"Tale of Tales" Comes to DVD & Blu-ray in the US

I'm always astonished at how much fairy tale news there is to report so, forgive us if we miss the exact release date of things as they happen. We are just back-logged with fairy tale awesome in our newsroom!

This last Tuesday, a movie we have been very much looking forward to seeing, Tale of Tales, was released on DVD and Blu-ray. We still await our copy, so won't be able to review for some time yet, but we have unearthed some additional video footage which will give you a good idea of the tone of the movie, especially if you've been following the promotion we covered as the movie was originally released in Italy.

A quick refresher: this movie was an independent film, though it stars many luminary actors (including Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, and John C. Reilly along with many other familiar faces) and has a well known director, Matteo Garrone. It was a passion project, filmed in remote locations around the director's home country of Italy in English. (No subtitle reading required.) The film is based on the oldest known written collection of fairy tales by Giambattista Basile, Il Pentamerone or The Tale of Tales, Or Entertainment for Little Ones (aka Lo cunto de li cunti overo lo trattenemiento de peccerille or Il racconto dei racconti), focusing on 3 of the tales. And yes, this film, is not for children, though are definitely sections a child would very much enjoy (giant flea anyone?).

Description:

Discover a grim, gorgeous, grown-up fairy tale full of princes and princesses, sorcerers and fairies, and monsters and ogres in the epic fantasy horror film Tale of Tales. Based on three spellbinding stories of magic and the macabre by 17th-century folklorist Giambattista Basile, Tale of Tales unleashes a barrage of mind-bogglingly exquisite and fantastical imagery as it brings to life the misadventures of three kings. 

Starring Salma Hayek, Vincent Cassel, John C. Reilly, Toby Jones, and Shirley Henderson, this captivating film makes its Blu-ray and DVD debut on September 6, 2016, from Shout! Factory and Sundance Selects. This critically acclaimed film from celebrated director Matteo Garrone also includes the featurette “The Making of Tale of Tales” and the theatrical trailer as bonus features. 

A rich sensory experience featuring exquisite cinematography and a score by Academy Award-winning composer Alexandre Desplat, Tale of Tales interweaves three enchanting sagas about universal themes of life, death, and love. Overflowing with surreal, dazzling surprises, this intoxicating cinematic spectacle is a delirious excursion into the dark heart of fairy tales.

The three new clips available touch on three of the stories in the film:

• the barren queen (and king) find out an unusual way they could finally have a child
• a king obsessed with a giant flea offers the hand of his daughter in an ill-advised way
• a woman is not quite what she seems (which the sex-obsessed, love struck ruler of Strongcliff will rue)

Be intrigued:
#1: "A Life for a Life"

 #2" "The Flea"

#3: "The Flayed Old Lady"

While there is nothing which isn't rated 'G' in the clips, you may be surprised at what is implied, so perhaps view away from any children for a first look.

I can see how this movie is polarizing viewers - some are a little freaked while others hail it a masterpiece. We guess that we will lean toward the latter, though without a proper viewing we can't say that definitively. However, we are very familiar with the source material so are unlikely to be bothered by any of the aspects that those giving negative reviews focus on.

We are only disappointed that we can't view it on the big screen as it was intended to be seen.

In the meantime, please enjoy these alternate posters, including a couple of foreign language variations. I'm surprised I hadn't seen some of these before - they're quite striking.

We hope to bring you a review in the coming weeks.

Call for Participation: Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends 2nd Global Conference

The Knight and the Faerie - Daniel Eskridge

This call for participation, posted 2 days ago by inter-disciplinary.net, sounds very interesting with all the possible subjects, and there are so many options for approach available I have only included the content information and basics (emphasis in bold, mine). Although the conference is a full three days (both Tuesday and Thursday are full days, as well as the Tuesday), and would be able to include many papers and presentations, the organizing chairs are going to have real work on their table narrowing down the choices of abstracts!

The first conference program, held in Budapest, Hungary in March this year (2016), can be found HERE, while the Abstracts from that conference (which are also fascinating) are HERE and HERE. They indicate a great second conference!

(Anyone feel like shouting me a ticket to Portugal next year?)

From hastac.org. Note: it was really hard to choose excerpts from so I have included all but the "fine print" which you can read at the link:

Fairy Tales, Folk Lore and Legends2nd Global Conference

Call for Participation 2017

Tuesday 4th April  – Thursday 6th April 2017

Lisbon, Portugal

In contemporary retellings of historic fairy tales certain characters recur without failure: wicked witches, evil stepmothers, Rumplestiltskin, jinn, gnomes, trolls, wolves and thieves, as well as fairy godmothers, departed beloved mothers, firebirds, dwarves, princesses, dragons, woodcutters and princes charming. Disney has established a near monopoly on how these characters are viewed in contemporary society and how their stories are retold but the Disney lens is not the only one available. Fairy tales, folk lore and legends are the common patrimony of us all and the canvas on which the vast mural of good versus evil plays out; our darkest dreams or nightmares struggle against our better selves and highest hopes in these tales. At the same time, the relationship between these tales and modern society is a complex one that invites closer consideration of the changing nature of the stories and how modern sensibilities have both challenged and been challenged by the values and viewpoints that underpin the narratives. 

Childhood itself, the presumed audience for most of these stories, has itself undergone radical redefinition since the tales first began to be collected or written. How have those changes influenced or been reflected in the retelling of the tales over time? Fairy tales can be interpreted in a variety of ways and from a variety of viewpoints: they can be psychological exposes, blueprints for dealing with the traumas of childhood and early adulthood, guides to navigating life, windows onto social realities long forgotten, remnants of ancient mythology or hints at how to access the Transcendent. How have adult sensibilities of what is appropriate for children appeared in the retellings or new collections? How many tales are actually retold for the benefit of adults, despite their supposed audience of children? 

During the 2016 project, the unexpected preponderance of Disney-related discussions surprised all the participants. The Disney footprint seems to be inescapable when discussing this literature, whether a particular story has served as inspiration for a Disney film or not. That in itself is perhaps a subject worth discussing. The the 2017 project meeting will focus on non-Disney retellings of the classic tales as well as those tales which Disney has chosen thus far to ignore. 

The Fairy Tales interdisciplinary research and publishing stream investigates how fairy tales/folk tales/legends represent both good and evil, how these are personified or interact, what these reveal about the lives of those who have told them over the years, what they mean for us who read or listen to them today. Possible subjects for presentations include but are not limited to:

Exploring the Tales Themselves

- Functions of tales over time and across cultures
- Socio-political context of tales and their capacity to serve as allegories for real life issues
- Justice and morality in the tales
- Fairy tale utopias and dystopias and the blurred lines between fiction, fact, reality, science fiction and mythology
- How fairy tales shape ideas about happiness
- Considerations of why tales are an enduring aspect of culture
- Factors that make some tales more popular than others (and why popularity can shift over time)
- (Re)interpretations and re-imaginings of the same tales differ over time or across cultures
- Relationship between fairy tale characters and real life humans: do human ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ behave so differently from fictional goodies and baddies, where there times when characters that seem fantastic to modern folks were actually considered to be more realistic by historical readers/listeners, what factors shape the changes that cause people to perceive characters as more or less real
- Relationship between fantastic and magical elements of tales and lived reality
- Tales and monsters: monstrous animals, monstrous humans, children’s interaction with monsters
- Intended lessons and values of stories and counter-interpretations, particularly in relation to gender, sex, materialistic values, notions of virtue and authority
- Processes around the domestication of fairy tales
- Tales as a source of/mechanism for oppression of individuals or groups
- New/modern tales
- Critical approaches to tales
- Tales and their authors
- Fairy tale artwork and imagery
- Fairy tale geographies: spaces and places of both the worlds within fairy tales as well as the spaces and places where the narratives are told or written

Encountering Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales

- Studies of readers/audiences across time and cultures
- Listening versus reading: impact of oral traditions on the narratives, impact of illustrations in reception of the tales, etc.
- Relationship between traditional and modern forms of interactive storytelling involving fairy tales
- How adaptation to other mediums, such as film, television, visual art, music, theatre, graphic novels, dance and video games, affect the content of the tales themselves, appreciation of the narrative or our interpretations of narrative meaning

Uses of Fairy Tales/Legends/Folk Tales

- In advertising (re-imagining tales in advertising imagery, marketing the princess lifestyle, etc.)
- Tales and pedagogy: using tales as teaching and learning tools
- In tourism through destination marketing of spaces associated with fairy tales, Disneyfication of tales, etc.
- In the formation of national/cultural/ethnic identity
- In the publishing business
- Communities, biography and fairy tales: How social communal identity is forged around telling and re-telling tales

Tales, Health and Happiness

- Tales and magical thinking in the human development
- Tales and psychological/clinical practices involving tales
- Tales and unhealthy behaviour/beliefs
- Effect of tales on shaping notions of (un)happiness, (in)appropriate ways to pursue it and how to respond to respond to others’ (un)happiness
- Tales and aging (“growing old” as a theme in tales, how tales shape perceptions of old age, etc.)

Live Performances of Tales

- Theatrical, dance and other types of staged presentations
- Pantomime
- Vocal performances
- Art installations
- Readings
- Curated film screenings

What to Send
300 word abstracts, proposals and other forms of contribution should be submitted by Friday 28th October 2016.All submissions be minimally double reviewed, under anonymous (blind) conditions, by a global panel drawn from members of the Project Team and the Advisory Board. In practice our procedures usually entail that by the time a proposal is accepted, it will have been triple and quadruple reviewed.

You will be notified of the panel’s decision by Friday 11th November 2016.
If your submission is accepted for the conference, a full draft of your contribution should be submitted by Friday 3rd March 2017.

Abstracts may be in Word, RTF or Notepad formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of proposal, e) body of proposal, f) up to 10 keywords.
E-mails should be entitled: Fairy Tales Abstract Submission

Where to SendAbstracts should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs:

Organising Chairs:
Stephen Morris: smmorris58@yahoo.com
Rob Fisher: fairy2@inter-disciplinary.net

You can find the full details HERE.

"Goblin Market": An Art Book by Omar Rayyan

One of my favorite artists and illustrators, Omar Rayyan, is working on wrangling his many private art pieces, created in his personal time over the last decade and inspired by Christina Rosetti's 19th century poem Goblin Market, into a truly stunning book.

(You may know his name from the Folio edition of Andrew Lang's The Brown Fairy Book, among others.)

As Rayyan mentions, the narrative poem is rich with imagery, yet it's difficult to find many illustrations based on it. I, for one, don't understand why, but I feel the poem would be better known if we had more visual basis to share it, especially in this digital image-driven age. This book will go a long way to remedying that, and possibly inspire more works that cross the world from our known world to that of Faerie, as Marina Warner describes the "land" in which fairy tales exist (from Once Upon A Time: A Short History of Fairy Tale).

Omar Rayyan:

"This project of doing an illustrated version of "Goblin Market" came about while chatting with a few fellow artists at a dinner. Illustrator Ruth Sanderson planted the idea in my head at a time when I was searching for a personal project to work on outside of my regular commercial work, as a chance to flex my artistic muscles. I used it as an opportunity to explore the imagery found in Rossetti's poem, unfettered by conventional publishing concerns. Free from the vision of an outside party such as an art director, I made this a highly personal project.

The product of many years work, squeezing painting time in between my regular commercial obligations, I slowly amassed a large collection of images. The time finally arrived to assemble these images into a coherent presentation to share with the world. I am very excited to see this project come to fruition."

Rayyan is creating the book independently and has set up a Kickstarter to help make it happen.

Here's his Kickstarter video, which showcases a beautiful variety of pieces, and his multi-faceted approach to the material:

Unsurprisingly, the funding goal was reached on the first day but there's still plenty of time (14 days, ending September 23rd, 2016) to add support and secure a pre-order of the volume (possibly signed and with a print or with other bonuses, depending on the amount you contribute). Considering the price the book, and extras, would cost commercially, it could be considered a limited time offer bargain.

"Over one hundred drawings and watercolor paintings packed into an 88 page full color book. 10x12 inches, hardcover with a printed dust jacket and an introduction written by the one and only Charles Vess."

Rayyan has released Goblin Market pieces via social media here and there through the years, (his Facebook page is a delight to follow and his sense of humor is always evident) but most of these are yet to be viewed by the public. (All artwork in this post was created by Rayyan for Goblin Market.)

I'm really looking forward to seeing the layout and pieces chosen alongside Rosetti's words.

On the left are the sample pages he's currently share. (Look at all the sketchy-goodness and hand written text!)

Like most people, many of the supporter levels are out of my reach, but I'm always interested to see the creative ways in which artists reward their backers. 

I'm particularly tickled by the $10,000 reward. I'm not really sure he's expecting anyone will pay this, but you never know..

THE GOBLIN KING VISITS YOU 

A gift basket of fresh fruit, hand-delivered to your door by Omar himself! You get to spend one-on-one time with the artist, in your very own home. He will also deliver a signed special collector's limited edition of "Goblin Market" with sketch inside, and all sorts of other goodies. Date of delivery to be arranged. 

Tell me you're not a little envious of whomever can splash out $10,000 for goblin fruit!

Ask Baba Yaga: How Do I Know When To Let My Heart Guide Me?

Lifelines by Peter Diamond

I have sorely missed Baba Yaga's advice and I have to admit, she was a little difficult to track down when I went to find her, as pre-arranged, to post her wisdom to the blog! And now I'm a little worried. My heart is telling me we need to put a little effort into encouraging the Baba to continue imparting her gristly yet keen advice, so if you are reading this and enjoying it, do send her a note, would you?

Here's today's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

Regarding matters of the heart, I've found the soul heart and the physical heart are really one in the same, interconnected in that very muscle and sinew. One affects the other and it's wise to pay attention to them "both" when trying to find direction. 

Baba Yaga puts it much more viscerally and succinctly. And all I need to do is stay away from that "ugly song".

What would we do without our Baba Yaga to set us straight?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

This is the email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

Timeless Tales Magazine Update (The Snow Queen Is Coming!)

Troll Mirror by Kiri Leonard

I wanted to let you know that Timeless Tales Magazine remains our intrepid partner through good times and bad, and we couldn't be more pleased to support this wonderful and unique publication.

Timeless Tales Magazine has continued to have a very active Facebook page HERE and, of course, you will be getting updates on all the Timeless Tales Magazine news here too.

Their Editor, Tahlia Merrill, will continue to wrangle our Once Upon A Blog Book Review Team as needed - at least when she's not up to her ears in worthy submissions for TT's latest issue...

... which is where she is right now!

Submissions for the Snow Queen issue have closed and Timeless Tales have just announced the publishing date of this special fairy tale issue to be November 3rd. (We can't wait!)

In the meantime, you can help decide what the theme for Issue #8 will be!

The options are:

• Norse Mythology
• Arthurian Legends
• Egyptian Mythology
• Tales of the Arabian Nights (aka 1001 Nights)

Talk about tough choices. We want a full issue for each one!

The place to cast your vote is linked below. Just click on the banner:

Disney's New "As Told By Emoji: Beauty and the Beast" Is More Telling Than You Think

So "Storytelling by Emoji" is a thing now.

Easy to dismiss as a fad, nerdist quirk or a sad commentary on the lack of literacy in today's youth, there's actually a lot more to this storytelling form that's been hitting the internet for the past 12-18 months, than initially meets the eye, and the tale released today, September 7th, Beauty and the Beast, is a good example of why.

It's essentially storytelling via symbols and motifs, not unlike how the first stories were recorded back in the golden age of cave painters. (Makes me wonder if cave folk wouldn't adapt to cell phones faster than some of our older population...)

It's easy to scoff and roll your eyes because the cute is turned up to 11, which can be difficult to take seriously, but try to consider symbology as you watch these and note, not only the character icons but all the various transition symbols that are used in texting everyday, being employed here as vehicles to move the action forward. It's quite fascinating.

Take a look:

I will admit my first reaction, as a dedicated logophile and bibliophile, was closer to being aghast than fascinated on seeing the concept applied to an entire story. But as I grudgingly watched the first few seconds it dawned on me that there was more to this than meets the eye, and there's a big reason it's so effective in this age of the infographic, social media memes and visual information sorting.

To make this form of storytelling work, the creators must boil down the tale to its essential details, and anything added after is simply stylistic - very much like the innate method storytellers use all over the world. Storytellers have their "story frame", which contains the essential touchstone elements of the story they are telling, on which they embellish using their own unique language style and additional plot details, all designed to appeal as a whole to the audience in front of them at that time. Although simple, it's far more difficult to do well than it sounds.

These new Disney "As Told By Emoji" series are more effective and on point than I expected. While I would have been surprised to find a study on symbols and motifs to have been a key part of this process, it's clear the creators were looking shrewdly at the methods of communication used in social media, in particular, today, and are using this contemporary "shorthand" as a new form of storytelling.

I particularly like the transformation of Beast to Prince. It's exactly spot-on for today's everyday "vocabulary".

From d23.com:

In this digital day and age, folks often prefer texting over making a phone call. It’s quicker, sure—but you also have the option of getting your message across with, well, symbols. They’re called emoji, which means “picture character” in Japanese. Open the texting app in your smartphone of choice and you have hundreds of adorable, hilarious, and sometimes unusual emoji right at your fingertips. Over the years, folks have tried their hand at recreating song lyrics, or telling long-form stories, just through emoji… and that’s where the idea for Disney’s latest short video series was born. 

...The inspiration behind the series? “That’s a big question!” says Gino Guzzardo, the series director and producer, who also leads the video content team at Disney Interactive (DI) Media. “It was a trend we saw on the Internet. People would try to translate stories using static emoji, just through the Unicode [text] set that you have on your phone… We saw the opportunity of translating that into animation. So we thought, ‘What would that look like? Would it work?’ We hadn’t seen anyone use emoji to tell an animated story, like in an actual narrative, two-minute piece… 

So simplified tale telling went back up a few notches in adding back the animation-factor, but the bare bones of story are still very visible.

See? More interesting than you thought. ;)

You can read a little more about the process and the creator's thinking HERE and can watch other Disney fairy tales from the As Told by Emoji series as well (each are linked below in their titles).

So far there are:

• Aladdin
• Frozen
• Tangled
• Cinderella

Enjoy!

Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Poster, Trailer & Teasers Update

You'd have to have been living under the proverbial rock not to have heard the internet community go bananas when Disney's first live action Beauty and the Beast trailer hit the web.

The release date remains March 17, 2017 so we still have a little way to go before the hype really begins but don't let that spoil your enjoyment if you've been on the edge of your seat waiting, for after all, "..there's something there that wasn't there before." ;)

I thought it would be best just to put all the updates, to date, here in one post for now (I'll list all the previous posts at the end of this one, in case you need to catch up), and we'll post any significant news as per usual in the months to come.

While there has also been the release of the teaser poster (shown at the head here) and teeny other things, last week the buzz among excited fans increased again as snippets from the "exclusive sneak peek" included on the Diamond Edition of the 1991 classic film (available to buy in October), hit the internet by way of those who got a preview.

Yesterday, however, it became official, so there's a whole lot more to see, as of yesterday afternoon and, of course, I will share it here.

So first, the trailer, which is beautifully done although we're not shown a whole lot. It is, however, much more satisfying than that shoe for Cinderella was, and the music is a very pretty and haunting version of the classic theme too, which is lovely. I have to admit, I'm always curious to see what they do with the Disney castle at the beginning. It appears the Beast's castle replaces Sleeping Beauty's this time around, which works nicely. Enjoy:

The "new images" people are excited about are more to do with how things will be translated from the animated film and realized for a live action setting, but I have to admit, that's one of the things that fascinates me about adapting books to movies, page to stage, or animation to live action: how will they - in this case, director Bill Condon - refresh the classic ideas, motifs, scenes and looks and will those really work in their new setting? (I know there are people who could write an entire dissertation on this!) The other question many are still are asking is, if the first movie is so perfect, why do a remake? The answer from Condon:

“When something is so perfect, why get near it? The answer is technology has caught up to the ideas that were introduced in that movie.”

But onto the eye candy (note: it's over 16 mins so it won't be a quick view, but it will be worth it for fans):

One thing the reviewer noted is that the feel of this adaptation is perhaps darker than expected and although I've seen speculation elsewhere as to whether this Beauty and the Beast will be, perhaps, scary, I share the notion that it has more of an Olde Worlde feel, harking back to an old book somewhere. While this very likely won't be Villeneuve or Leprince de Beaumont's books, (sigh) I have hope that this will send people in search of those versions as well as other time-tested adaptations, like Robin McKinley's Beauty.

With books being such a strong, and beloved, theme through the animated film, I would very much like to see what Disney publishing are busy cooking up, and if there will be any real hark back to classic tales, which is what Belle is shown to adore when we're first introduced to her.

I would also not mind at all if Handypeople magazines got into the theme of building your own enchanted library, or hidden entrances to places by way of moving bookshelves... #hint
                 

A little note about the enchanted objects... the response to the Mrs. Potts, in particular seems, universally, to be one of horror. You would have to admit that being turned into an enchanted object would really be quite horrifying, so it would track with the story, but that's definitely not the demographic Disney would be aiming for with this movie. We can only hope that the final CG models are adapted somewhat because I don't think I could ever look quite the same way at a teapot ever again after seeing that, and I'm a big fan of enchanted objects (and objects gaining sentience after many generations in a family). That said, having objects that are more realistic being brought to life, rather than animated objects living in the real world is a choice I applaud. I'm just curious now to see if they've struck the correct balance...

One update to go: the sneak peek behind the scenes from a featurette, which includes a brief excerpt from a table read between Belle and the Beast. Enjoy:

Although it's clear this film isn't going to be blow-by-blow of the 1991 movie, they're still making sure to hit all those touchstone moments it would seem. A dedicated fan, @bellabestiason, (thanks to Sarah for identifying the creator) put together an interesting frame comparison:

I'm sure there will be more, even prettier things, to see very soon.

Previous significant news posts on this film, oldest to newest):

• Emma Watson Is Disney's New (Feminist) Belle
• Casting news: Emma Thompson in Talks for Mrs Potts
• Casting: Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Closes In On Finalizing Mains
• Disney's Animated-to-Live-Action-Reboots-In-Progress Update
• Casting Update for Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast": Ewan McGregor in Talks to Play Lumiere
• Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Casting Update: Ian McKellen = Cogsworth
• Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Casting Update: Gugu Mbatha-Raw Joins as Plumette
• Enchanting Behind-the-Scenes Report by Ian McKellen of 1st "Beauty and the Beast" Table Read
• Surprise Casting Addition to Disney's Live Action "Beauty and the Beast": Stanley Tucci as "Cadenza"
• D23 News: Live Action "Beauty and the Beast" Update

Australian Fairy Tale Society Launches Unique Tale-Themed Member Ezine

Front cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01; illustration included by A H Watson 1939

Full disclosure: I am intimately involved with this project. I am Editor and Designer, and my incredibly talented fairy-sister Louisa John-Krol (internationally acclaimed indie musician, with a voice like fae bells, who runs a fascinating fairy/fairy tale blog of her own) is my Co-editor, part time Muse, creative life-saver and Rock. We are both Founding Members of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, have a great passion for the work the society is doing and are also committee members.

The Australian Fairy Tale Society (AFTS) has just launched a special new fairy tale ezine (electronic magazine) for registered members, and it's quite different from anything else out there.

The ezine will be published every second month, in between 'Fairy Tale Ring' meetings, where members meet to have tea/coffee and chat about the Tale of the Month; from academic musings, to creative inspiration. Apart from providing members with something unique and exclusive for their membership fees, the ezine aims to support and share the creation of new and excellent fairy tale works, inspired by these meetings. From essays to poems, short stories to music, visual art to plays, interviews to Australian national fairy tale news and much more, the ezine will focus on sharing newly created fairy tale works.

Rumpelstilzchen Valerian Gillar 1947 (not included in ezine)

Members also receive the amazing and wonderful Reading Reference, and Points to Ponder lists every second month, researched by Ring Maiden and qualified fairy tale librarian, Jo Henwood (Co-Founder of the AFTS). They're sent out before the meetings to help attendees prepare for the conversations, to be inspired by the many aspects and considerations with regard to the tale and to support the creation of new works inspired by it. (You can read the lists for Jack and the Beanstalk and The Little Mermaid, without being a member, HERE.)

Rumpekstilzchen Liebermann 1929

Each issue will have the theme of the meeting from the month before (eg July's Tale of the Month was discussing Rumpelstiltskin, so all the content for Issue 01 Aug/Sep was Rumpelstiltskin related), with each issue having many illustrations (both public domain and used by permission), and an analogous color palette inspired by the tale as well. As you might have guessed, the Rumpelstiltskin issue was gold. (There is a limited page preview which non-members can view, of Issue 01, HERE.)

Rumpelstilzchen Thekla Brauer 1910 (not included in ezine)

Here's a hastily taken, sneak peek of a few of the interior pages from the Editor's desktop as we were finishing up the final details, right before publishing a couple of weeks ago:

Even though the ezine is focused on Australian members, there is plenty there for fairy tale folk around the world to enjoy. (The first issue was 32 page chock-full of Rumpelstitskin exploration.) While the society is still experimenting with how to connect long distance members for inclusion in fairy tale ring meetings via online resources, at $25 for a year's membership fee, just receiving 6 issues a year is still a fairy tale bargain, even if networking is, for the moment, limited. (You can read the membership details and choose to join through this page on the AFTS website HERE.)

Rear cover of AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Image included by Walter Crane 1882

And did I mention the publishing opportunity? AFTS members are encouraged to submit their work for inclusion in the ezine. While a certain standard of excellence is expected, and the Submission Guidelines are fairly typical for publishing, the Editorial Troupe also expects to work with newer artists and writers to assist in polishing work they could easily include in a professional portfolio.

Excerpt. from AFTS Ezine Issue 01
Illustration by A J Gaskin 1894

For Australian AFTS members at home or abroad, who are also regular readers of Once Upon A Blog, we hope you are busy thinking about September's Tale of the Month, The Frog King, or Iron Henry, as the Rings begin to meet, and are ready to discuss all aspects of slimy suitors and be inspired by themes of transformation and learning respect...

Note: The Australian Fairy Tale Society is an Australian national registered non-profit organization with pending ROCO (Register of Cultural Organizations) status. 

Lotte Reiniger's Fairy Tale Style In Vogue Again

Anyone who's anyone in animation these days, now knows the name and work of Lotte Reiniger, if they didn't already, and not a few households are becoming familiar with her this year as well.

Not only were we treated to a most beautiful, hand-created Google Doodle, commemorating her work and 117th birthday on June 2nd this year, but Rebecca Sugar, the first 'solo woman creator' of an animated TV series at Cartoon Network, Steven Universe, referenced the style of Reiniger in a special episode, titled "The Answer" earlier in the year.

But let's have a quick look at the Google Doodle first:

 While I thought it was lovely, I didn't have full appreciation for it until I realized it was created by "doodler" Olivia Huynh, in the same manner Lotte Reiniger herself used: with paper, scissors, many, many hand- crafted puppets and a unique camera rig to take photos frame by frame.

(Reiniger made over 40 short films this way, as well as the feature length The Adventures of Prince Achmed.) Here's a fascinating look behind the scenes of the the Lotte birthday tribute Google Doodle:

And here's Lotte Reiniger herself, telling you how you can do the same at home. This is amazing and enchanting footage. (Note: if you take Lotte's advice, you may need a saw to cut a hole in your dining room table...):

Going back to present day TV pop culture, creator Rebecca Sugar has created quite a buzz with her own achievements. (You can hear an interview with her HERE in NPR's On Point.) In an special episode, The Answer, which deals beautifully with love, Sugar stated:

We wanted to give Garnet the ultimate animated fairy tale love story, with imagery inspired by all our favorite animated fairy tale love stories of all time. We started by drawing influence from Lotte Reiniger, creator of the oldest surviving animated feature film, “The Adventures of Prince Achmed.” The film is done with Lotte Reiniger’s signature silhouette animation technique and the compositions are stunning.We referenced the silhouetted characters, but also the dense, lush, ornate background compositions in the film. (Source)

Steven Universe, popular not only with kids but many others, including Emmy-watchers, is pushing a lot of conventional boundaries, not only in how it was created by Sugar (and how big a win that was for female animators and directors everywhere) but also in the deep messages it presents.

The show has gained a big following beyond its target demographic for pushing the boundaries of LGBTQ representation, as well as diving into themes like self-discovery and healthy relationships. “It’s very important to me that we speak to kids about consent, that we speak to kids about identity,” creator Rebecca Sugar said at Comic-Con last month.”I want to feel like I exist, and I want everyone else who wants to feel that way to feel that way too.”  (Source)

Sugar has stated many times that she's not only great admirer of Lotte Reiniger's aesthetic and overall animation work, but the way she pushed boundaries, doing what no one in the world had really done before in creating, not only animated films but pioneering such a beautiful style that has rarely been surpassed even today. That legacy lives on, not only in how much illustrated and paper cut silhouettes seem to automatically echo Once Upon A Time, but also in how she told fairy tales, inspiring others to approach their own unique obstacles with all the determination, hard work and ultimately, beauty that Reiniger's fairy tales have as a signature.

It's not the first time we've seen film and TV inspired by Reiniger's fairy tale work (see a still from Michel Ocelot's 2011 film Tales of the Night below) but it may be the biggest pop culture exposure she's had in quite some time.

A huge admirer of Reiniger's work and fairy tale films, (which were greatly influential in her lifetime and continue to be so today, in fairy tale books, films and various methods of storytelling), I couldn't be happier to see her name entering popular consciousness again and becoming a well-known name - and fairy tale influence, in the best sense - among animators and filmmakers in the industry today.

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day:

Lotte Reiniger discusses her process for creating films, as well as her career, in this rare recording, just recently made available via the USC Hugh Hefner Moving Image Archive website.

You can listen to the 45 minute recording online HERE.