Legends of Australian Animation

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) presents Legends of Australian Animation, an evening bringing together some of the country's most celebrated animators to discuss their creative lives and work on Monday 15 September 2014.

For the first time ever Academy Award®-winners Adam Elliot, Bruce Petty and Shaun Tan, plus nominees Anthony Lucas and Sejong Park, appear together in an event set to overflow ACMI Cinemas with imagination, heart-warming storytelling and familiar characters.

In this one-night-only affair, our legends will discuss their unique approaches, share stories, and muse on the international success of Australian animators, stimulating lively discussion along the way.

Appearing at this very special event:
Bruce Petty received Australia's first Academy Award® for Best Animated Short Film in 1977 for the satirical and still highly relevant hand-drawn animation Leisure.

Adam Elliot, a master of clay modelling animation, known colloquially as -claymation', won the Academy Award® for Best Animated Short Film in 2004 for his short Harvie Krumpet. Following on from  the success of his multi-award winning debut feature film, Mary and Max (2009), ACMI created and toured Mary and Max: The Exhibition revealing the creative process behind this touching tale of pen-friendship and acceptance of difference. Elliot's Oscar® and Harvie Krumpet maquette are permanently on display at ACMI for visitors to enjoy.

Shaun Tan and his collaborators shaped the beautiful illustrations in his children's book The Lost Thing into a moving 3D-animated film that won the Oscar® in 2011. ACMI championed Tan's work in 2013 when it curated and presented the exhibition Shaun Tan's The Lost Thing: From book to film.

Anthony Lucas was nominated for an Oscar® in 2006 for The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello, a Gothic horror mystery combining different forms of animation. On permanent display at ACMI is Lucas', The Faulty Fandangle (2009), an extraordinary work combining animation with mechanical illusions and shadow play.

Although Sejong Park completed the Oscar®-nominated Birthday Boy (2004) as a student, the film displays the technical ability and emotional maturity of an artist with years of dedicated service.