RIT professor screens new movie ‘Car Crash Opera’

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Filmmaker Skip Battaglia uses his signature style of hand-drawn action in his seven-minute animated short ‘Car Crash Opera.’

Rochester Institute of Technology professor and local filmmaker Skip Battaglia will take part in an in-depth discussion on filmmaking as part of the RIT Faculty Speaker Film Series at The Little Theatre next week.

Battaglia, professor in RIT’s School of Film and Animation, will lead a discussion about the Academy Award-nominated film The Artist as well as his seven-minute animated short Car Crash Opera playing before the film on Feb. 6. The films begin at 6:50 p.m., followed by a discussion.

Casual viewers and film enthusiasts will have the opportunity to engage in dialogue and learn more about the films. Tickets for this screening are $5.

The seven-minute film, which opened on Jan. 20, combines opera with an American movie tragic-comedy—the car crash. Battaglia graphically critiques the art of the Hollywood car crash by showcasing four animated scenarios that include a mother and daughter delivering cake, a cigar-chomping trucker, an overly affectionate couple and two teenagers angry at being cut off in traffic.

“I hope the audience will find Car Crash Opera to be musical, humorous, explosive and finally sorrowful,” says Battaglia. “And funny,” he adds.

Battaglia’s signature style of hand-drawn action with jittery, and what Battaglia calls nervous, background is featured in the short film.

This is the eighth worldwide premiere of Battaglia’s animated short films since 1987.

Battaglia has been making animated film shorts for 20 years. His animations provide a type of personalized cartoon argument. “At a time when it is so easy to make a realistic image with photography and video and computer, the hand drawing of a motion picture can be regarded as an act of criticism,” says Battaglia.

He has received grants for his animations from the New York State Council on the Arts, The National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute and a Fulbright grant to teach animation at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico.

Battaglia teaches courses in Scriptwriting for Animation, Digital Audio Production, Film History and Criticism, 16mm Film Production and advises on graduate MFA theses.

About the Little Theatre Film Society
The Little Theatre opened in 1929 and established not-for-profit status in 1998. The nonprofit screens more than 100 American independent and foreign films for the greater Rochester community each year. It also hosts a varied slate of art shows, film festivals and series, and music throughout the year. The Little provides filmmakers, local musicians and fine artists a professional space to share their visions with a diverse audience and to discuss their work through educational talkbacks.