Nancy Denney-Phelps's Recent Posts

The second edition of Anifest ROZAFA in Shikodra, Albania will take place 12 – 18 September 2011.  The festival invites animators of all ages to submit films to this festival By Children and For Children.

Along with the International Competition, the festival conducts seminars and workshops. In the 2010 workshop group, the children made a two minute animation titled “To Face the Consequences”.

The festival has a hard and fast rule that any film that violates human rights, especially children’s, as defined by the Convention of Human Rights or Convention of Children’s Rights will not be accepted.

Films must have been completed after 1 January 2008 and be no longer than 30 minutes.

The debut edition of BE THERE!  CORFU ANIMATION FESTIVAL was the first animation festival to be held on this beautiful Greek Island.  A large audience from throughout the island enjoyed a wide array of programs and workshops as well as the opportunity to meet Greek and international artists from the world of animation.

The first two mornings were devoted to The Kids, Be There!  Special screenings and workshops were designed especially for school age children and their teachers.  Tomas Giovanis the Greek illustrator, animator, and comic book artist, better known as Tomek gave a special workshop designed specifically for young would be animators called Animation Is All Around Us.  He also designed the festival poster.

Nancy, Nik, and The Animation Conversation guys - Will Ashurst, Morten Overlie, and Erlend Dal Sakshaug.  Unfortunately, Alexey had to leave to catch his plane.
While we were at the wonderful Fredrikstad Animation in Fredrikstad, Norway the Animation Conversation Pod Cast guys did a breakfast interview with Alexey Alexeev, Nik, and me.  Nik and Alexey also play some music during the interview.

The Pod Cast guys have a unique and interesting approach to interviewing - they buy their guests a bottle of their favorite alcholic beverage (or in our case a couple bottles of red wine) and the interview continues until the bottle is empty.  Pour yourself a BIG glass of your drink of choice, then sit back and enjoy three old friends talking about everything under the sun.

Anyone who has been at animation festivals in the past year has probably seen Dustin Grella’s moving film Prayer For Peace.  His very personal animation has won numerous awards world wide culminating this past October with the 2010 Walt Disney Animation Studio award for Best Student Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Now Dustin has launched a new project called The Animation Hot Line.  During the month of  February,and perhaps even longer if the response is good, Dustin has set up a voice mail service where anyone can leave a message.  He will select messages to animate, trying to do one short strip a day.

The hot line is just not for animators, everyone  is welcome to leave a message but there are a few simple rules.  All messages must be under thirty seconds, preferably around ten or fifteen seconds long.  You can say a few  you overheard.  It can even be a secret that you don’t want anyone to know or something that bothers you.

Nik and I were fortunate enough to be invited to participate in ANIMATOR last year and it was a wonderful experience.  I was on the International Jury and Nik gave a workshop and two concerts.  I encourage you to send your film to this excellent festival.

The International Competition of Animated Films is open to artistic animated films of all techniques up to 30 min. Grand Prix of 60 000 PLN /ca. 14.000 Euros/ will be awarded by an international jury including Amy Kravitz, Piotr Dumala, Olia Lialina, Gerben Schermer and Jaroslaw Kapuscinski. Films can be submitted for selection till March 1, 2011. The entry form and regulations can be downloaded from www.animator-festival.com.

The renowned Prague Puppet Project, a precious source of knowledge and inspiration for anyone who works in the field of puppet animation, has announced the schedule for their 2011 workshops.  With 10 years experience of organizing International Puppet Workshops, Mirek Trejinar and Leah Gaffen combine their know how with special guest instructors to provide classes that are invaluable to the beginner and professional alike.

2011 Workshop topics are:

Puppets for Animated Film - 4 - 13 January and 14-23 October

Marionette Carving:  Carving 1 - 4 - 18 June     Carving 2 - 6 - 20 August
Details for a Carving Workshop in the United States will be posted on their website soon)

Recipes for Reconstruction: The Cookbook for the Frugal Filmmaker, by veteran independent animator and filmmaker Steven Woloshen, is the perfect introduction to the art of camera-less filmmaking.  From artistic strategies in creating fermented and decayed film footage to re-assembling damaged film prints into unique visual experiences, Steven gives us simple, detailed instructions for creating our own manipulated films.
Like any good cookbook there is a clear, concise list of materials and ingredients that are needed along with very easy to follow instructions for the processes used for all of the short films in the book.  A DVD of the films is included in the book to allow the reader to follow the creation process to the end result and lend visual inspiration for us to go to work on our own.
In the preface the Canadian animator pays tribute to two of his early inspirations, the late Stan Brakhage and Len Lye while tracing his own experimental path to manipulating exposed film footage.  Each chapter is introduced with personal antidotes about the inspiration that led to the films creation.  Zero Visibility was his attempt to recreate the harrowing experience of crossing Montreal’s Victoria Bridge in a blinding snow storm by using a fermentation process to achieve decay.  The “what you will need list” includes exposed film, water, icing sugar, yeast, and three or four clear plastic garden bags.  The step by step instructions conclude with “it is best to begin this fermentation process in the early summer months.  The best results should be achieved sometime in the end of December.” Each film description concludes with the results that he achieved and photos of the process, along with Woloshen’s original notes and diagrams.
Recipes for Reconstruction is the perfect book for the first time filmmaker who doesn’t want to invest in expensive equipment.  Building a film printer is the most technical piece of equipment you need to construct.  The printer assembly requires such everyday materials as a small dark colored shoe box, black masking tape and a flashlight or 15 watt incandescent light bulb.
The book is a wonderful way for teachers to give students of all ages an inspiring introduction to film making and should be in every school library.   For professional animators and film makers the DVD of the nine films alone is a priceless addition to any film collection and might even inspire them to get out and plant some film in their garden.
For more information or to purchase the book, contact Steven Woloshen at:
swoloshen@hotmail.com