Artist Statement

Hiroshima
In the morning of 6th August 1945, a bright light invaded the edge of the floating world The chock, A violent blast. Bodies that stretched out the pain. The dreams of the past in the present, The visions of the future in the past. The child who he was, before… Before the flash struck. Before the world was disturbed…

Production notes:
“The Tale of the Floating World” is an animation film composed of the real characters shot in Japan and the mixture of new and traditional (film, video, photo, illustration and artificial images etc) techniques. A free evocation and surrealist of Japan and of the atomic bomb, in the form of an imaginary story, cruel and childlike. The dark visions, light, calm even agitated by the strange fantasy of the mutated world.

• Alain Escale. Born in 1967 in the south of France, studied Applied Arts in Nimes and Cinema, and video in Toulouse from 1983 to 1989. Director and digital creator since 1991, he develops a visual and graphic style using moving pictures and new technologies with care such as Inferno* (Discreet logic) or at the beginning Henry & Harry (Quantel). Following his first film, “D’apres le naufrage (From the shipwreck)”, and following many trips to Japan, he is completing his project in connection with this far away oriental culture: “Le conte du monde flottant (The tale of the floating world)”, Grand Prix IMAGINA 2002. Alain Escalie has directed “Fontevraud, the soul and the stone”, a digital high resolution film permanently screened on the wall of the Royal Abbaye of Fontevraud. Much of his work takes place in France, but now widely travelled, most recently again to Japan, he has directed several commercials such as “NIT DATA 97”, based on the strange and intriguing world of Dali. As a graphic designer, he has collaborated on many opening credits for TV programs, video installations, shorts and video art films. His personal research has often been broadcast on Arte, Canal+, and NHK Japan and has won many prizes in international festivals (FCMM, Imagina, Nicograph, ARS Electronica. Monitors Awards, Locarno, etc …) This pictorial quest bridging traditional cinema and animation has given him the opportunity to work with others directors on several projects such as the commercials “NTT GROUP” (dir: Kenya Tauchi) and “Mirage unlimited” (co-directed with Maurice Benayoun) or “Cities of the past: BRUGGES” and “AViagem” (dir: Christian Boustani, EXPO’98 in Lisbon).