In December of 1914, a series of grassroots, unofficial ceasefires took hold of the Western Front in the heat of WWI. On Christmas, British and German soldiers began to exchange seasonal greetings and sing songs across the trenches, some even walked over to their opponents bearing gifts. The incident became one of the most heart-warming displays of humanity in the history of human conflict and was dubbed the Christmas Truce.
This lovely short film captures the story and spirit of this symbolic moment of peace, grace and humility amidst one of modernity’s most violent and disgraceful events.
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A few weeks ago, we raved about Refraction, a brilliant visual experiment by Jesse Zanzinger. This month, he follows up with Refraction: The Alphabet — a stunning visual exploration of the alphabet, rendered in type refracted through backlit signage lettering and images on an iPhone, with voiceover by the late and great Richard Pryor from his Sesame StreetABC. Beautiful.
This is wonderful motion graphics complement to our survey of visually innovative alphabet books, one of our most popular articles in the past year.
The mesmerizing music score is the song Coloringbook by Blockhead.
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In 1941, Nelson Rockefeller, Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs, asked Walt Disney to make a goodwill tour across South America, hoping the universal popularity of his characters would help diffuse anti-Axis sentiments in the region. It was a bad time for Walt — on top of his personal inclination for introversion, WWII had cut off his business in Europe, he had just lost a third of his workforce in a fiercely fought strike, and he owed Bank of America $3.4 million. But when the government agreed to underwrite the tour expenses, Disney took off for Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile with his wife Lily and a posse of 16 artists dubbed “El Grupo.” Among them was director Theodore Thomas, son of the celebrated animator Frank Thomas, who took it upon himself to record the extraordinary journey on 16mm film.
Walt & El Grupo is the product of Thomas’ labor, brimming with letters, photographs and rare footage of the places El Grupo visited, as well as interviews with people who welcomed Disney into their homes. The film captures not Walt’s familiar soft, avuncular public persona but his passionate, driven, inventive side as an artist and entrepreneur at the tipping point of a career that forever changed the world of animation.
The DVD features fascinating audio commentary from Historian J.B. Kaufman and the director hismself, three exclusive segments from the Director’s Cut version, the original theatrical trailers for Saludos Amigos (1942) and The Three Caballeros (1944), and a fantastic Photos In Motion feature, which traces how the photos literally came to life.
Walt & El Grupo is a priceless and vibrant timecapsule of a unique time in the history of both the global politics and creative culture, revealing a rare portrait of a man who came to define the childhoods of generations and, in the process, play a key role in shaping the visual literacy of our time.
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Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it's cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week's best articles. Here's an example. Like? Sign up.
Brain Pickings has a free weekly newsletter and people say it’s cool. It comes out on Sundays and offers the week’s best articles. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.
