Sun Xun's“Magic Atlas” Animated Film Premieres At Tokyo Festival

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Chinese painter Sun Xun's animated feature film,“Magic Atlas,” which took a decade to produce from thousands of individual artworks, earned a Special Jury Prize at the recent Tokyo International Film Festival.

Sun self-financed much of the film's production, working on it intermittently over ten years. Instead of traditional animators, he engaged hundreds of art students, reportedly 500 over the production period, to create individual frames in a large-scale workshop model. The film notably incorporates woodcut animation, giving certain sequences a tactile quality where individual carving marks are visible, creating a shimmering effect.

“Magic Atlas” is a visual artist's film, driven by association, symbolism, and dream logic. The narrative follows an explorer navigating mystic realms in a steampunk flying contraption, guided by the titular magic atlas. Most of the film is set in Luocha, a coal-mining kingdom where the explorer is imprisoned before a magic festival. Maps and memories are illegal in Luocha, reflecting an authoritarian allegory that evokes Maoist industrial quotas and an Orwellian cabal of anthropomorphized, cigar-smoking animals. Surveillance is maintained by an army of mosquitos with cameras for heads.

Sun Xun integrates poetic concepts from Eastern spirituality, similar to filmmaker Bi Gan, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all things. The film opens with a quote from the Avatamsaka Sutra about“the past, the present, the future lying in the present.” It concludes with a lengthy monologue, voiced by Sun, delivered by a hieroglyphic eagle, discussing the transmigration of souls. This theme is mirrored in the film's varied animation styles. While Luocha is depicted through monumental black-and-white woodcuts reminiscent of Rockwell Kent, the film also shifts into distinct styles that represent different worlds.

The work includes homages to artists like Salvador Dalí and Pieter Bruegel the Elder. One segment features vibrant pastels with the Jazz Age aesthetic of Reginald Marsh. Another was animated by Sun's Instagram followers using crayon and magic marker during the Covid-19 pandemic. Sun also incorporated his research into traditional Chinese art forms, including Dunhuang murals, Song dynasty painting, and various calligraphy styles, as he noted in a post-screening interview.

Materials from“Magic Atlas,” including woodcuts and concept art, have been exhibited at the Times Museum of Guangdong. Additional exhibitions are planned in the United States, where Sun is represented by Sean Kelly Gallery. Initial seed funding for the project came from Judith Neilson, an Australian philanthropist and founder of the Asian-focused White Rabbit Gallery. The gallery's current show, on view through November 15, includes“Magic of Atlas – Luocha: An Infinite Journey,” an 8-foot-high, 52-foot-long, 13-panel woodcut relief depicting scenes from the story in a scroll format.“Magic Atlas” screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 27, October 29, and November 1.

We previously reported:

Chinese artist Sun Xun's“Magic Atlas” is the first animated feature to compete at the Tokyo International Film Festival after a decade in the making.

Source: The Art Newspaper

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