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Crowdfunding Opens for Animation Based on Vivaldi's The Four Seasons

The "Four Seasons Video Concert Executive Committee" began a crowdfunding project on the "Ready for" website on Monday to fund animation based on Antonio Vivaldi's classical concerto series The Four Seasons. The project is seeking to raise 5,000,000 yen (about US$44,604) by June 30.

Koji Yamamura (Mt. Head, Muybridge's Strings director) is supervising the project, and created the "image" illustration above. Each season will have a different director.

Russian animator Anna Budanova — whose debut work "The Wound" received awards at Annecy, the Hiroshima International Animation Festival, and the Japan Media Arts Festival, among other events — will handle the "Spring" season. Two of her rough stills for "Spring" are pictured below.

Estonian husband and wife team Priit Pärn and Olga Pärn will handle "Summer." Priit debuted as a director in 1977 and has, in recent years, been co-directing works with Olga.

Japanese animator Atsushi Wada will handle the "Autumn" segment. Wada previously won the award of The Silver Bear for the Best Short Film for his "The Great Rabbit” anime short in 2012, and his "Anomalies" short film was a Jury Selection at the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards in 2013. A rough still of "Autumn" is pictured below.

Bulgarian animator Theodore Ushev will handle the "Winter" segment. Ushev lives in Canada, where he has produced a number of animated shorts, including the Academy Award-nominated "Blind Vaysha." A rough still of "Winter" is pictured below.

The project is aiming to debut the animation in both live performance and on DVD. If funded, the project's first performance is slated for November 19 at Hibiki Hall in Kitakyushu, with a Yokohama performance to follow in December.

Mitsuko Okamoto is producing the project. The executive committee includes the president, vice president, and other staff members from the Tokyo University of the Arts.

Source: Anime! Anime!