Annual Prize Contest The Arts & Letters Prizes competition offers publication and a $1000 (US) prize for winners in: Fiction (Short Story), Poetry, Drama (One-Act Play), and Creative Nonfiction (Essay). A $15 submission fee, payable in US dollars, includes a two-issue subscription to Arts & Letters. Please make checks or money orders payable to “GCSU” (note “Arts & Letters” in the memo section). All submissions will be considered for publication. (International authors: Please see below for our new policy concerning international submissions.) Submission Deadline: Submissions should be postmarked January 1 to around March 15 (postmark deadline, with specific date announced each year). For all submissions: Submit only original, unpublished work in English. Simultaneous submissions are acceptable if the editors are notified immediately that the work has been accepted elsewhere. Authors may submit more than one manuscript; however, each submission should include the required entry fee of $15, which provides for a one-year subscription (fall and spring issues). Include a cover sheet with your name, address (where you want your subscription/s to be sent), phone/email contact information, and the title of your work. For those submitting more than one manuscript, you may designate a gift subscription to be sent (please provide name and address where you want the subscription sent). Send a no. 10 self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish to receive an announcement of winners (usually in late June/early July). No manuscripts can be returned. Please note: For this year, we cannot accept online submissions for our prizes competition. We can only accept hard copies. The author’s name should not appear anywhere in the manuscript, only in the cover letter (for creative nonfiction, if relevant to this policy, please avoid using your full name in the manuscript). For fiction and creative nonfiction: Submit one story or essay, typed, double-spaced, no more than 25 pages long. For poetry: Submit up to eight PAGES of poetry, typed, single-spaced, one poem (or part of a poem) per page. For one-act plays: Submit one work, typed in standard format. For all submissions: Please mail your submission unfolded and unstapled in a large-size manila envelope and write “Fiction,” “Poetry,” “Nonfiction” or “Drama” on the outside. Send to: Arts & Letters Prizes Campus Box 89 Georgia College & State University Milledgeville, GA 31061 Special Information for International Authors: Due to the high cost of international postage (typically ranging from $8 US to over $10 US), we will no longer be able to send both issues (fall and spring) to our international contestants. Instead, we will mail either the fall issue (featuring fiction and poetry winners) OR the spring issue (creative nonfiction and drama winners), depending on the genre in which the author submitted. However, if an author is able to use a US mailing address (or wishes to have a gift subscription mailed to a friend in the US), please tell us so in a cover letter, provide us the appropriate US mailing address, and we will send BOTH fall and spring issues to that US address. Also: International authors do not need to send a SASE or International Postal coupons for notification of winners. If the author will provide an e-mail, we will send the results (usually late June/early July) via e-mail (this information will also be listed on our web site). We’re sorry, but we cannot accept electronic submissions, only hardcopies mailed to us directly, as explained above. Please note: Unless costs are reasonable, we can only provide domestic (US) airfare for our winners to travel to our campus for special prize programs; travel costs will be addressed on a case-by-case basis. Publication and prize money, of course, remains the same.

Submission Guidelines

Submissions Material submitted to Modern Haiku is to be the author’s original work, previously unpublished, and not under consideration by any other publication, including Web-based journals, personal Web sites, blogs, etc. In order to receive consideration, all submissions must be accompanied by an addressed stamped envelope. E-mail submissions from North America are not accepted. Submissions from outside North America may be made by post (in which case an International Reply Coupon (IRC) should be included for a reply and author payment) or by e-mail (in which case we will respond by e-mail and place any author fees in the Modern Haiku Gift Fund—see below.) Please send your e-mail submission to: <trumbullc@comcast.net>. Cut-off dates for the reading of submissions are March 15, July 15, and November 15, but material may be sent at any time and upon acceptance will be published in the next available issue. Modern Haiku pays $1.00 per haiku, $2.00 per haibun, and $5.00 per final printed page for essays; payment is made upon acceptance of the work. Submitters may donate their authors' fees to the Modern Haiku Gift Fund, which is used to cover the costs of anonymous gift subscriptions to deserving and needy haiku poets worldwide. Most essays, reviews, and artwork are specifically commissioned by the editors; please contact Modern Haiku before submitting such materials on spec. Books or other materials for review should be sent to the editor at the address below. Prospective submitters are strongly urged to familiarize themselves beforehand with the journal, especially with regard to what constitutes a haiku. Sample copies of Modern Haiku may be ordered as described below. The Modern Haiku Web site—<http://www.modernhaiku.org>—also prints a selection of haiku and other materials from each issue. Submit your work to: Charles Trumbull, Editor Modern Haiku PO Box 33077 Santa Fe, NM  87594-3077

Deadlines for TNQ Writing Contests in 2011

We are now accepting submissions for our 2011 contest deadline.

Our 2010 winners (and a few others we couldn't resist) are published in Issue 116: To See and be Seen.

The Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest
1,000 dollars for one glorious poem

Sponsored by TNQ editor Kim Jernigan and family in celebration of the man who sparked their love of poetry, this contest is for poems written in response to an occasion, personal or public-poems of gratitude or grief, poems that celebrate or berate, poems that make of something an occasion or simply mark one. We are interested in light verse and in verse more sober, in the whole spectrum of tones and occasions. One of Nick's own poems, which we think captures the broadness of his (and our) sense of 'occasion', is pictured at left. For a bit lengthier background on the genre, you can also turn to Amanda Jernigan's funny and thoughtful essay on poems and occasions, linked below. Both originally appeared in Issue 100 of TNQ.

We will award a grand prize of $1,000 to the poem judged most worthy. Another $1,000 in prize money will be distributed as the judges fancy. However the prize money falls, the best of what we see will be published in The New Quarterly, at our usual rates, and posted on our website.

Entry fee: $40 for up to 2 unpublished poems, $5 each for additional poems. Submissions include a one-year Canadian subscription (or subscription extension) to The New Quarterly, and may be accompanied by a brief paragraph describing the event that occasioned the poem. 

Eligiblity: Entrants must be Canadian or currently residing in Canada. Entries may not be previously published, accepted, or submitted for publication elsewhere. There are no restrictions on length or number of entries, so long as the appropriate fees are paid. Entrants anonymity will be carefully preserved throughout the judging process. Every entrant will receive notification via email that his or her entry has been received. The decisions will by made by August 31; winner(s) and finalists will receive notification by letter. 

Deadline: Postmarked Feb 28, 2011

Mubarak Embarrasses President Obama and Disappoints the World

Author: Diran Afarian
Published: February 10, 2011 at 5:51 pm

The Middle East turmoil takes a new turn. This last one, where President Mubarak lead many to believe he will be resigning, then, as a token effort, announced that he is going to stay on as president, but will transfer all power to the Vice President he appointed a mere 2 weeks ago.

It is my opinion that there has been some conversation between the U.S. administration and Mubarak (or someone high in Egypt). The U.S. administration was probably lead to believe that there will be a significant yield of power. Those words made many assume that he would be resigning.

Talk about jumping the gun, that statement led President Obama to say, "... we are witnessing History unfold..." earlier this morning. Another person trying out for Dionne Warwick's job was the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta when he said, "It is assumed Hosni Mubarak will hand over power to Vice President..." Mr. Panetta, you know what happens when we "Assume".

The president and the administration are in an awkward position to say the least.The fact that this decision was announced today means Mubarak probably has the support of the armed forces behind him or he wants to commit suicide. I hope this is not to aggravate the situation to warrant using force.

In the Middle East pride runs deep. Even with millions protesting Mubarak shows that trait when he said, "No one makes the decision for me...". Was he talking to the people or president Obama? We will never know.

Alan Chin in Cairo: Extreme Shock and Rage.

(It Seems Even the Generals Thought Mubarak Would Resign.)

Anticipating Mubarak’s speech to the Egyptian people, to the anti-government protesters, and literally, to the world, the expectation tonight —  telegraphed in the most convincing way in the afternoon by the top echelon of the Egyptian military — was that the President would announce he was stepping down. Analogies to the fall of the Berlin Wall were as prominent and flowing as the flags — mostly Egyptian, but also Tunisian — billowing back and forth among the dense, giddy and this-far-from-blissful assemblage in Tahrir Square waiting and waiting to watch the speech.  In the early hours, Alan sent just three pictures. In their simplicity they track the story of this profound, stunning and ultimately, crushing evening.

As Alan related to me, exhausted:

The first photo captures the massive crowd in Tahrir as it was getting dark, waiting eagerly for “the speech.”

The second photo captures the dead silence and rapt attention of not just the crowd, but the soldiers watching the speech atop their APC’s  projected onto sheets-for-TV screens. In the background is the Egyptian Museum, and beyond that, the burned hulk of the ruling NDP Party headquarters.

And the third photo captures the moment the people realized Mubarak wasn’t going anywhere.

In describing the crowd reaction in that moment, Alan felt that it wasn’t anger, not in the singular way that the television commentators described it, as much as shock, a shock like a powerful body blow. I really admire this photo for all it says. Of course, there’s the fist in motion, expressing the rage one would feel upon taking such a blow, but the rage running wild through the veins of the Egyptian public right now in the early morning of what most people fear will be a frightful day. And then, there’s his face and his eyes. It’s the face of the Egyptian street right now, feeling so betrayed and abused, so deeply hurt and upset.

Ever the student of politics, too, Chin expressed the surprise and confusion of everyone over the bizarre twist of events. Said Alan:

“The degree of the shock was the result of what the army said, the Generals actually presenting themselves in the Square today. Really, if you watched their announcement on television — and you couldn’t miss it, because it was playing everywhere, over and over — it looked like something out of a 1940’s movle, these senior officers with these very serious looks. They didn’t quite say Mubarak was going to leave, so there was room to maneuver. But, as a projection of authority, it was just them.  All them. There was no Mubarak and no Suleiman. So late tonight, when it was Mubarak on TV, and then Suleiman, but no generals with them, well… what the hell does that mean?

“The situation is explosive. It’s absolutely explosive. El Baradei is calling on the military to save the day, almost begging them to stage a coup. That’s what most people in the street seem to want as well. There is plenty of suspicion toward the military, but people believe it’s the best option.

“Right now, it feels like, unless the military actually does intervene, this place is going to explode. But what happened? Even Leon Panetta, the US Director of the CIA was saying he was going to resign. I’m afraid for what’s going to happen. People are marching on the TV station as we speak.”

– Michael Shaw with Alan Chin

PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALAN CHIN

>via: http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2011/02/alan-chin-in-cairo-extreme-shock-and-rage...

 

__________________________

 

February 09, 2011

“We Are Writing History by Our Blood”: Egyptian Physician on Why Protests Won’t End Until Mubarak Resigns

 

 

 

GO HERE TO VIEW VIDEO REPORT

Democracy Now! senior producer Sharif Abdel Kouddous speaks to Egyptian physician Dr. Ali El Mashad in Cairo’s Tahrir Square over the weekend. Dr. Mashad describes being injured in the streets and bleeding from the head. “We are writing history by our blood,” he says. Mashad says he will not stop demonstrating until Mubarak leaves office. [includes rush transcript]

Filed under Egypt, Sharif Abdel Kouddous

Dr. Ali El Mashad, Egyptian physician participating in the demonstrations in Cairo.

Sharif Abdel Kouddous, Democracy Now! senior producer. He is currently reporting from Cairo, Egypt.

Related stories

• Defying Regime Threats, Thousands of Workers Join Protesters in Tahrir Square
• Human Rights Watch: 300 Deaths, Massive Detentions and Abuse under Mubarak Regime Crackdown
• After Record-Level Turnout in Tahrir, Egyptian Protests Spread to Parliament, Cabinet Buildings; Labor Unions Launch Strikes Nationwide
• “People Are Determined to Stay Until Mubarak Leaves”: Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous Reports in Cairo on Day 15 of the Egyptian Pro-Democracy Protests
• Detained Al Jazeera Journalist: '[The Military] Viewed So Many of Us as Prisoners of War. Our Hands were Tied Behind Our Back with Cables. Our Eyes were Blindfolded.'

AMY GOODMAN: In Tahrir Square over the weekend, Democracy Now!’s Sharif Abdel Kouddous spoke to an Egyptian physician named Dr. Ali El Mashad who is participating in the demonstrations. He said the longer the revolution lasts, the more beautiful it becomes.

DR. ALI EL MASHAD: My name is Ali El Mashad. I’m from Cairo. I’m a doctor, physician. I see that the more delayed or the more late his decision to go away is, the more creative, more beautiful is the revolution. So, I want him to give us some more time to do or to make a more beautiful revolution, a more historical revolution, a more creative one, a more distinguished one. That’s it, just as war, because this was very ultra-violent, ultra-violent. But thank God we are here. I don’t know why, I don’t know how.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Did you ever expect Egyptians to be able to do this?

DR. ALI EL MASHAD: No, not ever. And I didn’t expect we can overcome these partisan, these armies. We faced gas bombs. And I was dying. I was gasping. Eight days now.

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Spent the night here?

DR. ALI EL MASHAD: Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went home for three to four hours within these eight days, to take a bath, take a shower, to sleep for two hours, couple of hours. But I’m sleeping here. I’m living here. And I don’t want to go back home. My wife is coming now. She was striving to come, and I said, "Leave the kids and come." Why not?

SHARIF ABDEL KOUDDOUS: Do you think it will work?

DR. ALI EL MASHAD: Yeah, yeah, I’m sure. It is working. It is working. We have succeeded. I think after Wednesday, after the massacre of Wednesday—I was there. I was in the first line there, and I took one of the—I took an honor here, a little honor, compared to the other [inaudible], who took—I know one went to the hospital six times to get stitches, six times, and returns back to resume war. He was fighting. He was fighting like a soldier, without any training, without any organization, without any past history. I don’t know how. But I saw the people, the youth, fighting, fighting like death, 15 hours, for 15 hours. I can’t believe it.

At 3:00 a.m. Thursday, I was sure we’re down. We can’t resume. So I prayed to God. I couldn’t throw stones. I couldn’t do anything. So I stood up with the people, to die with the people, and started praying. Then, I decided to go to sleep. I couldn’t stand up.

At 5:00, I had a phone call from my wife. She said, "You’re leading. You had a victory already." I said, "How? How come?" After one-and-a-half hours of sleep. Then my colleagues came. They said, "The army, this army that they brought to us, has gone. It has gone. We are controlling the bridge." I said, "We are controlling the bridge? We are controlling the bridge?" They said, "Yeah. And also, we have three—we have three deaths." I didn’t get sad. I said, "That’s how the revolutions—that’s how the revolutions succeed, by this blood, by this blood, by these clean, clear youth, who are dying, who are dying for the country, for their rights, for their future and the future of their kids."

I told my wife on the phone, "Tell my kids, if I pass away here, tell my kids, 'Your father was a man, was a man of his word. He stood up for his rights, for your rights, and he went away for you. So, don't lose this.’" And I was sure this may happen. I’m sure, 'til now, this may happen. I am ready to it. I am trying to be ready to it. I'm trying real hard to be ready, to be ready for bullets, for fire, for the last fight. I’m ready. I’m trying, trying to be ready.

I think he’ll go, easily. I’m sure. I am sure he’ll. I think he’ll go easily. But I am putting all the odds. He may not go easily, so we’ll fight him to go hard. But he’ll go. Three days, four days, two weeks, a month, a year? He’ll go. He has been judging us, he has been stealing us, he has been fighting us 30 years ago. So, we are ready to fight him, a year, two years, here.

Everybody, every, every single drop of blood which is shed here is one of the—is one of the steps towards victory, towards freedom, towards history. We are writing history here, by the blood of our youth, by our blood. We all know that. When I felt the first drop of blood on my head, I was very happy. It was very happy. It’s my first time. It’s my first time to shed blood here. I used to do this all the time. I used to protest against all the decisions. But this was my first drop of blood. So I felt we are near. This time, we’re real near. This time, we are almost. We will never give up. We’ll never yield. He is the man who will give up. Soon he’ll go away. And I’m telling him here, go away now. Go away now, or you’ll be killed.

AMY GOODMAN: That was Dr. Ali El Mashad, an Egyptian physician participating in the demonstrations in Cairo, speaking in Tahrir Square over the weekend. Special thanks to Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Jacquie Soohen. This is Democracy Now! When we come back, we’ll be joined by Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Anjali Kamat of Democracy Now! and speak with Human Rights Watch. The numbers are going up of those who have died—over 300, it’s believed at this point. And how many thousands have been detained? We’ll speak with a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Cairo. Stay with us.

>via: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/2/9/we_are_writing_history_by_our

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Hair Power Skin Revolution

In Nicole Moore’s edited collection Hair Power Skin Revolution a wide range of women of colour, have explored and developed their writing to great effect by setting down what their hair and skin means to them. Through the mediums of essays, stories and poetry, all are tested and used to analyse their experiences, feelings, trials and tribulations, I have to say, with varying degrees of insight. It is funny and surprising, and I am sure in some instances will make you weep or smile in memory of the relatives who are no longer with us.

 

I have enjoyed it very much, though it raises lots of thoughts and ideas for me. For reasons I am unable to fathom it never occurred to me that I would write here about this subject. That is despite the fact that I have been on my own hair journey this past few years. Even though I have been enjoying a number of hair blogs, mostly from the US, writing about hair hardly seems to me to be a topical or critical subject. For me it is a practical one. And after checking this out with friends and family, [Yes, I did some objective Guardian style research before writing this piece!], while they too understand hair issues as it relates to black women in the west – for them, as for me, it is not really something that is uppermost in our minds. So I cannot say that left to my own devises that I would have bought this book, and that would have been such a shame. I would have missed out on My Bad Hair Life by Catherine Anthony Boldeau, where she wittily describes her mother’s energetic efforts to prettify her hair. My message to Catherine, is that I’ll have your mother’s heirlooms of ribbons, while you get on with writing the story of the black Scarlett O’Hara – not the fainty, drippy one – but the feisty one undertaking her own real adventures – I’d buy that.

 

In autumn 2008 – yes the Obama November, a photographer friend asked to do a portrait of me. She wanted to create an image that was a contemplation of that most momentous occasion. At that time my hair was relaxed and in a kind of bob style; and I had been in a couple of meetings in the run up to the US election, where I had been called ‘Michele’ by people, I supposed at the time, were probably more anxious than I, about what the future might hold. By the end of the year, it now transpires I had had my final relax. On 1 December, I had a really horrid time at the hairdresser, my scalp has always been sensitive, but on this occasion the hairdresser generously chatted away to me forgetting the time, not noticing my anxious eyes, all the while drawing his fingers through his quiff. My stomach was queasy and my scalp was burning. I had told him at the outset, as I always do at any hairdressers, how long I could bear the ‘creamy crack’ on my scalp. While my hair came out looking fine, my scalp was livid – in all senses of that word. At a Christmas party a few weeks later, a neighbour, a New Zealander, asked whether that was my natural hair and of course I explained. (A conversation I had had many times, before, usually around the fact that having been to get my hair ‘done’ – why was it looking longer than it was before!) The thing is, that her glorious red non-afro hair was doing naturally what my hair should have been doing – it was standing out in fabulous curly afro! So apart from one wash and blow dry to recreate the hairstyle for the photographer’s second visit at the start of 2009, that was the beginning of the end of almost 30 years of chemically processed hair. At the time of writing the portrait is about to go on show at the Maureen Paley Gallery, London.

 

So no more hairdressers! I miss the celebrity magazines, as I am not allowed to bring those into the house; but I don’t miss being fussed over, as that just made me impatient and tense. I have never found being at the hairdressers a relaxing experience, and when I think of the amount that I have spent over the years – I have my own cringe version of that moment where Carrie (in Sex and the City) realises that with the amount she’d spent on shoes she could have bought her own home.

 

While I sometimes wonder whether my sister was actually there during our childhood, since she comes out with such different things, and while we have disagreed about hair, make-up and clothes over the years, one of the few things on which we both do agree is that hair or beauty, was not discussed and did not come up in such contentious or awkward ways while we were young, as described in Hair Power Skin Revolution. Our mother never treated her own hair with any chemical process though she would  ‘press’ (hot comb) all our hair, and during the 70s and 80s; and as was the fashion for West Indian women here in Britain then, she wore wigs for work and wrapped her hair when at home. I can remember the horror mixed with laughter when a friend of my mother’s, who worked in a mental health hospital, told the story of her wig being snatched off by a patient and the shame she felt at being called an impostor in front of her colleagues by the patient. The patient, who ‘was not in her right mind’, to use the Jamaican expression, had thought that she was pretending to be someone else. While my mother and her friend were able to laugh about the ‘impostor’ accusation, I vowed that I would never wear a wig.  In any case I had always found the ‘head only’ mannequins on which my mum stored her wigs to keep their shape really creepy, and I had no intention of having any of those in my house.

 

So why am I telling you all this? It is because while I enjoyed this book, and I am sure that there are many who will and can review this book much better than I, I think that this book will only truly get to the hearts of those who really know what it means to try and make your hair ‘behave,’ the ones, who as in Christine Collymore’s Unwritten Rules, can only enjoy part of the weekend, as a portion of it is spent preparing how your hair might look for the next morning’s meeting. I would say those who are going to most thoroughly enjoy this book will know deeply the cultural context and resilience from which this book has arisen.

 

In addition to those that I have already mentioned, I loved Fiona Joseph’s Hair Wars: Growing Up Frizzy in the 70s and wonder if any youngster looked good in those 70s wedding photos? In my case it was the face powder that my mother brushed on at the last moment, that made my sister and I look like we were wearing death masks.

 

I was most worried about the poetry, I was not sure how I would hear it, if would I understand it – what if it did not rhyme. Yes, I am that simple. on poetry. Well, with a couple of friends we read a few out loud in the British Museum café – and we got it. Going through them again alone, I think I actually preferred the poems overall. Look out for Rapunzel, Rapunzel by Elayne Ogbeta; Hair We Are by Daniella Blechner and Me and my ‘fro by Gennett Aku Agbenu. And to my book club colleague Marcellina Aderibigbe, (My Skin Tells a Story) you kept that quiet! It is beautiful.

 

So in the end I welcome this book because it has given me a lesson in understanding. A lesson in how hair and skin set in the context of a shared issue has been able to set of this rich vein of creativity in women who I suspect, probably have little else in common.  I think that the main thing that brings them together is their desire to write, explore language, and to share on topics and ideas that would be lost, and who cares that others might not think these thoughts are worth recording. It is! It is! Most of all I admire Nicole Moore for bringing it all together.

 

About the editor: Nicole Moore was born in London of Guyanese and English parentage. She is a freelance writer and published poet, with experience of producing work for magazines and poetry anthologies. She is the editor of Brown Eyes (2005) and Sexual Attraction Revealed (2007) both Shangwe produced anthologies of creative expressions by black and mixed-race women. Nicole is a member of The Society of Authors. 

 

 

 

Hair Power Skin Revolution

A collection of poems and personal essays by black and mixed-race women

Edited by Nicole Moore

ISBN 9781848763937  £9.99

www.troubador.co.uk/matador

 

 

Kenya: Women's Shorties.

 

....for the 5th Annual Film Shorts Program, WIFI has partnered with the Universal Studios to showcase and celebrate the dynamic works of emerging and established Kenyan and Kenyan-American filmmakers.

Saturday, March 5, 2011. From 6:00PM-10:00PM on Stage 29 at Universal Studios located at 100 Universal City Plaza (at Lankershim) Universal City, CA 91608.

Africa Is a Woman’s Name, Wanjiru Kinyanjui, 2009/ Kibera Kid, Nathan Collett, 2006/ The Knife Grinder's Tale, R.L Hooker, 2007/Picha Mtaani (Heal a Nation), Christine Kinyanjui & Toni Kamau, 2010/ Subira, Ravneet "Sippy" Chadha, 2007/ Taharuki (Suspense), Ekwa Msangi-Omari, 2010

 

Madagascar Carnet de Voyage [VIDEO]

Nominated for Best Animated Short FIlm at the 2011 Academy Awards, this film by French Director Bastien Dubois, portrays life in Madagascar. This fantastic piece of animation experiments with new styles of animation as well as combining various mix media elements. Definetly gets our vote for the Oscar. PHENOMENAL!

An Interview with Bastien Dubois on "Madagascar Carnet De Voyage"

It is raining French Art! Our Joie de vivre has no bounds. Anifest 2010 dished out the most succulent sessions this time for the audience of Indian animation. Taking a leaf from the three day treat is an alumnus from Supinfocom Valenciennes, Bastien Dubois. "Très bonne maîtrise de l'anglais parlé et écrit. Quelques notions d'espagnol écrit et parlé". Bastien joked he understood hindi better. The French connection made ☺ he spoke of his award winning movie Madagascar aptly named Carnet De Voyage. Bastien Dubois after winning at Award Canal+ Annecy, Golden Peg bar Animania, Prix Du Publicite L'office National du film du Canada and Sundance Film Festival, very modestly says; "I can't believe so many people want to come and talk to me at Anifest". Madagascar is his journey through Madagascar, Carnet de voyage. Bastien took two years to complete the Animated Travel Journal. When we watched the movie it was like us travelling through his observations of Madagascar, and it was simply beautiful. When asked would you follow a style of art that makes it your signatory style? Particularly the water color style (feels like traveling through painted landscapes of Madagascar) he said "Non Non Non, I try not to. When I completed Madagascar there were many ad agencies wanting water-color work to be done. I like to paint but I want people to know that I can create lot of varied work with different styles, use different techniques and use new ideas for different projects. You can see in the screening of the film, I have used a different approach for every shot. Not the same recipe". His work englobe (quite literally) the wide spectrum of communication. Bastien has left no medium unraveled. A visual communicator in true spirit, he has flash games, websites, programming, handcrafts like toys and a pop up book, graphism, comics, 3d short films and Travel-Journal to his credit (you can visit http://www.bastiendubois.com, and soak in the brilliance, but here we tell you of his Travel Journal Madagascar, why not first soak under its sun). His love for a travel journal began with his visit to Istanbul, Turkey in June 2004. On 20th of August 2010 we could see him carrying his sketchbook and pencils, we thought Wow! he travels light…to which he said "Excuse me when I was traveling to Turkey, I traveled with a ten kg bag, five kgs only comprising of the arty stuff, the water-colors and I use different kinds of paper." Ok, we take that comment back, he doesn't travel light! Beginning with the spine of the story of Madagascar Carnet De Voyage,Bastien hadn't decided on his destination, but he had decided what the film will look like and what the narrative will be and the techniques to be used. Then his friend told him of Madagascar, its culture and he saw pictures, so the idea grew. Of course the art, the beaches, the food and the language were just attractions. "Sounds good!" he said, we say "sounds excellent", hearing about Madagascar every artist would jump to the idea and travel immediately to it. Bastien harbored the exact feeling.   "The first Idea of the movie was to go to Madagascar without any subject, to travel and draw and then each day the story would take a new turn", he said . So there wasn't any planning at the beginning we ask? "No, there was no planning, in the beginning. I went to a few people, the one who would be interested in funding the project", Bastien replied very animatedly, reliving the moment he continued, "Hey am going to travel to Madagascar and make a Travel Journal. There is no story, no story-board... so they very politely said NO. Therefore I wrote a story of this fellow starting from landing at Madagascar to meeting people, to the end. This became the spine of the story, and eventually I gave the movie its flesh and form."   Even before packing his clothes, Bastien drew his perceptions of Madagascar, for example the shot where the car passes by and the chicken runs. "I work on different parts separately first and then edit and place them consecutively to give it an interesting story line." Daily inspiration makes Bastien decide on what medium he would use to convey his observations of Madagascar. He said "Also the reason to use different mediums is so that I can innovate and exercise my brains with new ideas, not execute an idea I thought a year back. With 150 different shots in the movie, I have tried to incorporate as much different techniques as possible with whatever tools/pencils I could find". With such beautiful artistic aesthetics we hoped India too would be on the list of his Carnet De Voyage. To this hopeful question he replied "It is quite impossible, I took a lot of time on this movie. So I had a talk with my producer and we plan on something that helps us attain the result faster with more rotoscopy, without letting the quality level down, maybe something smaller like a one minute shot. I feel it is always good to take in information. I capture images on my camera and then the ideas may translate into something tangible". Every person has memories of his journey, and Bastien's especially is quite distinguished. Madagascar must be a thorough treat but Bastien as every traveler had many surprising and pleasant experiences or shall we say rather shocking after hearing the following story. "I went to a restaurant in the middle of nowhere and they have Bats, that one can eat". The thought gives the "heebie de jeebies". "I tried and it was an interesting experience, not my best though". Wait we are coming to the pleasant experience, Bastien said, "I met some French fellows, they work in the forest to study the plants and animals. I stayed with them in their house in the middle of the forest, looked for lémuriens (lemurs)." (din't spot King Julian there, we suppose;). There was a river flowing there we took a swim, that was cool. It was very relaxing and rustic, waking up everyday, cooking your own food, surrounded by woods, one feels like Tarzan there" "Then in another part of Madagascar I went on a three day trip cruising on the river in a canoe, it was beautiful"…sigh! that's enchanting! Coming back to earth, and the animation industry, Bastien's message to all the Indian animators/artists is, "Be earnest, keep going it is a tough and hard world. Don't be discouraged, be patient there is no instant success. It is synonymous to working in a garden; it is each day's work". It is raining French Art!  Look out for an interview with Arnauld, maker of Despicable Me and an interview with Jerzy Kular and Satyajeet Kumar on DSK Supinfocom's success story. Only on CGTantra! Click here to view more : Bastien Dubois content@cgtantra.com Discuss the article in forum