Animated Inspiration: Lutas

Here's one of those foreign animations that I'm hoping they show at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema this November. Lutas is a Brazilian production from LightStar Studios. According to the LightStar website, this story is the "Brazilian tale of an immortal 500 year old hero who is destined for the same woman through the ages, although he finds himself in troubled moments throughout Brazil's colorful history."


I'm always intrigued when watching foreign animated films because, while the animated medium may be the same (along with the principles of animation), each people group interprets film and story through their own cultural lens and (usually) creates a unique visual style. As the costs of software and equipment go down, I'm hoping that we'll see more foreign animated feature films like Triplets of Belleville, Secret of Kells, Technotise: Edit & I, and Metropia. One of the reasons why I make the trek every November to Waterloo Ontario is that Joe Chen (and crew) does a masterful job of finding animated feature films from around  the world to show at his festival. Here in the midwest United States, the opportunity to view these films on the big screen just isn't there yet--whether that's due to a lack of money or a lack of mainstream appreciation for the cinema from other cultures, I guess that's up to the reader to decide. For now, I'll just be thankful that I'm within driving distance of Waterloo, Toronto, and Ottawa for my yearly animation festival fix.


NOTE: Due to some nudity and violent images, this trailer is NSFW.