ABSTRACT
This chapter tells the genesis of Dudok de Wit’s first short auteur’s film The Monk and the Fish accomplished in 1994 at the Folimage studio in France. The story was based on an ancient Taoist legend about an ox and an oxherd, and it symbolises the most salient points of the practice on the path of enlightenment at which Zen Buddhism aims. The filmmaker conceived the whole film starting from its poetic ending, the final serene union after one long, agitated separation of the two protagonists. Early animation, done on paper and copied with the ink onto the cel, was later animated directly on the cel. The backgrounds were done in watercolour technique. The score, based on Arcangelo Corelli’s version of La Folìa, was adapted by French composer Serge Besset. The Monk and the Fish, based on gags, repetitious melody and snappy animation brought Dudok de Wit numerous international accolades and a nomination for the Academy Award for the Best Animated Short Film.
