German Animation and China By Rolf Giesen Cartoon Movie, a yearly event that takes place in France every March, is sponsored by CARTOON, an international non-profit association based in Brussels. Cartoon Movie was first inaugurated at the Babelsberg Studios in Germany. CARTOON’s remit is to support the European animation industry by organizing several types of events through the year dedicated to animation professionals. As one of these events, Cartoon Movie aims to unite animation producers from all over Europe and provides a platform for them to promote their latest feature- length projects as well as locate possible partners, co-producers, distributors, and sales agents. This year, Cartoon Movie took place in Bordeaux. Although Europe was its main focus, it also included some projects from non-European countries such as Israel, Canada, and South Korea, which was the only Asian country present for this event. Cartoon Movie has previously organized study trips to Seoul, the capital of South Korea, as a bridge for cultural exchanges in animated filmmaking between Asia and Europe. The most recent trip was scheduled in April 2017. The organizers have been reluctant, however, to build bridges and dialogues with China and Chinese animation, and it has so far been unclear as to why. I think this attitude may change in the near future. Firstly, with the gradual adoption of Trump’s conservative policies and new formula of “America First” in the U.S., ties between other parts of the world, such as China and Europe, might be strengthened. Furthermore, China is now actively building a new “Silk Road” that connects one end of the Eurasian continent (Asia) to the other (Europe), to unite a continent rich in cultural diversity and history. In the following parts of this essay, I will discuss the symbolic “Silk Road” that connects China and Europe, more specifically Germany, in the history of world animation. Shadow Plays and Silhouette Films The idea of moving images, as embodied in shadow plays and optical toys such as the zoetrope, came from the East and found a receptive audience in the West. Lotte Reiniger (1899-1981), a female German animator born in Berlin, was the first person to produce a feature-length animated film based on a shadow play. It was a silhouette film entitled The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926), a fairy tale that even had an episode featuring China (Fig 1). An evil sorcerer sells the heroine to the Emperor of China, and later she is rescued by Prince Achmed. This was one of the earliest attempts to create transcultural cinematic connections between China and Germany in animated filmmaking. 1 Fig 1: The Adventures of Prince Achmed, 1926 Manfred Durniok Half a century later, Manfred Durniok (1934-2003, Fig 2), a West Berlin producer, went to China in 1974 and made Meeting Place Peking (1974), a documentary film about life in China. He later produced Greetings from China (1979), which was the first big music programme for German TV. Durniok might be better known for his Academy Award-winning István Szábo live-action film Mephisto (1981), but his secret goal and ambition were to become the “German Walt Disney” and make animated films. It is therefore a small wonder that Durniok later co- produced low-budget animated feature films in collaboration with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. He secured money from German TV, prepared the film scripts, and collaborated with the animators at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. Fig 2: Manfred Durniok (1934-2003) 2 In 1983, Durniok invested in the production of Secrets of the Heavenly Book (1983, Fig 3), a classic Chinese animated feature film produced by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. This film was celebrated as one of the best feature films produced by that studio. Six years later, Durniok went on to produce Reynard the Fox (1989), a 2D animated TV film, in collaboration with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. It tells the story of a fox named Reynard, who is a well-known animal character in European fables. Fig 3: Secrets of the Heavenly Book, 1983 Durniok also produced a series of feature-length stop-motion animated films at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio. Keraban’s Fantastic Voyage (1996-97) is an example. The protagonist Keraban is a die-hard Turk who does not want to pay the newly imposed taxes for passing the Bosporus from Constantinople to Skutari. Instead, he travels around the Black Sea and has many adventures. There are more examples of collaboration between Durniok and the Shanghai Animation Film Studio in puppet animated feature films. One example is Around the World in 80 Days (1998). The protagonist of the film is Phileas Fogg, a member of the British Reform Club. He starts a journey around the world in 80 days to win a bet of 20,000 pounds. From the Earth to the Moon (1998-99) features Barbicane, a member of the Cannon Club of Baltimore. He is obsessed with the idea of using a giant projectile to go to the Moon. Five Weeks in a Balloon (2000-2001) revolves around two friends, Fergusson and Kennedy, who undertake an adventurous balloon trip to Africa with totally different purposes: one wants to explore the continent for scientific reasons, while the other is more interested in the mystic parts of Africa. Durniok was the first non-Asian to become an Honorary Citizen of Beijing in 2000. He passed away in 2003. It is a pity that his sudden death brought an end to the collaboration between German and Chinese animation production companies. Just shortly before his death, he spoke with Wang Borong at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio about a project of adapting Richard Wagner’s The Ring of the Nibelung into an animated film. Durniok’s last animated film in 3 collaboration with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, a puppet animated film called Children of Captain Grant, was released posthumously in 2005. Laura’s Star in China With Durniok’s sudden death, the animated encounter between China and Germany was suspended for some time. In 2007, some prominent German animation producers visited Beijing, including Stefan Thies (NFP Neue Filmproduktion), Tony Loeser (Motion Works GmbH), and Thilo Rothkirch (Rothkirch Cartoon Film). Rothkirch collaborated with 3D Animagics, an animation studio in China, and produced his first Sino-German animated feature film, Laura’s Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian, in 2009 (Fig 4). The film was released in China by the Shanghai Media Group two years later. Fig 4: Laura’s Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian, 2009 It was the first Sino-German co-production in 3D animated filmmaking. More than 50% of the film was produced in Beijing, a small percentage was made in India, and the remaining parts in Berlin, Germany. Lang Lang, a famous Chinese pianist and also a fan of animation, participated in the production of this animated film. Laura’s Star and the Mysterious Dragon Nian won the International Gold Panda Awards for Best Domestic Animated Feature Film and Best Screenplay at the Sichuan TV Festival held in Chengdu, China in 2011. Rothkirch, however, could not continue his collaboration with China in animated filmmaking. He passed away in Berlin in 2014. Laura’s Star revolves around two girls—Laura, born in the West (Germany), and Lingling, born in the East (China). While playing in a park, Laura happens to find a shooting star that has landed on earth, which has magic powers. When Laura and her family go to Beijing, China, she brings the star with her. Through this magic star, Laura encounters Lingling at a concert in Beijing. Before a happy ending of cross-cultural friendship, the two girls need to undergo a series of adventures. They ultimately defeat the villains and send the star back into the sky. Sino-German cooperation in animation, if not co-production, continued. Little Big Panda (2011, Fig 5), a 2D animated feature film, was regarded as the most expensive domestic 4 animated feature film in China at that time, with a budget of more than $50 million USD. But in fact, it was directed by Michael Schoemann and was produced in European countries such as Germany, Spain, and Belgium for less than $10 million USD. Chen Xiaoxiong, a wealthy and well-connected Chinese investor, spent a lot of money on dubbing this animated film into Chinese using famous voice actors and on launching a large scale promotional campaign, with the ambition of competing with Hollywood’s Kung Fu Panda (2008). That is how the budget of the film increased to $50 million USD. It premiered in China in 2011. Unfortunately, the German production did not live up to Chen's expectations, as it could not surpass the international popularity of Kung Fu Panda. Fig 5: Little Big Panda, 2011 Animals United Another aspect of the animated Sino-German encounter is the German animated films that were released in China. One example is Animals United (2010, Fig 6), which was released in Germany in 2010. Inspired by Erich Kästner’s satirical book The Conference of Animals (1955), it was a 3D computer animated comedy adventure film, directed by Reinhard Klooss and Holger Tappe. It was released in China in 2011 and became an instant hit. Although it was not a Sino- German co-production or cooperation, the ties between China and Germany continued through cross-cultural screenings. 5 Fig 6: Animals United, 2010 A Jewish Girl in Shanghai and Marco Polo Another example of Sino-German connection in animation is A Jewish Girl in Shanghai (2010, Fig 7), a 2D animated feature film made by the Shanghai Animation Film Studio.