DUUTSLfS LUn/cJ SOIJBLJO
TELEVISION
Ten-week ‘Academy Leaders' series highlights noted
Since short films rarely receive the recognition they deserve,
PBS is airing a 10-week series of hour-long programs showcasing
some of the top short works of ail time. The series, entitled
Academy Leaders, is devoted to showing short films that have
either won Academy Awards or have been nominated. It was writ
ten and hosted by Norman Corwin, who is a writer, producer and
director. Two shows that will be airing in the weeks ahead are:
Episode 8
8 p.m. Monday, March 26
—“Adolescence” This show begins the program by exploring the
human relationship between a 14-year-old Parisian schoolgirl and
her ballet teacher, an 84-year-old celebrated former dancer. The
retired ballerina, Madame Egorova, conveys to her pupil not only
the strict discipline of ballet, but also a deep love for the art form.
This touching study received a 1966 Oscar nomination for its direc
tor, documentarian Vladimir Forgency.
—“Neighbors” This is the second oldest film in the series. From
the National Film Board of Canada, it won the 1952 Academy
Award for best animated short, and is considered a classic both for
its theme and technique. The film maker, animator and innovator
Norman McLaren, deplored the physical violence he witnessed in
China during the Korean War, and shared his feelings in the
eight-minute black and white parable. The movie was filmed with
out a script, and was one of the first examples of single frame
shooting, in which all visual illusions are produced in the camera,
not through post-filming technical trickery.
—“City of Gold” This short film is a portrait of Dawson City in the
Klondike during the gold rush of the 1890’s, contrasted with the city
as it was in the 1950’s, when this Oscar nominee was made. In
order to fully utilize a collection of richly detailed photographs of the
mining town in its heyday, directors Colin Low and Wolf Koenig
developed a cinematic technique known as filmographic which
evokes a sense of movement in the still pictures by means of opti
cal effects, zooms and pans. The short caused a tremendous stir
not only with the Academy, but also in Dawson City, where the
Canadian government staged a festival honoring the town’s history,
and restored many of the old structures depicted in the film. “City of
Gold” was made by the National Film Board of Canada.
Episode 9
8 p.m. Monday, April 9
—“The Numbers Start With the River” A nostalgic look at rural
life in America’s heartland. When writer-producer-director Donald
Wrye received an Oscar nomination for this unpretentious profile of
the Midwest in 1971, it was his second consecutive Academy
nomination. The 14 1/2 minute short was produced for the United
States Information Agency for distribution abroad as a means of
sharing American culture with other nations. Its inclusion in the
series marks a rare domestic showing of a USIA film.
—“Time Piece” A jazzy stream-of-consciousness look at the
urban “rat race.” It was created in 1965 by Jim Henson, who was
then an experimental film maker and puppeteer. Henson rose to
public television prominence four years later as the creator of the
madcap Muppets of “Sesame Street.” Henson wrote, directed,
short films of past years
produced and starred in this surrealistic film, which got him an
Oscar nomination.
—“Robert Kennedy Remembered” A lasting tribute to the late
statesman. It is the work of film maker Charles Guggenheim, who
had worked with Kennedy during his 1964 campaign, and was
commissioned by the Kennedy family shortly after the senator’s
death. It was first screened as a memorial during the tumultuous
Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968, and was sub
sequently honored with an Academy Award.
SONIA PETROVNA POR
TRAYS an aspiring young
dancer, above, whose rela
tionship with her 84-year-
old dance teacher is ex
plored in “Adolescence,”
which opens the eighth
episode of the series. Be
low, muppet creator Jim
Henson is shown as he
starred in his own satirical
commentary on the urban
rat race in “Time Piece,”
which is included in the
ninth series episode. The
series is produced by
KCET in Los Angeles.