About

'Matters of Life and Death' showcases animations made by Dennis Tupicoff during the first thirty years of his career.

Featuring the films Please Don't Bury Me 1976, Dance of Death 1983, The Darra Dogs 1993, His Mother's Voice 1997, The Heat, The Humidity 1999, Into the Dark 2001 and Chainsaw 2007, this session charts the progression of Tupicoff's unique visual style and his use of animation to explore real and imagined experiences of life and death.

Please Don't Bury Me 1976 1976

Dennis Tupicoff’s inaugural animation, Please Don’t Bury Me based on the song by the American singer-songwriter John Prine, is a darkly comedic tale of one man’s unfortunate collision with death, and his subsequent attempts to avoid being buried “in the cold, cold ground”.

4 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mild level violence and adult themes

Dance of Death 1983 1983

Set in a world where a skeletal figure of death hosts a popular variety show, Dance of Death is an animated comedy about television violence that addresses the effect that it is having on children and their families.

Using parody, exaggeration, fast action and a driving soundtrack, this award-winning animation graphically reveals the fascination that on-screen depictions of death and violence have by drawing the viewer into the film’s crazed world.

Dance of Death will screen from a 35mm archival print.

9 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mild level violence and adult themes

The Darra Dogs 1993 1993

A haunting and deeply moving account of the animator’s childhood recollections of dogs in the Brisbane suburb of Darra, the brightly coloured animation The Darra Dogs blurs the line between memory and imagination, as the animator processes experiences from his past by bringing the memories to life on screen.

The Darra Dogs will screen from a 35mm archival print.

10 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mild level violence and adult themes

His Mother's Voice 1997 1997

Combining documentary filmmaking with animation, His Mother’s Voice tells the story of a Brisbane mother’s tragic loss of her son, told in her own words. Created using rotoscoped animation the film explores this traumatic event from two distinct viewpoints, both of which use the original ABC interview with the mother.

His Mother's Voice will screen from a 35mm archival print.

14 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mature themes

The Heat, The Humidity 1999 1999

A bank robber flies into a tropical town on professional business. But all he hears is one line, over and over: ”It's not the heat, it's the humidity”. First the weather frustrates him, wrecking his plans. Then it destroys him.

Created for the SBS independent animated anthology series ‘Swimming Outside the Flags’, The Heat, the Humidity references the animator’s own experiences of living in Queensland and makes absurdist commentary on the catalytic power of humidity.

The Heat, The Humidity will screen from a 16mm archival print.

4 minutes | Ages 12+ | Contains mature themes

Into the Dark 2001 2001

Made for the SBS anthology series ‘Home Movies’, Into the Dark combines adult observation with childhood memory to create a poetic visual rendering of the animator’s experience of his father’s passing. As a man dies, his mind drifts back to the evenings of his childhood: shooting birds, trying to feel nothing.

Into the Dark will screen from a 35mm archival print.

6 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mild level violence and adult themes

Chainsaw 2007 2007

From hazardous mechanical equipment to a famous rodeo bull named ‘Chainsaw’, this multi-award winning animation is a tapestry of poignant, violent and tantalising tales that explore the fragility of life and love and how they can turn on a chainsaw-edge.

Chainsaw will screen from a 35mm archival print.

25 minutes | Ages 15+ | Contains mature themes