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Chicago 10

Curious Pictures’ Animated Segments in
Chicago 10 Generate Sundance Buzz

New York, NY - January 26, 2007 – Filmmaker Brett Morgen’s provocative anti-war documentary Chicago 10, which opened the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, has generated tremendous buzz amongst the bloggers and journalists covering the festival, largely due to its unorthodox narrative approach to recreating the turbulence of the 1960s and the trial of the Chicago Seven.

Much of the attention on the film has focused on its innovative use of animation to recreate historical courtroom scenes where cameras were not permitted and for which there is no audio or video record. The film explores the trial of protesters Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, Bobby Seale and others who were arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The film uses archival footage as well as animated depictions of events created by Morgen and the New York-based animation and mixed media production company Curious Pictures. Actors Hank Azaria, Liev Schrieber, Jeffrey Wright, Mark Ruffalo, Nick Nolte, Dylan Baker and Roy Scheider provide voice portrayals of the defendants, including attorneys William Kunstler and Leonard Weinglass, and presiding Judge Julius Hoffman.

Curious Pictures’ executive producer Richard Winkler says that Morgen approached the studio with the idea for an animated reconstruction that would effectively portray the dramatic events at the center of the film.

Here’s a sampling of the coverage the film has generated so far:

From Variety.com:
Brett Morgen’s agit-prop documentary augments its excellent assemblage of archival footage with capture-motion animation to rep the courtroom antics, all in the service of an ideologically loaded approach dedicated to asserting parallels between the Vietnam era and today.
www.variety.com/review/VE1117932488.html?categoryid=2471&cs=1&nid=2584

From Wired.com:
Morgen came up with a brilliant workaround that really captured the circus-like atmosphere of the proceedings. His reenactment of the court trial is animated. First he filmed actors with motion-capture cameras role-playing the events of the trial, then animated the live-action footage. It’s the same technique used in “Polar Express,” but the result here is an absolutely exuberant rendition of the past. You’re instantly engaged and never left thinking – that doesn’t look like Abbie Hoffman. You give yourself over to the ‘toon.
http://blog.wired.com/tableofmalcontents/2007/01/sundance_2007_c.html

From New York Press:
The event got its proper start last night with the premiere of Brett Morgen’s fascinating amalgamation of archival footage and cartoon dramatization, “Chicago 10.” Although whimsical in its pacing and occasionally replacing argumentation with caricature, the film presents an entirely fresh approach to exploring the political climate in America during the 1960s.
http://nypress.com/blogx/display_blog.cfm?bid=64220261

From Rotten Tomatoes:
With its bold amalgamation of archival footage and rotoscope animation, “Chicago 10” is certainly unique…The animation is smooth and vibrantly colorful, while the old footage of the Chicago riots is horrifyingly bleak; its clear excessive force was used against anti-war protesters, and that the Chicago Seven were railroaded.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/news/comments/?entryid=395363

From The Oregonian:
Just a brilliantly vivid means of presenting history, with great ideas and music and archival footage and actors contributing voices to the animated versions of historical figures (Hank Azaria as Abbie Hoffman AND Allen Ginsberg!). Terrific stuff.
http://madaboutmovies.blogs.oregonlive.com/default.asp?item=443214

“This project came along at the perfect time for us, as its’ intense narrative and character performance requirements provided the opportunity to combine some techniques and creative approaches we’d already been developing,” Winkler comments. “We’re glad to have had the opportunity to do this. As you can see from the reaction, we think it was worth all the effort.”

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