n 11 January 1966, the Modern Art world lost what many considered one of the greatest artists of the twentieth centruy – Alberto Giacometti. This is the premise for “Eternal Gaze“ by indie film maker Sam Chen. Winning a multitude of awards from the Best Animated Short for the SIGGRAPH Electronic Theater to the Best Independent Animation for the International 3D Awards, “Eternal Gaze“ not only tells the story of one of modern art’s unsung heroes, it also reflects a remarkable journey for Chen. A computer engineer working at SGI for over 7 years, Chen has spent the last two and a half years working on what he describes as a “poignant story about an artist, his art, and reciprocated love.“ The 16-minute film follows the last 9 years of Giacometti’s life, journeying into the depths of his tortured psyche and exploring the relationship of human conditions such as despair, love and hope, and Giacometti’s art. Eternal Gaze is a heartfelt story and a loving tribute to one of the greatest but least recognized artists of our time. I recently spoke to Sam Chen, who gives insight into the production of this internationally acclaimed short film.

Leonard Teo: What's your background? How did you get into 3D and what are you doing now?

Sam Chen: I'm one of those Computer Science Engineer turned CG Artist types. There seems to be a trend in this sort of career evolution these days especially for do-it-yourself CG filmmakers. This shouldn't be a surprise because this relatively new digital art form requires a strong background in both the arts and the sciences.

After graduating from UCLA with a Computer Science & Engineering degree, I worked at SGI for over 7 years as a CG specialist and eventually, a Creative Director in their Digital Content department. While there, I helped pioneer content-creation for VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) and eventually started to get hooked on Alias PowerAnimator. Then Maya v1.0 came out and I knew at that point that this was a tool that I needed to master. But in retrospect, my interest in 3D really started around the time Pixar's "Adventure of Andre & Wally B." and "Luxo Jr." first came out in the mid 80's.

Now that "Eternal Gaze" is done, I've been spending the last three and a half months doing the festival circuit and showing my film all over North America. I'm also catching my breath and getting ready for the media blitz surrounding its recent win at Siggraph Electronic Theater.

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Above: Sam Chen, the film maker behind "Eternal Gaze" (top), which won the Best Animated Short for the SIGGRAPH 2003 Electronic Theater. Inspired by the life of one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century -- ALBERTO GIACOMETTI -- "Eternal Gaze" follows the artist through the last 9 years of his remarkable life, and journeys into the depths of his famously tortured psyche.