Surprise, surprise back at 30,000 ft flying from London to Los Angeles after a super quick trip to the UK and Ukraine.  Since my last communication, which was all about the KROK International Animation Festival, I have been back in the US.  A return home after thirteen months on the road.  I left my home in LA in September of 2011 for a two-month road trip.  That trip kept getting extended and extended.  Resulting into the longest period away from the US since I came to America from the United Kingdom after the release of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, nearly 25 years ago.

A detailed description of my 2D hand drawn animation process.

This short time-lapse video follows the process of installing Maurizio Cattelan’s exhibition “All” at the Guggenheim in November 2011.

 

By Sean Buckelew and Jess Iglehart

When we traveled to the 2012 Annecy International Animation Festival to present a two-part CalArts Retrospective curated through the class taught by our professor Irene Kotlarz, we expected to bring films back to screen in America, but never did we dream that we would eventually be hosting the legendary animator Katsuhiro Otomo at the new Los Angeles incarnation of the PLATFORM International Animation Festival taking place at REDCAT. 

We all have been charged with picking up the sword to fight the good fight whether we are drawing the battle lines or not.  It’s always a good idea to have a plan in the event that you are called into action lest you be caught off guard.  This strategy applies whether you are fighting a health scare, personal loss or a change in your career.  It’s always good to know what propels you into battle before the appropriate boundaries are drawn.

 

By Nancy Phelps

When I last left you I was on a bus from Pristina, Kosovo headed to Belgrade, Serbia where I was planning to meet my old friend Rastko Ciric and attend the first edition of the Festival of European Student Animation that he had organized.  It was supposed to be a six hour trip.   I knew that Serbia did not recognize Kosovo as a country and people travelling on a Kosovo passport could not cross this border but I had been assured that I would not have a problem since I was travelling on a United States passport.

 

By Nancy Phelps

I had never thought of Peja, Kosovo as an ideal holiday spot but when I was invited to be on the International Jury of Anibar International Festival, the 22nd through the 27th of August, 2012, I discovered how wrong I was.  Peja is a lovely small town of 60,000 people surrounded by a beautiful mountain range known as the Balkan Alps with a lovely stream running through the center of town.  You can take a small motorized train up into the mountains from the town square.

A Heritage Museum is situated in an urban house dating from the 18th century that contains examples of regional clothing, beautifully crafted jewellery, musical instruments, and every day household items from the past.  The town also hosts a large open air market twice a week as well as the oldest mosque in Kosovo and a monastery located in the mountains is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Anibar had four screening venues, one indoor Cinema and three outdoor screening areas.   Films were shown in the Cinema during the day but in the warm evenings the action moved outdoors.  The opening and closing presentations and two evening screenings were held at the downtown open air screen which was easily accessible to everyone.

 

Have you ever looked at a total stranger and imagined what it would be like to spend a life with that person? That is the story first-time Disney director John Kahrs is trying to tell through his delightful short film, “Paperman,” which plays before the “Wreck-it Ralph” feature that opened on November 2, 2012.

By Ellen Besen

What makes an animation festival great?

With OIAF recently past and CTN on the immediate horizon, it seems like a good time to ask this question, one I’ve been asking myself in the aftermath of every festival experience for so many years I’ve lost count. I’ve also lost count of my many attempts to answer that question – most of them quite unsatisfactory.

In fact, I only started to answer the question in any meaningful way when I found myself taking over a sweet little festival- the late, lamented Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI)- from 2006 to 2009. We were charged, at the time, with taking a promising regional festival to the next level…and in the process of achieving that goal- if only for a moment before the economy, among other things, took the whole enterprise down- a great deal of what really makes a festival work was revealed.

 

“Has a celebrity ever come after you for making fun of them?”

Over the years this has been one of the most frequently asked questions put to me, regarding Celebrity Deathmatch.  I am happy to report that there has never been a lawsuit filed by a celebrity against me or MTV Networks -- at least none that I’m aware of.  That’s not to say that a few celebs weren’t a little pissed off from time to time.