A Million Movies a Minute, an independent distributor specializing in short documentaries, has announced its newest release, ANIMATING REALITY.

Philips and ad agency DDB approached RSA Films to commission five films under the banner Parallel Lines. 45 RSA Directors submitted concepts surrounding a single script supplied by the agency. From those, five diverse concepts were chosen for production; the result is a testament to both directorial interpretation and social media promotion.

Author, animator, and 80's cartoon voice reenactor, The Definitive Tim Finn, stops by to discuss coffee-table books, animation based on colors, and 3D Chess. Joel and Alan then engage Tim in a very brief but colossal battle of capitalism in FFAF's newest radio game, "Two Minute Monopoly". All is then put classier when the beautiful, the insightful, and the ever effervescent Lorelei Pepi reveals her unorthodox recipe for Italian Wedding Soup, her thoughts on animation and art, and why FFAF's other newest radio game, "Brain Cloning", is a good excuse to beat up on Joel's face.

Honayn's Shoe, an animated tale about a lost nomad’s search in the desert, with his camel, for his lost shoe, was named Best Animation at this year’s African Movie Academy Awards.

Runaway, Cordell Barker’s tale about a driverless train filled with happy passengers careening towards an unknown fate, picked up the prize for Best Animated Short at the 2010 Genie Awards.

How hard will you work to get the Princess? Dan the Man goes as far as his pixels will carry him, destroying robots, even getting a day job. But is fantasy better than reality, what do you do with a rescued Princess?

This program features stop-motion, hand-drawn, rotoscope and computer-generated animation by some of the most innovative makers in the field. From experimental masters Martha Colburn, Lewis Klahr and Kerry Laitala to anti-auteurs Bruce Alcock, Jonas Odell and Kelly Sears, up-and-comers Rodrigo Blass and Chris Perry and the Academy Award–winning work of H5, this program is packed to the hilt with frame-by-frame goodness.

Voice on the Line
Supposedly the word “hello” was invented for the telephone. If only this was true, it might begin to describe this strange conspiratorial nugget. (Kelly Sears, USA, 8 min) In GGA competition.

Alma
Alma skips through snow-covered streets. A strange doll beckons from an antique toy shop Alma enters. (Rodrigo Blass, USA, 6 min) In GGA competition.

Logorama
This brilliant satire of our brand-washed consumer culture won this year’s Oscar for Best Animated Short Film. (H5, France, 16 min) In GGA competition.

Tussilago
This nonfiction interview proves that the only way to be a criminal is to be like Tussilago. Do it right in front of the people you are wronging like it’s all kosher. Balls! Oh, but don’t get caught. (Jonas Odell, Sweden, 14 min) In GGA competition.

Electric Literature
A short poem set to images in motion in that charmed and lugubrious, slightly scary way that is Martha Colburn’s signature. (Martha Colburn, USA, 2 min)

Incident at Tower 37
Forget about making a mountain out of a molehill. This short does just the opposite in water. (Chris Perry, USA, 11 min) In GGA competition.

Vive la Rose
This short film is so beautiful that you’ll almost forget to wonder how it was made. (Bruce Alcock, Canada, 6 min) In GGA competition.

Wednesday Morning TWO AM
One of Lewis Klahr’s series of couplets for which a classic song receives two distinct interpretations via his Lichtenstein-echoing animation. (Lewis Klahr, USA, 7 min) In GGA competition.

Afterimage
The latest installment in Kerry Laitala’s synaesthetic stereoscopic chromadepth 3-D series. Glasses provided at the door! (Kerry Laitala, USA, 13 min) In GGA competition.

—Sean Uyehara

Additional Showtimes are:

Sun., Apr 25 / 6:30 PM / Kabuki / 1881 Post St., San Francisco

Featuring an announced program packed with conferences, presentations, exhibitions and 6 days filled with screenings of the world’s best animation, the Annecy International Animation Film Festival celebrates its 50th Anniversary from June 7-12 in Annecy, France.

The 53rd San Francisco International Film Festival (April 22–May 6) is proud to present the Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award to Academy Award–nominated short filmmaker Don Hertzfeldt for his unique contributions to animation. Over a long career, Hertzfeldt has remained fiercely independent by sticking to short format and challenging the boundaries of his craft. The popularity of his work is unprecedented in the world of short animation and his films are frequently referenced in pop culture. Hertzfeldt will be presented with the award and participate in an onstage interview at Life, Death and Very Large Utensils, 7:30 pm, Friday, April 23 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas. A collection of short films, past and present, including I am so proud of you, Intermission in the Third Dimension and a few surprise selections are set to follow.

Beginning next week, Cartoon Brew TV will be showing a film series celebrating the “Modern Art of Gene Deitch.”