Film: Fantasy/Animation Series screening of Wizards (1977)

Wizards (1977) may feature magic, fairies and princesses, but it is very far from the typical Disney fairy tale. A high fantasy epic conceived by animator Ralph Bakshi, the film is a counter-cultural marvel of the 1970s, one that blends a series of innovative animation styles with a story designed to stick two fingers up at the man with its heady mixture of psychedelia, allegory and fantasy.

Bakshi himself was once described in The New York Times as the “Iconoclast of Animation”. A former animator on Mighty Mouse (1942-1961), Bakshi cut his teeth during an era of youth radicalism and political trauma. He produced animations like Fritz the Cat (1972), inspired by Martin Scorsese’s dark urban crime dramas, which achieved a degree of cult notoriety for breaking the model of commercial animation that Disney had maintained a stranglehold over since the 1930s. Bakshi made numerous animations that would “make Minnie Mouse – and even Pluto – gasp” (The Los Angeles Times), including adult themes and socio-realism that appealed to a generation who may have grown up on Disney, but were ready reject the voice of the establishment that it represented. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, Wizards tells the story of an evil wizard who, discovering a set of old WWII propaganda films, sets about brainwashing hordes of his followers to begin a destructive war that pits the forces of technology against the forces of magic. The film is an anti-fascist, anti-materialistic fable and an overlooked masterpiece from the history of US animation.

This is the fourth film in the monthly screening series curated and hosted by Fantasy-Animation.org, a blog and podcast dedicated to the relationship between fantasy cinema and the medium of animation. The screening of Wizards will be followed by a live podcast recording and Q&A with Dr. Alexander Sergeant, an expert on Bakshi and fantasy cinema.

Doors open at 18.30, and the film starts at 19.30.

Refreshments will be available in our licensed cafe/bar.