''Moon Breath Beat'' is a 1980 animated experimental student film by Lisze Bechtold about her cats turning into abstract figures.

Production

The film was made while Bechtold was a student at

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

. Her instructor,

Jules Engel Jules Engel (born Gyula Engel, March 11, 1909 – September 6, 2003) was an American filmmaker, painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer, animator, film director, and teacher. He was the founding director of the experimental animation ...

, asked the class to make a film answering the question, "What happens when an animator follows a line, a patch of color, or a shape into the unconscious? What wild images would emerge?"

Legacy

Lisze Bechtold later went on to do visual effects on '' FernGully: The Last Rainforest'' (1992) and ''

The Prince and the Pauper ''The Prince and the Pauper'' is a novel by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada, before its 1882 publication in the United States. The novel represents Twain's first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547 ...

'' (1990). She collaborated on ''My Film, My Film, My Film'' (1983), which is in the collection of MoMA, New York. She also writes children's books including the Buster the Very Shy Dog series and ''Toots the Cat''. ''Moon Breath Beat'' was selected to the United States

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

in 2014 as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The film was preserved by the

Academy Film Archive The Academy Film Archive is part of the Academy Foundation, established in 1944 with the purpose of organizing and overseeing the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ educational and cultural activities, including the preservation of m ...

in 2016.

Critical reaction

It has been described as "full of color, creepiness and unforgettable imagery".

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 4288306, Moon Breath Beat
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1980 films United States National Film Registry films 1980 animated films