SUNNY AFTERNOON
6 min 50 sec, 2012
DCP-2K, 24 fps, dolby digital 5.1
Production format: digital photography, scans, digital editing
Techniques used: Drawings on paper, rotoscopy, object animation, pixilation,
time lapse photography, combinations of some of those techniques.
Screening format: DCP, HD-Cam, 35mm

Concept, Direction, Animation, Music, Actor, Producer: Thomas Renoldner
Photography: Florian Flicker (1992), Muzak (2011), Thomas Renoldner
Sound-design, music: Lonesome Andi Haller
Additional drawings: Adrienn Kiss
Additional digital compositing: Clemens Kogler

Financial support:
Innovative Film (Austrian Art Ministery - Film Dept.)
State Government of Upper Austria - Cultural Dept.


SYNOPSIS:

SUNNY AFTERNOON is the confrontation of "kind of" an avantgarde-film with "kind of" a musicvideo, putting questions about the conventions, standard taboos and clichés of different film-"genres". Also music and sound was taylored to characterise typical clichés of different genres.

SUNNY AFTERNOON has two main film parts.
The first part is kind of a "found footage"-film, using only 16 photos of a simple movement shot in 1992, and explores the richness of possible variations and combinations of this very limited source material. This film also follows a "visual music"-concept, when each photograph of the movement is connected to one precise tone of a twelve-tone-scale. Thus the structure of the images defines the musical structure. At the same time this film part adds unusual humoristic elements to this usually more academic genre of 'structural film'.

The second film part in SUNNY AFTERNOON intends to break some of the typical rules of classical avant-garde film, it enjoys a more intuitive workflow, allows almost kitschy sequences such as time-lapse photos of clouds on a blue sky or playful experiments with four different, rotating black chairs. This film part also combines a variety of different techniques like drawings (animated and still), photography, time lapse photography, rotoscopy, object animation, pixilation, and partly combines these techniques. Thus it explores different levels of depiction: images of reality, representation of reality, illusion and even abstraction and in that way thinks about the special possibilities and meanings of the artistic image.

SUNNY AFTERNOON is based on the lyrics of a song composed 25 years ago and brings a filmproject to an end, which had first started 20 years ago; at that time the first script and the photos for the first film part were made. So of course this self-portrait is also a reflection about time. A short introduction adds a few photographs of the author approx. 20 years before the first film part, and the closing image, carefully drawn by Adrienn Kiss, imagines how the author might look like 20 years after film part two.


SHORT VERSION:

SUNNY AFTERNOON is the confrontation of "kind of" an avant-garde film with "kind of" a music-video, and thus puts questions about the standard taboos and clichés of both "genres". Both avant-garde film and music-video also parodise music and sound "typical for the genre".

SUNNY AFTERNOON explores images of reality, representation of reality, illusion and even abstraction and in that way underlines the specific possibilities and meanings of the artistic image in general.

SUNNY AFTERNOON is based on the lyrics of a song composed 25 years ago and brings a film-project to an end, which had first started 20 years ago. So of course this is also a reflection about time.

SUNNY AFTERNOON is a self-portrait.


VERY SHORT VERSION:

SUNNY AFTERNOON is the confrontation of an "avantgarde-film" with a ‚"pop-video" and the analysis of what might be regarded as classical preferences and taboos of both genres. Based on lyrics of the author when he was 25 years old, Andi Haller has arranged the music perfectly illustrating the mentioned basical approaches.


Interview with Michal Bobrowsky during ANIMATEKA Filmfestival in Ljubljana, December 2012
Best question in this interview: "Do you think, that the 'avantgarde attitude' can be audience friendly ?
This conversation underlines my dilemma of existing between categories, which tend to be quite seperated: the world of avantgarde and the world of animation.



Interview with festival director Serge Bromberg during ANNECY Filmfestival, June 2012
This is one of the best conversations about SUNNY AFTERNOON, and to understand better some of my private motives this is certainly a good addition to the more formal written statements below. At the same time I am amused to demonstrate, which parts of the interview were left out in the official version of the festival's youtube channel. A nice example, how media produces its own reality.


Interview during ETIUDA & ANIMA Filmfestival in Krakow - November 2012

BEST of OTTAWA 2012 - Trailer / starting with excerpts from SUNNY AFTERNOON


FILM CRITIC, published at: www.themovingarts.com/short-and-swede



From the Animania section, standout shorts included Big House, by Estonian director Kristjan Holm, Iranian film Tunnel directed by Maryam Kashkoolinia, and Austrian director Thomas Renoldner's Sunny Afternoon.
(.....)
Finally, Sunny Afternoon channels Dadaist anti-art, starting with a frenetic sequence of a man in the process of sitting down on a chair. The stereotypical avant-garde impression quickly crumbles; instead, the film becomes humorous as well as experimental, provoking laughter at the absurdity of a simple action broken down, simultaneously drawn-out and sped up. Each stage of the movement is repeatedly played forward and in reverse, making the man waver ridiculously, sometimes cheekily, in the process of sitting. The excruciating visuals are complemented by a siren soundtrack that seems equally designed to antagonise the audience. The film concludes with an image of an apartment block, viewed from another apartment opposite, accompanied by a lazy song, reminiscent of sixties rock: this section seems to offer relief from the preceding sonic attack, but the song’s banal lyrics make it annoying in a different way. Given its methods for grabbing attention and poking fun at its own self-conscious style, "Sunny Afternoon" s a film that might be more at home in an art gallery than at a festival. The advantage of a festival is that this kind of film can be shown alongside more conventionally narrative films, allowing it to reach a larger audience and stir up their ideas about what avant-garde film is or should be.

By Alison Frank (selected parts bold-marked by Thomas Renoldner)
Feb 19th, 2013


Festival Presentations

DIAGONALE - March 2012, Graz (Austria) - Festival of Austrian Films (competition)
CROSSING EUROPE - April 2012, Linz (Austria) - ('local artists' - competition)
VIS - June 2012 - Vienna Independent Shorts (Austria) - (opening programme)
ZAGREB - July 2012 - Int. Animation Festival (Croatia) - (grande panorama)
ANNECY - July 2012 - Int. Animation Festival (France) - (competition)
ANIMATOR - July 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Poznan (Poland) - (competition)
   Special Award for Best Music Film / Music
KRAKOW - July 2012 - Summer Animation Days (Poland) - (programme "Best of ANIMATOR 2012")
ANIMA MUNDI - August 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paolo (Brazil) - ("Gallery" - int. exp. animation)
ESPRESSOFILM - August 2012 - Summer Cinema Vienna (Austria) - (programme "Sunny Afternoon")
SILHOUETTE - September 2012 - Summer Cinema in Paris (France) - (programme "Hybrydes")
ANIMANIMA - September 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Cacak (Serbia) - (panorama)
FANTOCHE - September 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Baden/Zürich (Switzerland) - (competition)
OTTAWA - September 2012 - Int. Animation Festival (Canada) - (competition / experimental section)
   Best of Ottawa 2012 touring programme:
      Taipei (Taiwan) - Digital Art Centre - Nov. 2012
      Columbus, OH (USA) - Wexner Centre of the Arts - Nov. 2012
      Boston, MA (USA) - The Institute of Contemporary Art - Jan. 2013
      Vancouver (Canada) - Pacific Cinemateque - Feb. 2013
      Fredonia, NY (USA) - Suny Fredonia - March 2013
      Vancouver (Canada) - Emily Carr University of Art & Design - March 2013
      Cupertino, CA (USA) - De Anza College - March 2013
      San Jose, CA (USA) - San Jose State University - April 2013
      Portland, OR (USA) - Northwest Film Center - April 2013
      Calgary, (Canada) - Alberta College of Art & Design - April 2013
      Istanbul (Turkey) - Istanbul Museum of Modern Art - April 2013
      Detroit, MI (USA) - College for Creative Studies - April 2013
      Kansas City, MO (USA) - Kansas City Art Institute - May 2013
      Madrid (Spain) - Esne University - May 2013
      Los Angeles, CA (USA) - American Cinematheque - June 2013
      Philadelphia, PA (USA) - International House Philadelhia - July 2013

BALKANIMA - October 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Belgrade (Serbia) - (competition)
ANIM'EST - October 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Bucarest (Romania) - (competition)
LIMASSOL - October 2012 - Int. Short Film Festival (Cyprus) - (special Austrian programme 'Gravity')
TINDIRINDIS- October 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Vilnius (Lithuania) - (competition)
BAF! - November 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Bradford (UK) - (panorama)
CINANIMA - November 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Espinho (Portugal) - (panorama)
ETIUDA & ANIMA - November 2012 - Int. Animation Festival Krakow (Poland) - (competition)
   Honorable Mention "for a humerous attitude to experimental film"
SOMMETS DU CINEMA D'ANIMATION - Nov. / Dec. 2012 - Montreal & Quebec (Canada) - (competition)
ANIMATEKAFESTIVAL - December 2012 - Int. Animation Festival in Ljubljana (Slovenia) - (competition)
   Jury Special Mention by Michaela Pavlatova "for its playfulness, joy and irony."
TOKYO - December 2012 - Kichijoji Baus Theater, Metamorphosis Night, (Japan) - (special programme by calf.jp)
PICCOLO FESTIVAL D'ANIMAZIONE - December 2012 - Udine (Italy) - (non-competetive int. programmes)
FILMWINTER - January 2013 - Festival for Expanded Media in Stuttgart (Germany) - (competition)
GÖTEBURG - January 2013 - Int. Film Festival (Sweden) - (special programme: "MAXIMERAT ANIMERAT")
HONG KONG - March 2013 - International Filmfestival (China) - ('Avant Garde' - programme)
ANIMAC - March 2013 - International Filmfestival in LLeida (Spain) - ('Open Screen' - programme)
OFAFA - March 2013 - Polish Festival of Animated Film (Poland) - ('Best of Etiuda&Anima'-programme)
MECAL - April 2013 - Barcelona International and Animation Short Film Festival (Spain) - (competition)
KIEV - April 2013 - International Short Film Festival (Ukraine) - (panorama)
SEATTLE - May 2013 - Int. Film Festival - (Washington, USA) - (competition)
NW ANIMATION FESTIVAL - May 2013 - Portland and Eugene (Oregon, USA) - (non-competetive festival)
NEW YORK - June 2013 - The Living Gallery Brooklyn (NY, USA) - (special programme curated by Brett Thompson)
MIAF - June 2013 - Int. Animation Festival - Melbourne (Australia) - (competition)
FESTANCA - June 2013 - International Animation Festival in Zilina (Slovakia) - (competition)
YAMAGUCHI - July 2013 - Center of Arts and Media, Metamorphosis Night (Japan) - (special programme by calf.jp)
KRAKOW - July 2013 - Summer Animation Days (Poland) - (programme "Best of Etiuda&Anima 2012")
ANIMAFEST CYPRUS - July 2013 - Int. Animation Festival Prastio Avdimou (Cyprus) - (competition)
NEW HORIZONS - July 2013 - Int. Film Festival - Wroclaw (Poland) - (competition)
FESA - Aug./Sept. 2013 - Student Animation Filmfestival Belgrade (Serbia) - (special programme)
VARNA - September 2013 - World Festival of Animation Festival - (Bulgaria) - (panorama)
ENCOUNTERS - September 2013 - Short Film & Animation Festival - Bristol (UK) - (competition)
ANIMASYROS - September 2013 - Int. Animation Festival - Syros (Greece) - (competition)
SAPPORO - October 2013 - Sapporo Praza, Metamorphosis Night (Japan) - (special programme organised by calf.jp)
MUMIA - October 2013 - Int. Underground Animation Festival - Belo Horizonte (Brazil) - (competition)
DOKART - October 2013 - Int. Film Festival - Neubrandenburg & Szczecin (Germany & Poland) - (competition)
LIAF - October 2013 - Int. Animation Festival - London (UK) - (competition)
STOPTRIK - October 2013 - Int. Film Festival - Niepolomice (Poland) - (competition)
ANIMATED DREAMS - November 2013 - Int. Animation Festival - Tallinn (Estonia) - (panorama)
ANILOGUE - November 2013 - Int. Animation Festival - Budapest (Hungary) - (competition)
ANIMA - March 2014 - Int. Animation Festival - Bruxelles (Belgium) - (special programme)
FLATPACK - March 2014 - Int. Film Festival - Birmingham (UK) - (competition)
FLATPACK - March 2014 - Int. Film Festival - Birmingham (UK) - (special programme)
NexT - April 2014 - Int. Film Festival - Bukarest (Romania) - (special programme)
FESTANCA - June 2013 - International Animation Festival in Zilina (Slovakia) - (opening porgramne)
DOKUFEST - August 2014 - Int. Documentary Film Festival - Przren (Kosovo) - ("Austrian Animation" - programme)
HIROSHIMA - August 2014 - Int. Animation Festival - (Japan) - ("Best of the World" - programme)
visionXsound:[KV-N] - September 2014 - Screening Days for Media Art - Neulengbach (Austria) - (special programme)
DOCartoon - September 2014 - Animated Documentary Film and Non-Fiction Comics Festival - Pietrasanta (Italia)
BANJA LUKA - October 2014 - Int. Animation Festival - (Bosnia and Herzegovina) - (panorama)