ASIFA-SF NEWSLETTER
Association International du Film d'Animation
(International Animated Film Association)
December 2010

THIS ISSUE CONTAINS SEVERAL MAJOR STORIES:

THE US SENATE HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS IN AN EFFORT TO TIGHTEN RULES GOVERNING THEIR ACCESS TO FEDERAL AID -- SOME RUN ANIMATION PROGRAMS by KC

OTTAWA 2010 WELCOMED CONTROVERSIAL ANIMATION by Karl Cohen

KLIK ANIMATION FESTIVAL, AMSTERDAM, SEPTEMBER 15 - 19 by Nancy Denney-Phelps

ALEX ANDERSON, FATHER OF LIMITED ANIMATION FOR TV HAS DIED AT 90 by KC

"L.A. TIMES" ANNOUNCES PIXAR IS FINALLY TAKING GREATER CONTROL OF DISNEY'S ANIMATION STUDIO AND HAS CANCELLED PRODUCTION OF MORE PRINCESS AND LAVISH MUSICAL FEATURES!

RICHARD WILLIAMS PREMIERED TWO NEW SHORTS AT THE PORDENONE SILENT FILM FESTIVAL

there is also a call for work to be shown at our January open screening & lots of news items including the Red Vic needs support or it may close after serving film lovers in SF for 30 years.

Our next event is OUR 12TH NIGHT POTLUCK PARTY PLUS WINNERS OF THE ASIFA-EAST 41ST ANNUAL ANIMATION COMPETITION, THE LONGEST RUNNING ANIMATION FESTIVAL IN THE US, Jan. 9

ALEX ANDERSON, FATHER OF LIMITED ANIMATION FOR TV HAS DIED AT 90 by KC Much has been written in obituaries about the passing of Alex and his creating Rocky and Bullwinkle. While he did design the characters, he is actually far more important as the person who directed Crusader Rabbit, the first successful limited animation cartoon series for TV. Working with producer J Ward in the late 1940s it was a struggle to do the pilot, to ! find a way to sell it and to eventually produce the planned series. No network wanted to buy it even though episodes were produced on a tiny budget (about $500 for a 5-minute show). They eventually teamed up with Jerry Fairbanks who syndicated it on a station-by-station basis. Ads were included so showing it meant sponsors would pay for the airtime.

In the 1930s Alex and J Ward were high school friends and both went to UC Berkeley. During the summer and after UC Alex worked for his uncle Paul Terry at Terrytoons just north of New York City in New Rochelle. There he discussed with others the idea of making animation so inexpensively that it could be sold to TV. Uncle Paul wasn't interested as his business was producing theatrical cartoons (Farmer Alfalfa, Mighty Mouse, Heckle and Jeckle), but in 1948 he interested J Ward in the concept. (Note: Alex told me J had unusual parents who did not give him a ! first name, just the letter J. In the 1950s he added a period after the J and later it became Jay Ward.)

The 195 five-minute episodes of Crusader Rabbit were created in an apartment over a garage in Berkeley, Ca. (Alex's mom's house.) The voice work was recorded in San Francisco. Lucille Bliss, who was the rabbit's voice, went on to a long career as an actor and voice artist in Hollywood. (Her most famous character was Smurfette. She is now 94, living in a rest home in LA.) Others who worked on the show became successful TV writers and media personalities.

The images in Crusader Rabbit were often static. Sometimes there was camera movement or simple lip movement (just 2 images, an opened and closed mouth). Alex also made good use of stock artwork, repeating the same drawings in episode after episode (a trick that came from Uncle Paul). The shows ran about 3½ minutes plus ads and relied heavily on a narrator explaining the story. That avoided a lot of action and the need for lip synch. The plots were quite silly and there were lots of puns and corny ! gags, silly signs, funny names for people and towns, and other elements to keep the shows interesting. Alex and J called the show Comic Strips for Television, as they contained almost no animation in them.

I got to know Alex and wrote about him several times in the late 1970s and 80s. He was a kind, soft-spoken gentleman with a delightful sense of humor. He enjoyed sharing tales about his long association with Ward, including the strange events Ward held throughout his career (read Keith Scott's delightful book The Moose That Roared for details).

One of Alex's important accomplishments was to create a pamphlet in 1950 for a proposed TV show starring Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle the French Canadian Moose. When the show was finally sold in the late 1950s, Alex was busy working in advertising so his only role in the production was serving as a consultant. While he did create the two characters, he made it clear that it was Bill Scott and other writers and artists that fleshed out the personalities, created those humorous stories, etc. Alex had a very successful career in advertising and did not take part in the show's production.

I have several wonderful handmade things Alex gave me on the wall of my office. Above my desk is a large hand painted Bullwinkle on a plate and next to it is an original cel with Crusader and Rags in jail. It reads, "40 years of limited animation is mighty cruel punishment! If only Richard Williams could have handled us."

There is also a bottle of Bullwinkle "Moosecatel Wine" on my bookcase. He warned me it was lousy wine, not to be consumed. I still love looking at his silly label.

Alex once surprised me by calling to ask if he could stop by. He showed up with his niece, the daughter of Paul Terry, so we talked about his uncle Paul and other things for an hour. It turns out that when Paul sold Terrytoons he spent much of his time at a country club outside of NYC playing golf.

A few years ago Alex's wife informed me he was in a rest home with Alzheimer's. He was so bright, creative and full of life before the onset. It is sad knowing he was spending his final years fading away. I've been missing him for years. I loved getting his annual zany hand drawn Christmas cards and getting unexpected phone calls from him. I have an Internet friend who served in the Navy with Alex during WWII and he lives near Carmel so Tom King saw him from time to time and would give me updates. I hope Alex eventually gets greater recognition for his role as a founder of animation made for TV. !

By the way, his animation stand used to create Crusader Rabbit, is in the lobby of the Cartoon Art Museum and he gave them several other items for their collection that are in storage. I hope the public will eventually see them and the museum will tell the public about his accomplishments.

WHAT IS BEHIND SAN FRANCISCO BANNING FREE TOYS WITH MEALS THAT CONTAIN TOO MUCH SALT, FAT OR CALORIES

While the passing of this law and a similar one in Santa Clara County earlier this year made national news, it is just a stepping stone in a battle against the junk food industry, a battle that has been going on for years. One previous breakthrough in the fight against obesity ("nutritionally unsound diets for kids") was outside pressure forcing the breakfast foods industry to create self-regulations that resulted in their dropping advertising for products that exceeded self-imposed standards on shows aimed at kids. That meant a lot of ads starring cartoon characters went off the air. Goodbye ads for Captain Crunch, etc. You can still buy them, but not advertise them.

Since self-regulations were adopted, the anti-junk food people have published numerous articles claiming advertising and promotion by food manufacturers and fast food restaurants are still too effective. Giving away free toys, using popular cartoon characters as spokesmen and other techniques are enticing kids to want to eat what may be less healthy products. A recent "dangerous" trend is using well-known stars including Dora, Shrek, SpongeBob and Homer Simpson as spokesmen. Recent surveys claim that about 50% of young kids believe food products endorsed by animated stars taste better!

The junk food industry spent $1.6 billion in 2006 promoting their products. Some are "poor diet choices" for children. Pressure groups have convinced Congress our nation is too fat and that they need to consider creating healthy food standards for kids (the bill is presently in committee). The activists have also created websites on the Internet that kids can visit to learn about healthy diets. At ChefSolus.com one can watch animated kids on the Pyramid Power basketball team take on the Junk Food Bandits. The symbolic game encourages players to make healthy food choices.

LATE NEWS - SF BOARD OVERRIDES GAVIN NEWSOM'S VETO OF A LAW PROHIBITING FAST-FOOD RESTAURANTS FROM INCLUDING TOYS WITH CHILDREN'S MEALS THAT DO NOT MEET NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES

The law prohibits giving toys away with meals that contain over 640 calories, too much salt, transfats or calories from fats. It also requires fruits or vegetables to be served with each meal that includes a toy. It goes into effect in Dec. 2011. Drat, I want a Baby Darth Vader toy with a grease burger and lots of butter on my fries.

SHOW YOUR NEW ANIMATED WORK AT OUR ANNUAL OPEN SCREENING IN JANUARY AT THE EXPLORATORIUM

All films welcomed the night of the show (on DVD or 16mm), but if you want to have your film mentioned on the program for the event (we can run a photo or drawings as well), please contact Karl Cohen by Dec. 21. karlcohen@earthlink.net

COMING SOON, A NEW EDITION OF "ACTING FOR ANIMATORS" WITH MORE IMAGES BY PAUL NAAS

In October he finished a new cover illustration, three new interior illustrations, and enhanced nearly half of the illustrations from the previous edition. The new edition of Acting For Animators by Ed Hooks will be out mid-2011.

"OVERTURE: LOONEY TIMES BEHIND THE SCENES" AT THE CARTOON ART MUSEUM

December 4 - May 15, 2011 The exhibit features over 60 pieces of original artwork featuring world-famous characters: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Tweety, Speedy Gonzales, Foghorn Leghorn, Yosemite Sam and the Tasmanian Devil will be character designs, model sheets, advertising artwork, animation pencil art, Looney Tunes comic book art and other rarely seen illustrations. The show provides a look behind the scenes at the creation of these beloved cartoon stars.

The exhibit is provided by Insight Editions who recently published 100 Greatest Looney Tunes Cartoons by Jerry Beck and other writers and the Hanna-Barbera Treasury. www.insighteditions.com.

CARTOON ART MUSEUM EXHIBITING WORKS BY KAL

Kevin KAL Kallaugher is an exceptional editorial cartoonist, one of the best, and his work appears in The Economist. The show features over 40 pen and ink drawings and covers his 32 years with the magazine. His Obama works capture the man's personality from the excitement of campaigning to the grim realities of having to deal with negative Republicans. I was also touched by a powerful pensive moment drawn after! 9/11. If you see it I think you will be impressed. Ends March 13.

THE RED VIC IS THE ONLY THEATRE IN SF THAT HAS BOOKED A LOT OF ANIMATION OVER THE YEARS AND NOW, AFTER 30 YEARS OF EXISTENCE, THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT OR THEY MAY CLOSE Their plea begins, "Times are tough in the world of single-screen, worker-owned-and operated, neighborhood movie theaters. This summer we successfully celebrated our 30th anniversary! We're grateful to our community. But we are struggling under a serious amount of "red ink" To learn more go to a show there (2 great animated shows in December) or visit their website:

http://www.redvicmoviehouse.com/show.php?pageid=1000

LOCAL EVENTS

Tues. & Wed. Dec. 14 & 15, "THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE" at the Red Vic., 715 & 9 15 pm, 1727 Haight St.

Fri. Dec. 17 & Sat. Dec. 18, "HOWL" at the Red Vic Movie House, 1727 Haight St. Howl features mind-expanding animation directed by John Hays, former president and founder of Wildbrain, and designed by artist Eric Drooker, that echoes the startling originality of the poem itself. Drooker, who collaborated with Ginsberg on his final book, Illuminated Poems, will be presenting a short slide show and a Q&A about his work on the film after the 7:15 screening on Friday Dec. 17. Show times: Fri 7:15, 9:30, Sat: 2, 4, 7:15, 9:15

Tues. & Wed. Dec. 21 - 22, "NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS" at the Red Vic., 715 & 9 15 pm, 1727 Haight St.

Thurs. Dec. 23 & Sun. Dec 26, NINA PALEY'S "SITA SINGS THE BLUES" returns to the Red Vic, 1727 Haight Street (closed Fri. and Sat. Dec 24 & 25).

Sunday, Jan. 9, OUR 12TH NIGHT POTLUCK PARTY PLUS WINNERS OF THE ASIFA-EAST 41ST ANNUAL ANIMATION COMPETITION, 6:15 PM, films around 8, at Oddball Films, 275 Capp, third floor (Capp runs between Mission and South Van Ness, on Capp near 18th! St.) free, ASIFA-SF will provide the basics. Please feel free to add to the treats. See flyer for details.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL NEWS

LONG LIVE THE SIMPSONS Fox has ordered production to begin on the 23rd season of the Simpsons. The series will go beyond its 500th episode.

"L.A. TIMES" ANNOUNCES PIXAR IS FINALLY TAKING GREATER CONTROL OF DISNEY'S ANIMATION STUDIO AND HAS CANCELLED PRODUCTION OF MORE PRINCESS AND LAVISH MUSICAL FEATURES! The front-page story "Disney Animation is closing the books of fairy tales" ran Nov. 21 and says Rapunzel/Tangled will be the last princess feature in the foreseeable future. John Lasseter and Ed Catmull also ordered the end of development on The Snow Queen and Jack and the Beanstalk. This is a very bold move as the theme parks and merchandise divisions thrive on the fantasy legends Disney! has created.

According to the article The Princess and the Frog mainly appealed to little girls under the age of six, which isn't a big enough market to pay for the film's outrageous production costs. That realization is said to be why Rapunzel was renamed Tangled and why promotions for it focus on the male hero.

While the article suggested elementary aged kids are more interested in what is hot/cool like Iron Man and Transformers, it did say Disney is continuing to develop a Winnie the Pooh project and another dealing with "an outdated video game character who's been left behind by the march of technology." It quoted Ed Catmull as saying that he and John Lasseter have been encouraging Disney to break with the safe and predictable formulas and push the creative boundaries.

As for animation music, the plans are to depart from Broadway formulas and will focus on "hand-made music," rather then over produced and orchestrated sounds. In Tangled there is a lot more guitar music.

BILL PLYMPTON'S "IDIOTS AND ANGELS" IS WINDING ITS WAY ACROSS THE US It was shown at the Cinema Arts Festival, Houston TX, Nov. 10-14, 2010 and Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe NM, Nov. 26-28. It plays the Music Box Theater, Chicago, Dec. 3-12; Guild Theater, Sacramento CA, Dec.5 and Guild Cinema, Albuquerque NM, Dec. 17-19.

Know any programmers of independent theaters? Tell them that to book Idiots and Angels contact Matthew Freundlich at Passion River. http://www.passionriver.com

PETER CHUNG'S "FIREBREATHER" HAS PREMIERED ON THE CARTOON NETWORK Peter Chung was the creator of Aeon Flux, produced by Colossal Pictures in SF for MTV. Firebreather, based on the comic book series by Phil Hester and Andy Kuhn, delivers fierce action in the clash of two worlds where monsters roam the Earth and past secrets are exposed. At the center of it all, a teenage boy named Duncan struggles to find his place as half-Kaiju and half-human.

RICHARD WILLIAMS PREMIERED TWO NEW SHORTS AT THE PORDENONE SILENT FILM FESTIVAL Richard Williams, who has attended this Italian festival several times, created a new animated logo for them (they also use one made by John Canemaker) and Circus Drawing, described as "a marvelous 9-minute short." Richard says, "In 1953 I was a young artist of twenty, living in Spain near a village circus, where I drew the acrobats, clowns and onlookers. ! Twelve years later I filmed my drawings to an original score, but didn't complete the film. Now that I'm 77, I've finished the film by animating my original drawings." Sérgio Leemann writes, "This touching, poetic ode to circus life is a montage of the drawings that segues into hand-crafted animation of the highest order." While it has a music track that was composed by Richard Rodney Bennett in 1965, for Pordenone there was a live piano accompaniment by Maud Nelissen.

"SOUTH PARK" BEING SUED FOR DOING A PARODY OF A TASTELESS MUSIC VIDEO "WHAT WHAT (IN THE BUTT)" South Park ran a parody of the music video in 2008 in the episode "Canada on Strike."

TWO ANIMATED FEATURES IN 3D FROM AFRICA They are being brought to the US by Cinema Management Group (CMG). Zambezia is set for release in June 2011 while Khumba is set for June 2012. "The rich music and colors of Africa have come alive in both of these movies whole family." The films are being animated and produced by Capetown based Triggerfish Studios.

Zambezia tells the tale of Kai, a young Taita Falcon from a remote outpost who dreams of flying one day as a member of the prestigious Hurricane Defense Patrol. Khumba follows a young, half-striped zebra born into an isolated herd obsessed with stripes. When a rumor spreads that he is cursed, his father, the leader of the herd, blames him for the drought that sets in and the subsequent death of his mother. He is forced out as an outcast. His journey reveals the true source of the drought. www.cinemamanagementgroup.com

READ JERRY BECK'S WWW.CARTOONBREW.COM It's full of important postings. Nov. 19 he ran photos of the 33 animated shorts that qualified for the Oscar race (several have already been shown in SF by Ron Diamond). On Nov. 23 they posted a very long (and I found it hard to watch) trailer for Mars Needs Moms from ImageMovers Digital. On Nov. 13 he ran an informative negative review of Disney's Tangled. Two entries be! fore that they rip an art dealer selling animation art on the Internet that sure look like fakes. The dealer claims they were items left unsold from a Pittsburgh department store's inventory from the 1960s, but department stores were not selling animation art in the '60s as far as I can recall and it would have been unlikely that they would have had an inventory from lots of different studios. Buyers need to be careful!

Among other recent postings on Cartoon Brew, the LA Animation Festival will be held Dec. 2 - 5 and it will include the LA premiere of Jan Svankmajer's feature Surviving Life, a film I'm looking forward to seeing (posted Nov. 8). There is a new Fleischer Studio website run by descendents of Max (Oct. 28, www.fleischerstudios.com) and postings of several interesting animated shorts, TV commercials, trailers and music videos. There is even a video animated on 2430 pieces of toast (Nov. 9), a teaser for a Phil Tippett stop-motion project called Mad God (Nov. 2) and a N. Korean anti-US propaganda cartoon (Nov. 6).

There are daily postings by Jerry and Amid. They have in my opinion the best site for keeping us up to date with current news of independent and foreign animation (visit www.awn.com for trade news).

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PIXAR EMPLOYEES THAT MADE "IT GETS BETTER - LOVE PIXAR" SEE IT ON YOUTUBE The video is a beautiful statement made by Pixar people for The Trevor Project, a national organization focused on crisis and suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. They promote a future where the possibilities, opportunities and dreams are the same for all youth, regardless of sexual orientation! or gender identity.

The Trevor Project was created by writer James Lecesne, director/producer Peggy Rajski and producer Randy Stone who created the 1994 Academy Award-winning short film, Trevor, a comedy/drama about a gay 13-year-old boy who, when rejected by friends because of his sexuality, makes an attempt to take his life. When the film was going to be shown on HBO in 1998, the filmmakers realized that some of the program's young viewers might be facing the same kind of crisis as Trevor, and began to search for an appropriate support line to broadcast during the airing. They discovered that no such lifeline existed, and decided to dedicate themselves to forming what was, in their view, a much-needed resource: an organization to promote acceptance of LGBTQ youth, and to aid in crisis and suicide prevention among that group. The Trevor Project became the first and only nationwide, around-the-clock crisis and suicide prevention lifeline for LGBTQ youth.


"THE VAULT OF WALT" IS A COLLECTION OF FASCINATING STORIES THAT PROVIDE LOTS OF INFORMATION NOT FOUND IN OTHER BOOKS Jim Korkis has spent years researching and writing about the Disney Studio and the 38 chapters of this book should delight any serious fan of the man and his work. Other books provide solid histories while Jim's work gives us in-depth details of specific moments in time or topics. The book is divided into four sections: stories about the man, films, theme parks and miscellaneous topics.

Much of the personal information about Walt including his views about religion, his love of miniature furniture, polo, and how he celebrated Christmas, comes from his daughter Diane and others who knew him. The stories about the films are based on solid research and they broaden my knowledge about films that fascinate me including The Three Little Pigs, Dali's Destino and Song of the South. There is a long chapter about the opening of Snow White that includes people's reactions to that night. There are lots of details about ! how other films came about and some that were never made.

There is a great deal in the book about specific attractions in the parks including the company working with Michael Jackson, George Lucas and others after Walt's death. The book is full of facts, even details about Chuck Jones having great respect for Walt, but why he quit working after being employed at Disney for about four months in 1953.

Jim also deals with some of the negative fabrications about Disney by his detractors by addressing the topics in a positive way. He provides facts, as he knows them, without addressing what the falsehoods are that he is correcting. Perhaps he is a bit too polite by not attacking authors like Marc Elliot who invented juicy sensational fiction for his bestseller Walt Disney: Hollywood's Dark Prince.

This is a great book for anyone who enjoys reading articles about Disney. It is about 450 pages of well-written, fascinating and delightful reading. I stress the word "reading" as there are no pictures in it, just wonderful tales. The vivid pictures are suggested by Jim's text and are in your imagination.

ISRAEL HAS ISSUED POSTAGE STAMPS HONORING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF ASIFA They also honor the 25th anniversary of ASIFA-Israel and the 250th anniversary of the first flipbook. There are 15 stamps, each slightly different, creating a movement cycle. With the regular stamps' page and First Day envelope there will also be a flipbook of the stamps. Available from the Israel Philatelic Agency of North America c/o IGPC 460 West 34th Street, NY, NY 1000; (800) 607-2799, ipana@igpc.net

15 ANIMATED FEATURES QUALIFIED FOR THE OSCAR RACE The rules say 16 films are needed for there to be five nominated films, so this year there will only be three, most likely Toy Story 3, How to Tame Your Dragon and one other.

IATSE IS TRYING TO ORGANIZE VISUAL EFFECTS ARTISTS IN LA The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees represents cinematographers, art directors, animators, editors, stagehands and other crafts.

VISIT US AT ASIFA-SF.ORG

THE US SENATE HAS BEEN INVESTIGATING FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS IN AN EFFORT TO TIGHTEN RULES GOVERNING THEIR ACCESS TO FEDERAL AID -- SOME RUN ANIMATION PROGRAMS by KC The heart of the matter is that many of these schools take anybody as a student without determining if they have the aptitude and talent to study a given subject. Some schools misleading people into thinking there is a lot of employment available for them upon graduating or they inflate what the wages will be. Also some schools claim they have an excellent placement rate, when they don't. I asked a graduate from a school with a supposedly outstanding employment service about their usefulness and she laughed at the "joke."

These schools profit by taking as many students as possible. Their tuitions are much higher than state run and even some private non-profit colleges. They often encourage incoming students to obtain government loans and undercover investigators found some councilors suggested that they lie on applications to get bigger loans. The government is concerned that unqualified students are being enrolled and that the schools know more than half will drop out within the first two-year and some will eventually default on their loans. (A few years ago a teacher at a for-profit school said they loose about 60% of their first year computer animation students!)

Why are schools willing to accept unqualified students? They will benefit financially and it is not their responsibility to repay the loans, nor do they have to help Uncle Sam get repaid. The schools make their profits and taxpayer gets stuck with the losses.

How serious is this matter? The Nov. 7 NY Times published "Educational Life," a supplement that included a chart showing the default rate of students from the largest for-profit school systems and from non-profit colleges and universities. The University of Phoenix (run by the Apollo Group, a publicly traded company) has around 286,000 students of which 37% obtained government loans. The chart showed 13% were in default (no payment in last 270 days). In comparison NYU, the largest non-profit listed, has 41,570 students, 14% of the students obtained govt. loans and the default rate was only 2%. Most of the nonprofit schools listed had a 0% to 4% default rate, while the figures for most of the for-profit schools were much higher. Three of the 15 for-profit schools on the list had over 60% of their students getting govt. loans and the default rate was between 14 to 17%. Another article said "Federal data shows that 11.6% of student borrowers from for-profit schools default on their loans within two years of beginning repayments."

How much money is involved? One article says $1 out of every $4 spent on government loans go to students at for-profit schools yet only 5 to 7% of the schools in the US are run for-profit. Time reports the 2009 government budget for loans was almost $24 billion.

The investigation into the running of for-profit schools by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee began after "an undercover investigation found that some recruiters of for-profit colleges encouraged fraud or encouraged deceptive marketing practices." There was "wasteful spending on educational programs of little or no value that also lead to high indebtedness for students." Students at some schools are being enrolled in courses of study where there is little chance for employment upon graduation.

While the Obama administration has a sound argument to rein in student debt, Time reports the lone Republican on the committee, Richard Burr, objects to the present "witch hunt" as it has the potential to severely impact the education business of these institutions in terms of what programs they can offer and what their revenues and profits are going to be. Several schools spent over $3 million earlier this year on lobbyists who are complaining that the media is portraying their fine clients in an unflattering light and that could hurt their business.

Want more information? Google: Senate hearings, for-profit schools & for-profit art schools.

COMING IN THE JANUARY NEWSLETTER Tips on starting a career in animation, a review of David Levy's book Directing Animation, an open screening and much more.

SF PASSES LAW PROHIBITING FREE TOYS WITH CHILDREN'S MEALS THAT DON'T MEET NUTRITIONAL GUIDELINES!

Alex Anderson, self-portrait, c. 1944

OTTAWA 2010 WELCOMED CONTROVERSIAL ANIMATION by Karl Cohen

The Ottawa International Animation Festival is North America's only major annual international animation event. Besides the annual competition screenings, the 2010 event included several special programs of films from Japan, a show of work from the Czech Republic, films by women, Jerry Beck's The Inappropriate for Children Show, my program Let's Go Crazy! that shows how animation has depicted mental health problems over the years, and other unique screenings. Master classes were held with Caroline Leaf, Torill Kove and Steven Woloshen and workshops were held on voice acting for animation, storyboards and other topics. Disney and Pixar made a special presentation and the festival introduced the latest prototype of the SANDDE stereoscopic computer system that will be available for purchase in 2011. There were special events for teens and younger kids and colleges had recruiters at booths to answer questions about their programs. It also includes an annual television animation conference.

Ottawa 2010 was also a great place to network. They ran a centrally located café where you could meet people. They held parties every night and the annual Friday afternoon picnic was crowded. The animation conference is held in a luxury hotel that has lots of lounges where you can meet friends in a relaxed atmosphere.

The festival has a reputation for showing controversial works. Chris Robinson, the festival's artistic director doesn't play it safe and stick to programming films he knows will please his audience. Instead he challenges you to look at and decide for yourself what has value, be it artistic, social or political. One of this year's prizewinners dealt with sexual orgasms. Another was about the war in Iraq and there were other topics that tend to shock polite society. Most of the shows were listed in the program guide as either "intended for adult audiences" or "recommended for those over 14." While there were programs especially for kids, much of Ottawa 2010 was not a safe, family friendly event.

Minimalist animation won the top prizes

The biggest surprise for me was seeing the film that won the feature competition's grand prize. The five films in that competition were Sylvain Chomet's The Illusionist (UK, France), Munehisa Sakai's One Piece Film - Strong World (Japan), Phil Mulloy's Goobye Mister Christie (UK), Brent Green's Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then (USA) and Keita Kurosaka's Midori-ke (Japan). And the winner, selected by an impressive trio of prize-winning animation directors: Atsushi Wada from Japan, Torill Kove from Norway and Michaela Pavlatova from the Czech Republic, was Goobye Mister Christie.

Mister Christie has almost nothing in common with the conventional feature from Hollywood or Japan. Chris Robinson, Ottawa's artistic director, says, "If Disney is animation's heart, then British animator Phil Mulloy is its bowels. Very very far from the colorful cartoony world of bunny rabbits, cuddly ogres, and other assorted sexless wide-eyed moral crusaders who make the world safer and linear for us, are Phil Mulloy's deceptively crude and intentionally primitive animation films."

I think it is important to write about Mister Christie as it and some of the shorts shown are part of a recent and controversial trend of voice driven animation that is minimal in its artistic execution. Critics may write these films off as simply bad or ugly art, but like it or not minimalist animation is now firmly entrenched on American cable television in numerous extremely low budget shows produced for Adult Swim and other late night programs. More importantly film festival judges are taking a serious look at films like Goodbye Mister Christie and awarding them major prizes.

What is so different about Goodbye Mr. Christie? One of the first things you notice is Phil Mulloy didn't use famous actors to provide the voices. Instead the voices are computer generated and are about as exciting as listening to digital voices that tell us the time or to leave a message at the beep.

Visually all we ever see on the screen are black silhouettes of talking heads against blank white or garish flat wallpaper-like backgrounds. There are no eyes. You look through the eyeholes and see the background. Oh, there is visual variety as we meet a talking dog near the beginning of the film and a large spider later on. We also see a cutaway of a large lump covered with fabric that is supposed to be an erect male member, but I don't recall seeing any other body parts found below the neck. Yes, the film's visuals are that limited.

So why would anybody want to see this minimal film, much less give it a major prize? Mister Christie may be barely illustrated radio, but the plot and dialogue are so outrageous and over the top that you either find it extremely funny, take delight in its shocking content and love it, or you hate it and tell people it was the worst! After talking with over a dozen people about their feelings about the film there seems to be no middle ground about how people responded to seeing it.

The film is totally absurd entertainment just as the theatre of the absurd (Jean Genet, Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Becket and others) was in the late 1950s and '60s and Alfred Jarry's Ubu plays were in the late 19th Century. The story begins with the disintegration of Mister Christie's family. A sailor named Ramon seduces his wife by playing "magic music downloaded off the Internet." Then Ramon plays the music for Mister Christie, a priest and Mr. Christie's son who has three gold rings hanging from his nose and nails sticking out of his face; Ramon even plays the music for the family's talking dog. I bet you can guess correctly what happens each time someone hears the magic music.

The film spirals downward after Mr. Christie is seen on TV in a scandalous situation. To escape he starts digging a hole to China. Along the way he meets God and a few other people. He even kills! See it if you dare.

Some people will be fascinated and entertained by this work, but I suspect the majority will hate it. I doubt the film will be shown in many movie theatres, but it should get released on DVD.

The festival's 2010 Grand Prize for Best Independent Short Animation, selected by a different international jury (Munro Ferguson from the NFB of Canada, Maya Yonesho from Japan and Frances Leeming from Canada) also went to a minimalist work, The External World by David O'Reilly who was born in Ireland and works in Berlin. Judging from the applause it received when the prize was announced, the audience was quite pleased with the choice. The film's character designs and backgrounds are quite simple, but the gags are outrageous. For example one sequence has an adult trying to play catch with a kid. The adult tosses ! the kid a boomerang, but just as the kid is about to catch it, the boomerang reverses its course, flies back and cuts the man's head off. The kid picks it up and in a fit of anger he tosses it away. Predictably it comes back and lots of red pours from his head.

The External World may not sound like your kind of film from my description of it, but when it had its world premiere in September at the 67th Venice Film Festival the Orizzonti competition jury nominated it as Venice's entry into the European Film Awards Competition "because this animated film pushes the limits of morality in a very humorous and grotesque way. It is cinematically made, offbeat and highly original."

Not all of the awards went to minimal animation

Dustin Grella from the School of Visual Art in New York won both the Best Graduate Animation Prize and the Walt Disney Animation Studios Grand Prize for Best Student Animation. His Prayers for Peace is a moving tribute to his younger brother who died while on patrol in Iraq. His film is a handsome narrative work that combines stop-motion, pastel drawings, rotoscope footage and other techniques. The film has been seen at other festivals including Annecy, Stuttgart, Monstra (Lisbon) and Anima Mundi. The Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York City showed it in November before the opening night's documentary feature. The film can be seen on the Internet on Vimeo. http://vimeo.com/7520674

Complex pop-up animation based on paper pop-up books was used to create two outstanding looking commercial works. The best promotional animation award went to Heroes of the UAE by Josiah Newbolt and Ben Falk from the UK. It was constructed with paper cutouts, puppets and other materials, and composited digitally. It shows a father and daughter journeying through a newspaper world.

Going West by Martin Andersen, won the 2010 Grand Prize for Best Commissioned Animation. Andersen, who's studio is in London, created his stop-motion pop-up work for the New Zealand Book Council. It honors the joy of being absorbed in a good book using one's imagination. See it at www.andersonm.com.

The best experimental/abstract award went to Ruth Lingford for Little Deaths. This remarkable British animator is presently teaching at Harvard's Carpenter Center. Her new work was made using a 2D computer system and the soundtrack consists of male and female voices describing what is indescribable, the human sexual orgasm.

Probably the most complex work shown and certainly one of the most impressive was the Lipsett Diaries by Theodore Ushev. The film won the Canadian Film Institute's award for best Canadian animation. By creating a cinematic collage built up with layers of fast moving visuals and sounds the artist takes us on a 14-minute journey through the man's life, from disturbing childhood memories to his artistic triumphs including winning an Oscar for his experimental animated short Very Nice, Very Nice (1961). The final section of the work covers Lipsett's mental decay! that led to his suicide at the age of 49 in 1986. Chris Robinson wrote the film's script.

SANDDE

A special treat for me was operating the SANDDE stereoscopic computer system. It was being shown off prior to its commercial release to animators and artists in 2011. To use it you wear special 3D glasses and hold a small lightweight control unit or "wand" that receives a signal from a transmitter box in front of the screen you are working on. To draw images you simply move the wand in space and watch what you are creating appear floating in space on the screen in front of you. The special wand also controls many other functions. For example to create movement in space of what you have drawn move the wand towards the screen and the object you have drawn moves further away and when you move it closer the image comes nearer. All aspects of your work are recorded for immediate playback and revision.

I asked about drawing fine details, since artist are not used to drawing in space. I was shown that areas you are working on can be enlarged or moved closer so you can add details as precisely as you wish.

The system can produce lines of many different thicknesses and textures and can produce a full range of colors. An interesting part of SANDDE is a sub-system called GEPPETTO, a technology that enables an animator, again with the wand, to create long and complex sequences of animation out of only a very few key drawings.

An aspect of SANDEE that is said to be unique is that because 3D drawing and movement are created directly by the human hand, rather than being processed through a computer, the results have a special human life-like quality. It is like transporting your favorite cel animated art into the third dimension.

SANDDE stands for "Stereoscopic ANimation Drawing DEvice" and is also a play on the Japanese term for 3D, which is pronounced "San-D." The system was invented at the IMAX Corporation and is now being developed and marketed by Janro Imaging Laboratories, a company headed by one of IMAX's founders. SANDDE was being demonstrated in Ottawa, along with the showing of a sample reel that included a wide range of the animation styles that were created using the system.

OTTAWA 2010 from my perspective

I attended the festival as the presenter of the program Let's Go Crazy! My two screenings were held in the auditorium of Canada's National Gallery of Art and the program was based on my article of the same name that has appeared in Animatoon and the ASIFA-SF Newsletter. I also helped them promote the festival as I was interviewed twice on the Canadian Broadcast Corporation's morning and afternoon radio shows.

Having to be at specific locations at certain times and because the festival is held simultaneously in several locations, I did not get to see everything I had hoped to see, nor did I meet everybody that I knew was there. It is a big festival and large shuttle busses were used to take festival patrons from one location to another. (One was an antique double-decker bus from London that made delightful noises as it chugged along.) Even so, I did get to spend wonderful moments with old friends and acquaintances from Melbourne, Tel Aviv, Prague, London, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, New York City, Portland, Seattle, Philadelphia, Detroit, Los Angeles and other cities.

I was pleased that Andrew Farago, curator of San Francisco's Cartoon Art Museum was there as the curator of Californimation, a video installation featuring new works by Nina Paley, Mark Fiore, Michael Langan, Lark Pien, Pascal Campion, Dalton Grant Jr. and Mier Tang (Red Giant). I also met for the first time a lot of talented people over the six days I was there.

Ottawa is very much an international cosmopolitan celebration of animation. It was well run by a hard working staff and lots of volunteers. Attending it is important to me as I get to see both current work and classics and I get to network with people from around the world.

THE CENSORED ELEVEN TO BE RELEASED ON DVD IN 2011 According to ToonZone.net The Censored Eleven will be available on DVD in "completely uncensored" form in 2011 from the WB Shop, Warner Bros.' online store. A representative of the company at the 2010 NY Comic Con said that this has been their most-requested title. No specific release date was mentioned, only "sometime in 2011." ! It will be available as a manufacture-on-demand (MOD) product.

The Censored Eleven are WB shorts that have been withdrawn from circulation since the late '60s, due to racial depictions that are offensive by modern standards. The 11 films are: Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land directed by Rudolf Ising, 1931; Sunday Go to Meetin' Time, Friz Freleng, 1936; Clean Pastures, Friz Freleng, 1937; Uncle Tom's Bungalow, Tex Avery, 1937; Jungle Jitters, Friz Freleng, 1938; The Isle of Pingo Pongo, Tex Avery, 1938; All This and Rabbit Stew, Tex Avery, 1941; Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarfs, Bob Clampett, 1943; Tin Pan Alley Cats, Bob Clampett, 1943; Angel Puss, Chuck Jones, 1944 and Goldilocks and the Jivin' Bears, Friz Freleng, 1944.

KLIK ANIMATION FESTIVAL, AMSTERDAM, SEPTEMBER 15 - 19 by Nancy Denney-Phelps

I first met the organizers of the KLIK Animation Festival at Annecy a couple years ago and they assured me that their festival is fun, fun, fun. When they invited me to Amsterdam to be on the Short Films and Political Animation jury I jumped at the opportunity. It turned out to be serious fun. KLIK, begun four years ago, received 1100 submissions from 63 different countries this year, from which 235 films were selected for over 30 programs.

The brief opening ceremony kicked off with a welcome from festival's Founder and Director Dario van Vree, the premiere of the new festival trailer and a short assortment of animation. A party with drinks and nibbles aplenty followed.

The festival theme for 2010 was science, and the theatre lobby and bar were decorated with test tubes, Erlenmeyer flasks, and weird scientific constructions were suspended from the ceiling. One of my favorite screenings was Mad Scientist Parade that paid homage to "all of those demented scientists in lab coats who cackle manically while lightning frames their posture." Such gems as The Muppets featuring Doctors Bunsen and Burners In: Germ Enlarger by Jim Henson and Dexter's Laboratory: Dexter's Rival were screened. I have been a fan of Genndy Tartakovsky's brainy Dexter for years but I had not seen this episode where a rival genius comes into Dexter's life.

Joost van den Bosh and Erik Verkern of Ka-Ching Cartoon Studio in Rotterdam, known to festival-goers as the guys in the red fezzes, created a special 3-D piece for the program. We all donned glasses to watch The 3-D Machine as a lab assistant loses control of the dooms day machine in a mad scientists laboratory.

The four programs of International Short Animation provided some delightful surprises. One of my favorite films was The Little Boy and the Beast by Uwe Heidschoetter and Johannes Weiland. This sensitive film deals very honestly with the effects of divorce on the entire family from a child's point of view as a little boy sees both of his parents turning into beasts, but feels totally helpless to do anything to change the situation. The film was created for German Children's Television Station KIKA at Studio Soi that also made The Gruffalo.

This was my first chance to see John Dilworth's latest film Rinky Dink. John has combined drawn animation with stop-motion and photo cut-outs to tell this post modern fairy tale about a princess who finds her true love. John's films, which are often semi-auto-biographical, always make me laugh and Rinky Dink was no exception.

Les Ventres (The Bellies) by Belgian born Philippe Grammaticopoulos who now lives in Paris is a truly unique, offbeat tale of a corporate fat cat who dines on delicious snails until the day he discovers that the tables have turned. Grammaticopoulos has a very strong design style using crosshatch shading and stark geometry to tell his tale of snails, glut and self-consumption. Les Ventres was our jury's choice for Best Short Animation for "its style and story, with strong images, humor and a circular story which leaves space for imagination."

In addition to judging the short competition my jury got to select the most thought provoking film in the Political Animation Competition. The program was full of films that articulated a controversial point of view, had a certain ideological slant or expressed a political message or content. German animator Alexander Lehman's Cleanternet, a spoof on Swedish EU Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom's plan to introduce a website blocking system in Europe, was an example of political content.

Our jury gave the top award to Spin, Max Hattler's CGI animation of toy soldiers moving in Busby Berkeley patterns reminiscent of Hollywood's Golden Age of musicals. Spin turns conflict into spectacle, blurring the lines between destruction and entertainment.

I love boats, any size, any shape and the boat trip the festival arranged for filmmakers, jurors, and guests on the beautiful Amsterdam canals was a special treat for me. The festival even ordered a perfect day for us to sail, and they provided goodies to nibble and cases of Vedett, the official festival beer. This was the perfect way for all of us to get to know each other better in a relaxed, fun way.

Nik and Nancy Phelps

Friday, the festival emphasized music with the Dutch premier of film Deconstructing Dad, the documentary about Raymond Scott by his son, Stanley Warnow. Nik and I presented a program about music and animation and Nik and Dutch musician Teije te Maat played music in the spirit of Raymond Scott in the festival bar to round out the evening.

Deconstructing Dad is an intimate look at the legendary composer, musician, and inventor Raymond Scott. Known to many as the composer of the Warner Brothers classic Looney Toons animation, he was also a staple of early television with his weekly appearance as bandleader on Your Hit Parade, as well as a pioneer in electronic music. As the builder of a "simultaneous composition and performance machine" called Electronium, Scott was an inspiration to Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog Synthesizer. A host of people as diverse as Star Wars composer John Williams and DJ Spooky appeared on screen to talk about Raymond's influence on their music. Scott's compositions have been given resurgence through Ren and Stimpy, Duckman, and Animaniacs.

Deconstructing Dad is a fascinating portrait of a complex genius, but I felt that a bit too much of the film was devoted to the axes that Warnow had to grind against his father. The film's publicity says, "The film is at its core a story about a son reconnecting with his father."

There were special little treats in store for us at late night screenings. At the Ren and Stimpy Tribute Night several Dutch animation professionals and comic artists presented a collection of their favorite scenes from the show and explained how the cartoon changed their lives. The festive event included a karaoke sing-along with the Log Song and Happy-Happy Joy-Joy. Next year I think a Happy Tree Friends tribute would be most in keeping with the spirit of the event.

Midnight Madness screened films that the KLIK programming team said "warped our fragile little minds." I laughed a lot watching films that were so off the wall and unhinged that no other festival would ever think of programming them. This midnight screening definitely needed to be accompanied by a good beer.

A special treat for me was getting to know my fellow juror and renowned puppet animator Eric Steegstra and his charming wife Pauline. Eric told me that he has been enchanted by marionettes since he was a small boy when he would give puppet shows for the neighborhood children in his backyard. This award-winning puppeteer has taken his art form to a new level with his delicately intricate puppet films Metro and Rif (Reef).

Rif is a magical experience exploring the underwater world of translucent deep-sea creatures with two deep-sea divers. One particularly beautiful sequence involves the divers in an intricate water ballet with 2 large man-of-wars. Along with Eric, three other puppeteers were required to complete the incredible labor-intensive and delicate manipulation of the numerous strings. In another sequence, hundreds of tiny silver fish school in a shimmering spiral that was so life-like that I became totally absorbed in the visual effect, and forgot to notice the string! s attached to the tiny figures.

Eric's Metro takes place after a football match as rioting hooligans pour out of a stadium and into the city streets ready to do battle with each other and the police. Eric told me that when he decided to make the film to enter it in a competition about football, he had never been to a game. To achieve the rich, realistic soundtrack, he attended several games sitting in a different area each time and recording the sounds. The realistic roar of the crowd, the sewn puppets and the very clever set give the film a! very distinctive feel, capturing the football atmosphere completely.

As a part of his special presentation program, Eric screened and talked about his two films. He and his wife are hard at work on a new project, Notre Dame, a new look at a classic story. I hope that his films will appear at other animation festivals so that more people can enjoy his wonderful works.

There were two other free workshops. On the Frontier was presented by Tommy Pallotta and Baschz. Pallotta talked about his career as a producer of Richard Linklater's Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly and his own work. He also told us about his latest project, Collapsus, a cross between an online game, an awareness campaign, and a documentary. Baschz, a Dutch street and media artist, who recently made a social media artwork/animated film also related his experiences working on the interactive project Selfcontrolfreak Masterpiece 2.0.

Animation historian Thomas Weynants from Gent took us back in time to the first appearance of "proto-animation" that popped up during the 19th Century with animation oriented machines. In keeping with the theme of his workshop there was a giant working 3D Zoetrope in the festival bar. Animators created special loops for festival-goers viewing pleasure.

Film collector and animator Roloff de Jue dipped into his collection to put together A is for Animation, E is for Education, a program of hilarious "educational" films. In the relatively tame Jiminy Cricket: You and your Five Senses our favorite insect delivers pertinent facts about what else, but you and your five senses. The short was made in 1955 as part of an educational series that originally aired on the Mickey Mouse television series.

The most bizarre film on the program VD Attack Plan where the Disney Studios attacked that most un-Disney of subjects, venereal diseases. The 1973 film, directed by Les Clark, one of the Disney "nine old men" and animated by Charlie Downs, is full of questionable facts and information.

Two of the child friendly programs had a slight twist. The first program was made up of films that had no dialogue, perfect for the youngest children who couldn't read Dutch sub-titles, and non-Dutch speaking kids like me who still struggle with learning the language. The second program hearkened back to the silent film era with all of the films from around the world being dubbed live in front of the audience by Dutch animator and comic Remco Polman.

The Nickelodeon Kids Program showcased some of the best episodes of some of my favorite shows. I try to catch Nick Park's Shaun the Sheep series on BBC every afternoon and seeing a beloved episode on the big screen is a rare treat. In Fleeced, my favorite flock of sheep decides that instead of getting shorn by the farmhand they will get a collective makeover of fancy haircuts in the city beauty salon.

No Nickelodeon program would be complete without a thirty-minute SpongeBob Squarepants segment. The program was rounded out with Fanboy and Chum Chum and The Fairly Odd Parents. Two family friendly features, Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs and The Secret of Nimh rounded out the family fare.

Unfortunately, with three screening rooms often showing films simultaneously, it was impossible to do and see everything. I missed all of the three International Student Competitions and the Design Animation Competition. Several friends said that the programs were good. I also missed the New Holland screening of new short films from the Low Country.

Throughout the five days of the festival the bar and theatre foyer were the site of activities and workshops. The Dutch company Xsens gave a motion capture demonstration of their new state of the art technology. Animator Cage gave people a chance to watch animators in their natural habitat, a small cage. Animators were locked in for two-hour shifts during which they animated. During the festival we watched renowned Japanese animator Akinori Oishi paint a mural.

Two pixilation workshops were given. With the Animation Machine, anyone could make a stop-motion film in a matter of minutes and have it posted on the Internet the minute it was completed for all- the world to see. Every time I walked past the Animation Machine it was a hive of activity with "animators" searching through the piles of toy figurines and props to create their masterpiece.

The bar tables were covered in white paper with markers scattered about to encourage drawing and if sculpture was more your thing there was the Cotton Candy Sculpture Contest which needs no explanation. The festival loves animation and beer and they found a unique way to bring the two together. In collaboration with the Vedett Brewery bottles of beer had unique single-frame images of the new Dutch short film Pecker on the label. Festival-goers could recreate the storyboard or mix and match labels to create their own storyboard. Director Erik van Schaaik and the rest of the crew! were around to sign the labels, turning them into instant collectables.

In keeping with the science theme of the festival, three graduate students organized Animating Science: Visualizing Content, a daylong symposium across from the theatre at the University to discuss the combination of science and animation. Seven speakers from such diverse fields as astrophysics, philosophy, and animation delved into such topics as How we get immersed in Animated Emotions and Animation as a Tool for Scientists.

Madam Mad Scientist and her young protégée with pink hair were on hand throughout the festival to inspire our wackiest scientific thoughts and creations in the theatre foyer Make Animation area. They introduced programs on stage and contributed to the general atmosphere of fun.

Even though KLIK is about fun, it does not lose sight of the power of animation to do good. The festival supports the Mopti Foundation. Mopti is a city in the West-African country of Mali, near the Sahara Desert border. Willem Snapper left the Netherlands three years ago for Mopti to set up the foundation to aid the local population in installing irrigation systems and cultivating communal gardens. There is no cinema in the region but Willem screens film in his back yard each week.

For the past three years KLIK has put together a program for the Foundation to show. The local jury and Mopti filmgoers voted for their favorite film. This year they selected The Lady and the Grim Reaper by Javier Reico Garcia of Spain as their favorite work. The KLIK Mopti Award was announced during the closing night ceremony by Willem Snapper via live broadcast from Mopti.

The Commissioned Films and Design Award Jury took to the stage to announce their decisions. The jury was comprised of Rosto, the acclaimed multi talented Dutch director, composer, animator and illustrator; Michael Minneboo, a freelance journalist, video director, and editor specializing in pop culture, and Tommy Pallatto who blends technology with filmmaking, animation and interactivity. The International Short Animation Competition Jury consisted of award winning Dutch puppeteer Eric Steegstra, Fons Schiedon, a Dutch designer, director and designer who now lives in Berlin, and me. A rip-roaring party after the ceremony lasted into the wee hours of the night.

After a glorious week in Amsterdam it was time to go to the Borders Region of England for the wedding of two animator friends. As if there were not memories enough, the festival arranged for Nik and I to take the overnight ferry from Amsterdam to Newcastle with a deck side cabin at the front of the boat with a perfect view. On to England and more adventures.

ASIFA-SF PRESENTS

OUR 12TH NIGHT POTLUCK PARTY PLUS
WINNERS OF THE ASIFA-EAST 41ST ANNUAL ANIMATION COMPETITION
THE LONGEST RUNNING ANIMATION FESTIVAL IN THE US

SUNDAY, JANUARY. 9, 6:15 PM
At Oddball Films, 275 Capp, third floor (Capp runs between Mission and South Van Ness, on Capp near 18th St.) free, bring a friend, films start around 8

Come celebrate, network, eat, drink and laugh. ASIFA-SF will provide the basics. Please feel free to add to the treats.

TONIGHT YOU CAN BE A JUDGE - $200 IN AUDIENCE PRIZES WILL BE AWARDED TO YOUR FAVORITE FILMS
This is a great show with excellent shorts by Bill Plympton, Tom Gasek (a stop-motion artist, formerly from the Bay Area), and other artists, plus commercial work and student films. The ASIFA-East awards were presented May 9, 2010 at the Tishman Auditorium at the New School, NYC. The following is tonight's program and how they voted in NYC.

BEST IN SHOW
Backwards, Aaron Hughes & Lisa LaBracio

INDEPENDENT FILMS
1st Place, Something Left, Something Taken, Tiny Inventions
2nd Place, Let's Make Out, Stephen Neary
3rd Place, The Hybrid Union, Hybroll Animation
Excellence in Animation, Off-Line, Tom Gasek
Excellence in Design, The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead & Roundhead - The Think in the Distance, Elliot Cowan
Excellence in Writing/Humor, Rinky Dink, John Dilworth, Stretch Films, Inc.
Excellence in Experimental Techniques, Aesthetic Species Maps (2009), David Montgomery
Excellence in Soundtrack, The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger, Plymptoons

SPONSORED FILMS
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," W/M Animation
Excellence in Writing/Humor, Don't Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus, Weston Woods Studio

COMMERCIALS
1st Place, Don't Miss It! David Cowles & Jeremy Galante
2nd Place, Batter Up, David B. Levy and Elliot Cowan
3rd Place, Hysterical Psycho: "Moon Cheese," W/M Animation
Excellence in Animation, Dennis & Gnasher, Red Kite Animation
Excellence in Humor, My Daughter Studies, David B. Levy
Excellence in Design, Spike & Bubble, Dancing Diablo

STUDENT FILMS
1st Place, Down to the Bone, Peter Ahern
2nd! Place, The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9! Jake Armstrong
3rd Place, Together! David Sheahan
Honorable Mention, Sam the Super Sticky, George Thorman
Honorable Mention, Topi, Arjun Rihan

ASIFA-SF IS A VOLUNTEER RUN ASSOCIATION

Newsletter Editor: Karl Cohen
Contributors include Nancy Denney-Phelps
Cover illustration by Ricci Carrasquillo
Proofreader: Sarah Chin
Mailing Crew: Tara Beyhm, Dot Janson, Shirley Smith and Denise McEvoy
Webmaster Joe "the Calif. Kid" Sikoryak
Special thank to Tim Hittle and Misha Klein for showing us their new films in November, to Sam Sharkey of the Exploratorium for running the event, to The G Man who sends out our e-mail updates, to Nancy Denney-Phelps for representing our chapter on the international ASIFA board, to Patricia Satjawatcharapjong who posts excerpts from our newsletter on the International ASIFA website - www.asifa.net to Tara Beyhm our VP and to our treasurer Karen Lithgow.
ASIFA-SF is a chapter of: Association Internationale du Film d'Animation with almost 40 chapters around the world.
Our website and blog is: www.asifa-sf.org
Mail can be sent to: karlcohen@earthlink.net
or to PO Box 225263, SF CA 94122

Karl Cohen
karlcohen@earthlink.net