Jun 9, 2009

I Met the Walrus




In 1969, a 14-year-old Beatle fanatic named Jerry Levitan (Toronto,CA) snuck into John Lennon's hotel room in Toronto and convinced him to do an interview. This was in the midst of Lennon's "bed-in" phase, during which John and Yoko were staying in hotel beds in an effort to promote peace. 38 years later, Jerry has produced a film about it. Using the original interview recording as the soundtrack, director Josh Raskin has woven a visual narrative - transforming Lennon’s anti-war stance into a cascading flood of multipronged animation.

Raskin marries traditional pen sketches by James Braithwaite with digital illustration by Alex Kurina (only non J related individual in the project!). I Met the Walrus was nominated for the 2008 Academy Award for Animated Short along with Best Animated Short award from the AFI Fest, Middle East International Film Festival, Manhattan Short FF, Cleveland International FFm, RiverRun International FF.