Celebrating Animation at Washington West Film Festival

The had something for everyone, including an evening of bangs, whizzes, booms and laughter at The Famous Firsts of Chuck Jones. The program was held Friday evening (Nov. 4) at the Center for Innovative Technology.

Event Director and Programming Coordinator Sonja Suarez Carey said they wanted the festival to focus on telling stories—including in animation. She said the cartoons of Chuck Jones are ones she watched growing up and could always bring a smile to her face, even on an off day.

Suarez Carey said the cartoons featured are important because they were the beginnings of modern animation and can tell a story in an artistic way. Additionally, it was a great event to get entire families involved in attending the festival, she said.

Both young children, many of whom had never seen the cartoons before, and adults alike watched the screen with smiles, grins and a lot of laughter.

Leslie Combemale, of ArtInsights in Reston Town Center, presented the program and brought along some of Chuck Jones’ art from the cartoons from her gallery.

Four cartoons were shown, and included . Between cartoons the audience watched clips that provided more insight to the animation process of Chuck Jones’ cartoons and characters.

Combemale provided additional insight into the mind and creations of Chuck Jones. She said he often created characters and cartoons because people told him he couldn’t.

For example he was told he could never create a cartoon without dialogue. His response was Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. He was told French-accented, talking skunks weren’t funny, but won an Oscar for the Pepe le Pew cartoon For Scent-imental Reasons.

Sept. 21, 2011 would have been Chuck Jones’ 99th birthday and in honor of him they are traveling the country celebrating his work and his life. The events will be celebrated until Sept. 2012, his 100th birthday.

Those celebrations of Chuck Jones began this weekend at the Washington West Film Festival and continue on Sunday, Nov. 6 at ArtInsights where his grandson, Craig Kausen, will visit from noon to 4 p.m. to talk about what it was like growing up with him.

The inaugural Washington West Film Festival took place in locations in both Herndon and Reston, including Bow Tie Cinema in Reston Town Center, and the Center for Innovative Technology in Herndon.