Història d’Este (Story Of Him): Full Film & Pascual Perez Interview
Among the many fine shorts at Annecy 2012, few stuck out as much as Història d’Este (Story Of Him) By Pascual Perez. The comical tone was a huge hit with the festival goers and the short animation ended up wining a much deserved ‘Annecy Junior Jury Award for a short film’.
We caught up with Pascual last week to chat about his film, its origins, his working method and who HIM is….
Story Of Him won at Annecy and quite rightly so. What has been the reception for Story Of Him in your own country?
Well I’m quite happy. I’ve been to a few festivals in Spain and I did have support from people that like animation, also from associations of ex alcoholics, they where very open and liked the “sincerity and fun” at the time to touch something very dramatic at the bottom. So I’m very happy with the reception. There were also a couple of rejections from some festivals in Spain that didn’t get the film, I try to think that that is not my fault.
What was your inspiration for Story of him? Where did that idea come from?
Story of Him film comes from a Little comic strip that I did many years ago. When I was an art student I often went to a local pub called “la Manola” in El Barrio del Carmen, in Valencia. I did the strip for a fanzine and as a present for the owner of the pub, and he loved it so much that he allowed a friend and I to graffiti it on the wall of his pub. The graffiti has being there for almost 17 years.
I love the lack of a moral judgement in the film, it has a great sense of fun, do you prefer to approach your projects in this way?
Well yes. I think you shall present the “stuff” without make judgements, the viewer is the one that shall make a judgement if he feels like it. I did try to introduce a change in the timing of the film to give the audience distance and allow them (or me) to have a bit of reflection about the subject. It is a bit like, oh, well that’s fun but maybe there is something not that fun behind it. However, I do prefer not to direct the audience too much, I also love characters that are good and bad at the same time (or bad and good). I think, we humans are complex … not just good or bad.
Who is “him”? Is he a Spanish character with English Aardman qualities?
He is definitively a Spanish character. As for the English Aardman qualities, I’ve worked for Aardman in numerous occasions from 1999, also I do love the style that Nick park, Steve Box, and Peter lord (and all the animators there) give to the “plasticine” animation, so I feel proud of the Aardman qualities in my work. I like to push the characters a bit more, make the movements a bit bigger, the mouth shapes and teeth more wild, but we, Spaniards we are a bit like that, we move the arms and body when we talk, we talk loud so yes, Him is a Spanish character with English Aardman qualities.
Did your time at in England influence the film at all?
Oh, yes, sometimes, you need to be in one other place, feel one other culture to understand or just to see how estranged or rare your own place is. I do think that anybody could go to any country at any time, even for short time, and realise that we are all very rare and unique, and that will make people respect more each other.
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Pascual Perez and Peter Lord
This film has got a very unique sense of humour, would you call that Spanish humour? It plays very well worldwide…..
Each day we share more and more information worldwide. Culture, background, news, images … so I suppose that helps… I know that some jokes just work in specific countries or cultures, but humour, is something more than just jokes, and usually it travels without passports or nationalities. It goes with memories, and imagination as well.