Richard Condie
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Richard Condie, (born 1942) is a
Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...
,
filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
,
musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...
and voice actor. Condie is best known for his 1985 animated short ''
The Big Snit ''The Big Snit'' is a 1985 animated short film written and directed by Richard Condie and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Plot A married couple plays a game of Scrabble that has stalemated as the husband is unable to come up with ...
'' at the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
and has won six international awards for ''Getting Started'' in 1979. Condie lives and works in
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
.


Education and career

Born in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
, Condie moved to
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
at the age of four. There he attended
Kelvin High School Kelvin High School is a public high school in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The school is located in the neighbourhood of River Heights. Kelvin teaches grades 9 to 12 and is part of the South District of the Winnipeg School Division. History T ...
, graduating in 1961. He received his Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the
University of Manitoba The University of Manitoba (U of M, UManitoba, or UM) is a Canadian public research university in the province of Manitoba.Manitoba Theatre Centre Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (Royal MTC) is Canada's oldest English-language regional theatre. Next to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, MTC has a higher annual attendance than any other theatre in the country. It was founded in 1958 by John ...
and CBC TV from 1964 to 1965. In 1967 Condie moved to Vancouver where he worked as a sociologist at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...
. Two years later he returned to Winnipeg and tested out a number of occupations.University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections, Richard Condie fonds, A05-93, "Biographical Information." In 1971 he was awarded the first of two grants from the
Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal i ...
, which he used to produce the animated short film ''Oh Sure''."Richard Condie fonds"
/ref> The film was later purchased by the
National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
, with whom Condie was to work extensively."Richard Condie Biography"
/ref> Condie's best known animated work is 1985's ''
The Big Snit ''The Big Snit'' is a 1985 animated short film written and directed by Richard Condie and produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Plot A married couple plays a game of Scrabble that has stalemated as the husband is unable to come up with ...
'', an offbeat parable about marriage,
Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left t ...
, sawing, and nuclear war. ''The Big Snit'' was nominated for an
Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology), ...
and won the
Genie Award for Best Animated Short The Canadian Screen Award for Best Animated Short is awarded by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to the best Canadian animated short film.Maria Topalovich, ''And the Genie Goes To...: Celebrating 50 Years of the Canadian Film Awards''. ...
, along with over a dozen international awards. ''The Big Snit'' was also voted as #25 of the
50 Greatest Cartoons ''The 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals'' is a 1994 book by animation historian Jerry Beck. Criteria It consists of articles about 50 highly regarded animated short films made in North America and other notable car ...
of all time by animation professionals. Condie co-produced fellow Winnipeg animator
Cordell Barker Cordell Barker (born 1956) is a Canadian animator based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He began animating in his late teens after taking on an apprenticeship at Kenn Perkins Animation. A two-time Academy Award nominee, Barker is an animation filmmaker wi ...
's acclaimed short ''
The Cat Came Back "The Cat Came Back" is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller in Christmas 1893. It has since entered the folk tradition and been recorded under variations of the title—"But the Cat Came Back", "And the Cat Came Back", etc. It is also a po ...
''. Condie was also the voice of the main character and sang on the soundtrack. He entered the field of computer animation with his 1996 short ''
La Salla ''La Salla'' is a 1996 computer animated short by Richard Condie, produced in Winnipeg by the National Film Board of Canada. The film is a farcical comic opera, with a libretto written by Condie and translated into Italian, then recorded by Jay B ...
''. In 1998 he did some television script writing for
Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...
, then created the television pilot ''The Ark'' for the company in 2002."Richard Condie"
Currently Condie is painting, creating music and working on a series of panel cartoons. Condie's work, featuring the constantly moving - "boiling" - line animation style, has been characterized as "wacky, weird, ndbizarre." Others have referred to his "raw visual style and insanely honest and humorous character portrayals." University of Manitoba film historian Gene Walz stated that Condie "is an auteur-animator, one with excellent antennae for sensing society's ridiculous foibles and painful vulnerabilities." Condie is a founding member of the
Winnipeg Film Group The Winnipeg Film Group (WFG) is an artist-run film education, production, distribution, and exhibition centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, committed to promoting the art of Canadian cinema, especially independent cinema. While specializing in shor ...
, and a member of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...
, the
Royal Canadian Academy of Arts The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...
and the
International Animated Film Association The International Animated Film Association (French: ''Association Internationale du Film d'Animation'', ASIFA) is an international non-profit organization founded in 1960 in Annecy, France, by the best known animation artists of the time such a ...
.


Collaborators

Throughout his career, Condie collaborated with a very small number of individuals to create his films. He worked closely with musician Patrick Godfrey. Another close collaborator was Condie's sister, Sharon Condie. ''John Law and the Mississippi Bubble'' was inspired by Sharon's research and she would go on to write the script, do some of the animation and paint backgrounds for the film. She also created the backgrounds for two other of Condie's films, ''Getting Started'' (1979) and ''The Big Snit'' (1985). Other collaborators included singer
Jay Brazeau Jay Brazeau is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as Sam Fisher in ''Cold Squad'', as Harlan in ''Stargate SG-1'' (1997–2007), and for voicing Uncle Quigley in '' Sabrina: The Animated Series''. He is also known for his role as Bobby in ...
, and producers Michael Scott and Ches Yetman."Richard Condie"
/ref>


Awards and legacy

Richard Condie won six international awards for '' Getting Started'' in 1979. The film received awards at Kraków, Zagreb, Tampere (Finland), and was named best animated film at the
Genie Awards The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978; also known as the "Etrog Awards," for scu ...
. ''Pig Bird'', released in 1981 also won five international awards, including recognition at Zagreb for best educational film. In all, ''The Big Snit'' garnered a total of 16 prizes including: The International Film Critics' Prize at the 15th
Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...
; Best Short Film Award at the Montreal World Film Festival; the Hiroshima prize, Japan 1985; A Silver Plaque at the 21st Chicago International Film Festival; and the Best Animation Film at the XVI Tampere International Short Film Festival. It was also included in the Animation Show of Shows. Following the enormous success of ''The Big Snit'', Condie released ''The Apprentice/L'Apprenti'' in 1991. The film won awards in Chicago in 1992 and Winnipeg in 1993. Condie's last animation, ''La Salla'', won nine awards, including ones from Winnipeg (1996), Vancouver (1996), Chicago (1997) and Jerusalem (1998). ''La Salla'' was also nominated for an Oscar. In total Condie has won over 40 international and Canadian awards for his films. In addition to Condie's many awards, his films have been featured in over 100 exhibitions and major retrospectives all over the world. These have taken place in such widely diverse locations as Berkeley, California (1980), New Delhi, India (1981), London, England (1985), Kraków, Poland (1986), Espinho, Portugal (1991), and Brussels, Belgium (1998). In 2005 Condie donated drawings, animation cels, backgrounds, layouts, dope sheets, award notifications, exhibition programs, digitized photographs, as well as publication and periodical information related to a number of his films to the
University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections The University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections is a department of the University of Manitoba Libraries which holds historical records related to and created by the University of Manitoba. It is also a collector of private records of indi ...
.Walker, Morley. "The Big Gift." ''Winnipeg Free Press'', February 7, 2008. Approximately 100 painted cels as well as two backgrounds created by Sharon Condie for the film ''The Big Snit'' were acquired by the University of Manitoba Libraries and deposited in the Archives in 2006.


Selected filmography

*''
Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...
'' (1974–1975) (Director, Writer, TV)
''Oh Sure'' (1977)''John Law and the Mississippi Bubble'' (1978)
*'' Getting Started'' (1979)
''Pig Bird'' (1981)
* ''The Big Snit'' (1985) *''Heartland'' (1987) (IMAX) *''Another Government Movie'',
World Expo 88 World Expo 88, also known as Expo 88, was a specialised Expo held in Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia, during a six-month period between Saturday, 30 April 1988 and Sunday, 30 October 1988, inclusive. The theme of the Expo wa ...
, Brisbane (1988) (Director) *''
The Cat Came Back "The Cat Came Back" is a comic song written by Harry S. Miller in Christmas 1893. It has since entered the folk tradition and been recorded under variations of the title—"But the Cat Came Back", "And the Cat Came Back", etc. It is also a po ...
'' (1988) (Producer; voice actor as Mr.Johnson) *''
The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...
(L'Apprenti)'' (1991) *''Another Government Movie'',
Seville Expo '92 The Seville Expo '92 was a universal exposition that took place from Monday, April 20 to Monday, October 12, 1992, on La Isla de La Cartuja (Charterhouse Island), Seville, Spain. The theme for the expo was "The Age of Discovery", celebrating the ...
(1992) (Director)
''La Salla'' (1996)
*
The Ark
' (2002) (Director, Animator, TV series) *''Etudes and Impromptus'' (2003-4) *'' Runaway'' (2009) (voice actor as Captain) *''Bus Story'' (2014) (voice actor as Little Kids and Teenager)


Music

*''A House on the Prairie'' (1978) *''Day Dream'' (1979) *''The Top Few Inches'' (1978) *''Darts in the Dark: An Introduction to W.O. Mitchell'' (1980) *''W.O. Mitchell: Novelist in Hiding'' (1980) *''Henry Kelsey'' (1980) *''Everyone's Business'' (1982) *''Ocean of Wisdom from CBC's Man Alive'' (1989)


References


External links


Richard Condie's Home PageWatch Richard Condie films at NFB.caCanadian Film Encyclopedia
A publication of The Film Reference Library/a division of the Toronto International Film Festival Group *
Bio of Condie"The Big Snit - Official Fanclub"
on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

"Richard Condie fonds"
A description of Richard Condie's archives held by the University of Manitoba Archives & Special Collections *

' An exhibition of works by Richard Condie at Gallery One One One at the University of Manitoba {{DEFAULTSORT:Condie, Richard 1942 births Artists from Vancouver Artists from Winnipeg Canadian animated film directors University of Manitoba alumni Canadian voice actors Living people Film directors from Vancouver Film directors from Winnipeg Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts National Film Board of Canada people Directors of Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners for Best Animated Short