Moon Breath Beat
Moon Breath Beat is a 1980 animated experimental student film by Lisze Bechtold about her cats turning into abstract figures.
Production
[edit]The film was made while Bechtold was a student at California Institute of the Arts. Her instructor, Jules Engel, asked the class to make a film answering the question, "What happens when an animator follows a line, a patch of color, or a shape into the unconscious? What wild images would emerge?"[1]
Legacy
[edit]Lisze Bechtold later went on to do visual effects on FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992) and The Prince and the Pauper (1990).[2][3] She collaborated on My Film, My Film, My Film (1983), which is in the collection of MoMA, New York.[4] She also writes children's books including the Buster the Very Shy Dog series[5][6][7] and Toots the Cat.[8]
Moon Breath Beat was selected to the United States National Film Registry in 2014 as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[3][9] The film was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2016.[10]
Critical reaction
[edit]It has been described as "full of color, creepiness and unforgettable imagery".[11]
References
[edit]- ^ Gray, Tim (December 17, 2014). "'Big Lebowski,' 'Willy Wonka' Among National Film Registry's 25 Selections". Variety. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Moon Breath Beat". IMDb.
- ^ a b "2014 additions to National Film Registry: "Moon Breath Beat" (1980)". CBS News. 17 December 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "My Film, My Film, My Film". MoMA. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "BUSTER THE VERY SHY DOG FINDS A KITTEN". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Buster: The Very Shy Dog". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Buster & Phoebe: The Great Bone Game". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ Stevenson, Deborah (October 2005). "Toots the Cat (Review)". Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books. 59 (2): 101–2. doi:10.1353/bcc.2005.0176. S2CID 145776938.
- ^ "Cinematic Treasures Named to National Film Registry". Library of Congress. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Preserved Projects". Academy Film Archive.
- ^ ""The Big Lebowski" and 24 other movies the government thinks are national treasures". Hello Giggles. Time, Inc. December 18, 2014. Retrieved 26 June 2017.