Everything Will Be OK films.

Since 1999, Hertzfeldt has photographed all his films on a 35mm Richardson animation camera stand, believed to be the same camera that photographed many of the early Peanuts cartoons in the 1960s and 1970s. Built in the late 1940s, it is reportedly one of the last remaining functioning cameras of its kind left in America (if not the world), and Hertzfeldt finds it to be a crucial element in the creation of his films and their unique visuals.

Hertzfeldt could be considered an auteur: it's not unusual for him to single-handedly write, direct, produce, animate, photograph, edit, record and mix sound, and/or compose music for one of his films, at times requiring years to complete a single short. The animation alone for one of his films may often require tens of thousands of drawings.

Discussing film and digital technology with the New York Times, Hertzfeldt noted, "I don’t know why these things are always framed as a big dumb cage match: Hand-drawn versus computers, film versus digital. We have over 100 years now of amazing film technology to play with, I don't understand why any artists would want to throw any of their tools out of the box. Many people assume that because I shoot on film and animate on paper I must be doing things the hard way, when in fact my last four movies would have been visually impossible to produce digitally. The only thing that matters is what actually winds up on the big screen, not how you got it there. You could make a cartoon in crayons about a red square that falls in unrequited love with a blue circle, and there wouldn’t be a dry eye in the house if you know how to tell a story."

Hertzfeldt frequently scores his pictures with classical music and opera. The music of Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Smetana, Beethoven, Richard Strauss, and Wagner have all appeared in his films. On occasion, Hertzfeldt has also scored portions of his films himself, with a guitar or keyboard.

Popularity and influence

Hertzfeldt's early films have been credited as being a prominent influence on surrealism and absurdism in animation in the 2000s, particularly influencing Adult Swim style animated comedy. In 2008, Comedy Central noted his work as having "influenced an entire generation of filmmakers."

His more recent films, such as The Meaning of Life and Everything Will Be OK, expanded upon his signature style of dark humor to explore deeper themes of existentialism, life and death, and philosophy. Critics have favorably compared these shorts to the work of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch, respectively. Everything Will Be OK was described as "probably the best work he’s done in his very incredible and consistently amazing young career."

Hertzfeldt's films are regularly found in film festivals around the world, touring animation programs like the Animation Show, and on DVD collections. The cartoons are also featured occasionally on television: MTV, Bravo, Via X, Sundance Channel, IFC, and the Cartoon Network being a few channels that have carried his work internationally.

The popularity of Hertzfeldt's shorts has led to many Internet bootlegs, bringing his work to an audience of millions. He's reportedly unhappy with the very poor quality most of these online videos provide (as well as how the bootlegs are frequently re-edited, uncredited, or remixed), but is not interested in "harassing fans." In the FAQ of his website, Hertzfeldt simply notes that movies are not meant to be seen on the Internet: "If you've only seen a film downgraded on the Internet or some strange miniature device, in many ways you haven't really seen it yet. YouTube is great for home videos of your cat falling off the roof but it is not really the proper setting for "cinema"... Movies are meant to be seen in the dark, hopefully with an audience, and with your undivided attention - this last one is non-negotiable."

Hertzfeldt prefers to not sell any of his animation artwork. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, his website Bitter Films annually auctioned off artwork instead to raise thousands of dollars for local Santa Barbara charities. Other original drawings have been occasionally given away through the Bitter Films online store through special promotions. Because Hertzfeldt also rarely does signings, his artwork is very rare for animation collectors or casual fans to own.

"Rejected"

Rejected was Hertzfeldt's first film out of college. Released in theaters in 2000, the short won dozens of awards, was nominated for an Oscar, and is an enduring cult classic that is frequently quoted or referenced in pop culture. Fans of the cartoon have been known to wear costumes, re-enact their favorite scenes in fan films, and some have had tattoos made of their favorite characters. Public screenings of the short sometimes become a "Rocky Horror Picture Show-esque feedback loop" of fans reciting favorite lines back at the screen. The short's enduring popularity has led the film to be described as "this generation's A Hard Day's Night".

The film presents itself as a reel of rejected commercial work by a fictional version of Don Hertzfeldt. The commissioned animated vignettes grow more and more abstract and inappropriate as the animator suffers a mental breakdown, until they literally fall apart.

Although the film is of course fictional and Hertzfeldt has never done any commercial work, he did receive many offers to do television commercials after Billy's Balloon garnered international attention and acclaim. Hertzfeldt is an artist with anti-corporate leanings and in appearances has often told the humorous story of how he was tempted to produce the worst possible cartoons he could come up with for the companies, make off with their money, and see if they would actually make it to air. Eventually this became the germ for Rejected's theme of a collection of cartoons so bad they were rejected by advertising agencies, leading to their creator's breakdown.

"The Animation Show"

In 2003, Hertzfeldt created The Animation Show with Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge, a biennial North American touring festival that brought independent animated short films to more movie theaters than any distributor in history. The programs were personally curated by Hertzfeldt and Judge. A second Animation Show edition toured throughout 2005, featuring Hertzfeldt's short film The Meaning of Life and new films by animators like Peter Cornwell and Georges Schwizgebel. The third season of The Animation Show began its nationwide release in January 2007, featuring new work by animators Joanna Quinn and Bill Plympton, as well as Hertzfeldt's own Everything Will Be OK.

A stated goal of The Animation Show was to regularly "free the work of these independent artists from the dungeons of Internet exhibition," and bring them into proper movie theaters where most of the short films were meant to be seen. The Animation Show has meanwhile launched a supplemental DVD series of animated short films, with content that often varies from the annual theatrical programs. These DVDs are distributed by MTV.

In a March 2008 entry in his blog, Hertzfeldt announced he had decided to leave The Animation Show, after having programmed (and contributing films to) three tours. No other details were provided. A fourth season of the program was released in theaters in summer 2008, with no involvement from him.

In the film, the evolution of the human race is traced from prehistory (mankind as blob forms), through today (mankind as teeming crowds of selfish, fighting, or lost individuals), to hundreds of millions of years into the future as our species evolves into countless new forms; all of them still behaving the same way. The film concludes in the extreme future, with two creatures (apparently an adult and child subspecies of future human), having a conversation about the meaning of life on a colorful shore.

In 2009, Hertzfeldt noted, "I don't often make the same sort of movie twice in a row. It’s always been whatever's next in my head. From a commercial standpoint I guess I’ve made some pretty inscrutable decisions, like following up 'Rejected' with a sprawling abstract film about human evolution, but it's really just been whichever ideas won't go away at the time. There's always a lot of new things I’d like to try..."

The "Everything will be OK" film cycle

Everything Will Be OK was released in 2006 and was Hertzfeldt's most critically successful piece to date, receiving his strongest reviews. The 17-minute animated short was based on his character "Bill" from his webcomic "Temporary Anesthetics". The Boston Globe called the film a "masterpiece" with the Boston Phoenix declaring Hertzfeldt a "genius." The short film was a cover story on the Chicago Reader, receiving four stars from critic J.R. Jones. Variety film critic Robert Koehler named Everything Will Be OK one of the "Best Films of 2007."

The film is the first chapter of a three-part story about Bill, a young man whose daily routines, perceptions, and dreams are illustrated onscreen through multiple split-screen windows. Bill's seemingly mundane life, narrated in humorous and dramatic anecdotes, gradually grows dark as we learn he may be suffering from a possibly fatal mental disorder.

The film's scenes are often divided into multiple windows of action on the screen at once, against a background of pure black. Animated still photographs are also incorporated inside certain windows, as well as a handful of the colorful special effects and experimental film techniques that Hertzfeldt first utilized in The Meaning of Life. As with all his films, no computers were used in creating the picture; all of the multiple window effects were captured in-camera.

Everything Will Be OK won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Filmmaking at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, the Lawrence Kasdan Award for Best Narrative Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the London Animation Festival, and 34 other awards.

I am so proud of you, the second chapter of Everything Will Be OK, was released in autumn 2008, with a third and presumably final chapter of the trilogy to follow. Since its release Hertzfeldt has traveled with I am so proud of you and a selection of his other films to 22 cities on a sold-out American tour (with two stops in the UK and three in Canada). I am so proud of you also played at film festivals throughout 2009 and has to date won 27 awards.

Current work

In October 2009, Hertzfeldt premiered an unannounced, new five minute comedy short entitled Wisdom Teeth at the "Evening with Don Hertzfeldt" screening at the Ottawa Animation Festival. It was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010 and the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, where it was awarded a Special Jury Mention.

According to his blog, his next project will be Chapter 3 of Everything Will Be OK.

According to his blog, Hertzfeldt has also been developing an animated project for television. He has also made references to working on a graphic novel.

In 2007, according to the animation industry website Cartoon Brew, Everything Will Be OK advanced to the final round of voting as a contender for an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, but did not make the ultimate list of five nominees.

In 2007, Hertzfeldt accepted an invitation from the George Eastman House's motion picture archives to indefinitely store and preserve the historically important original film elements and camera negatives to his collected work.

In 2009, Rejected was the only short film named one of the "Films of the Decade" by Salon.com. In 2010, it was noted as one of the five "most innovative animated films of the past ten years" by The Huffington Post.

In April 2010, at the age of 33, Hertzfeldt was the youngest filmmaker to ever receive the San Francisco International Film Festival's "Persistence of Vision" Lifetime Achievement Award, "for his unique contributions to film and animation," and "for challenging the boundaries of his craft." Past recipients of the POV award include Errol Morris, Guy Maddin, Jan Švankmajer, and Faith Hubley.

DVD releases

Hertzfeldt self-produces and self-distributes his own DVDs. With these sales, fans of his work are literally financing his next films, with no middle men in between.

Nevertheless, several international ad campaigns have borrowed heavily from his unique style and bear enough resemblance to Hertzfeldt's work as to be mistaken for it. The most well-known instance of this is a series of 2004-2009 television ads for Kellogg's Pop-Tarts, which use black and white stick figures, "squiggly" animation, surreal humor, and even an occasional crumpling paper effect, all very similar to Hertzfeldt's style. Despite all these similarities, Hertzfeldt was not involved in any way. It is unknown if the Kellogg Company was intentionally trying to mimic his style, or if these similarities were purely coincidental. In Canada, the not-for-profit corporation Encorp has used a Hertzfeldt-like style of short animation clips on TV and the Internet to promote its "Don't Mess With Karma" campaign to encourage recycling. One of the latest ad campaigns to use an art style similar to Hertzfeldt's is Krystal fast food restaurant to promote their Blitz Energy Drink.

Filmography

Ah, L'Amour (1995)

Genre (1996)

Lily and Jim (1997)

Billy's Balloon (1998)

Rejected (2000)

Welcome to the Show/Intermission in the Third Dimension/The End of the Show (2003) (cartoons created to book-end the first "Animation Show")

The Meaning of Life (2005)

Everything Will Be OK (2006)

I am so proud of you (2008)

Wisdom Teeth (2010)

References

External links

Bitter Films Home Page

American Film Institute 2009 interview

Category:American animators Category:Stop motion animators Category:Surrealist filmmakers Category:University of California, Santa Barbara alumni Category:People from Fremont, California Category:Artists from California Category:1976 births Category:Living people