Walter Tournier

Walter Tournier
Born (1944-07-14) July 14, 1944
Montevideo, Uruguay
Nationality Uruguayan
Occupation Film director and animator
Awards Prince Claus Award (among others)

Walter Tournier (born July 14, 1944) is a Uruguayan director of animated and documentary films, who is closely identified with that country's enterprising filmmaking community. His work has been well-received both at home and at film festivals in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

Career

Tournier studied architecture at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, but decided that his true vocation was filmmaking. He joined C3M (Spanish: Cinemateca del Tercer Mundo) in 1969. He produced his debut film, In the Forest There Is Much to Do, prior to C3M's dissolution in 1974, using cutout animation to tell the story of a father who tries to make his young daughter understand the reason for his incarceration as a political prisoner.[1]

He then lived as an exile in Peru from the military dictatorship in Uruguay until 1985. There he dedicated himself to archaeology, which he studied at the National University of San Marcos in Lima. He also made several short films. During this period, he developed many of the animation techniques that he later applied with considerable success throughout his career,[1] such as the use of materials and technologies that he found locally.[2]

Tournier founded Imagenes Studio with producer Mario Jacob in 1986, where he served as head of animation. Among other films, he directed The Hiding Places of the Sun (1990), which showed the aftermath of eleven years of dictatorship in Uruguay through the eyes of children. In addition, he made documentaries and coordinated an animation workshop that resulted in the environmental miniseries Mother Earth. In 1994 he left Imagenes to form a new company, Tournier Animation.[1]

In 2012, following a succession of short films and television miniseries, he directed the first full-length animated picture to be made in Uruguay entitled Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe, with distribution by The Walt Disney Company. The production used puppet animation to present the life of 18th-century Scottish sailor Alexander Selkirk. It was acclaimed by Montevideo's El País newspaper as "a visual delight that is rarely found in a movie that is not British or American."[3]

Recognition

Tournier's work has been shown at film festivals in Latin America, Spain, France, Germany and the United States.[1] His internationally awarded animated films include The Condor and the Fox (1980), The Disobedient Carnation (1981), Our Small Paradise (1983), Optical Illusions (1983), The Boss and the Carpenter (2000), Caribbean Christmas (2001) and In Spite of Everything (2003).[4] In 2002 he received the Prince Claus Award from the Netherlands for his contributions to culture.[5]

Filmography

Tournier was involved in the production of the following films:[6]

Year Title Credit Format
1974 In the Forest There Is Much to Do Director, animator Short
1980 The Condor and the Fox Director, animator, cinematographer Short
1981 The Disobedient Carnation Director Short
1983 Our Small Paradise Producer, director, screenwriter, animator, cinematographer Short
1983 Optical Illusions Producer, director, screenwriter, cinematographer Short documentary
1990 The Hiding Places of the Sun Director Short
1992 The Montevidean Boulevard Director, animator Short documentary
1997 The Tatitos Director TV miniseries
1998 Octavio Podesta Director Short documentary
2000 The Boss and the Carpenter Director Short
2001 Caribbean Christmas Director, screenwriter Short
2001 The Tatitos Director TV miniseries
2003 In Spite of Everything Producer, director, screenwriter Short
2003 Tack, Rod and Lettuce Director, animator Short
2005 We Want to Live Director, screenwriter, animator Short
2006 We Want That They Hear Us Director, animator Short
2007 Tonky and Other Friends Producer, director, screenwriter, animator Short
2008 The Perfect Faucet Director, screenwriter, animator Short
2012 Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe Director, screenwriter Feature

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Curriculum vitae de Walter Tournier", Imagenes (2003).
  2. ↑ "Walter Tournier", Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (2002).
  3. ↑ "Selkirk llega al DVD con algunas novedades", El País (April 8, 2012). "Un deleite visual que rara vez se encuentra en una película que no sea británica o estadounidense."
  4. ↑ "Walter Tournier", The New Latin American Cinema Foundation (2013).
  5. ↑ "Laureates of 2002", Prince Claus Fund for Culture and Development (2002). "The awards are presented annually to 11 individuals or organisations whose cultural actions have a positive impact on the development of their societies."
  6. ↑ "Walter Tournier", IMDB (2013).
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