'Affairs Of The Art' Screening On BBC Two Wales and iPlayer
Every year, the Best Animated Short category at the major awards ceremonies can be relied on to provide some films that are worth your while. Unless you happen to catch them at a festival though it can be hard to find somewhere you can actually see them. After all, it's not like you can pop down your local multiplex to watch a 10-minute film, and many of them are not available online. If you live near a participating venue you can catch this year's nominated films as part of Short TV Oscar-Nominated Films program, which also includes this year's nominated live-action and commentary shorts.
UK-based readers might be a bit miffed that they can't watch local animation hero Joanna Quinn's Oscar-nominated short Affairs Of The Art online via the New Yorker Screening Room YouTube channel unlike their North American friends. The good news is that it will be getting its English-language broadcast premiere courtesy of BBC Wales.
The Cardiff-based animator's acclaimed film will be screening on Sunday, March 27 at 10;15 PM On BBC Two Wales, just hours before The Oscars are due to take place across the Pond. Viewers elsewhere in the UK can find the Welsh version of BBC Two somewhere towards the top end of their digibox if they want to see it go out live. Or more conveniently, the short will subsequently be available via iPlayer for (at least) the next 30 days.
Nominated for Best Animated Short Film at the upcoming Oscars, animator/director Joanna Quinn and writer/producer Les Mills present Affairs of the Art - continuing their series of beloved, award-winning animated films that began with 1987’s Girls Night Out.
In an English language UK television premiere, the film - which has already picked up numerous international awards - finds 59-year-old factory worker Beryl reflecting on her life’s lack of accomplishments and what could have been. Obsessed with drawing from a young age, her dream was to go to art school, but pregnancy put an end to that dream.
Throughout the film, Beryl also exposes the eccentric obsessions of her family members, from her sister Beverly’s fascination with pet taxidermy and body sculpture, to her son Colin’s fixation with railway signal systems and screw threads. All the while, Beryl’s continued passion to be creative sees her coax husband Ifor to participate as her personal nude model and muse.
Featuring a voice cast including Menna Trussler (as Beryl), Brendan Charleson, Joanna Quinn and Mali Ann Rees, Affairs of the Art features Quinn’s signature hand-drawn animation with attitude and Mills’ raucously humorous scenarios.
