ASIFA-SF NEWSLETTER
Association International du Film d'Animation
(International Animated Film Association)
June 2010Newsletter includes Nancy's review of Stuttgart 2010, my article/interview with Don Hertzfeldt, our tribute to the early years of the Tournee of Animation (a major event June 18) + a lot more stuff. KC
Fu-De (Brush) by Charlie Corriea
AN IMPRESSIVE ANIMATION CELEBRATION: SF STATE'S 50th FILM FINALS by KC One of the joys of teaching is seeing students work together to create a positive, enthusiastic learning environment. Film Finals as SFSU in May demonstrated once again that that kind of film culture flourishes at the school and this year the event was going to be larger as they were combining the animation finals screening with the juried film finals competition. Also we would be seeing the largest number of completed animated works since I first attended animation finals. In the past the animated works were shown in the 150-seat Coppola Theatre. Now animation opened the combined event in a much larger space and over 450 people turned out to greet the animated works with much laughter and applause.
One sign that State has a well-run animation program was the number of completed thesis films. There were 12 finished projects this year, plus one that still included some pencil test footage. Seeing the number of names repeated in the credits from film to film shows that the spirit of cooperation exists there. I was also impressed that a lot of humor was displayed, that the audio tracks were professional sounding, that scripts were intelligently developed and that students were exploring the use of a wide range of styles and techniques.
The film that I was most impressed with was Fu-De (Brush) by Charlie Corriea. It is a sensitive mature work, quite different from what I expect to see in an animation program. The story touches on the conflict that a traditional Asian painter of nature has with living in a modern city. To make it Charlie combined Asian brush painting techniques on rice paper with traditional drawn animation techniques and digital compositing. Charlie is an excellent draftsman and the winner of both a Gordon Thomas Memorial Scholarship and a Princess Grace Award. He was also the head of the school's student animation society last year.
Competing with Charlie's work for the most applause of the evening was The Visitor by David Azer. The 3-D CGI work has a cute helpless creature flying through an open window. Landing on a table, it is about to take a bite out of a cookie when a human enters the room. What takes place next is an original concept with unexpected plot twists. David's unique story and his fine craftsmanship won him Film Final's audience award.
The competition program known as Film Finals was shown later that evening. A week before 71 entries were shown to cinema students. They voted resulting in three of the fourteen finalists being animated works: The Visitor, Fu-De (Brush) and Maverick. All three were shown twice that evening. This was the most animation ever to make into the juried show.
The third animated film, Maverick, is a humorous 2D digital work by Brendon Oshima. In it a video game character gets bored with an inept player and decides to take matters into his own hands. I hope all three shorts and some of the other films shown will be seen at national and international animation festivals in the coming months.
Other outstanding works by graduating seniors included Clarissa Matalone's Wonders of Nature: Our Natural Forests. It was made using Flash and is a series of humorous awkward moments for visitors to Yosemite. The work was a great way to begin the screening of thesis films as it moves quickly from one comic moment to the next. Clarissa distinguished herself at State by being president of the student animation society this year, by winning a Gordon Thomas Memorial Scholarship and by directing the impressive pixilated trailer/show opening for the Film Finals event. She worked on it with seven other students plus Seth Podowitz, a professional composer and music! ian who works in LA, created the audio track. See it at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzPuK7PeD7M
A really lovely moment in the show was Kiona Medina's Sun Rises. Her experimental work used oil paints on canvas to create a lovely mood piece set to music.
In Chantal Buck's Food Karma she built stop-motion puppets representing an angel and devil and then composited her green screen footage of them with live action footage of a woman (Clarissa) who is trying to decide if she should snack on a fabulous spread of pastries on the table behind her. The puppets give her conflicting advice resulting in lots of laughter.
There were three exceptional 2D digital, hand drawn films with original narratives, fantastical personalities and strong character animation. Eileen Laitinen's Float shows the uplifting effects a man has after eating ice cream floats. In Pickpocket by Jan Heiman we see a pickpocket's stolen object leads him back to the owner where he encounters her mysterious powers. Another dark drama is Rachel Whalon's The Mermaid and the Prince in which a seaman prince falls in love with a mermaid and fights for her release after his commander captures her. All three of these women are exceptionally talented in hand drawn character animation.
Also shown were several group projects by first year animation students. There were exercises dealing with synch sound, music tracks, sound effects and different animation techniques. The work suggested that next year we again should see some original and impressive thesis films.
One thing that sets State apart from a lot of animation programs today is that it offers a broad liberal arts education rather than a trade school type of curriculum where the focus is to train students to get an entry-level job at a computer company. State's approach results in completed works that can display the students' strong points in many areas including storytelling, acting, animation and technical skills. The results of State's approach were appreciated throughout the evening. It also was alluded to at one point when several outstanding achievements of their animation students were announced. Three were presented cash awards and the audience was told three students (Katie Siller, Rachel Whalon and Eileen Laitinen) were hired in April to design and create animation for Zen Otter, a game company in Michigan and another (Chantal Buck) is becoming an apprentice to a stop-motion puppet fabricator. I was later told the four women who have already begun their professional careers were also officers of the school's animation society and had done a great job working with Clarissa and other members organizing and presenting programs throughout the year.
Animation at State has much to be proud of. Jonas Rivera, who graduated from State's Cinema program in 1996, presented the awards this year. While he was a student he became an intern at Pixar. He is still working for them, most recently as a producer on Up. Jonas is just one of the many graduates from the school who has gone on to a successful career in animation.
Before the animation honors were announced an impressive reel of clips from films made at the school were shown. In about eight minutes we saw moments from Chelsea Walton's Jack and Mindy Retire (2004), Gordon Thomas' Pedro and Tony (2002), John Fadeff's The Sweeper (2004), Kaitlin Lasher's Unwelcome (2006, winner of a cash prize at the Beijing Animation Festival) and from other films. Warren Haack, who provides sound and other technical support for the students throughout the year, edited the reel together.
Also screened that night were two commercial projects created by the animation students. They created the trailer for the Berlin and Beyond Festival for the third time in four years. It combined the use of 2-D, 3-D and stop-motion animation techniques. They also created the impressive pixilated trailer/show opening for Film Finals. They managed to finish them and their own projects on time. That's teamwork.
SCOTT KRAVITZ AND ANTHONY SCOTT ANIMATED THE FIRST OF THREE AMAZING LOOKING PAPER CUT OUT, POP UP BOOK PSAs FOR CHILDREN'S MEDICAL CENTER The crew that took only three weeks to create it are Jamie Caliri, director; Alexander Juhasz, production designer; Helder Sun, camera & lighting; Anthony Scott and Scott Kravitz, animators; Kathleen Lolley, color design; Colette Fu, Rebecca Stillman and Pablo Grande, paper engineers; Huy Vu, set dresser; Odessa Sawyer, digital wrangler; Morgan Hay, production manager and Richie McCord, production assistant. Two more of these spots are being made.! Several members of the crew worked on Coraline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRFewBxV-cg
ELECTRONIC ARTS' "MASS EFFECT" GAME MAY BECOME A FEATURE Legendary Pictures has picked up the film rights and Mark Protosevich, who wrote I Am Legend and worked on Thor, is being considered as the script writer. Mass Effect is a science fiction action game set in the future with lots of aliens.
THE GAME INDUSTRY IS ADJUSTING TO CHANGES Japan's Sega is restructuring its Western operations, which will cut jobs as it moves towards digital distribution. A total of 73 jobs will be cut with 37 coming from the London office and 36 from the San Francisco location. San Francisco will become the Digital Division, while London will focus on packaged games.
GEORGE LUCAS WILL GIVE YOU A PART IN THE "STAR WARS" SAGA Join the cast as Lucas celebrates the 30th anniversary of the feature. All you have to do is visit JibJab.com or StarWars.com. You just need to upload a photo and use JibJab's simple tools to insert yourself into the movie. Happy, happy, joy, joy. Pretend you are a star and share your performance with friends via e-mail.
The Star Wars video is free. JibJab is a member-supported company that charges $12 a year for unlimited access to its 1,000+ eCards, and other stuff starring you.
SF INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCED THEIR ANIMATION WINNER AND SHOWED OFF A NOVEL 3-D TECHNIQUE The winner of the best-animated prize ($2000) went to Tussilago by Jonas Odell (Sweden).
The unusual 3-D technique is called ChromaDepth, a method that uses defraction grating material held in cardboard glass frames to make dark colors recede and bright colors advance. This isn't very useful for normal photography unless you want your subjects to wear bright yellow, red or orange clothing so they will be floating in front of dark blue, purple or green backgrounds. For abstract or non-objective work the effect can be quite impressive. Such films will appear normal without the glasses, but the bright colors will float when you wear them. Unfortunately the animated film using the technique wasn't a pleasure to listen to or watch.
WORK BY BAY AREA ANIMATORS WANTED FOR SCREENING AT OTTAWA 2010 Andrew Farago of the Cartoon Art Museum is curating the program of high-quality animated shorts. If interested contact him at (415) CAR-TOON, ext. 309 or at gallery@cartoonart.org for details.
MEET PROFESSOR PICKLEPANTS AND FRIENDS, BEING CREATED BY A NEW STOP-MOTION COMPANY IN CASTRO VALLEY The company is Johnny Underscore and it is run by John Cavalli, Peter Sailsbery and John's 12 year-old son Joe. Clips on YouTube look like "Ginger and Pickles" could be a fun family half-hour show. It has a well-produced soundtrack and looks great. All of the sets and characters are built and filming of a short pilot began in January. John Carvalli tells me, "The sets cover the floor of my living room and the filming is going very slow. I didn't realize stop-motion would take so long."
John may be a newcomer to animation, but he has a mature eye and skills. He tells me that after being laid off last year from AT&T, after being with them for 25 years, he decided to take charge of his future and develop his artistic and comedy writing skills. He created an entertainment company called Johnny Underscore out of his home in Castro Valley. He tells us, "We spent a year developing the characters and stories. Almost all of our sets are built from items we find in thrift stores, garage sales, and even dumpsters. We have thou! sands of used toys and discarded household items in my garage workshop."
"The people we hire to help build sets or perform voiceovers for the characters are also mostly people who have recently lost their jobs. Some worked for big corporations for decades and this is a chance to explore their creative talents. We hope to make money someday soon so we can continue to produce quality entertainment for everyone."
The company's website is www.johnnyunderscore.com.
You can see some finished clips of the pilot episode on YouTube at
youtube.com/watch?v=DHGSWQyJ5gU & youtube.com/watch?v=2nqBgB1C7QY
LEARN LEGO ANIMATION AT THE SHULTZ MUSEUM IN SANTA ROSA Summer classes begin June 7. The Museum offers half-day and weeklong classes in cartooning, manga, computer and Lego animation, hands-on art, and even ice-skating! A class listing is posted a
www.schulzmuseum.org/workshops-summer.html
"DOCK ELLIS & THE LSD NO-NO" RECEIVED THE BEST ANIMATED FILM PRIZE AT THE SANTA CRUZ FILM FESTIVAL James Blagden's unusual animated short was shown at Sundance and can be seen on YouTube along with Robin Williams talking about Dock Ellis' amazing accomplishment. Blagden is an illustrator from Brooklyn. The festival in Santa Cruz was held in May at the historic Del Mar Theatre. It is "an annual celebration of independent cinema and culture."
LOCAL EVENTS
Thurs. June 3, 8 PM, SPRING FX BEER NIGHT Join stop-motion animator Justin Kohn to have a drink, network and talk shop with old and new friends at Scott Kravitz's newly re-modeled bar with a new name and now a NON-SMOKING place. Tell any friends who may be interested. At 718 14th St., between Church and Sanchez. Call Justin at 415-699-8693 if you need more information.
Sun. Tues., June 6 8, "THE SECRET OF KELLS" at the Red Vic on Haight Street
Fri. June 11, benefit screening of TOY STORY 3 to aid the SF Film Society. It is at PIXAR with a reception at 6:30 pm, screening at 7:30. Tickets are $100, $125 and $250.
https://www.trilogyticketing.com/sffs/
Tuesday, June 15 at 7:00pm. "Jackie Ormes: The First African American Woman Cartoonist" The Cartoon Art Museum welcomes author Nancy Goldstein for a slideshow of cartoons and comics from her book on Jackie Ormes. Jackie Ormes (1911-1985) drew sophisticated, smart, outspoken black women comic characters that defied the usual mammy stereotypes in comics of the era. She was a pioneering woman cartoonist at a time when men dominated cartooning. Suggested donation is $5.
34th SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL LGBT FILM FESTIVAL, JUNE 17-27, TO SHOW FIVE ANIMATED SHORTS PLUS "DOTTIE'S MAGIC POCKETS" Dottie's Magic Pockets by Tammie Stoner is a 50-minute TV show on DVD for kids 4 6. Stoner says, "I created Dottie's Magic Pockets to reflect a diverse family. I wanted to put my heart around positive gay and lesbian images. There isn't anything else like this out there." The show features actors, ! hand puppets and animated segments. The shorts are The Girl Bunnies, Hockey by Françoise Doherty, Mouse's Birthday by Barry Morse, Red Revenge by Eunha Choi, Cat's Cradle by Ray Rea and Queer Pet Adventures Episode #1 by Veronique Courtois.
Friday June 18, A TRIBUTE TO THE TOURNEE OF ANIMATION AND PRESCOTT WRIGHT, THE EARLY SHOWS at the Exploratorium, 7:30 pm, free For many years The Tournee of Animation was the major and often the only way to see wonderful independent animated shorts from around the world. Tonight we will look at original 16mm archival prints from the first three programs distributed (1968-1970) by Prescott Wright (1936 2007).
The highlights to be screened include work by Richard Williams, experimental computer animation by John and Michael Whitney, gems from the Zagreb Studio, Yoji Kuri from Japan, and work from the US, UK and other nations. A wide variety of content, styles and animation techniques will be included.
When Prescott died his library of Tournee prints went to the Pacific Film Archives with a duplicate set going to ASIFA. They recently gave us sets of the first three shows. After our screening the prints will go to ASIFA-LA for preservation. Due to colors fading and some of the shorts being dated we are only showing highlights. Don't miss what may be your only chance to see these legendary films projected in 16mm, the way they were meant to be seen.
NATIONAL NEWS
SHREK FANS SHOULD LOVE "SHREK THE FOURTH" The opening shot of a team of white horses galloping towards you pulling a fancy carriage is quite memorable. Then the film proceeds to a low point, getting lots of farts, belches and outhouse jokes out of its system before getting into a fun story that was much better than I was expecting. A nice plus is that the animation is top notch, quite beautiful at times, and the human characters don't fall into the uncanny valley. It is a really nice looking ! accomplishment.
GOING TO LA THIS SUMMER? DON'T MISS THE FREE EXHIBITS HONORING CHUCK JONES AND RAY HARRYHAUSEN AT THE ACADEMY "The Fantastical World of Ray Harryhausen" features many of his amazing stop-motion models along with photographs, movie posters, video clips and original production drawings and paintings. It is in a gallery on the fourth floor. "Chuck Jones, An Animator's Life from A to Z-Z-Z-Z" includes 150 drawings, cels, storyboards, and other materials. It is in the Grand Lobby Gallery. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills.
"MARY AND MAX" OUT ON DVD AND BLU-RAY JUNE 15 Adam Elliot's wonderful stop-motion feature will be packaged with his Oscar winning Harvie Krumpet. They will retail at $24.98 and $29.98.The distributor is MPI Media Group.
BRAD BIRD TO DIRECT "MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE IV" Tom Cruise tells the press that Brad Bird will direct and that Cruise and J.J. Abrams will produce it. Paramount will release it on Dec. 16, 2011.
THE 37th STUDENT ACADEMY AWARDS CEREMONY WILL BE HELD JUNE 12. THERE ARE THREE WINNERS THIS YEAR This year eight films were finalists. Three are from Cal Arts and one work comes from each of the following: Savannah College of Arts, the Kansas City Institute of the Arts, Ringling College of Art and Design, Pratt Institute and Rochester Institute of Design. The winners are Departure of Love by Jennifer Bors, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida; Dried Up by Isaiah Powers and Jeremy Casper, Kansas City Art Institute, Missouri and Lifeline by Andres Salaff, Cal Arts.
"AVATAR" KEEPS ON MAKING MONEY It is the all time top box office champ worldwide with a gross of $2.7 billion. Now it is also the fastest selling DVD and Blu-ray of all time with 19.7 million sold in just 3 weeks. The previous record holder was The Dark Knight, which sold 16 million copies.
"TALES FROM EARTHSEA" BY GORO MYAZAKI TO BE RELEASED IN THE US AUGUST 13 Goro is the son of Hayao Myazaki and his feature is based on an Ursula LeGuin story of the same name. It was released in Japan in 2006, but release in the US by Disney was held up by a conflict with a TV series also based on the book. The trailer on the Internet contains lots of beautiful images of nature. Like his father's work, this isn't typical anime.
THE WINNERS OF THE ANNUAL ASIFA-EAST ANIMATION COMPETITION On Mothers' Day the awards screening and ceremony was held at the Tishman Auditorium at the New School, NYC. Prizes were given for independent short films, sponsored films, commercials and student work. The Best in Show award went to Backwards by Aaron Hughes & Lisa LaBracio.
In the Independent Films category the winners are: 1st Place, Something Left, Something Taken by Tiny Inventions; 2nd Place, Let's Make Out by Stephen Neary; 3rd Place, The Hybrid Union from Hybroll Animation; Excellence in Animation, Off-Line by Tom Gasek (who lived and created award winning stop-motion animation in SF in the 1990s); Excellence in Design, The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead & Roundhead - The Thing in the Distance by Elliot Cowan; Excellence in Writing/Humor, Rinky Dink by John Dilworth's Stretch Films; Excellence in Experimental Techniques, Aesthetic Species Maps (2009) by David Montgomery, and Excellence in Soundtrack, The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger from Bill Plympton's Plymptoons.
The winners in the sponsored film category are: 1st Place, Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity, Weston Woods Studio; 2nd Place, I Am a Paleontologist, Sean McBride; 3rd Place, Electric Car, Tiny Inventions; Excellence in Animation, Innovation Driven, FlickerLab; Excellence in Design, Science is Real, David Cowles & Andy Kennedy; Excellence in Design, Emperor's New Clothes, Dancing Diablo; Excellence in Writing/Humor, Hysterical Psycho: "Intro" from W/M Animation, and Excellence in Writing/Humor, Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus from Weston Woods Studio.
The winners in the Commercial category are: 1st Place, Don't Miss It! by David Cowles & Jeremy Galante; 2nd Place, Batter Up by David B. Levy (president of ASIFA-East) and Elliot Cowan; 3rd Place, Hysterical Psycho: "Moon Cheese" from W/M Animation; Excellence in Animation, Dennis & Gnasher from Red Kite Animation; Excellence in Humor, My Daughter Studies by David B. Levy and Excellence in Design, Spike & Bubble from Dancing Diablo.
The winners in the Student film category are: 1st Place, Down to the Bone by Peter Ahern; 2nd Place, The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9! by Jake Armstrong; 3rd Place, Together! by David Sheahan, Honorable Mention, Sam the Super Sticky by George Thorman, and Honorable Mention, Topi by Arjun Rihan.
ASIFA-SF will be showing the above program of winners later this year. Only a few of the winners are by people well known here so hopefully we will discover a lot of fresh and exciting talent.
COMING FROM PIXAR IN 2012 ARE "MONSTERS, INC. 2" AND "BRAVE" Brave, formerly known as The Bear and the Bow, will open June 15, 2012 and the Monsters, Inc. sequel will debut Nov. 16. Brave, written and directed by Brenda Chapman, follows an impetuous princess (Reese Witherspoon) who dreams of renouncing her royal duties to become a world-class archer. Variety says no plot details of Monsters, Inc. have been announced.
ARE MAURICE NOBLE AND CHUCK JONES TURNING OVER IN THEIR GRAVES? This is from the new CGI Road Runner Cartoons, soon to be on the Cartoon Network. Warner Bros. is also releasing three theatrical shorts in 3-D this year. One opens July 30 with Cats and Dogs 2, the second with Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, on September 24; and the third with Yogi Bear, on December 17. Is this what the new theatrical Roadrunner looks like as well?
SONY PICTURE CLASSICS ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO SYLVAIN CHOMET'S "THE ILLUSIONIST" The script is based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati (Mr. Hulot's Holiday). Chomet's previous animated feature is The Triplets of Belleville. When The Illusionist was previewed at this year's Berlin Film Festival it received a lot of praise from the critics. The film follows a troupe of vaudeville performers at the beginning of the TV and rock 'n roll era. Sony hopes to have the film in theaters by the end of 2010.
DISNEY MAY FINALLY RELEASE "DESTINO" ON DVD Rumor has it that it may release the short based on Dali's storyboards and sketches with a documentary on the making of it and other shorts on a DVD called Fantasia World.
DISNEY ANNOUNCES A FEATURE PROJECT FOR 2011 AND ONE FOR 2013 Winnie the Pooh, directed by Stephen Anderson and Don Hall will be a 2D project and a July 15, 2011 opening is planned. Reboot Ralph, formerly called "Joe Jump," will be a 3-D CGI film and will premier on March 22, 2013.
DISNEY WILL HAVE TO DO BETTER by Ed Hooks The Princess and the Frog was playing on the back of the seat in front of me during my recent flight to Germany, so I studied it for a few thousand miles. The same things bothered me about it this time as when I initially saw it on the ground. The 2D animation is, of course, awesome, but Disney practically wrote the book on hand-drawn excellence. No surprise there, just kudos and calls for an encore. The story and script are the problems. The plot twist that turns the princess into a frog is cute but, in the en! d, is a one-joke deal and will not justify a $100 million budget. The acting is often lackluster, but you can't blame the animators because they have to play the cards they are dealt. The first fifteen minutes of the film contain zero structured ("action in pursuit of objective, overcoming an obstacle") scenes at all. Instead, it contains what amounts to some group hugs. A little bit of that goes a long way, even for 10-year old kids, whom I presume are the target audience. I hope the Disney honchos do not once again blame 2D for mediocre box office.
www.edhooks.com & www.actingforanimators.com - He has a free newsletter.
Note: While the animation was excellent, I thought a large committee wrote the script and they had to be polite and use everybody's ideas to embellish it instead of sticking to the basics. Too many cooks spoil the broth. KC
TO SEE AN AMAZING X-RATED PINBALL MACHINE GOOGLE "GIDDY UP" A MUSIC VIDEO BY TAHUNA BREAKS FROM NEW ZEALAND It was directed and illustrated by Leah Morgan, animated by Morten Leirkjaer and produced by Fish N Clips in Auckland. You may never look at a pinball machine again the same way.
VEGGIE TALES IS BACK Big Idea Entertainment, the leading faith-based studio and producer of children's and family programming, characters and brands, will release "an enchanting adventure" called VeggieTales: Sweetpea Beauty--A Girl After God's Own Heart, on July 31 for $14.99 in Christian market stores. This fairy-tale parody teaches a valuable lesson about true beauty. The DVD includes the Silly Song "Pants," a sing-along song called "More Beautiful," and "family friendly exclusive interviews."
SWEDISH CARTOONIST WHO DREW THE PROPHET MUHAMMAD ASSAULTED DURING PUBLIC LECTURE Lars Vilks was lecturing at Uppsala University on the limits of artistic freedom when a man leaped from the front row and head-butted him, breaking his glasses. He wasn't injured. Police used batons to hold off a group of about 15 people who began shouting "God is great" in Arabic. They arrested two people after using pepper spray while Vilks was being escorted out of the hall.
There had been a peaceful demonstration by Muslims outside before Vilks started to speak. About 260 people attended his lecture. When it was announced that the lecture was discontinued, there were cheers and chants in Arabic.
Vilks made his rough sketch that was printed in a Swedish newspaper more than a year after Danish newspapers ran their cartoons of the prophet that sparked furious protests in Muslim countries in 2006. Vilks' political cartoon showed Muhammad with a dog's body. When his cartoon was printed there were also protests and death threats. It also revived the debate in the West and the Muslim world about religious sensitivities and the limits of free speech. In September 2007 Vilks was temporarily moved to a secret location after al-Qaida in Iraq put a $100,000 bounty on his head.
Earlier this year U.S. investigators said Vilks was the target of an alleged murder plot involving Colleen LaRose, an American woman who dubbed herself "Jihad Jane," and who now faces life in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
Note: A Muslim explained to me that while in the ancient past Muslims were forbidden to depict humans in their art, today nothing is forbidden to be depicted by Shiite Muslim artists; however, Sunni artists are still forbidden to depict his image. I was also told only extremists enforce that rule.A FASCINATING BLOG ON THE DOMINANCE OF A CAL ARTS EDUCATION IN THE WEST COAST ANIMATION INDUSTRY On April 28, 2010, Cartoon Brew.com ran a list of the schools the directors of recent Disney, Pixar and Dreamworks had gone to. All but 4 of the directors had gone to Cal Arts. The list sparked a really interesting discussion (over 200 notes from people) about why this was the case, the value of an animation education from different schools, etc. It is worth reading.
BILL PLYMPTON RAISES HELL Bill's animated feature, Idiots and Angels will be released in Los Angeles in September 2010. Details on this and other screenings in the US will be posted at
http://www.idiotsandangels.com/
In April the Graphic Artist Guild of New York hosted "An Evening With Bill Plympton" at Pratt Institute. He showed some of his shorts, gave a drawing demonstration, and talked about his films, his career and how to make money as an independent filmmaker.
He also appeared recently at the Plastic Paper Animation Festival in Winnipeg, Canada and in early June he is heading to Annecy, France where his The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger is being shown in competition. The festival runs June 7-12. This year the Annecy festival is celebrating its 50th Anniversary so it will screen some of Bill's classic films as part of the festival's homage to the history of animation. He also hosts a fun party/screening each year with Nancy Denney-Phelps.
In July Bill will once again be at the San Diego Comic-Con to sell his DVDs, books and CD's. For last minute news about Bill Plympton and Pat Smith visit their blog at
http://scribblejunkies.blogspot.com/
LOOKING FOR WORK? THIS JOB MARKET IS GROWING An ad for the CTG Expo 2010 in India reads "Singapore's Interactive & Digital Media (IDM) industry is targeted to generate 10,000 new jobs and create S$10 billion worth of value added by 2015. To achieve this vision, Singapore is looking for fresh and experienced talent from the realms of animation, visual effects and game development from all over the world to come to Singapore, where they can be at the center of a vibrant and budding IDM industry."
"The line-up of games, animation and visual effects studios with branches here is headed by top IDM companies such as Double Negative, Electronic Arts, ILM, Tecmo Koei, Lucasfilm, Rainbow S.p.A, Southern Star and Ubisoft. Many local studios like Scrawl Studios, Sparky Animation and Peach Blossom Media are also making waves on the international stage with their Made-in-Singapore products."
THE BE FILM FESTIVAL IS PUTTING WORK ON THE INTERNET They have partnered with Babelgum to launch a content channel of short films that will include narrative films, animation, experimental work, music videos, specs, and documentaries. They will also release works for a variety of hand held devices including the Apple iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, and Google's Android devices. Be Film will also offer a selection of Be Film Sexy Shorts on
www.befilm.net and on awn.com
RARE ANIMATION ART AUCTION TO BENEFIT A YOUNG DISNEY ANIMATOR BATTLING LEUKEMIA The animation community in LA is raising money to help Pres Romanillos who was the lead animator of the villain in Muhlan. The June 20th auction will have on-line bidding for out of town bidders. The artwork includes an original Tytla Stromboli, work by Frank & Ollie, Tex Avery, Richard Williams, Eric Goldberg, Glen Keane and other! noted artists. Details at
MORE ON THE FORMER HOME OF WINSOR McCAY The three story structure is for sale ($560,000) and it could end up being demolished. Apparently it was built around 1880 and McCay lived there from 1907-1923. Cartoon Brew.com posted more information about this historic structure on May 10 with links to several websites including Bill Plympton's Scribble Junkies blog that includes his sketch of it and a photo of him in front of it.
DUKE UNIVERSITY HAS AN ARCHIVE OF VINTAGE TV ADS ON THE INTERNET Over 7000 ads can be seen using Tunes software.
http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/
THIS SUMMER'S ANIMATED FEATURES SHOULD BE FUN FOR KIDS Late spring/summer and during the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday seasons are when distributors try to strike it rich with films aimed at the juvenile market. It looks like this summer's releases will once again offer the public several fun-filled animated or partly animated family films.
Pixar and Dreamworks will be playing it safe and are offering us well-loved characters in sequels. You know more or less what you can expect in the further adventures of Shrek, Buzz Lightyear and friends. It should be safe to assume Shrek the Fourth, also called Shrek Forever After which came out in late May, and Toy Story 3, which opens June 18 in the US, will have delightful scripts, impressive scenery, exceptional voice actors repeating the roles they made famous and both films will look spectacular in 3-D.
20th Century Fox is releasing Marmaduke on June 4. It is based on a popular newspaper single panel comic that has been drawn by Brad Anderson since 1954. Marmaduke is a Great Dane who exhibits many characteristics not typically displayed by dogs. In the feature his human family has moved into a new suburban home and he is their lovable, but clumsy pet. He manages to create ! a series of problems for them and he is generally oblivious to having just messed up their lives by wrecking things. The film is live action with computer-generated animation created by Rhythm & Hues in Hollywood and India.
Universal's animated offering this summer is Despicable Me. I guess the title was chosen to appeal to young, slightly rebellious kids, hopefully ones who have a sense of humor. An advance press release tells us that, "In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by a small army of minions, we discover Gru (voiced by Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon. (Yes, the moon!) Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays, and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad. The world's greatest villain has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes." The voice actors include Julie Andrews as Gru's mother. Despicable Me opens July 9.
Warner Bros. will release Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore on July 30. This is a live action comedy with state of the art puppets and computer generated animals. In the sequel to Cats and Dogs (2001) the ongoing war between the animals is put on hold when they join forces to thwart a rogue cat spy with her own sinister plans for conquest. Bette Midler provides the voice of the evil Kitty and Alec Baldwin is Butch. Roger Moore has a live action role. The studios that created the animation and visual effects include Tippett Studios, The Embassy and Soho VFX.
DON HERTZFELDT TALKED ABOUT HIS UNIQUE ANIMATION CAREER AT THE SF FILM FESTIVAL by KC The San Francisco International Film Festival (April 22 to May 6) honored Don Hertzfeldt by giving him their 2010 Persistence of Vision Award for his career creating an impressive personal body of animate! d work that challenges the boundaries of the craft. Animation fans obviously approved as the Sundance Kabuki's largest hall (over 500 seats) was sold out long before the show began. From the amount of laughter and applause, Don must be one of the most popular animators in America.
Don had a great deal to say from the stage and later when we talked. Some of his favorite films are silent comedies, especially the work of Buster Keaton. This influence can be seen in strange visual situations he creates, especially in his early work. His most successful student film Billy's Balloon, 1998, opens with a child holding a red balloon and not much happens. Suddenly the balloon starts tugging on the child's arm. It lifts him into space, then drops him and does that again and again. As we see the boy being held aloft for the third or fourth time, he sees a girl being lifted into space. They smile and wave; then she falls. Eventually the sky is full of balloons getting their revenge. Not too surprisingly the film became an overnight hit in Spike and Mike's Sick and Twisted programs, was show widely across the globe as were his three other student films, and Billy's Balloon was nominated for the Palm d'Or for short films at Cannes. Don was only 22 at that time. (Billy is also the star of a web comic he creates and appears in several other films.)
When asked about his next film, Rejected, 2000, nominated for an Academy Award, he explains that after the success of "Billy's Balloon" he received several offers to do commercial work including a feature. He turned down all the offers. At one point he was discussing a crazy idea with a friend about what it might be like to accept somebody's money to make commercials and then blow it on creating outrageous sequences that the client wouldn't want to show on TV. While that never happened, he loved the concept so he made a series of mock commercials suggesting what his weird ones would be like.
He says he has never done commercial animation to make money, nor has he ever had a job doing anything outside of filmmaking. He does what he does because he enjoys doing it and, "The goal isn't to try and make as much money as I possibly can, the goal is to try and make good movies."
As Don's work matured he often relied more on the spoken word. The verbal content is extremely important to our enjoying his shorts. He loves making ironic statements and his dialog is full of delightful non sequiturs. He loves creating odd juxtapositions of words.
Most of his characters are simple stick figures, but despite their minimal construction he has learned a great deal about using them as actors. They communicate information and feelings to his audience through their eyes, mouths and appendages. He manages to convey complex facial expressions, has learned to draw many kinds of walk cycles and to use the arms and hands for gestures.
Don didn't study to be an artist. He told the audience that while he drew comic books as a kid, he never studied art in college and he only had one art class in high school. What he remembers most about that class was a girl severely cutting a finger and the odd way the instructor reacted to the accident.
When he made the film "The Meaning of Life," 2005, he spent the first 9 months of the production just drawing headless stick figures walking. He says each one moves differently and there must be hundreds of figures in that film. As he drew them he was still deciding what each figure would say so he added the heads later. His soundtrack was still evolving and he didn't want to commit himself to this or that figure saying something if he might want to change it later. It took him about four years to finish the film.
Don believes that the artist should use the techniques he likes to work with and in his case that excludes the computer. He is proud that his work is hand drawn on paper and it has always been shot on film. He does use the computer now for editing. He told me "it's true I still draw on paper and shoot on 35mm film (the camera is one of the last functioning Acme animation cameras around, from the late 1940s), however we edit digitally and mix sound digitally. We made the move to digital editing for The Meaning of Life in 2005. Everything before that was cut on film with razor blades the old fashioned way."
His love of filmmaking began as a kid growing up in Fremont, California using a home video system. In college he majored in film. He was studying at U. C. Santa Barbara and he initially wanted to make live action films, but when he realized how expensive it would be to make a live action 16mm film he decided to see what he could do using the school's unused animation stand. He knew that animation could be an economical way to express ideas; he wouldn't shoot lots of takes using up lots of expensive rolls of film.
After he graduated he purchased a late 1940s Acme 35mm camera and a Richardson animation stand that he thinks was once used to film Peanuts cartoon specials for TV. While his four 16mm college films were drawn on paper and shot without complicated camera techniques, his 35mm stand has allowed him to learn numerous complex animation techniques that were developed before the age of computers. He says, "We have over 100 years now of amazing film technology to play with. I don't understand why any artist would want to throw any of their tools out of the box. ! Many people assume that because I shoot on film and animate on paper I must be doing things the hard way, when in fact my last four movies would have been visually impossible to produce digitally."
The films he has made are based on concepts that he dreams up. He says he picks the subjects that excited him the most. As for his writing techniques, he doesn't create a straightforward storyboard and then animate it. Instead his work evolves as he is working on it. He starts with general ideas, but then as other ideas or bits and pieces come to mind he jots them down and eventually adds what he thinks will work best with the project he is developing. He says he has notes for dozens of possible projects based on images from his subconscious.
Don's income from his films allows him to continue making them. He also has a good sense for business. For example fans can buy Bitter Films Volume One, 1995-2005, a DVD that includes outtakes, commentaries and other features. In 2003 he created The Animation Show with the help of Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-head. It was a feature length package of films that played in movie theatres. A second package was released theatrically in 2005 and the third edition came out in 2007. The fourth edition was released in 2008 by a company Hertzfeldt started. DVDs of the programs are available from MTV.
Don made a tour of 22 cities in the US in 2008 and '09 presenting "An Evening with Don Hertzfeldt." The program included a retrospective of his work, an onstage interview and his answering questions from the audience. Don says he feels lucky to have survived doing what he has wanted to do for over 15 years.
As for the future he has thoughts about writing and directing a feature, but he isn't ready to do that unless he directs it in Europe with several employees and production funds from investors. He has no desire to do all that work by himself.
The show in San Francisco ended with a new work, Wisdom Teeth. It appears to be unfinished. Don told me "it just needs color correction and a few technical tweaks and the opening title and credits of course, which will be sort of unusual." The film has an off screen person removing an extremely long dental floss string from the star's mouth. It is a very visual black and white work with touches of red. What happens got lots of different kinds of reactions from the audience. It certainly took me by surprise. He had previously screened the piece at Sundance 2010 and at Ottawa 2009.
When somebody asked Don about how he relates to audience reactions, he explained that each audience could be quite different from the previous one and that they might laugh in different places or not find a sequence at all funny. He hopes not everybody is alike and is thinking the same way. Don is certainly a bright, unique individual.
17th INTERNATIONAL TRICKFILM FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED FILM, Stuttgart, Germany, May 4 9, 2010
by Nancy Denney-Phelps
"I have so many vivid memories of my time at the festival that if I could only attend one festival a year, the Trickfilm Festival in Stuttgart would be it!" Nancy
The 17th edition of the International Trickfilm Festival of Animated Film, May 4 - 9 in Stuttgart was definitely bigger and better than ever. The only problem was there was too much to see and do. In addition to the five short film competition screenings there were four Tricks For Kids programs, four Young Animation presentations, four panorama screenings, feature films, and a bevy of guests.
A rare appearance by the legendary Bruce Bickford was a special treat. Bruce, an animation veteran of 40 years, introduced two of his films, the 45-minute Cas'l and Prometheus' Garden. He also answered numerous questions from the sold out audience. In a separate program Monster Road (2004), Brett Ingram gives an intimate glimpse into the life and work of the clay animation master who spent 6! ½ years working with Frank Zappa to create Baby Snakes, Dub Room Special and other projects.
The competition programs offered some new surprises for me. Australian animator Darcy Pendergast's Lucky is a total departure from his previous work with clay. The non-narrative music driven film shows what can happen when an animator and his friends stay up all night with a camera and glow sticks. Darcy used the same process that you would use to write your name in the night sky with sparklers. The camera was set to a long exposure and images were painted in the dark sky with flashlights, glow sticks or anything else that emits light.! The process was repeated again, each take slightly modified from the previous frame to create an animated sequence. The results are beautiful, fanciful images.
In Thoughts Are Free, Urte Zintler uses black and white drawings to create a world of memories as an old woman sings a song. It is a touching remembrance of a beloved grandmother.
I have been a fan of Andreas Hykade's work ever since I first saw The Runt. His latest work Love and Theft is a totally different, but equally captivating piece of psychedelic imagery. Morphing animation loops take us on a trip through cartoon history from Betty Boop to Bill Plympton and beyond. The entire romp is set to a hypnotic musical score that increases in intensity in perfect unison with the images.
It is always a pleasure to see animation from China that is anything more than snub nosed little kids with big eyes or lumbering monsters. Lei Lei, a young animator from Beijing, China definitely displayed his independent nature in Magic Cube and Ping-Pong. The hand drawn on paper film was screened in the Young Animation Program. Lei Lei told me how difficult it is to be an independent animator in China and that it is almost impossible to get any financial support from the government to create your work if you do not follow the approved path, leading into a cubicle in an animation factory.
Trick For Kids showed some of my favorite films. Several of the minute long episodes of Alexee Alexeev's hilarious Log Jam series brought gales of laughter from the young audience. I must admit that no matter how often I watch Alexee's delightful tales of the bear, rabbit, and wolf, three musicians who try to make their music in the forest no matter what obstacles they find themselves up against; they always bring a smile to my face.
I enjoyed watching Lost and Found yet again. The magical tale of loneliness and friendship based on Oliver Jeffers award winning book has been beautifully brought to life by British animator Philip Hunt.
The Gruffalo by Jakob Schuh and Max Lang won the Trickstar for the best-animated children's film in competition. The half hour stop-motion film is a magical tale of a mouse that takes a walk through the woods in search of a nut, told with charm and humor. It's faithful to the original well-known children's book by Julia Donaldson.
The four Best of Animation programs were grouped into screenings entitled Obsession, Lost in Sensation, Other Places Other Times, and Life Forms. Obsession gave me a chance to see such classic films as Michaela Pavlatova's erotic fantasy Carnival of Animals and Run Wake's adult fairy tale Rabbit. I was pleased to have the opportunity to see the Quay Brothers' In Absentia (2000), their film about a woman alone in an asylum obsessed with writing the same letter over and over. All four of the programs were perfectly programmed to take you from one beautiful, often dark, film to another.
Animated architecture seems to be an interesting new festival topic. The Monstra Festival in Lisbon this March had a special presentation of an animated film by architects, accompanied live by a dancer who interacted with the image and musicians. Trickfilms Animation Architecture program was a selection of videos made by architects to render both actual building projects and futuristic architectural projects. The videos incorporated music, graphics, and text to bring blue prints to life.
To celebrate 50 years of Sandman, short stories that can lull children to sleep, the festival premiered Sandman, a German feature that combines stop-motion and live action. The look of the main animated characters stays very true to the original drawings from the books. The tale is a charming story about the theft of the Sandman's bag of dreams by Habumar, a villain who wants to give everyone bad dreams. The young audience that I watched the film with was completely enthralled. The backgrounds and lighting design were beautiful, but the use of live actors seemed totally out of place and was distracting to the animated beauty of the film. I am sure that the film, geared to the youngest audience, will delight them as much as the books do. The feature will be released in Germany on September 30th.
Another beloved children's book The Moomies by Finnish/Swedish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson, is being brought to life on the screen in time for the 65th birthday of the cuddly little characters. The production is a new stereoscopic 3D version of a Polish-Austrian stop-motion feature made in the late 1970's. The conversion of the original footage, a felt-puppet animation shot on 35mm film through layers of glass, will be Finland's first 3D film. The film premiered at Cannes this year, but we were only shown the trailer. I watched the footage with both the 3D glasses on and off and was pleased to see that the film was enjoyable to watch either way. I was told that since the target audience is 3 to 8 years old, the director wanted to make sure that even the smallest child who might not be comfortable wearing the glasses for a long time, could enjoy the movie. The film's new theme song, The Comet Song, was composed and performed by Bjork, an avid Moomin fan. I am looking forward to having the opportunity to see the entire film.
During the day the Festival Garden provided a lovely place to relax with friends over a beer or visit the Activity Tent where guest animators gave demonstrations and talked about their films. A portion of the tent was given over to future animators to try their hand at making a zoetrope or to model clay figures.
As always the daily Filmmakers Talk was a highlight of the festival. Christophe Erbes, a children's book author, media consultant, and animation expert, led the discussions with directors of films in competition. He is an expert moderator thanks to his vast animation knowledge, taste and wit. It is always instructive to hear the directors discuss the making of their film and I always look forward to this opportunity to learn more about how and why a work has been created. Christophe also hosts the nightly Short Film Competitions, introducing the directors who are in attendance on stage.
At night the beer garden turned into a large, open air screening room showing feature films, free to the vast audience spread out on blankets. Even wet skies could not dampen the audiences' enthusiasm when director David Silverman took to the stage to introduce The Simpsons Movie. Other nighttime offerings ranged from Madagascar to Mary & Max.
David Silverman, an avid tuba player, and my husband, Nik Phelps put together a "festival band" with Australian composer/ musician Martin Kennedy on harmonium, Alexei Alexeev and his guitarlele (smaller than a guitar but bigger than a ukulele), and animator/percussionist Darcy Prendergast on ice bucket. Unfortunately Nik was only able to be at the festival for one night due to pressing work deadlines. The band made good use of their one night together. They played in the festival café until it closed; then continued to make music until 6 AM at a local bar. Chinese animator Lei Lei, an amazing rapper, joined the band on other evenings. The combination of tuba and rapping in Chinese defies description.
Running concurrently with the Trickfilm Festival (May 4 7) was the 15th FMX Conference on Animation, Effects, Games and Interactive Media. Billed as the "biggest expert meeting of the minds in Europe", over 3,000 international animation specialists, visitors, and young talents attended the simultaneous presentations. Unfortunately my festival schedule was so packed that I didn't get to spend much time at FMX. When I was there the 10 conference halls were packed. Of special note was the two-day Animation Production Day, a financing platform that brought together creative guests seeking funding for their projects with funders in pre-arranged one on one meeting! s. I wish that FMX began a day or two before the festival so that I could have devoted an entire day exploring the numerous events that the conference offered.
Sunday evening the 400 seat Gloria 2 Theatre was completely full for the closing ceremony and the awarding of the Trickstar statues. A party in the festival café followed the awards. When the café closed we moved to the now empty Activity Tent in the festival garden to make music and party late into the wee hours.
The 17th International Trickfilm Festival had all of the wonderful films and events that you would expect from a major world-class festival, but it still retains its personal, warm, welcoming atmosphere. Directors Dittmar Lumpp and Ulrich Wegenast are most gracious festival hosts. Guest Coordinator/Program Director Andrea Bauer and Philipp Haarmann, along with the entire amazing festival staff were never so busy that they wouldn't help a festival guest who had a problem. Their dedication to making the festival experience special was proven when they moved mountains to bring Nik to Stuttgart for just 20 hours so that he and David could play music together.
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VISIT THE NEW IMPROVED ASIFA INTERNATIONAL WEBSITEwww.asifa.net OUR WEBSITE IS www.asifa-sf.org
A TRIBUTE TO "THE INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION" AND TO PRESCOTT WRIGHT: THE EARLY YEARS
FRIDAY, JUNE 18, 7:30 PM
At the Exploratorium's McBean Theatre, free
The program
Miss Kemeko and Crazy World by Yoji Kuri (Japan), Permutations by John Whitney (USA), Binary Bit Patterns by Michael Whitney (USA), Acceleration by Pevel Prochazka (Czechoslovakia), K-9000: A Space Oddity and the Harbosh Talking Pictures Reel by Robert Mitchell and Robert Swarthe (USA), Rope Trick by Bob Godfrey (England), animation from the feature Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Williams (England), Joe and Petunia by Nicholas Spargo (England), Les Corbeaus by Ernest and Giselle Ansorge (Switzerland), Ad Aspera Ed Astra by Nedeljko Dragic (Yugoslavia), rare TV commercials, Face by Herbert Kosower (USA) and other films.
About the Tournee
From the late 1960s to the mid-1980s The Tournee of Animation was the major and often the only way to see wonderful independent animated shorts from around the world. Tonight we will look at original 16mm archival prints from the first three programs distributed (1968-1970) by). .
The shows introduced thousands of people to a wide range of animation from experimental to narrative approaches from around the world. Early shows included pioneering computer works by John and Michael Whitney and later Peter Foldes to the impressive fine draftsmanship of Richard Williams. For humor there was work by Yoji Kuri from Japan, Bob Godfrey from England and others. There were works conservative theatre chains in the US wouldn't dare show from the Zagreb Studio and other Eastern Europe and Soviet studios. The Tournee played as important role introducing Americans to animation from all over the world during the Cold War.
Members of ASIFA-Hollywood (Bill Scott, June Foray, Bill Littlejohn and Les Goldman) created the concept for The Tournee about 1966 when they decided to organize a program of international animation to be shown at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. A program note for the first program credited Herbert Kosower, an animation teacher at USC, as the organizer and driving force behind the Tournee." After three programs they realized that it was too much work for them to handle and that it would be great if the program could travel to other cultural centers. Prescott Wright (19362006) was appointed the show's producer (1970). He had moved to LA in 1969 to work with the American Film Institute where he was involved with marketing of films produced with AFI grants. He was also working with ASIFA-Hollywood's board. After becoming the show's producer he returned to SF and opened FilmWright, his distribution company. He attended festivals in Annecy, Zagreb and other locations to find prospective shorts for the annual show and then met with his board in LA to review the works and select the works to go into the next package. When Prescott sold rights to the show to Expanded Cinema in 1986 the market for 16mm programs was drying up so the final shows were released in 35mm (the 23rd and 24th editions of the Tournee in 35mm).
Prescott was involved with many other projects including distribution of other products, teaching briefly at SF State and other local schools (BA from State in 1973 and MA in Cinema in 1977). He helped organize the first and several later Ottawa International Animation Festivals as International Director in 1976 and '78, was on the International Board of ASIFA (1975-'85), organized animation programs for KQED and PBS, was on the Film Arts Foundation board, and was director of the Olympiad of Animation in 1984 (connected with the Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games in LA). In 1990 he worked for Disney's feature division as a Creative Staffing Specialist traveling around the world trying to locate talent for the studio.! From there he moved to the Philippines and then Southern India where he helped develop emerging animation studios. By 2002 he was showing early signs of Picks Disease (related to Alzheimer).
When Prescott died in 2007 his library of Tournee prints went to the Pacific Film Archive with a stipulation that a duplicate set go to ASIFA. They recently gave us sets of the first three shows. After our screening the prints will go to ASIFA-LA for preservation. Due to colors fading and some of the shorts being dated we are only showing highlights. Don't miss what may be your only chance to see these legendary films. We will be projecting original 16mm prints.
URGENT! ASIFA-SF NEEDS A WEBMASTER OR WEBTEAM to take our site to the next level. Joe Sikoryak updated www.asifa-sf.org back in 2007, but recently he's had to step away. Our organization needs some fresh blood to update all of the links, and keep up with monthly announcements and member postings. Only a few hours a month of work is required to keep the site running smoothly and the responsibilities can be split up. If you're interested, contact Joe at editor@asifa-sf.org He will help make the transition go smoothly and will offer ongoing support. This is a great opportunity for a web designer who wants to have an internationally recognized organization in their portfolio, so pass the word along!
Karl Cohen
karlcohen@earthlink.net
