PROTEST, created by S.D. Katz, won the 2001 Charles Samu Award, an animation award that recognizes quality work made on substantive issues. Charles Samu, who was a key player in creating the Zagreb Animation Festival in the 70s, was a builder of cultural bridges for friendship and understanding through the universal language of animation. The Leo Dratfield Endowment at International Film Seminars, in association with ASIFA-EAST, has honored his memory each year following his death in 1988. The Charles Samu Award is presented during the ASIFA Animation Festival with a cash award of $250. PROTEST, created by New Yorks production house Pitch partner S.D. Katz, is a CGI short subject presented as a dream-like meditation on the plight of the elephant. The startling premise imagines that elephants in the financial district of NYC take to civil disobedience in its most committed form. PROTEST was an in-house art project released both in 35mm and high definition. To date, PROTEST has won fourteen international awards. Pitch was also honored with the ASIFA-East Excellence in Design award. JERK CHICKEN, created in-house at Pitch by Chris Gilligan, won the Excellence in Design award. The design honor was awarded to Pitch-affiliated designer, Frank Gresham. A playful comedy about a chicken who is a quintessential jerk, JERK CHICKEN is an original, animated program created as a pilot for Nickelodeon.
