{"id":75773,"date":"2025-02-08T12:28:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/animation\/the-many-sides-of-theodore-ushev-a-k-a-my-father\/"},"modified":"2025-02-08T12:28:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T12:28:12","slug":"the-many-sides-of-theodore-ushev-a-k-a-my-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=75773","title":{"rendered":"The Many Sides of Theodore Ushev, a.k.a. My Father"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Guest writer Alexandra Ouchev heaps praise and some playful shade on her distinguished dad, world-renowned animator Theodore Ushev<\/a>.<\/h2>\n
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\u201cAlex, my daughter, I love you!\u201d is the message I receive from Theodore Ushev, the filmmaker.\u00a0<\/p>\n


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\u201cWhat do you want?\u201d is what I reply.<\/p>\n


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\u201cNFB wants you to write a text about me?\u201d<\/p>\n

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I honestly don\u2019t know why they would ask me to do this, because I will make fun of him, but I can only accept such a request. This is my once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to embarrass him in the most respectful way possible.<\/p>\n

But let me introduce myself first, before we make this all about my dad, because I also want attention as an artist. I\u2019m Alexandra Ouchev. Theodore Ushev\u2019s daughter. I make live-action fiction films in university and animation films on the side. I paint. I play and compose music. I basically do everything Ushev does, but better. Except music. He doesn\u2019t have any talent in that sphere. He\u2019s a terrible, compulsive singer.<\/p>\n

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\u201cFrom a young age, I\u2019ve only seen my dad work non-stop in his room, never taking a break. Theodore Ushev is someone who doesn\u2019t play safe, whether it\u2019s in art or politics.\u201d \u2013 Alexandra Ouchev<\/figcaption>
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However, even with his bad musical pitch, I can\u2019t deny that dad has a very polished sense of rhythmic understanding, which he incorporates annoyingly well in all of his films. For me, the animated trilogy of Tower Bawher<\/a><\/em>, Drux Flux<\/a><\/em><\/strong> and Gloria Victoria<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, <\/em>which uses classical pieces alongside constructivist and expressionist art, is composed of the most significant films he\u2019s made. The combination of visuals and soundtrack is hypnotizing, and as each film reaches a crescendo of chaotic geometric shapes and loud orchestral climaxes, I\u2019m left with this intense feeling of being thrown into the Soviet, brutalist propaganda world that I grew up hearing about. Ushev has an exceptional and passionate way of talking about society, war and death, that I adore and am fascinated with, but which always makes me want to ask him, \u201cDad, are you okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

I often hear the conversation about children not knowing who their parents were before they had kids. I think I know my dad pretty well because he always talks about his childhood, his family, his teachers, living in socialist times, his work, etc. However, having an artist dad who\u2019s a public figure can be quite confusing and can often make you question who that person really is.<\/p>\n

There are a few instances where his public status perplexed me, such as the first time I watched a documentary made about him, Theodore Ushev:<\/em><\/strong> Unseen Connections<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/em>Watching a doc about your dad is a weird thing. I have my own personal image of him as an artist, but it\u2019s the artist at home who I know. The film revealed a lot of personal information that I wasn\u2019t aware of, such as certain elements of his childhood that he hadn\u2019t previously talked about, and how that shaped him into the person he is today.<\/p>\n

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Alexandra Ouchev and Theodore Ushev<\/figcaption>
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I had recently seen him teach an animation masterclass and I had the same weird feeling, watching him from a more professional point of view. I\u2019m used to the artist who talks informally about art and politics all day long, at the dinner table, and the artist with whom we go to museums, concerts and the movies. It\u2019s a bizarre sensation watching him present films and seeing people approach him. Naturally, with all that praise he receives, I\u2019m always there to keep his ego in check when it goes a bit over the respected limit.<\/p>\n

Unseen Connections<\/em><\/strong> shows him being hardworking, doing all these creative things. From a young age, I\u2019ve only seen my dad work non-stop in his room, never taking a break. Theodore Ushev is someone who doesn\u2019t play safe, whether it\u2019s in art or politics. He never listens to people who tell him to tone it down. On the contrary, that will inspire him to do it bigger. He\u2019s unapologetic in his principles as an artist and loves to irritate, and provoke. He is incredibly strong headed, driven, passionate and intense. The last word I would use to describe him is \u201cneutral.\u201d He always has to pick a side and be vocal about it. Being apolitical is a big insult for him. His mother would have been proud of him but would have had a cardiac arrest if she had seen him giving a speech in fluent Russian about the war in Ukraine to a Russian film festival audience.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m realizing that this blog post I\u2019m writing is going to please my dad because I\u2019m praising him too much. And that\u2019s not good.<\/p>\n

So let me throw in a few personal anecdotes about him: his room smells like a beehive from all the melting beeswax that\u2019s used for the encaustic painting technique in his films. He disagrees with me way too much but then posts the same statements I made on Facebook. He forgets where he puts important objects all the time and makes the whole house search for them, only for the item to end up next to his bed, under a book. Theodore Ushev is a lazy sloth (you might hear him confess he\u2019s lazy in the documentary). And as a final note, please don\u2019t ever ask him to sing Mozart\u2019s aria \u201cQueen of the Night\u201d (prepare your earplugs).<\/p>\n

Watch Borislav Kolev\u2019s Theodore Ushev: Unseen Connections<\/em> now:<\/strong><\/h3>\n