Ryan Larkin
Ryan Larkin (born July 31, 1943 in Montréal , † February 14, 2007 in Saint-Hyacinthe ) was a Canadian animator and animation director.
biography
Larkin studied fine arts at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts . At the age of nineteen, he was hired as an illustrator by the National Film Board of Canada in the early 1960s . The animator Norman McLaren saw talent in him and helped him to make cartoons himself. This is how the nightmarish, one-minute short film Citérama was made in 1966 . McLaren was so enthusiastic that he made a second project possible for him: Syrinx , an encounter between the nymph of the same name from Greek mythology and the god Pan .
He became known in the animation scene through the film Walking (1969), which was nominated for an Oscar for " best animated short film ". The film, which Larkin worked on for two years, shows people walking. The colors of the figures shown are blurred again and again, resulting in the contours of new figures.
In 1972 the nine-minute Street Musique followed , which received a similarly positive reception as Walking . In 1978 he quit his work on the National Film Board of Canada because his finished film, Ding Bat Rap, did not go down well with the company's staff.
He spent most of the film's funding on his cocaine and alcohol addiction, which he indulged in over the years. Larkin lived as a homeless man in Montréal for a while . In the summer of 2000 he was finally on the selection committee of the Ottawa International Animation Festival , where he met the director Chris Landreth . Landreth made an animated short film about Larkin's life and social decline. The documentary film, titled Ryan , was released in 2004 and became a multiple award-winning success; among other things he won an Oscar.
Landreth's film gave Larkin the opportunity to make films again. Most recently he worked on the animation Spare Change about his experiences as a beggar and homeless person on the streets of Montréal. In 2007 he died of lung cancer at the age of 63 .
Filmography
- 1966: Citérama
- 1966: Syrinx
- 1969: Walking
- 1972: Street Musique
Web links
- Ryan Larkin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Entry in the Canadian Film Encyclopedia (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ CBC: Canadian animator Ryan Larkin dies , February 16, 2007
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Larkin, Ryan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian animator and animation director |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 31, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Montréal |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 14, 2007 |
| Place of death | Saint-Hyacinthe |