Fledgling Aruban filmmaker Ivo Tonk is a winner in the Belgium One Minute Film Festival

Established in 1989 by renowned Aruban artists Elvis Lopez and Evelino Fingal, Ateliers ‘89 opened opportunities for local talents to follow art workshops in different disciplines with international art teachers. This effort resulted in many young talents who went on to study arts abroad. After a long absence Elvis Lopez has brought Ateliers ‘89 back to life last year, offering interesting workshops to youngsters, giving them opportunities to discover and develop their artistic talents.

The intensive, four-day-a-week programs conducted in the evenings for a month, feature famed visiting artists from Holland and the States, as well as Aruban artists of international repute. Last summer, Dick Tuinder, (www.dicktuinder.com) a wonderful Dutch artist well- known for his multimedia work, conducted a workshop in filmmaking that produced a number of “one minute films” by several creative young Arubans, including fifteen-year-old Ivo Tonk.

Upon returning to Holland, Dick submitted the works to a number of festivals devoted to short films, and Ivo’s two productions, titled “ A Dark & Stormy Night” and “One Minute a Day Wasted” took second and third place, respectively, in the People’s Choice Awards at the One Minute Film Festival in Ghent, Belgium. The films produced by the Aruban students were very well received at festivals in Rotterdam and Utrecht, Holland, as well.

Ivo’s accomplishment was announced at the end of the festival, which took place from October 9-20. This past Friday morning he and his mother Myriam were special guests for a screening at the Ateliers ’89 for island press members, where Ivo was presented with congratulatory gifts of a new cell phone from Digicel mobile providers and a gift certificate from Checkpoint Color.

Ivo revealed that the films, which use stop-motion technique, were made that way simply by accident, as his video camera was not working properly and not producing sound. Stop-motion is an extremely difficult style of filmmaking, which requires shooting hundreds of single frames while moving objects minutely, and then combining them to produce motion in inanimate objects. The films that feature Wallace & Grommit are a good example of modern stop-motion work with clay figures. This is quite an ambitious undertaking, but out of necessity was born creativity, and Ivo used every day objects around his home and creative sound effects to produce two very entertaining and amusing works. They are quite an accomplishment for a first-time filmmaker, and earned him international recognition. His award-winning films can be viewed online at http://www.theoneminutesjr.org.

All the films produced by Dick’s students will be screened during the Olympic Summer Games in Beijing, China in 2008, and are being submitted to various film festivals around Europe. Elvis judged Dick Tuinder not only a fine artist, but also an excellent teacher, “who truly inspires young people, motivating them to exercise their imaginations.” Dick is returning to Aruba in two weeks to film a feature film about the island and the town of San Nicolas, where he exhibited a giant mural he had produced about the town two years ago.

Ivo Tonk reports that he was very much inspired by the workshop, and encouraged by the reception of his film to continue to explore an education in art and filmmaking. His proud mother and Ateliers ‘89 board member Gerda Faber joined him in celebrating his success.

Source: The News

Photo:
Gerda Faber, Myriam Tonk, Ivo Tonk with Elvis Lopez presenting Ivo the award.