Scheduled for July 29th, the 11th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase screens the best in independent Canadian and international animated short films, the results of the 2017 Anijam competition and a new interactive VR work by artist Zeesy Powers.
The Toronto Animated Image Society (TAIS) will present a summer night of animated dreams at the 11th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase on Saturday, July 29th, at 360 Geary Avenue in Toronto. They will feature two 60-minute programs of animated short films.
Featuring 20 animated short films created in the last two years, the finalists in this year’s program cover a variety of genres and stylistic approaches to the animation art form. Including ethereal and spooky dreamscapes, car chases, evocative abstraction, environmental issues, humor, sentimentality, and themes that speak to a positive queer future, this year’s program features narrative and experimental films from nine different countries: Canada, U.S.A., Costa Rica, U.K., China, Scotland, Switzerland, Spain, and Taiwan. This program is for mature audiences only.
Awards will be given as selected by a guest jury of Canadian animation gurus: Michael Fukushima, Adrienne Crossman and Nicolas Sassoon. The jury will grant “Grand Prize -- Best of the Showcase” and “Jury’s Best Anijam” awards. The audience will select films for the “Audience Choice -- Short Film” and “Audience Choice -- Best Anijam” awards.
Also featured is TAIS’ BIG EYES Sharp Teeth Anjiam competition. With 20 entries this year, these 10-second animations bite off a lot. Finally, TAIS 2017 Canadian Artist in Residence, Zeesy Powers, will present her work for virtual reality entitled “The Could Be You.” Produced in TAIS studios, this interactive VR experience puts participants in the body of a 90-year-old woman in the middle of a techno-dystopic environment. Powers is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Toronto who explores how technology impacts our lived experience and mediates our relationship to the cultural and natural systems that support and shape society.
The Animation Showcase is produced by the Toronto Animated Image Society, an artist-run, non-profit charitable organization dedicated to exploring and promoting the art of animation through production, screenings, workshops and exhibitions, and offering affordable access to space and equipment for artists who make animated films within contemporary art practices. TAIS is dedicated to the art of independent animation.
Tickets are available here.
Showcase Program:
- Au revoir Balthazar
Rafael Sommerhalder
Switzerland, 9:30, 2016, stop motion, narrative - Birdlime
Evan DeRushie
Toronto, Canada, 10:51, 2017, stop motion, narrative
*not in juried competition - Bone Guitar
Julianna Cox and Payton Curtis
Elora, Canada, 1:22, 2016, stop motion, music video - Casino
Steven Woloshen
Montreal, Canada, 3:58, 2016, experimental scratch on film - Cococo
Julian Gallese
Costa Rica, 7:06, 2017, hand drawn, narrative - Conditioner
Shane Beam
United States, 4:46, 2017, hand-drawn, narrative - Death Van
Michael Enzbrunner
Toronto, Canada, 5:32, 2017, 3D animation, narrative
*not in juried competition - Hi, It’s Your Mother
Daniel Sterlin-Altman
Toronto, Canada, 4:53, 2016, stop motion, narrative - Hypertrain
Etienne Kompis and Fela Bellotto
Switzerland, 3:35, 2016, 2D drawn and 3D animation, narrative - In a Heartbeat
Beth David and Esteban Bravo
United States, 4:05, 2017, 3D animation, narrative - Jenny in the Self-Checkout Line
Nick Fox-Gieg
Toronto, Canada, 2:10, 2017, drawn frame-by-frame with a Vive controller, narrative - Lo
Ted Wiggin
United States, 3:10, 2017, experimental - Lotus Lantern
Xingpei Shen
China, 6:30, 2017, hand-drawn, non-narrative - Nailbiter
Laura Hodkin
Scotland and the United Kingdom, 3:26, 2017, 2D drawn, non-narrative - Nutag-Homeland
Alisi Telengut
Montreal, Canada, 6:00, hand-painted, non-narrative - Popsicle
Tzu-Hsin Yang
Taiwan, 5:22, 2017, hand-drawn, hand-painted, narrative - Quarters
FIG House
Oakville, Canada, 5:00, 2017, stop motion narrative - Sister Narcissa
Dylan Glynn
Toronto, Canada, 2:20, 2016, 2D drawn, narrative - The Pear
Wang Yihao and Tong Reko
China, 6:25, 2016, hand-drawn, watercolor painted narrative - The Stunt Manual
Ben Fernández
Spain, 9:37, 2016, stop motion
Jury:
Michael Fukushima -- Fukushima has been an animation filmmaker since 1984. He’s been part of the NFB’s Animation Studio since 1990: first as a filmmaker, then as a producer since 1997, and studio head since 2013.
Adrienne Crossman -- Crossman is an artist, educator and curator. She holds a BFA in Integrated Media and a Minor in Digital and Media Studies from OCAD University. She has completed residencies in Syracuse, NY, Montréal, Windsor, and Artscape Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Islands. Her practice involves the exploration of non-normative and non-binary objects, characters and spaces, with a specific interest in queer potentialities in the non-human. Crossman creates queer interventions through the manipulation of digital media and popular culture, the re-contextualization of often-overlooked objects and artifacts, and by locating queer sensibilities in the everyday. Adrienne is currently an MFA candidate in Studio Art at the University of Windsor. http://www.adriennecrossman.com/
Nicolas Sassoon -- Sassoon makes use of early computer imaging techniques to render visions of architectures, landscapes and natural forces. Sassoon’s practice translates ideas of materiality and immateriality into digital animations, installations, prints, and sculptures. His work explores the contemplative and projective dimensions of screen-based space, and how the digital image can express dimensions of the physical realm. While most of his output is published online, Sassoon also materializes his web-based practice into a wide range of media. His visual research often leads him to engage in cross-disciplinary projects in the fields of architecture, electronic music, textiles, and art. His work has been exhibited at The Whitney Museum of American Art (U.S.), Eyebeam (U.S.), 319 Scholes (U.S.), Vancouver Art Gallery (CA), Plugin ICA (CA), Contemporary Art Gallery (CA), Charles H.Scott Gallery (CA), Western Front (CA), PRETEEN Gallery (MX), Victoria & Albert Museum (U.K.), the Centre d’Art Bastille (FR), Arti et Amicitiae (NL), MU Eindhoven (NL) , Today Art Museum (CN), the Berlin Fashion Week (DE)) and the New-York Fashion Week (U.S.). Sassoon is based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, he is a co-founder of the projects WALLPAPERS and SIGNALS. http://www.nicolassassoon.com/
Source: Toronto Animated Image Society
