WATCH: Richard Williams' Trailer for 'Prologue', New Short Film Begins Its LA Screening at Laemmle Royal on Friday

Sunday morning, award-winning animation legend Richard Williams (The Thief and the Cobbler, Who Framed Roger Rabbit) released the first look at his new, long-awaited six-minute animated short film Prologue. The hand-drawn film, which first debuted at Annecy in June, is a feat of animation mastery; as he has done throughout his illustrious career, Williams pushes the craft in directions that few others dare to venture.
In the preview traler below, the three-time Oscar recipient Dick Williams explains the impetus for Prologue, interspersed with footage from the finished film, and shares his vision on what he's trying to achieve:

In the film, which was conceived as part of a larger project that Williams jokingly refers to as, “Will I live to finish this?,” Prologue depicts a war incident of 2,400 years ago where Spartan and Athenian warriors are locked in a gory battle to the death while witnessed by a little girl. The dialog-free project utilizes natural sounds to complement the intense animation. Williams — who is best known for his work as animation director on Who Framed Roger Rabbit, unfinished feature The Thief and the Cobbler and Academy Award-winning A Christmas Carol adaptation — has worked on the film for a many years in between other projects. It was begun in Canada, continued in west Wales and finally completed this year at the Aardman studios in Bristol, U.K.
The film’s well-received U.S. premiere took place this weekend at the Telluride Film Festival. Prologue, directed by Williams, will begin its Oscar qualifying engagement run beginning this Friday at Laemmle’s Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles. It will play from Friday, September 11th (beginning at 1 p.m.) through September 17th. It'll screen once a day - but no show times for the matinee screenings or which film its playing with have been announced yet. When I find out more information I will post it in the comments below.
“I’ve gone back to 1900 and drawn each shot on a new sheet of paper. Then it’s polished with state of the art technology. It has taken over 6,000 complex animated life drawings to create this film,” said Williams. Inspired by the works of Kurosawa and silent films, the short breaks animation convention and innovates with movement and space to achieve a dramatic, masterly effect.
Also of note, Imogen Sutton, the producer of Williams’ latest film and longtime collaborator (not to mention his spouse/wife), will be speaking at a Women in Animation event in Burbank tomorrow. More details about how to attend the event can be found on the WIA website.
Click below for a hi-res version of the film’s poster, provided by Richard Williams: