Walter Tournier (born July 14, 1944) is a Uruguayan director of animated and documentary films, who is closely identified with the country's enterprising filmmaking community. His work has been well-received both at home and at film festivals in Latin America, Europe and the United States.
Career
Tournier studied architecture at the
University of the Republic
The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...
in
Montevideo
Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...
, but decided that his true vocation was filmmaking. He joined C3M () in 1969. He produced his debut film, ''In the Forest There Is Much to Do'', prior to C3M's dissolution in 1974 using
cutout animation
Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or photographs. The props would be cut out and used as puppets for stop motion. The world's ...
to tell the story of a father who tries to make his young daughter understand the reason for his incarceration as a
political prisoner
A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention.
There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...
.
He then lived as an exile in Peru from the
military dictatorship in Uruguay until 1985. There he dedicated himself to archaeology, which he studied at the
National University of San Marcos
The National University of San Marcos (, UNMSM) is a public university, public research university located in Lima, the capital of Peru. In the Americas, it is the first officially established (Privilege (legal ethics), privilege by Charles V, ...
in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...
. He also made several short films. During this period, he developed many of the animation techniques that he later applied with considerable success throughout his career
such as the use of materials and technologies that he found locally.
Tournier founded Imagenes Studio with producer Mario Jacob in 1986, where he served as head of animation. Among other films, he directed ''The Hiding Places of the Sun'' (1990) which showed the aftermath of eleven years of dictatorship in Uruguay through the eyes of children. In addition, he made documentaries and coordinated an animation workshop that resulted in the environmental miniseries ''Mother Earth''. In 1994 he left Imagenes to form a new company, Tournier Animation.
In 2012, following a succession of short films and television miniseries, he directed the first full-length animated picture to be made in Uruguay entitled ''
Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe'', with distribution by
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
. The production utilized
puppet animation to present the life of 18th-century Scottish sailor
Alexander Selkirk
Alexander Selkirk (167613 December 1721) was a Scottish privateer and Royal Navy officer who spent four years and four months as a castaway (1704–1709) after being marooned by his captain, initially at his request, on an uninhabited island ...
. It was acclaimed by Montevideo's ''
El País
(; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA.
It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...
'' newspaper as "a visual delight that is rarely found in a movie that is not British or American."
Recognition
Tournier's work has been shown at film festivals in Latin America, Spain, France, Germany and the United States.
His internationally awarded animated films include ''The Condor and the Fox'' (1980), ''The Disobedient Carnation'' (1981), ''Our Small Paradise'' (1983), ''Optical Illusions'' (1983), ''The Boss and the Carpenter'' (2000), ''Caribbean Christmas'' (2001) and ''In Spite of Everything'' (2003). In 2002 he received the
Prince Claus Award
The Prince Claus Fund was established in 1996 and named after Prince Claus of the Netherlands. It is annually subsidized by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Since 1997, the Fund has annually presented the international Prince Claus Awa ...
from the Netherlands for his contributions to culture.
Filmography
Tournier was involved in the production of the following films:
"Walter Tournier"
IMDB (2013). Retrieved January 1, 2014.
References
External links
"Uruguay’s Scrappy Filmmakers Impact Global Pic Scene"
by Emiliano De Pablos (May 18, 2013) in ''Variety
Variety may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats
* Variety (radio)
* Variety show, in theater and television
Films
* ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont
* ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
''
''Selkirk, the Real Robinson Crusoe''
official movie website of Tournier Animation (2012)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tournier, Walter
1944 births
Living people
Mass media people from Montevideo
Uruguayan animators
Uruguayan film directors
Uruguayan film producers
Uruguayan animated film directors
Uruguayan animated film producers
Uruguayan people of French descent
Uruguayan screenwriters
Male screenwriters