Dreams come true for ACMI: Disney exhibition

MEDIA RELEASE COURTESY OF: Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI)

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) will be the exclusive Australian host city for Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales, a major new exhibition celebrating over 70 years of Disney animation.

Director Tony Sweeney today announced that ACMI would follow up its current blockbuster, Tim Burton: The Exhibition, with Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales, direct from the United States from November 18, 2010.

Conceived by John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer, Disney/Pixar Animation Studios, as a cultural gift to the people of post-Katrina New Orleans and originally curated by Lella Smith, Creative Director, Disney Animation Research Library, the exhibition features over 600 original artworks, maquettes and animation cels from Disney’s much-loved adaptations of traditional European fairy tales.

Visitors will be able to go behind the scenes of the on-screen magic and explore the artworks and innovations that gave birth to the animated feature film. The exhibition includes early conceptual and creative artworks from legendary features including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, The Princess and the Frog, and the yet to be released Tangled.

Tony Sweeney said ACMI was delighted to be bringing this magical exhibition exclusively to Melbourne.

“Visitors of all ages will love seeing their favourite Disney characters as they were first imagined, seen through the creative process of the talented artists who transformed the works from idea to reality.” Tony said. “It is a fascinating portal into the technical skill, emotional and creative depth behind these much loved animated classics. After all, it was Disney animators who led the way in establishing animation as the serious art form it is today.”

Beautiful concept art, background paintings, and character designs by influential Disney artists, including Glen Keane, Eyvind Earle, Kay Nielson, and Mary Blair, will be accompanied by film clips to demonstrate how the artworks are brought to life as celluloid masterpieces.

At ACMI, the exhibition will feature new exhibits on first display, including exclusive concept artworks and character designs, from Disney’s upcoming feature film, Tangled, (Released in the US in November 2010 and Australia in January 2011), Disney’s adaptation of the classic Rapunzel fairy tale.

“As with all our major exhibitions, we provide unique new works for the Australian presentation, and this is no exception,” Tony said. “On opening, just days before the US cinema release of Tangled, visitors will be able to go behind the scenes of this latest Disney animated tale and see for the first time concept artworks and sketches from the film”.

ACMI will present an extensive program of film, education and public events as part of the exhibition.

Walt Disney Company Australia Managing Director, John Cracknell, also welcomed the announcement. “The Disney brand has a strong affinity with Australian families and we are excited that they will have the opportunity to engage and experience these beloved films and characters like never before”.

ACMI will present an extensive program of film, education and public events as part of the exhibition.

Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales will immediately follow ACMI’s current blockbuster exhibition, Tim Burton: The Exhibition, which is being presented as part of Melbourne Winter Masterpieces 2010. The exhibition reached the 100,000 visitor milestone last week, just five weeks after opening. It runs until 10 October.

Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney’s Classic Fairy Tales, Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Federation Square, Melbourne, 18 November, 2010 to 26 April, 2011. Ticket pricing and additional programming detail will be released closer to the exhibition opening. Full details to be posted online here.