EYES ON THE PRIZE
Nomination for NFB short beyond Montrealer Ushev’s ‘wildest dreams’
The hero’s greeting — the hugs, the kisses, the high-fives — Theodore Ushev received Tuesday upon entering the National Film Board of Canada headquarters on Côte-de-Liesse Road more than compensated for the hourlong white-knuckle drive on ice-glazed roads it took to get him there. Ushev just learned his dazzling animated short Blind Vaysha was nominated for an Oscar — the 74th nod for an NFB film.
This marks the first Academy Award nomination for Ushev, a native of Bulgaria who moved to Montreal in 1999. Blind Vaysha had already netted 17 awards — including honours at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival and Ottawa International Animation Festival — and there had been buzz about a possible Oscar nomination. But Ushev had been in a similar position six years ago with Lipsett Diaries, his striking animated homage to the tortured NFB legend Arthur Lipsett.
“Everyone said Lipsett Diaries would be nominated, and it wasn’t, even though it had been on the short list,” Ushev said by phone. “And they had been saying the same about Blind Vaysha, which was also on the short list, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high this time. But now that I’m nominated, I’m just over the moon.”
It’s been quite the ride for Ushev, whose background was in graphic design.
“I had never dreamed I would become a filmmaker,” he said. “But when I started to make films, I never dreamed I would win awards at festivals. But in my wildest dreams, I never thought I would ever get an Oscar nomination. It still hasn’t completely hit my brain yet.
“I can’t express enough thanks for the support the National Film Board of Canada and my producers Marc Bertrand and Julie Roy gave to this Bulgarian immigrant. I would never be where I am today without their help.”
Ushev also credits fellow Bulgarian Georgi Gospodinov, on whose short story Blind Vaysha is based. But Ushev deserves all the accolades the film is receiving.
Blind Vaysha is a masterfully drawn fable that doesn’t follow the typical happy ending of a Disney fairy-tale toon. Rather, it’s a provocative, dark tale that could send viewers spinning into an existential crisis.
Vaysha was born with one green eye and one brown eye. One of her eyes sees only the past, the other only the future. The upshot is that Vaysha is blind to the present.
As she gets older, she seeks a mate who can unite her sightlines and help her focus on the present. She is unsuccessful in her quest and contemplates pulling one of her eyes out. But which one?
And so the question is posed to viewers: is it better to dwell in the past or try to come to terms with the future? Pretty powerful stuff for eight minutes of animation.
“I drew on many influences from the past, from Romanesque and religious art and linocuts,” Ushev said. “I drew every frame by myself with the help of my computer. There is not a single image in the film that wasn’t made by my hands.
“It’s not like one of these big Hollywood studio animation movies where there are hundreds and hundreds of people working on the film. It’s only me. And it was done in record time — about six months.”
Ushev figures he crafted 12,000 to 13,000 drawings for the film. “Without the computer, it would have taken my entire life to finish this picture,” he cracked.
“But when you’re doing something with your hands like that, it really helps to bring out the human touch in the story, compared to animated films that are totally done by computers.”
If this were a Hollywood offering, some might feel Blind Vaysha’s ending sets up a sequel.
“There is definitely no sequel here,” said Ushev, who is collaborating with Gospodinov on another NFB production. “I really want every viewer to come up with their own moral to this story. I really wanted to have an open ending. But that was a big challenge, because I know the (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences) supports films that are very clear, and this one has a sort of interactive ending.
“I think the message here is that we are so nostalgic about the past and that we are so afraid of the future that we often can’t live now, that we can’t enjoy life in the present.”
Ushev is enjoying life at this moment. He’ll head to Hollywood a little early to take in the sights and to check some of the animation studios before the Feb. 26 Oscar gala.
It wouldn’t be surprising if an entity like Disney or Pixar made Ushev an offer one might find hard to refuse.
“I think my film has different qualities than the films they do,” he said. “But if they did offer me a job, it would be absolutely no. Thanks to the National Film Board of Canada, I’m the happiest and freest artist in the meat factory of today’s world.”