Virgil Widrich's Fast Film finally up on line

Written by Nic Wistreich | 06 October 2006 | in video - Shorts | Print |

It should have won an Oscar for best animated short, but its use of copyrighted images prevented that (albeit printed onto paper and folded into origami shapes). When I briefly met Virgil Widrich, whose Copyshop did stretch to Oscar glory, at the Hull International Short Film Festival, he thought that Fair Use laws would be enough for this film to get a US release and Oscar nomination. But no cigar, sadly, much to the loss of any copyright holders trying to keep geniuses like Virgil on side (because what's copyright without talent and art, eh?)

Nevertheless, its a miracle of what three years of patience, a production studio and serious amounts of hard work can achieve. And remember - as far as I am aware - there are no computer effects used in the making of this. Just a frame-by-frame labour of love.

Written by :

Nic Wistreich