With a solid filmography of funny, quirky animated films under her belt, including My Favourite Things That I Love, Penguins Behind Bars, Invasion of the Space Lobsters, Monsieur Pug and the Oscar nominated Tender Tale of Cinderella Penguin, Janet’s work over the years has also included contributions to Sesame Street, the NFB’s ShowPeace series and the collaborative project Pink Komkommer.

This week her latest NFB film The Girl with the Red Beret is playing at Animafest Zagreb as part of their Time For The Masters programme, which showcases recent work by some of the biggest stars of animation. The film is a love letter to Montreal in which a girl encounters an array of colourful, extravagant characters across the city’s metro stations, set to a re-orchested take on Kate and Anna McGarrigle’s Complainte pour Ste-Catherine.

Interview conducted by Ben Mitchell
Produced, edited and presented by Ben Mitchell

The Girl with the Red Beret screens in Animafest Zagreb’s Time For The Masters programme Thursday July 8th 3:30pm

The post Animation One-To-Ones Episode #24 – Janet Perlman appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Image courtesy of Animafest Cyprus

We are thrilled to share the poster of the 22nd edition of Countryside Animafest Cyprus – Views of the World, designed by animation legend Michaël Dudok de Wit. The beautiful village of Salamiou will once again host the festival, from the 9th to the 12th of August.

-Countryside Animafest Cyprus

I was watching the lovely short 2021 documentary about the festival and when I briefly saw a landscape near Salamiou with trees resembling olive trees, my imagination came up with this timeless, romantic image of a young woman, sitting calmly in nature with her attention towards the distance, towards the light.

-Michaël Dudok de Wit

Having begun his career in the early 90s, Dutch animator Michaël Dudok de Wit has become widely respected as a master of animation whose filmography includes the César Award-winning The Monk and the Fish, the Academy Award-winning short Father and Daughter and the Academy Award-nominated Studio Ghibli feature film The Red Turtle.

This year’s official selection will be announced on July 3rd. For more info about the festival visit animafest.com.cy

The post Michaël Dudok de Wit designs poster for Countryside Animafest Cyprus 2023 appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Hosted by Skwigly Online Animation Magazine, Rumpus Animation and Sun & Moon Studios, BAM (Bristol Animation Meetup) welcomes all animation professionals, students, enthusiasts, fans and hobbyists from Bristol and the surrounding area – really anyone who fancies making the trek.

Meet new friends, catch up with old friends, make friends with old enemies, trade anecdotes and bon mots about your recent adventures – hell, you can even network a bit if you fancy it. This time around we’re occupying the wonderful King Street Brew House on Thursday June 22nd from 7pm.

BAM-goers also have the opportunity to check out the recently-released Skwigly book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films – Second Edition (an essential guide to animation filmmaking, gathering insights from such industry greats as Signe Baumane, Adam Elliot, Don Hertzfeldt, Kirsten Lepore, Robert Morgan, David OReilly, PES, Bill Plympton, Rosto, Chris Shepherd and dozens more) – and grab up a copy at a special, BAM-exclusive discount!

Tell your pals and come out in droves. We’ve missed you all and can’t wait to see you!

The post BAM | Bristol Animation Meetup | Summer 2023 appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Skull Island takes viewers on a thrilling adventure as a group of kind-hearted explorers rescues Annie (Mae Whitman) from the ocean, unaware that their act of heroism will lead them to the treacherous Skull Island. This enigmatic place is home to bizarre creatures and terrifying monsters, including the mighty titan himself, Kong.

Skull Island (COURTESY OF NETFLIX ©2023)

Heading up the ensemble cast is Nicolas Cantu (Dragons Rescue Riders: Heroes of the Sky, The Fabelmans) as main protagonist Charlie, alongside Mae Whitman (Family Guy, DC Super Hero Girls) as Annie, Darren Barnett (Never Have I Ever, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles) as Mike, Benjamin Bratt as Cap (Poker Face, Coco), and Betty Gilpin (Mrs. Davis, Glow) as Irene.

Skull Island will make its global debut on June 22, 2023, exclusively on Netflix

The post Netflix unveils premiere date and voice cast for ‘Skull Island’ appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Billed as “an epic tale about finding friendship in the most surprising situations and accepting yourself and others for who they are”, the world of Nimona began with Stevenson’s National Book Award-nominated and New York Times best-selling graphic novel that tells the story of the titular teen shapeshifter Nimona and her adventures as sidekick to wronged knight Ballister Boldheart. The film adaptation is directed by Nick Bruno and Troy Quane based on a screenplay by Robert L. Baird and Lloyd Taylor. Producing the project are Karen Ryan, p.g.a., Julie Zackary, p.g.a. and Roy Lee  alongside co-producer ND Stevenson and exec producers Megan Ellison, Robert L. Baird, Andrew Millstein, John Powers Middleton

When Ballister Boldheart (Riz Ahmed), a knight in a futuristic medieval world, is framed for a crime he didn’t commit, the only one who can help him prove his innocence is Nimona (Chloë Grace Moretz), a mischievous teen with a taste for mayhem — who also happens to be a shapeshifting creature Ballister has been trained to destroy. But with the entire kingdom out to get him, Nimona’s the best (or technically the only) sidekick Ballister can hope for. And as the lines between heroes, villains, and monsters start to blur, the two of them set out to wreak serious havoc — for Ballister to clear his name once and for all, and for Nimona to…just wreak serious havoc.

Also among the cast are Eugene Lee Yang (Ambrosius Goldenloin), Frances Conroy (The Director), Lorraine Toussaint (Queen Valerin), Beck Bennett (Sir Thoddeus Sureblade), Indya Moore (Alamzapam Davis), RuPaul Charles (Nate Knight), Julio Torres (Diego the Squire), Sarah Sherman (Coriander Cadaverish).

Netflix have also released additional art and stills to accompany the teaser launch:

Nimona (Cr: Netflix © 2023)

Nimona (Cr: Netflix © 2023)

Nimona (Cr: Netflix © 2023)

Nimona premieres globally on Netflix June 30. 

The post Nimona: Teaser and images released appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

As a little girl in Vietnam, Thao’s mother would rescue ants from bowls of sugar water. The tiny creatures would later return the favour, leading her desperate family through darkness—and pointing the way to safety.

Adapted from illustrator and author Thao Lam’s book The Paper Boat, the film draws upon her own family’s dramatic and turbulent journey as refugees fleeing the aftermath of the Vietnam War. Boat People harnesses the talents of  animator Kjell Boersma in retaining the hand-crafted look of the original illustrations in service to a compelling narrative that both parallels and contrasts human survival with the instinctual behaviour of ants. Narrated by Thao herself, the short features music by respectfulchild and is produced by Justine Pimlott and Jelena Popović of the NFB.

In anticipation of Boat People‘s world premiere this week at ITFS Stuttgart, Skwigly spoke with directors Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma to learn more about the film’s journey.

To start with, it would be great to hear about the source material and how the original book The Paper Boat came about – what were the circumstances/influences that brought the project to life?

Thao: I never envisioned this story as a picture book. To me the migration of people and ants was always told through movement. The act of fleeing is a movement. The journey across the South China Sea, the motions of the waves as it rages during a storm, the bodies of people moving about in a refugee camp like scurrying ants—all forms of movement. When I first began to think of the story, I actually pictured it as a film. While we were developing the idea, my publisher became interested in doing it as a picture book, and the book moved a lot faster than the film.

What drew you to ants and ant behaviour as a throughline for the story?

Thao: Ants have always been part of the story my mother tells. She saved the ants—and they saved her in return. I’ve always liked that idea of karma. We did a tonne of research, on both the Vietnam War and ant behaviour, and we began seeing all kinds of connections, how ants have an instinct not simply to survive but also to protect each other. The script went through many stages, but I think we’ve found a nice balance between the two stories.

Can you tell us a bit about your respective backgrounds in the arts and what ultimately led you to animation?

Thao: I graduated from Sheridan College [in Ontario, Canada] with an Illustration diploma and I am now an author and illustrator of children’s books. Though I don’t have any experience or training in animation, I do have an understanding and passion for storytelling. This process has taught me that filmmaking is just a different medium of storytelling.

Kjell: From an early age I have been obsessed with animation. My uncle would tape episodes of the program Long Ago and Far Away on PBS and mail them to me, and I would watch the animated shorts over and over again. While attending film school, I just became increasingly drawn to animation and taught myself the techniques I needed to animate my thesis project. After that, I worked as a compositor in stop-motion for television, and then moved to New Mexico for several years, where I directed my film Monster Slayer, which was a combination of live action and Ray Harryhausen-style creatures. After returning to Toronto, I was commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra to create a kids’ film that would be performed live with the orchestra. That production filled in a lot of the missing pieces for me, and I built off those techniques when developing the animation process for Boat People.

How did the two of you come to be paired together for this project? Had you worked together before?

Kjell: Thao and I had worked together once before on an animated trailer for her first book, Skunk on a String. I was drawn to the graphic quality and textures of her work, and that project really made me wish we could do something that was imagined as animation from the start. A year or so later, I had just released my film DAM!, and Thao approached me with the idea that eventually became Boat People. I was hooked right away by the story of the ants in the grass, and it is exactly the sort of complex subject that first drew me to animation.

The overall look of the film carries across the cutout style of the picture book very effectively; it would be great to have a breakdown of the animation process. Did you use digital and analogue processes – or a combination of both – to achieve this look? 

Kjell: For me it was very important that Thao’s style come through in the animation, but once we started testing different approaches, it turned out to be quite a complicated thing to do. We started with a physical process that tried to replicate how Thao creates each panel of her books. This led us to individually laser-cutting each layer of each frame from different papers, assembling them by hand, and then animating them in stop-motion. While it achieved the look we wanted, it was a very cumbersome and rigid process. We decided to develop a digital workflow using those laser-cut tests as a blueprint, while still using Thao’s ink-on-paper textures. The end result is a combination of traditional hand-drawn animation in TV Paint, digital cutout in Harmony, 3D rendering in C4D, and compositing in After Effects.

When dealing with the heavy themes of this type of story, what are the primary advantages of animation (and, at its core, illustration/design) in a film such as this?

Thao: As a children’s book author and illustrator, I have always found that picture books often act as portals into issues kids have a hard time expressing, because I can package heavy themes in a style relatable and accessible to kids. I feel like animation is similar but has fewer restraints, because it can reach a wider audience and age range and therefore we can tackle more complicated themes like family dynamics, resilience and sacrifice. This lack of restriction also allows for more creative freedom when I am making a film compared to when I am creating a children’s book, like the subtle changes in facial expressions as characters interact with each other.

Thao’s family and other refugees crossing the precarious waters of South China Sea by boat (Image from Film, Courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada, 2023)

From a storytelling perspective, what advantages – or challenges – does animation have when it comes to this type of adaptation?

Kjell: The big advantage with animation is that the only limitation is your imagination. This can also be a challenge in that, sometimes, limits can be helpful. Thao and I imagined many different versions of this story; I lost count of how many versions our animatic went through. Like Thao said, animation can also be a way to deal with dark material in an accessible way—I thought a lot about films like Grave of the Fireflies and Watership Down while working on Boat People. In a more basic sense, animation allows us into points of view that would otherwise be impossible.

How did working with the NFB benefit the production of Boat People? Had you hoped to bring them on board from the outset?

Kjell: The simplest answer is that the film wouldn’t exist without the NFB. Thao and I had tried for about a year to find funding for the film (unsuccessfully) before our executive producer, Anita Lee, saw something in our project. I can’t think of many other places that would have had the resources and the patience to go on this journey with us. The film required a lot of research and development to achieve the style we wanted, and that’s something the NFB has a unique commitment to supporting. We were also lucky to get to work with very talented and supportive producers. Justine Pimlott, from the NFB’s Toronto studio, brought a wealth of experience from the documentary world that was instrumental in helping us find the story and craft the narrative, and Jelena Popović, from the Montreal studio, has a real passion for animation as a medium and pushed us to be more ambitious in our imaginations.

Noting that you (Thao) provided the narration from the film, were there aspects of the story that drew from your own lived experience, or is it more of an observational piece?

Thao: Most families have stories that are told and retold. For the longest time, all I knew about the war and our escape was a story told by my mother, a lesson in kindness and karma. Long before the war, when the only invasions were of ants looking for food, her mother would set out bowls of sugar water to rid the house of pests. As a child, my mother would spend carefree afternoons fishing ants out of these bowls. On the night of our escape we got turned around in the tall grass. By the light of the moon, my mother spotted a trail of ants; lost and desperate, she decided to follow them, which led us to the riverbank where our escape boat waited. The ants she rescued as a little girl saved her in return that night. This story with the ants and the sugar water became the cornerstone for the film, making it an animated documentary.

Congratulations on your upcoming world premiere at ITFS Stuttgart. What are your feelings about being involved in such a highly regarded event, and do you feel that in-person festivals are an important part of a film (and filmmaker’s) journey?

Kjell: We are, of course, very excited to have our premiere at ITFS. It’s an incredibly valuable experience as an individual, as well as for the film and the filmmaking community. It’s wonderful to see your film with an audience, to meet people from all over the world and see projects that would have never crossed your path. Visiting Germany has also been a real treat; it’s no wonder so many artists end up here (including two of our animation team).

Do you have any plans to work together again in future?

Thao: This is my first time as a film director and working in animation. There is still so much for me to learn about this different medium of storytelling, but the possibilities are endless and I am excited to see where this will lead. I would love another opportunity to work with Kjell and the NFB. Halfway through the making of Boat People, I did pitch another project to Kjell, so we are in the very early stages of that film, and I am currently working on a script of another idea I have.

Boat People will premiere at ITFS Stuttgart April 27th at 9pm in International Competition 3. The screening is repeated at 11:30am on April 28th.

The post Boat People | Q&A with Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Missouri-based Tracy Butler studied Biology in college before embracing her true path in the visual arts, and went on to work for a small game development studio as an illustrator and concept artist, her roles eventually spanning 3D character artist, animation and art directing. It was her comic Lackadaisy, inspired by the history surrounding the century-old home she’d recently moved into, as well as her appreciation for cats, that garnered her international attention in the mid-to-late naughties. A story of bootlegging jazz cats that would ultimately get itself an Eisner award in 2011, its most recent iteration is a phenomenally successful animated adaptation. Bringing on board Fable Siegel, an incredible artist whose body of work includes animation for Titmouse, Starburns, Hazbin Hotel, Game Grumps as well as storyboarding for shows including F is For Family, Ben 10, Adam Ruins Everything: Reanimated History and Wacky Races, the highly anticipated, 27-minute film was released at the end of March to much excitement, following a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020.

Joining forces with Spike Trotman of Iron Circus Comics, the team massively exceeded their initial crowdfunding goal of $85,000 grand, eventually raising over $330,000, ultimately allowing them to realise the dream of many an indie artist and filmmaker and create a 27 minute film on their own terms and true to their vision.

Upon its release, Lackadaisy became an online phenomenon, with over 3.5 million views in its first week. Boasting an enormous roster of fantastic artistic talent, a solid cast and engaging music by Sepiatonic, the film has also caught the attention of prominent figures such as indie legend Ralph Bakshi, illustrator Tyson Hesse and director Lilly Wachowski.

Stream the podcast below or direct download here.

For more on the project visit the official Lackadaisy site.

The post Lackadaisy | Podcast interview with Tracy Butler and Fable Siegel appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Adapted from the Eisner-winning comic series of the same name, the highly anticipated, 27-minute film was released at the end of March to much excitement following a hugely successful Kickstarter campaign in 2020.

Upon its release, Lackadaisy became an online phenomenon, with over 3.5 million views in its first week. Boasting an enormous roster of fantastic artistic talent, a solid cast and engaging music by Sepiatonic, the film has also caught the attention of prominent figures such as indie legend Ralph Bakshi, illustrator Tyson Hesse and director Lilly Wachowski.

Interview conducted by Mel Cionco
Presented and produced by Ben Mitchell
Music by Ben Mitchell

The post Independent Animation #8 – Lackadaisy appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

The post Skwigly Animation Podcast: Spring 2023 – Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby & Domee Shi appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Supported by Studio AKA’s 3D team, Director Kristian Andrews orchestrated some pin-sharp performances inspired by Nature Documentaries. Technically, the job posed fun challenges not least how to display cancer symptoms in a charming and light way! We always relish a tight turnaround, it meant the team exploited clever alternatives to face-rigs for lip sync and displacement maps instead of simulation for plumage.

Motivated by this worthy cause the studio threw all their creative weight behind this quick turnaround project to create something that we hoped balances our playful approach to character with the serious topic.

-Studio AKA

We threw as much energy into this job as we did, because we sincerely hope viewers are inspired get their possible cancer symptoms checked out as early as these lovable birds!

-Kristian Andrews, Director

See more of the work of Studio AKA at studioaka.co.uk

The post Studio AKA create Scottish Gov health PSA ‘Be the Early Bird’ appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

The youngest of five brothers, Rich grew from welfare and government food stamps to becoming Senior Vice President of Production and Animation. His childhood nurtured his creative roots to support more kids with content that ignites their imagination and teaches positive lessons, so that they too can be inspired to achieve what others might believe to be impossible.

Rich’s extensive list of hit shows includes Rainbow Butterfly Unicorn Kitty, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom, ChalkZone, Teenage Robot, El Tigre, Invader ZIM, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to name a few. Recently, Rich made a triumphant return to Nickelodeon as a Consulting Producer, serving to reinvigorate hit animated preschool entertainment for kids. He also was named Imagen Foundation’s Most Influential Latino in Entertainment.

Interview conducted by Mel Cionco
Produced, edited and presented by Ben Mitchell

The post Animation One-To-Ones Episode #22 – Rich Magallanes appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Articles

Annecy 2022: Q&A with Terril Calder (‘Meneath’)

Annecy 2022: A Conversation with Amanda Forbis & Wendy Tilby (‘The Flying Sailor’)

Pinocchio: Interview with Puppet Supervisor Georgina Hayns & Production Designer Guy Davis

Interview – The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse

‘Turning Red’ | Q&A with Domee Shi

Autism Awareness Month: Interview with Dani Bowman of DaniMation Entertainment

Autism Awareness Month: Interview with ‘Pablo’ Creator Grainne McGuinness

DaniMation Returns for Animation Camp for Autistic Students to UK: Interview with Dani Bowman, Joe Westlake, Sandy Vielma

Conversations with a Whale – Anna Samo Interview | I’M FINE! – UK/Ukraine Season

Drawn Undrew Draw – Angel Wu Interview | I’M FINE! – UK/Ukraine Season

Hi! How are You? – Gaïa Grandin-Mendzylewski Interview | I’M FINE! – UK/Ukraine Season

Podcasts

Skwigly Animation Podcast: Spring 2022 – Angus MacLane, Galyn Susman, Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman & Nora Smith

Skwigly Animation Podcast: Summer 2022 – Matthew Walker & Jane Davies

Skwigly Animation Podcast – 2022 BAA Special

Skwigly at CAF 2022: Podcast Minisode 1

Skwigly at CAF 2022: Podcast Minisode 2

I’M FINE! Podcast Minisode 1 | Will Anderson, Anna Mantzaris, Margarida Madeira

I’M FINE! Podcast Minisode 2 | Catherine Lepage, Julia Skala, Johnny Kelly

I’M FINE! Podcast Minisode 3 | Fabienne Priess, Jakub Krzyszpin

I’M FINE! Podcast Minisode 4 | Anna Samo, Konrad Hjemli, Jakob Eiring

Intimate Animation (Season 4) #5 – Lori Malépart-Traversy

Intimate Animation (Season 4) #6 – Live at Manchester Animation Festival

Animation One-To-Ones #12 – Domee Shi & Lyndsey Collins (Turning Red)

Animation One-To-Ones Episode #14 – Lauren Orme (Planet Positive Animation Network)

Animation One-To-Ones Episode #16 – Tonko House (Oni: Thunder God’s Tale)

Animation One-To-Ones #18 – Nora Twomey (My Father’s Dragon)

Animation One-To-Ones Episode #21 – Alex Davy

The post International Women’s Day: 2023 Roundup appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Born in London and based in Newcastle, Alex’s work includes storyboarding for BBC Bitesize (Arcus Studios), Incredible Ant (Wildseed Studios), Norman Picklestripes (Factory-Create) and a range of shows at Blue Zoo including Millie & Lou and the second season of Pip & Posy.

In 2022 Alex’s role with the studio expanded to shorts directing with her successful pitch on a short film for the charity Beyond Equality, who wanted to explore the concept of the ‘Armour of Masculinity’ or ‘Man Box’ that young men find themselves socially pressured to stay within. The resulting film, Armour, tells the story of James, a young man who feels obliged to speak and act a certain way to impress his male friends, only serving to alienate a female classmate he has a crush on.

Released towards the end of last year, Armour is the latest short film from Blue Zoo following such celebrated offerings as Daddy Christmas, Lynx and Birds, Mamoon, Sinking Feeling, Ada and In Shape.

Interview conducted by Penny Whitehouse
Produced, edited and presented by Ben Mitchell

The post Animation One-To-Ones Episode #21 – Alex Davy appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Taking home the award for Animated Film was Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, Alex Bulkley), a triumphant stop-motion retelling of the classic Carlo Collodi tale infused with superb storytelling and incredible visuals, thanks in no small part to the talents of Mackinnon and Saunders, ShadowMachine and Taller del Chucho. The film beat out stiff competition from its fellow nominees Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Dean Fleisher Camp, Andrew Goldman, Elisabeth Holm, Caroline Kaplan, Paul Mezey), Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Joel Crawford, Mark Swift) and Turning Red (Domee Shi, Lindsey Collins).

Read our interviews with key talents from Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio – directors Guillermo del Toro and Mark Gustafson as well as Puppet Supervisor Georgina Hayns and Production Designer Guy Davis.

The winner for British Short Animation was The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse (Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy, Cara Speller, Hannah Minghella), an adaptation of the enormously successful children’s book of the same name by Bad Robot and Apple Studios that aired over the 2022 holiday season. Also nominated were Big Squid Ink’s Middle Watch (John Stevenson, Aiesha Penwarden, Giles Healy) and Your Mountain is Waiting (Hannah Jacobs, Zoe Muslim, Harriet Gillian) from Passion Pictures.

Learn more about The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and The Horse in our interview with directors Charlie Mackesy and Peter Baynton and producer Cara Speller.

In the related category of Special Visual Effects, the award went to Avatar: The Way of Water (Richard Baneham, Daniel Barrett, Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon), Also nominated were All Quiet on the Western Front (Markus Frank, Kamil Jafar, Viktor Müller, Frank Petzold), The Batman (Russell Earl, Dan Lemmon, Anders Langlands, Dominic Tuohy), Everything Everywhere All At Once (Jeff Desom, Ethan Feldbau, Jonathan Kombrinck, Zak Stoltz) and Top Gun: Maverick (Seth Hill, Scott R Fisher, Bryan Litson, Ryan Tudhope).

See the full list of winners and nominees at bafta.org

The post BAFTA Wins for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio and The Boy, The Mole, The Fox and the Horse appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

The show tells the story of siblings Lisa and Sean, who, feeling neglected by their dad, stow away on his latest work trip, hoping to finally get some quality time together. They quickly learn of his secret double life as an intergalactic bounty hunter and are thrust into a series of adventures exciting and perilous.

Everett Downing Jr.’s past industry experience began as a story artist at Big Idea Productions, eventually animating on feature films such as Ice Age for Blue Sky Studios and numerous Pixar films including Ratatouille, WALL-E, Up, Toy Story 3 and Monsters University among others. More recent projects include directing on We The People and storyboarding Maya and the Three, both Netflix series, as well as co-directing the Oscar winning short film Hair Love alongside Matthew Cherry and Bruce Smith

Having graduated from the California Institute of the Arts and cut his teeth in the industry as a Story Intern at Pixar, Patrick Harpin would go on to be a Head Writer for the Cartoon Network series Clarence and storyboard for Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom as well as a number of animated features including Ice Age: Continental Drift, Free Birds, The Emoji Movie, Smurfs: The Lost Village, and the Hotel Transylvania franchise.

Produced and presented by Ben Mitchell

The post Animation One-To-Ones Episode #20 – Everett Downing Jr. & Patrick Harpin (My Dad the Bounty Hunter) appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Exciting news for fans of Star Wars and animation alike as this week has seen the announcement from Disney+ and Lucasfilm of a new upcoming volume of the animated anthology series Star Wars: Visions. Following on from 2021’s Volume 1 which featured animation from studios including Trigger, Science SARU and Geno Studio among others, Volume 2 will premiere on Disney+ this coming May 4th (known to fans as Star Wars Day).

The new series will include nine animated shorts from different international studios and boast a wider variety of animation styles and unique filmmaker visions. The studios on board include Aardman (United Kingdom), Cartoon Saloon (Ireland), D’art Shtajio (Japan), 88 Pictures (India), El Guiri (Spain), Lucasfilm Ltd. (United States), Punkrobot (Chile), Studio La Cachette (France) and Studio Mir (South Korea).

The reaction to the first volume of Star Wars: Visions blew us away. We were delighted that this project inspired and resonated with so many people. We always saw Star Wars: Visions as a framework for celebratory expressions of the franchise from some of the best creators working today. Animation is in a global renaissance, and we’re constantly staggered by the amount of creativity pushing the medium forward. With Volume 1, the imaginative minds of Japan’s anime industry were on full display. With Volume 2, we expanded our canvas to take audiences on a global tour of some of the most talented creators from around the world. We’re so proud to be able to reveal the line-up of studios we’ve assembled. Every short is incredible, full of heart, scope, imagination, and the values that make stories distinctly Star Wars — all while opening up bold new ways of seeing what a Star Wars story can be.

-James Waugh (Star Wars: Visions executive producer and senior vice president, Franchise Content & Strategy, Lucasfilm)

Joining James Waugh as executive producers on the project are Jacqui Lopez and Josh Rimes. Read on for more on the directors who have helmed the nine new shorts:

Sith

Studio: El Guiri
Writer-director: Rodrigo Blaas

Rodrigo Blaas is an Emmy Award®-winning director who has spent more than 20 years in animation. After co-founding Stromboli Animation in 1997, Blaas joined Blue Sky Studios in 2000, working on the feature film Ice Age, before transitioning to Pixar Animation Studios. There, he worked on such projects as Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004), Ratatouille (2007), and Wall-E (2008) and on the Oscar®-nominated short film La Luna (2011). More recently, Blaas partnered with Guillermo del Toro to develop the award-winning series Trollhunters, served as creative director for Mikros Animation Paris and, in 2021, created El Guiri Studios in Madrid with his partner, Cecile Hokes. He also wrote and directed 2009’s award-winning short film Alma.

Screecher’s Reach

Studio: Cartoon Saloon
Director: Paul Young

Paul Young is a co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, an IFTA winner and Oscar®, Emmy® and BAFTA nominee. He produced the animated features My Father’s Dragon, WolfWalkers, The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, and The Breadwinner as well as award-winning TV series including Puffin Rock, Dorg Van Dango, and Viking Skool.

In the Stars

Studio: Punkrobot
Writer-director: Gabriel Osorio

Gabriel Osorio majored in Fine Arts at Universidad de Chile, later specializing in 3D animation. After working in commercials, movies and television series, he founded Punkrobot Studio. Since 2008, he has directed projects for children’s television including Flipos, Muelin y Perlita, Soccer Girls, and television spots. In 2016, his short film Bear Story became the first Latin American project to win an Oscar® in the animated short category.

I Am Your Mother

Studio: Aardman
Director: Magdalena Osinska

Magdalena Osinska is an award-winning director who has been with Aardman for eight years. She has directed stop-motion, CGI, 2D and live-action commercials including Wallace & Gromit’s “The Great Sofa Caper” and “Share the Orange.” Osinska directed development of the children’s series Joyets and has also directed films including Spirits of the Piano and Zbigniev’s Cupboard. A graduate of the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, UK, as well as the Polish Film School in Lodz and Art College in Warsaw, Osinska is currently developing the feature film Jasia, based on her grandmother’s memories of WWII Poland.

Journey to the Dark Head

Studio: Studio Mir
Director: Hyeong Geun Park

Rising star Hyeong Geun Park had already made a name for himself when he entered the Korean animation industry in 2017, thanks to his strong drawing and animation sensibilities. He has directed animation for dozens of cinematic game trailers and has since expanded into animated series, working on projects including Dota: Dragon’s Blood: Book 3 (2022) and Lookism (2022). Journey to the Dark Head is the first title he has executive produced from start to finish.

The Spy Dancer

Studio: Studio La Cachette
Writer-director: Julien Chheng

Julien Chheng is CEO of Studio La Cachette, an Emmy Award®-winning French animation studio he co-founded in 2014 with fellow Gobelins school’s alumni Oussama Bouacheria and Ulysse Malassagne. Chheng was trained in visual development at Disney and has worked as a character animator on acclaimed 2D animated features The Rabbi’s Cat, Mune, and the Academy Award®-nominated Ernest and Celestine. In 2021, he won an Emmy Award® as animation executive producer of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, for which he also served as animation supervisor. In 2022, Chheng directed with Jean-Christophe Roger the Cesar-nominated feature Ernest and Celestine: A Trip to Gibberitia.

The Bandits of Golak

Studio: 88 Pictures
Director: Ishan Shukla

Ishan Shukla started his career as a CG artist in Singapore. For more than a decade, he spearheaded projects ranging from TV commercials to series and music videos. His 2016 animated short, “Schirkoa,” was long listed for the Academy Awards® after receiving dozens of awards and playing at 120 international festivals, including SIGGRAPH Asia where it was named Best in Show. He then set up his own animation studio to work on adult-oriented animated feature films including a feature-length version of Schirkoa, set to hit festivals in summer 2023.

The Pit

Studios: D’art Shtajio and Lucasfilm Ltd.
Writer-director-executive producer: LeAndre Thomas
Co-director: Justin Ridge

LeAndre Thomas is an award-winning writer and director from Oakland, Calif., whose most recent film won Best Director at the Pasadena International Film Festival. In addition to his independent films, Thomas is a part of the franchise studio team at Lucasfilm Ltd. where he has worked for more than 11 years being credited on recent titles such as Light & Magic, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, and many more.

Justin Ridge executive produced the Emmy®-nominated series Star Wars Resistance. His credits also include Star Wars Rebels, Storks, The Cleveland Show, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Aau’s Song

Studio: Triggerfish
Writer-directors: Nadia Darries and Daniel Clarke

Nadia Darries is a director, animator and co-founder of Goon Valley Animation, with an avocation for songwriting. Born in the Cape Flats in South Africa, Darries has worked on high-end animated film and motion design as an animator, project manager, creative director and director since 2015. Her experience includes animating at Triggerfish Animation Studios on the award-winning BBC films Stick Man, Revolting Rhymes, and Highway Rat.

Daniel Clarke is a Cape Town-based director and artist working in animation, film and illustration. He started his career in animation in 2008 at Triggerfish Animation Studios, where he has served as production designer, art director and director on projects such as the feature film Khumba, BBC’s Stick Man, and The Snail and the Whale. In 2018, along with James Clarke and Daniel Snaddon, he completed the graphic novel Kariba.

The post Aardman and Cartoon Saloon among top-tier animation studios for ‘Star Wars: Visions’ Volume 2 appeared first on Skwigly Animation Magazine.

Having received an MFA in Experimental Animation from the California Institute of the Arts and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sean has since worked on projects including We Are Your Friends, Consuming Spirits and the Annie Award-winning animated sequences of He Named Me Malala. His commercial work includes projects for clients spanning Disney Channel, MTV, Arctic Monkeys, VH1, Adult Swim and Apple Podcasts, made alongside his own films such as Another, Lovestreams and I’m Not A Robot.

Produced by Jeanette Jeanenne (GLAS Animation Festival), Drone takes on themes of artificial intelligence, remote warfare, the news media, social media, pareidolia and politics in its story of a Predator drone installed with an ethical AI personality that malfunctions during a crucial press event and goes rogue, embarking on a philosophical and existential odyssey as the world looks on.

Following its premiere at Annecy followed by screenings at OIAF, Sitges, LIAF and our own Skwigly Screening at the Manchester Animation Festival, Drone will be released online this coming Sunday, February 5th (3am February 6th UK time).

See more of Sean’s work at seanbuckelew.com

Available to buy now from Routledge with an updated second edition available to preorder from March 21st.

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This award will be given each year to a person that make us, by their work, have a better understanding and knowledge of this wonderful world of animated cinema – and enjoy it even more! Festival organizers, Journalists, Specialists, Cinema Managers, Researchers… It’s those go-between persons that we want to put a spotlight on. Because they have such a passion of the art of frame by frame cinema, we can rediscover unknown treasures of the past, the gems of today and the future great names of animation.

Following its first recipient – Marco de Blois of the Cinémathèque Québécoise – in 2022, this year PIAFF “wanted to award somebody with the same touching and passionate personality. The same enthusiasm to share the knowledge, the passion for animation and for the people who are making this cinema.”

Nancy Denney-Phelps does that so well with her writings in different publications but especially with her blog on AWN (Animation World Network). Her writings are so lively, mixing reviews of films, reports of conferences and parties, sharing the atmosphere of each festival… and always with a lot of great photos taken on the spot.

And when you have the pleasure to spend a festival with her, you are lucky to enjoy her communicative joy of being here and her huge culture of animation. And that culture, because of people like Nancy Denney-Phelps, is always in motion because she can talk about all the festivals she went to and all the great people she met but also talk about her last Coup de Coeur for a film. And she uses this knowledge and this passion in jury and selection commiees in a lot of festivals. In giving the Giannalberto Bendazzi Award 2023 to Nancy Denney-Phelps, we wish to highlight the importance, the necessity and the joy of sharing this passion we have for animation.

Visit the PIAFF website for a full list of this year’s award winners

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