Academy =

Chew on This presents the undisputed 2012 champions of animation (aka. blow me Oscar)

I am Tom Moody - Ainslie Henderson 

Lovely, haunting, moving film about the ongoing battle with the fragile voices that linger inside of us. The film is better with each viewing.  

Demoni and Nightingales in December - Theodore Ushev

The Robert Pollard of animation keeps churning out the films. In 2012, Ushev also co-created an Ipad film, Ballbreaker along with a stunning experimental piece that uses a Stevie Ray Vaughan track and all of them are damn good. There's also the short Juda, written by my pal Marla.

Demoni stands apart for me solely because it shows Ushev walking down a bit of a different aesthetic path.... plus it shows a more playful side of Ushev. The use of the record as the drawing board is wonderful.

Nightingales was commissioned by the Nouveau Cinema in Montreal. Ushev was free to do as he pleased. So he did.

Demoni

Nightingales in December

Consuming Spirits - Chris Sullivan

Yes...okay... the film needs some editing... but tough shit... this is THE animation feature of 2012 and beyond. Animation's Hubert Selby or Dennis Johnson. A beautiful, painful, poetic and unpretentious tale of three troubled souls who aren't that different from the rest of us.

Junkyard - Hisko Hulsing

The OIAF celebrated the work of Ralph Bakshi in 2012 and it was certainly fitting that this Bakshi inspired beauty walked away with the Grand Prize. How this film got ignored by the Academy is beyond me. Guess these dark and dirty portraits of the REAL world are a little too much for cartoon heads. Academy members should be ashamed. A bleak, haunting and mesmerizing tale of friendship, betrayal and murder. Not your average paper short film. And that's a good thing. Pussies of animation begone!

Junkyard - Official Trailer [1] from Hisko Hulsing [2] on Vimeo [3].

Sunny Afternoon - Thomas Renolder

The sombre Austrian surprises with this clever, witty and silly genre bending work that seats music video, memoir and experimental film into a surprisingly funny film. OIAF audiences loved the film and treated Thomas like a rock star. It was funny to watch the mild mannered animator enjoying his moment. I can't find the film so here's an interview with the man. It was either this or The Kink's Sunny Afternoon

Una Furtiva Lagrima - Carlos Vogele

Never have I laughed, cried, screamed and shit myself simultaneously. It's that good.

Old Man - Leah Shore

Leah is what JJ Villard could be if he pulled his dick out of his nostril.

The Great Rabbit- Atsushi Wada

Everything is GREAT and microscopes of fun.

Everyone is Great. Everyone is GENIUS. Everyone needs a STANDING OVATION.

Says Rabbit cause he's GREAT!

The Pub - Joseph Pierce

I don't think The Pub is as strong as Pierce's piercing Family Portrait, but still... this is a top notch portrait of the lonely and lost, the ugly and the pained.

The Pub [4] from Joseph Pierce [5] on Vimeo [3].

What the hell...here's Pierce's Family Portrait too.

This is just a list off the top of my horse head. There are many other outstanding films worthy of more attention. And hey, no offensive to the nominated animators from that other award show...it's just that you and them can do better.