Many thanks to those of you who bought a copy of Intimate Animation at MAF (and Encounters, for that matter), we hope it proves educational. If you missed out on our exclusive festival discount I have some good news - the publisher's Black Friday sale will run until December 3rd, through which you can get both Intimate Animation and my previous book Independent Animation at a whopping 25% off (plus free international shipping).
The next event you should pencil in to check out is Figures in Focus: Skin Shows + Screentalk, a special programme curated by Abigail Addison where "animators lay bare sexuality, queerness and the body on screen" as part of the London International Animation Festival, Saturday November 29th 6:20pm at the Barbican. The screening will include Laura-Beth Cowley's BBC Arts film The Gift (on which I did some animation and sound) and is followed by a Q&A with Laura-Beth, Lizzie Watts and May Kindred-Boothby. Earlier that day, our friends at Women In Animation UK will be hosting a get together up the street at Two Brewers from 3pm-6pm.
I'm putting out one more vinyl reissue before the year is through. Coming up to fifteen years since its original release, The Book of Women is probably the closest I ever came to making an outright pop record (and the only one to get some real airplay). You can sample/buy it here - it's also still available on Spotify and Bandcamp if you prefer your music to be airborne and intangible rather than big, flat and plastic.
To end on, my fellow animationperson Gareth Cavanagh has started up his own podcast The Square Window, discussing children's programmes from the 80s and 90s. Fun listening with guests so far including myself and pals Jane, Steve, Dani and more. Give it some love on YouTube, Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Before I crack on with the latest round-up, I wanted to make a point of saying that the 30th edition of the Encounters Film Festival was absolutely fantastic. Much love to everyone who voiced their enjoyment of the selection; after a few years of animated shorts not getting their own dedicated strand, it means more than you know. All being well, we'll be back again next year for an even bigger and better edition.
As one festival ends, another is ramping up. It's looking to be another superb Manchester Animation Festival up North this November with a whole host of animationey goodness on offer. Chuffed to be presenting mine and Laura-Beth's book Intimate Animation (6pm 11th Nov, Manchester Central Library) as well as another all-new Skwigly Screening (7pm 12th Nov, HOME). Of course, Steve and I will be inflicting another edition of the Skwigly Quiz on festivalgoers right after (8:30pm 12th Nov, HOME). So get your diaries out and pencil 'em in.
Some nice news on the Intimate Animation front, in the October issue of the rather splendid BFI magazine Sight & Sound it has been selected as Editor's Choice by reviews editor Katie McCabe. I'm sure most of you reading likely already have a subscription, but just in case you can grab yourself a copy of the issue here. If you didn't make the Encounters presentation and missed getting your hands on a copy, the fine folks at the Arnolfini bookshop have held a few copies back at the same discount, so pay them a visit and grab it while you can. Failing that, the publisher currently has a site-wide sale, so if you buy it directly from them you'll get 20% off. Better than a kick in the pants.
If you're in the market for some inspirational podcast listenin', you'll want to check out the latest episode of Animation One-To-Ones featuring absolute legend and stalwart pal o' Skwigly, Joanna Quinn. We mainly discuss her work with the initiative AC4Pal (Animation Community for Palestine) in support of the efforts of Gaza-based educator Haneen Koraz, which recently culminated in the global anijam To Gaza with Love, which brought together 329 short films from over 50 countries. Joanna is always a joy to listen to, so give it a stream, watch or download; she also has a book of her own out now, so give that some love too while you're at it.
A bit of music to wrap up on - in anticipation of a 15th anniversary vinyl reissue of my 2010 album The Book of Women, and as a personal nod to the 40th anniversary of the Mario franchise, I'm putting out an extremely limited (20 copies - I'm a realist) run of the preceding, long-out-of-print 2008 EP Sibling Ribaldry, which will include the titular love-letter to Super Mario Bros. and three extra tracks from the album sessions not available on any other vinyl release. Give it a shufti here.
Exciting developments here in Bristol as the briefly-dormant Encounters Film Festival will be returning later this month for its 30th edition. Having worn a bunch of different hats for this event over the years, it was a privilege to take the reins as Animation Programmer and put together five programmes packed with incredible new shorts, as well as consulting on the festival's genre programmes and industry events. More info on each programme below (all competition screenings take place in Cinema 1 at the Watershed and will be followed by a Q&A with any attending filmmakers):
Animated Encounters 1 (1pm Sep 24) From a father grappling with his son's emigration to a woman literally birthing her reproductive organs, these animated stories confront life's awkward realities head-on.
Animated Encounters 2 (5:30pm Sep 24) A European traveller sketches her way through Cape Verde, a cat seeks enlightenment, and a mother weaves memories through colourful sweaters. These contemplative works range from Nordic winter poems to drag queen revelations, united in quiet contemplation.
Animated Encounters 3 (10am Sep 25) The messy realities of minds and bodies under pressure. Characters battle screen addiction, explore their own anatomy, and confront childhood trauma through bold animation techniques. These unflinching stories tackle everything from teenage pregnancy to language identity, using surreal visuals to make the internal external.
Animated Encounters 4 (2:30pm Sep 25) Tender stories celebrating memory, family bonds, and the search for belonging across generations.
Animated Encounters 5 (12pm Sep 26) Eight exciting works push animation into uncharted territory, unafraid to go places live action cannot. Ancient Chinese erotica inspires an Estonian tale of vanity, while nude models battle mosquito stings and a hypersensitive woman navigates a harsh world.
The 25th will also be a dedicated animation industry day, and kicking off proceedings will be a special presentation on mine and Laura-Beth Cowley's new book Intimate Animation, featuring special guests Baz Sells and Ben Jackson of One6th who'll be discussing the production of their recent short Two Black Boys in Paradise (also screening in competition); we'll also be selling books at an exclusive Encounters discount if you haven't yet snapped it up and want to save a few sheckels. Also on the docket throughout the day are presentations from the likes of Dan Ojari, Tanya Scott, Karni & Saul, Dane Winn, Neeraja Raj and Chris Shepherd as well as dog life drawing, a stop-mo workshop and a showcase and reception for the newly-launched UK branch of Women In Animation.
Capping off the day will be another edition of Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM), again teaming up with our pals at Festivus and taking place at the Three Tuns pub from 7pm.
Got some events for your diaries, folks. Starting with the first Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) of the year, gonna be a casual one with our pals at Festivus on May 1st from 7pm at The Three Tuns. Swing by BAM x Westivus and we'll all have a nice catch-up.
The following week Laura-Beth and I will be celebrating the launch of our new book Intimate Animation in London on May 7th with the lovely folks at Bar Shorts. From 8:10pm at The Garden Cinema we'll be screening a selection of the major case studies in the book, followed by a Q&A hosted by the brilliant Chris Shepherd. Click here for more info and to get tickets.
That weekend we'll also be at the Fine Lines Illustration and Animation Festival in Cheltenham with a slightly more condensed version of the screening starting ̶6̶p̶m̶ 6:30pm (disregard image above) at the University of Gloucestershire Park Campus, TC014 Lecture Theatre. Grab a free pass here. At both Bar Shorts and Fine Lines we'll be selling copies of the book (as well as some other goodies) at an exclusive discount, so bring your wallets and treat yisselfs.
After some ruminatin', I think there might still be a few last gasps of life left in this here blog. Ahead of a big announcement coming up next week (that will probably explain why my energy for writing has been depleted of late), here's a roundup of some fun stuff I was involved with during the quiet spell that may be of interest.
Back in May Laura-Beth and I were at the always-wonderful Cardiff Animation Festival to host their brunch sessions and chat with attending filmmakers Tanya J Scott, Gerald Conn, Hannah Fisher, Naomi Crame, Lleucu Non, Josh Hicks, Tova Persson, Hoching Kwok, Gus Andrews, Qianhui Yu, Samantha Moore, Greg McLeod, Robert Brown, Katie King and Faye Craig. For those who weren't able to make it, these were recorded and put out as podcast minisodes, so brew some coffee, grab a croissant and have a listen. It'll be like you were there, boy-howdy.
Skipping ahead to November, Manchester Animation Festival was great shakes as ever. More of a flying visit this time but I did manage to cram in hosting duties for three events, including an all-new Skwigly Screening, the ever-bloodthirsty Skwigly Quiz and a special event wherein emerging talents from the Ukraine presented their animation projects in development. The event was part of a mentorship initiative brought about by Skwigly's collaboration with the Linoleum Festival and the UK/UA Animation Lab, which also yielded a series of free online lectures seeing industry professionals dispense invaluable advice. I was privileged to host one with producer extraordinaire Helen Brunsdon (below) and you can check out all six here.
To my delight, everyone's favourite stop-mo nightmare-weaver Robert Morgan (of Bobby Yeah and The Cat With Hands fame) had his first feature film Stopmotion released. A live-action/animation hybrid tale of an animator's relatable descent into madness, the film is hideous and horrible in all the best ways and definitely worth checking out. I was very happy to host a special CAF screening and discuss the film with the director himself, which you can check out below:Robert and I discuss the film further in episode 113 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast, which is still ticking along. Other episodes we put out last year include a British Animation Awards special, a celebration of Cartoon Saloon's 25th anniversary and chats with the talents behind 2024's holiday features and specials.
On the guests front we've also featured Chris Sanders (The Wild Robot) with Nick Park making a welcome return alongside fellow Aardman-ites Merlin Crossingham and Ben Whitehead to chat all things Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. In our Animation One-To-Ones strand, which has continued to be a fantastic vehicle for our contributors to get some facetime with the movers and shakers of the industry, I also caught up with industry stalwarts Torill Kove and Job, Joris & Marieke. Speaking of contributors, I would be remiss to not shout out the fantastic work being created for the site by our wonderful team including Ryan Gaur, Martyn Warren, Jordan King and Kévin Giraud.
On the written features side of things, a couple pieces you might want to check out include chats with the fabulous NFB producer Maral Mohammadian as well as Zach Woods (creepy Gabe from the US version of The Office) and Brandon Gardner on their stop-motion NPR tribute sitcom In The Know. More recently I wrote a little summary of the late great David Lynch's own dabblings in animation over the years. Not an easy write as, being such a massive influence and all-around mensch, the news of his death rattled me. But ultimately it was a gratifying exercise and a rare excuse to lump together a bunch of factoids floating around my head that wouldn't necessarily have had much use otherwise.
Throughout the year Skwigly, Rumpus and Sun & Moon also continued our Bristol Animation Meetups (BAM), with four hugely successful seasonal events that included our established industry one-on-one sessions in the Spring and Autumn, a big chunky BAM quiz in the Summer and a seasonal collab event with AnimInspo to cap off the year. We have some fun irons in the fire on the BAM front, so keep your eyes on our socials to not miss out.
As to why I didn't bring any of this up at the time, well...here's the culprit.
Her name is Ivy. She saps all of the time I used to have for blogging because she's so adorable and her demands are both constant and merciless. Kind of lowkey ruined our life at the beginning, but hey, at a certain point you come around and fall in love. Dogs, what are they like?
So I think you're about caught up now. Stick around, more news a-comin'.
A solid half-decade after it originally made its festival debut, I've finally put my fifth animated short Sunscapades online. It's a film I was initially quite proud of insofar as it came out exactly as I pictured it in my head, which is a rare thing indeed, but I grew a little conflicted about it for a few reasons I won't bore you with here. It had a nice chunky festival run either way, with stops including the BFI London Film Festival, LIAF, Encounters, LSFF, Just For Laughs, Sydney Film Festival, MIAF, Cardiff Animation Nights (twice! What a lovely bunch), Anima Brussels and a whole lot more. It was also an opportunity to work with the wonderful Weird Eye Collective talents Laura-Beth Cowley (producer and voice of Lily and Milly), Fiona Viani-Pericchi (voice of Billy) and Hannah Stevens (background paintings) and boasts some fantastic painterly contributions from Carwyn David, plus some spooky music courtesy of Phil Brookes. So give it a watch and let some sunshine into your lives:
You can have yourselves a merry little thumb-through and if you conclude it's a book you need in your life (as any rational person would) then I'm offering a special BAM-exclusive, mates-rates discount. As with every edition of BAM, all animation professionals, students, enthusiasts, fans and hobbyists from Bristol and the surrounding area – really anyone who fancies making the trek - are welcome.
Back to the book, check out the video above for a cheeky peek at what it looks like in hardback. Then spit coffee at your screen when you see how much the bloody thing costs. Ah well, some things just aren't in my control.
It won't be in print because a brand-new, updated second edition will be coming out on April 11th.
In essence this is the same book at its heart but it was a welcome opportunity to condense elements of it and keep it more up-to-date, as well as adding in a bunch of brand-new case studies and expanding on certain areas that have become more invaluable to indie artists in recent years, such as navigating the festival landscape and getting films out in the world and seen by the right people. As with the first edition, it is loaded with exclusive insight into the working processes of some of the industry’s most noteworthy indie animation talents, including Signe Baumane, Adam Elliot, Don Hertzfeldt, Kirsten Lepore, Robert Morgan, David OReilly, PES, Bill Plympton, Rosto, Chris Shepherd and dozens more; not to mention curational perspectives from the folks behind Ottawa International Animation Festival, Animafest Zagreb, Manchester Animation Festival, Cardiff Animation Festival, London International Animation Festival, . It also boasts a new cover model courtesy of the incredible stop-motion talent Joseph Wallace, whose pictured film Salvation Has No Name is smashing it at the moment (be sure to catch it at Annecy if you've not seen it yet). It's a little sad to bid farewell to the original Ernie Biscuit cover, but rest assured the areas of the book that cover Adam Elliot's work have remained untouched.
You can preorder now - and if you buy it directly from the publisher you get free shipping to boot. PLUS if you buy it at any point throughout April you get a freakin' massive 20% discount. We spoil ya, so we do.
It'd be nice to get a new film of my own off the ground at some point in the near (or at least not horribly distant) future. In the meantime I'm still riding the magnificent Laura-Beth's coattails all across the magical land of Wales with Crafty Witch's CAF on Tour inclusion. Next stop will be the Taliesin Arts Centre in Swansea, Monday 24th April at 7:30pm.
Circling back to the subject of shilling my wares, the extraordinarily short run of the My Head is Too Small for My Body physical CD editions is nearly depleted; there are just four copies left so if you don't want to miss out (just imagine the unbearable, wide-reaching shame) be sure to hit me up on Instagram or Facebook and we'll sort you out.
We also welcome back Turning Red director Domee Shi speaking with Skwigly contributor Ryan Gaur about the film’s positive reception and road to the Oscars. Download here or stream below:
In spite of myself, I've put out an EXTREMELY limited (because I'm delusional but not that delusional) CD run of my latest album My Head is Too Small for my Body. Pop me a message on Insta or Facebook if you want to grab one up, if for no other reason than to have something shiny to put your mug of tea on. Or even better, waggle it about when your mates come over and bond over what the fuck that Ben Mitchell thinks he's doing.
A mere £5.50 incl. postage (UK only soz) and boasting a chunky SEVEN bonus tracks #phwoar
Of course if you don't fancy the clutter and like your music all digital-like, you can check it out on a variety of streaming platforms. I'm not up to much else outside of work these days, so here’s some more podcasts for ya:
After a bit of a hiatus I've resumed my Independent Animation companion podcast series, starting with a chat with indie filmmaker Sean Buckelew about his incredible film Drone, which some of you may have caught at my Manchester Animation Festival screening back in November. If you didn't come then, firstly, you're dead to me, but the good news is you can now watch it in full online. Hopefully that'll bring you some comfort in death.
There's also a new Animation One-To-Ones where I meet Hair Love co-director Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin to discuss their new family animated Netflix series My Dad the Bounty Hunter. They're nice guys, so go check it out and cheer yourself up, for chrissakes.
It’s been probably the longest stretch of radio silence on here since I started the strange, protracted, attention-seeking endeavour that is this blog. Personal circumstances innit. Anyways, here’s some stuff that’s happened in the interim.
Laura-Beth and I wrapped up the fourth season of Intimate Animation with a special live edition recorded at Manchester Animation Festival (which was a blast) back in November. We’re joined by director Phil Wall and producer Chloe Beale of Strange Acre Studios, discussing their recently-completed BFI-funded short film Woodland, as well as Julia Wiza to talk about her Nottingham Trent University thesis film Bogdanka. Much gratitude to everyone who came, as well as the MAF and HOME team for getting everything set up.
The last Skwigly Animation Podcast of 2022 features a chat between myself and - holy shit - Guillermo del Toro, joined by Pinocchio co-director Mark Gustafson. Not too fucking shabby, eh?
If that hasn’t gotten you dazed and confused, another chap possibly more well-known as a live-action director that I got to speak to recently is Richard Linklater, chatting about his recent feature Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood alongside his longtime animation collaborator (A Scanner Darkly, Waking Life) Tommy Pallotta.
CAF on Tour, featuring Laura-Beth Cowley’s Crafty Witch, is still making its way across the wonderful land o’ Wales. A couple dates for your calendars this month:
Some events comin' up for ya. TheLinoleum Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival's I'M FINE! programme put together in collaboration with Skwigly is getting itself another screening in Lviv this Friday, November 24th. This one will be happening 6:30pm at America House and is completely free. You can register for it here.
On that subject, the fourth I'M FINE! podcast minisode from our filmmaker Q&A sessions is online now (stream/download), featuring insights from Konrad Hjemli, Jakob Eiring (Pandiculation) and Anna Samo (Conversations With A Whale).
Another event coming up that I, in all honesty, had just about nothing to do with is the premiere of Ainslie Henderson's Shackle, which will get its first public outing at London International Animation Festival on Nov 25th. Laura-Beth played a significant part in developing the eye mechanisms of the puppets and, frankly, I'm a pretty big Ainslie fan so I felt like giving it a shout-out. Also screening will be the feature-length mixed-media documentary A Cat Called Dom by longtime collaborator and Shackle producer Will Anderson, as well as Will's short film Betty. It starts 6:10pm at The Barbican and all told it looks to be a great way to kick off the festival, so check it out if you're in the city.
Speaking of Laura-Beth, which we sort of were, there's another chance to catch her recent short film Crafty Witch (on which I slapped some post-FX and noises) as part of the Cardiff Animation Festival touring programme of 2022 award winners. If you're in or about Milford Haven on the 30th swing on by the Torch Theatre for 8pm (more info here).
Encounters is gearing up for the return of its physical edition next month. Things have changed a bit over there and I'm no longer involved in the way I'd been the last few years but, rather splendidly, they'll be screening Speed following its inclusion in the 2020 online festival for a special retrospective programme. The film will be screened as part of Strange Hearts, kicking off 11am September 28th at Bristol's Watershed. Come on by, we can split a flapjack.
Two other films I nosed my way into that are getting themselves a repeat showing will be Laura-Beth Cowley's witchy shorts The Gift and Crafty Witch that were part of the 2020 and 2021 edition respectively. You can catch them in The Strength Within programme that screens at 12:30pm on the 29th and again at 4:30pm on the 30th.
Also coming up for Crafty Witch is a screening at this year's edition of Frightfest on Monday August 29th as part of Short Film Showcase 3. The programme starts at 1:30pm in 101 Films Discovery Screen 2 at the Prince Charles Cinema.
It will also be part of a programme from this year's Cardiff Animation Festival who will be taking nine of their accoladed shorts on tour across Wales, starting this Saturday (27th) with a screening at the festival's main venue Chapter at 2:30pm.
On a separate note, it
struck me that it's been a little while since I had an actual website. For the first time in about five years I actually had a bit of downtime last month
so I took the opportunity to cobble one together. It's kinda basic but then, shucks, so am I. Also managed to finally update my showreel for the first time since 2018, so if you fancy a gander check 'er out below:
I've been kinda quiet 'cause, well, shucks, I don't have a whole lot to say these days. I'll rattle off some general updates to keep this site from going into atrophy.
The epic, protracted journey of Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires has reached its conclusion (some five years after I joined the film's post-production team in its latter months) with a suitably-retro home media release. I don't really buy blurays, except for the occasional animation one, but the sheer strength of craft that went into this is a pretty good justification to pick it up and by some accounts I've read this version looks a little nicer than its streaming alternatives.
Another journey's end worth mentioning is my stint with the fine folks at Shy Guys Studios wrapping up after four-and-a-bit years. It's probably the longest I've been at one place (albeit while juggling a ton of other gigs on the side, as my gluttony for punishment dictates) and it led to some really fun projects including graphics and titles for a bunch of TV shows, animation for educational/health films (the one above was a lot of fun) and my most recent film Speed which managed to tick a few more festival selections off my personal wishlist. As with all the best gigs the real highlight was the people I got to meet through it and I hope we'll manage to work alongside one another again down the line.
Elsewhere the world of Emojitown is growing like gangbusters, having just hit a million followers on its main YouTube channel and over 125k on its more recent TikTok channel. I've been working with WildBrain Spark as a consultant and contributing director/producer on its social media shorts which have accrued a stunning 250+ million views since the end of last year. It's a pretty incredible thing to see this kind of response to a brand new IP, so fingers crossed things continue as it's been a fun world to be a part of and occasionally inject my weirdness into.
Ryan joins the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast with a segment interviewing Lightyear director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman. We also feature a chat between Laura-Beth and director/writer Loren Bouchard, co-director Bernard Derriman and co-writer/producer Nora Smith of The Bob's Burgers Movie. Again, it's streamable below and here's your download link, ya lucky so-and-so.
I think that's all the talk-about-ables for now. This summer might see things get a bit less quiet as there are a bunch of project announcements on the horizon, so, y'know, stay mildly alert.
Who likes podcasts? Well, whether you do or don't, that's literally all I have for you today so get with the programme.
As I grapple with the grim realisation that I've been podcasting for over a decade I may as well pop up the latest batch for your delectation and/or derision. Firstly we report back from this year's British Animation Awards, which took place at London's BFI South Bank in March. This episode features Steve's exclusive post-ceremony chats with event director Helen Brunsdon and producer Kieran Argo as well as some of the awarded attendees: Joanna Quinn and Les Mills (director and writer of Affairs of the Art, winner of Best Short Film, Writers Award and Best Voice Performance), Jeroen Jaspaert and Matt Tea (Showrunner and director of Pip & Posy, winner of Best Children’s Pre-School), Grant Berry and Dane Winn (directors of The Beast, winner of Best Immersive Animation), Adrian Rhodes (Sound designer of Zog and the Flying Doctors, winner of Best Use of Sound) and Julie Lockhart (producer of Ron’s Gone Wrong, winner of Best Long Form).
Speaking of CAF, Laura-Beth and I were delighted to be able to muck in with their fantastic third edition and first return to the physical format since they kicked off in 2018. Recordings of the Filmmaker Brunch sessions we hosted have been put out as a two-part podcast special that you can check out now. In Session 1 I speak with Laura-Beth (discussing Crafty Witch), Joanne Fisher (Stache and the Inner Walk), Emlyn Davies (Foo Fighters: Chasing Birds), Joanna Quinn and Les Mills (Affairs of the Art), Daniel Gray (HIDE), Paul O’Flanagan (Memento Mori) and Callum Angel(The Catalyst).
