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Jo Jo in the Stars

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Jo Jo in the Stars
Directed byMarc Craste
Written byMarc Craste
Produced bySue Goffe
StarringOliver Miceli
Andrew Stirk
Edited byWilliam Eagar
Music byDie Knodel
Samuel Barber
Dumb Type
Release dates
22 November, 2003 (UK)
Running time
12 minutes
Country United Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Jo Jo in the Stars is a twelve minute film that went on to win the 2004 BAFTA Award for Best Animated Short Film.[1] Created and directed by Marc Craste, it was inspired by "The Carny", a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds featured on their 1986 album, Your Funeral... My Trial'. The song is also featured in the soundtrack of Wings of Desire directed by Wim Wenders in 1987. As the film director said, “"The Carny" combines circus music from hell with a wonderful story about a bunch of freaks, their sadistic owner and an old horse named Sorrow. Because the lyrics read like a short story, it seemed to suggest a film - a straight visual interpretation of the text.”[2]

The film tells the story of a silver-plated trapeze artist, Jo Jo, who is worshipped from afar by an unnamed figure who learns that love rarely ends happily.[3] In a bleak and brutal world, two lovers make a desperate stand against those who would destroy them. Love, self-sacrifice, heroism and murderous jealousy are played out against a black and white world that is both nightmarish and hauntingly beautiful.[4][5][6]

Plot

Madame Pica is running a show of monsters and misfits for all to see. He, the unnamed hero, is there night after night only to see Jo Jo, the trapeze artist. One night after the show, he steals the keys of the cell where Jo Jo is imprisoned, freeing her. The two escape and start to dance a romantic waltz in the stars. But soon the two lovers are discovered and as a last desperate act, holding hand in hand, they jump of the highest window in the tower. Jo Jo, due to its ability to trapeze, holds the hand of her hero. But, due to the strong wind, the two lose their grip bad and he falls to the ground. While Jo Jo, blown by the wind on the window sill, is safe, he lies on the ground reached by a feather of Jo Jo, which was plucked out from her wings.[3][4][5][6]

The rain fell for ten long years, and what was once shocking no longer amused. The cavernous halls stood almost empty. While Madame Pica is despairing, blaming Jo Jo for the disaster, and she becomes aware that he, the unnamed hero, has become a real monster, but that he is still alive. The unnamed hero is taken on as the new star of the show. The two lovers are finally reunited, and they are waltzing their love in the stars again.[3][4][5][6]

Production

In 1986, Craste heard for the first time "The Carny", a song by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, that it is featured on the soundtrack of the film Wings of Desire. Fascinated and intrigued by the music and the wonderful story, he was suggested to make a straight visual interpretation of the text, and he started working on the storyboard.[2]

The director's idea was to shoot as much as possible as live action and combine it with 3D animation, heavily textured in charcoal to match his designs. But, no one would fund the project as they felt it was technically a tad ambitious. At the moment, Craste showed the storyboard to Nick Cave and the rest of the band. Few years later, the band asked him if it would be possible to include the storyboard on their video compilation, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: The Videos (1998), but, he was living in Copenhagen, and the project remained unrealized.[2]

In the following years, Marc Craste made three one-minute films for Studio AKA. They were stark little sketches with gratuitous violence in them, set in a nightmarish monochrome world of robot-like figures with bunny ears, featuring the likes of dominatrix Madame Pica, who also appears in Jo Jo in the Stars. The Studio AKA then asked Craste to make a longer film using the same characters, but without any murders.[3]

Jo Jo in the Stars has been also influenced by films from the '70s–'80s, such as David Lynch's Eraserhead (1977) and Wim Wenders's Wings of Desire (1987).[3]

Personnel

Template:Multicol

Director
  • Marc Craste
Script
  • Marc Craste
Cast
  • Oliver Miceli – voice
  • Andrew Stirk – additional voices
Music

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Animation
  • Dominic Griffiths
  • Bram Tthweam
  • James Rogers
  • Boris Kossmehl
  • Fabrice Altman
  • Duncan Burch
  • Andy Staveley
  • Fabienne Rivory
  • James Gaillard
Editing
  • William Eagar

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Sound department
  • Melissa Lake – foley artist
  • Ben Meechan – sound editor
  • Barnaby Smith[7] – foley editor
  • Michele Woods – sound re-recording mixer
  • Hilary Wyatt – supervising sound editor
Camera and electrical department
  • Duncan Burch – lighting and rendering
Other crew
  • Dominic Griffiths – pre-visualization

Template:Multicol-end

Awards

Jo Jo in the Stars has won the following awards:[1]

Year Award Category – Recipient(s)
2004 Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival[6] Prix du Meilleur Film d'Animation
Bradford Animation Festival Grand Prix
British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards Best Animation Short[8]
Aspen Shortsfest Special Jury Recognition[9]
Copenhagen 3D Awards Digital Hero Award for the Best Short Film[10]
Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival (SICAF) Animasia Grand Prize for Short Film[11]
Bristol International Short Film Festival (BriefEncounters) Best of British
2005 Paris Les Lutins du Court-Métrage Press Lutin
Cartoon d'Or Cartoon d'Or
2007 IFCT Awards Most Innovative Animation

The film has been screened at more than 80 festivals to date, including: Melbourne International Film Festival Short Film Competition, Sydney Film Festival, Anima Mundi, Cinémathèque québécoise, Prend ça court! (Montreal), Zagreb Film Festival, Tampere Film Festival, Annecy International Animated Film Festival (CICA), Festival Némo (Paris), Tübingen International Short Film Festival, Wiesbaden International Weekend of Animation, Holland Animation Film Festival, Holland Youth Film Festival, l0110 (India), Darklight (Ireland), Cartoombria (Perugia), Castelli Animati (Genzano di Roma), Kraków Film Festival, IndieLisboa, Vila do Conde, Donostia Kultura, Sitges Film Festival, SWAMP (Switzerland), British Animation Awards (BAA),[12] Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), Glastonbury Festival, onedotzero, Raindance Film Festival (London), Rêl Institiwt (Real Institute; Wales),[13] Soho Shorts Film Festival, SAND,[14] Independent Film Festival of Boston, Los Angeles Film Festival,[15] Tallgrass Film Festival, and The World According to Shorts[16] in 2004.[1]

Adelaide Film Festival, Anima, Hong Kong InDPanda International Short Film Festival, Tehran International Animation Festival, Skopje Film Festival, Norwegian Film Institute, Future Shorts (South Africa), Fantoche Film Festival (Switzerland), Draken Film Festival (Sweden), Stockholm International Film Festival, Golden Horse Film Festival, Turkey British Council (tour of Turkey), Animated Encounters (UK), Animex (University of Teeside), Cambridge Film Festival, Cinemagic, Commonwealth Film Fest (Manchester), HIFF (Hertfordshire International Film Festival), London Institute's Arts Festival, Northern Film Network (UK), Norwich International Film Festival, Antelope Valley Independent Film Festival, Brooklyn In Film Fest, Milwaukee International Film Festival, Portland International Film Festival,[17] REDCAT, Redstick Internation Animation Festival (Louisiana) in 2005.[1]

Singapore RestFest, Bucharest Festival, Short bl Movifest (Russia), Kyiv IFF Molodist Festival, Animacor (Spain),[18] Flip Animation Festival (UK), and Milwaukee International Film Festival in 2006. Ankara Uluslararasi Film Festivali (International Film Festival), Taiwan International Animation Festival, and CineGuernsey (Guernsey) in 2007. Berlin Film Festival, Lucca Animation, Brussels Short Film Festival, Rooftop Films, Fresh Film Festival in 2008.[1]


References

  1. ^ a b c d e JO JO IN THE STARS Awards. Awards. StudioAKA. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  2. ^ a b c Inspirations (XHTML). In depth, Interviews. Computer Arts. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  3. ^ a b c d e Carter, Jonathan (2004-06-04). jojo in the stars interview. features, film interview. BBC. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  4. ^ a b c STUDIOaka. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Jo Jo in the Stars. Film and IMAX. National Medium Museum. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d Jo Jo In the Stars International Short Film Festival - Clermont-Ferrand. Retrieved on 30 November 2008.
  7. ^ as Barnaby Smyth
  8. ^ Jury quote: "A real Grand Prix winner, for its mysterious yet believable world and poignant love story."
  9. ^ Aspen Shortsfest 2004. Aspen Filmfest. Retrieved on 29 November 2008. "For artfully balancing a delicate story of rebellious love against an inventive and visually stunning world."
  10. ^ 3D Awards - Winners 2004 (PHP). 3D Awards. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  11. ^ http://www.sicaf.org
  12. ^ British Animation Awards 2004. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  13. ^ Real Respite Care: Surreal Screen Libre. Rêl Institiwt - Real Institute, Wales, UK. Retrieved on 17 December 2009.
  14. ^ SAND at Swansea Metropolitan University, Wales, UK. Retrieved on 17 December 2009.
  15. ^ JOJO IN THE STARS. Shorts Programs. 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival. Retrieved on 14 December 2009. "In a fascinating gothic world, two lovers stand against those who want to destroy them."
  16. ^ 2004 Season. (8 September 2004). The World According to Shorts, Brooklyn, NY, U.S.. Retrieved on 17 December 2009. "Jo Jo in the Stars: Marc Craste, U.K., 12 min, animated, N.Y. Premiere."
  17. ^ 28th PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL. 11-26 February 2005. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
  18. ^ JO JO IN THE STARS. ANIMACOR 2006 - II International Animation Festival, Provincial Circuit. Retrieved on 14 December 2009.
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