The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb

Infobox_Film
name =The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
director = Dave Borthwick
producer = Richard Hutchinson
writer = Dave Borthwick
starring =Nick Upton
Deborah Collar
distributor =Manga Entertainment
Zeitgeist Films (US theatrical release)
released= 1993
13 April 1994 (US theatrical release)

runtime =61 minutes
country = United Kingdom
language = English
music = The Insects
John Paul Jones


imdb_id=0108069

"The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb" is a 1993 stop-motion animated film made by bolexbrothers, and funded by the BBC, La Sept, producer Richard Hutchinson and Manga Entertainment, which also distributed the film on video. Though it draws its title character from the fairy tale "Tom Thumb", the story and setting is substantially different, depicting Tom as a foetus-like child living in a grim and squalid urban environment.

The story follows the tiny Tom Thumb as he is abducted from his loving parents and taken to an experimental laboratory, and his subsequent escape. He discovers a community of similarly-sized people living in a swamp, who help him on his journey to return to his parents. The film is largely dialogue-free, limited mostly to grunts and other non-verbal vocalizations.

"The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb" was made using a combination of stop-motion animation and pixilation (live actors posed and shot frame-by-frame), often with live actors and puppets sharing the frame. It was originally commissioned as a 10 minute short for BBC2's Christmas programming, but was rejected for being too dark for the festive season. The short version nevertheless garnered critical acclaim through showings at animation festivals, and a feature-length version was commissioned by the BBC a year later.

Awards

* 1993 - Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival - Best Director
* 1993 - Cinanima Espinho Portugal - Best Feature
* 1994 - Fantasporo - International Fantasy Film Award - Best Director
* 1994 - Fantasporo - Critics' Award - Special Mention
* 1994 - Houston Worldfest - Gold Special Jury Award - Feature Film
* 1994 - San Francisco International Film Festival - Best Animation
* 1994 - Worldfest Charleston - Gold Special Jury Award - Feature Film
* 1994 - Video Home Entertainment - Award of Excellence
* 1995 - Evening Standard British Film Award - Best Technical/Artistic Achievement
* 1995 - Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival - Special Jury Prize - Feature Film
* 1995 - Atlanta Film & Video Festival - Best Animated Film
* 1995 - Mediawave - Grand Prix
* 1995 - Mediawave - Audience Prize

References

*
* [http://www.toonhound.com/tomthumb.htm Toonhound - The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb]
* [http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_06.04.98/film/leadfilm4.php Eye Weekly - The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb]

External links

* [http://www.bolexbrothers.co.uk/tomthumb.html Official website]
*imdb title|id=0108069|title=The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb