Economic crashes are nothing new but we seem unable to learn from our mistakes, or see the next one coming. That was the conclusion of Boom Bust Boom, Monty Python Terry Jones’s new documentary, a mix of live action, animation, puppetry and song that takes the audience through the history of economic crashes from the tulip mania of 1637 to the Wall Street crash in 1929.
It is a skillfully woven story, brought to life with animation and puppetry that both pokes fun and unravels economic conundrums.
The screening took place in mid-September during the Encounters Short Film and Animation Festival at the Watershed in Bristol, in association with the Bristol Festival of Ideas and the RTS.
Bristol outfit Arthur Cox animated the documentary. “We were approached by the [animation producer] of Boom Bust Boom, Justin Weyers. We had previously worked with him, Ben Timlett and Bill Jones on A Liar’s Autobiography, the animated untrue biography of the late Python Graham Chapman,” said Sarah Cox, the company’s owner and creative director.
Matthew Walker and George Sander-Jackson directed the animated sequences of the film that depict the economic history of booms and busts. “It was a great project to work on and we are enthused about the potential in documentaries to use animation and graphics when there is little filmed or photographic material, and also to express more abstract and conceptual issues,” Cox added.
In the same month, Bristol was host to several leading figures from the world of film and television. Peaky Blinders director Otto Bathurst and cinematographer Ula Pontikos (BBC Two spy thriller The Game and Weekend) joined an international line up at the city’s inaugural Festival of Cinematography, hosted by the Centre for Moving Image Research at the University of the West of England at the Arnolfini.
The festival, aimed at new and emerging talent, also saw packed audiences join Roberto Schaefer (Quantum of Solace and The Kite Runner) for lighting master classes.
