Directing
Richard Reeves
Born 1959-09-21 · Weymouth, England, UK
Richard Reeves creates animations by drawing both sound and picture directly onto film and has produced award winning films that have screened at festivals around the world. He has taught animation courses across Canada, Europe and South America. Reeves has collaborated with artists often involving dancing human projection screens, 16mm violin, interactive animation installations, online animation jams and large outdoor projections and he continues to explore animation as a visual music, time and space art form.
Acting credits
Behind the camera
NRZig zag pictures dance to zig zag sounds; both sound and picture drawn onto 35mm film.
Zig Zag
1994
NRCelebration of film as an artform for the Liaison Independent Filmmakers of Toronto: 25 Film Manifesto’s. Both sound and picture drawn onto 35mm film.
Aura
2006
NRAn exploration of the relationship between sound and picture inspired by the two lights (twi-light) found inside film projectors.
Twilight
2019
9.0This animated film flows through a vibrant underwater landscape, shown at night time. Sound and picture are drawn directly on film - cameraless animation.
Sea Song
1999
6.0Drawn directly onto 35mm motion picture film without the use of camera or musical instruments, a visual and aural feast for the senses.
Fusion
2024
8.0The sound of a heartbeat pumps life into Linear Dreams, a scratch animation film that moves from the simple lines of the unconscious to representational realism.
Linear Dreams
1997
NRHandmade optical sounds and drawing directly to 35mm film. Two abstract energies fall in love, unite as one then disappear into a vanishing point.
Intersextion
2022
NRStory about creation as told by the Dunne-za people of northern Alberta. Richard Reeves' animation excerpt, which was originally commissioned as part of "Dunvegan: Where the Trails Cross".
Dunvegan
2026
NRA short camera-less animation by director Richard Reeves
Garbanzo
1992
4.0The horrors of a shipwreck, the bells of aforgotten lighthouse and the coming and going of the tides surround a tale about the sea. 'Sailor’s Grave' is the result of a workshop based on a work method taking its inspiration from the exquisite corpse game, a mechanism of collective creation where the participants manipulate and transform one another's drawings to construct an intuitive, improvised narration.
Sailor's Grave
2014
10.0TV: transformational vibrations.
TV
2019
NRThis cameraless animation is about the 1:1 relationship between sound & picture: the 1:1 concept became the structure for the entire piece and spawns further thought about relationships between elements in cinema (artist to medium, viewer to screen, projector to film).
1:1
2001
NRNo synopsis available yet.
The Yarwood Trail
2009
NRA meditative journey through colour, form and sound. This film was created for Toronto chamber music composer Frank Horvat. The composition is performed by Canadian percussionist Beverley Johnston. The animation is created by painting ink directly onto 16mm film.
Wood and Metal Bars
2021
C’est La Vie: The Chris J. Melnychuk Story documents the award-winning animator’s (Alien, Zap Girl Makes Toast) battle with tongue cancer. Building on live footage from Chris’s last, unfinished film, C’est La Vie was created posthumously through the collaboration of 19 animators from Quickdraw Animation in Calgary, Canada.
C'est la Vie: The Chris J. Melnychuk Story
2011
NRA countdown leader spliced with found film introduces a very short painted-on-film animation. The soundtrack was made using samples of handmade 35mm optical sounds composed on a computer.
Countdown to Animation
2015
NRA direct-on-film piece
The Element of Light
2004
NRHomage to the single frame of film and the colour Pink in 1/24 of a second. 16mm scratch on film image with handmade optical sounds.
1/24 Pink
2024

