In recent years, there has been a surge in animated projects that have
pushed boundaries, broken taboos, prompted discussions and wowed
festival and online audiences alike through compelling storytelling and
unmatched artistry.
Join Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley of Skwigly Online Animation
Magazine and the Intimate Animation
podcast as they take you on a tour of the landscape of contemporary
animated films that deal with themes of love, intimacy, relationships,
anatomy and sexuality – and the incredible artists behind them.
Through
research and firsthand interviews with trailblazers such as Signe Baumane, Andreas Hykade, Ruth Lingford, Michaela Pavlátová, Bill Plympton and Joanna Quinn, as well as newer voices including Sawako Kabuki, Renata Gąsiorowska, Will Anderson, Sara Gunnarsdóttir, Michaela Mihalyi, David Štumpf, Levi Stoops, Lori Malépart-Traversy, Anna Ginsburg, Veljko Popovic, Joseph Wallace, Renee Zhan
and more, Intimate Animation looks deeply at how animation has been
used to present elaborate and complex concepts relating to love and
sexuality.
Exploring the role animation has played in sex education,
self-discovery, the body, lust and love, as well as how the medium can
be used to visually represent emotions, feelings and concepts not easily
described in words nor depicted through live-action filmmaking,
Intimate Animation is the ideal book for professional animators,
filmmakers, enthusiasts, researchers, academic and students of animation
and film studies interested in the themes of love and sexuality.
The book will be released March 27th and is available to pre-order now
(use code LP96LCNPH at checkout through this month for a whopping 20%
off!)
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.
Following on from our end-of-year special back in December, I've launched a new Skwigly podcast series Animation Composed, a celebration of the harmonious relationship between music and animation.
In our first episode co-host Wez and I explore the musical side of some favourite animated shorts, including Le Clitoris (Dir. Lori Malépart-Traversy), Lonely Bones (Dir. Rosto) and Analysis Paralysis (Dir. Anete Melece) among others.
We also meet Paris-based composer Mathieu Alvado, whose work spans over 50 short films including the recent animated projects To Build A Fire (Dir. FX Goby, Nexus) and The Inspector and the Umbrella (Dir.
Maël Gourmelen). Having studied at the Bordeaux Conservatory, the Saint
Maur des Fossés Conservatory and the Conservatoire National Supérieur
de Musique et de Danse de Paris, Mathieu has received three Jerry
Goldsmith awards and collaborated with numerous ensembles including
the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra and the Paris
Symphonic Orchestra.
Full playlist:
In the latest episode of our Intimate Animation podcast Laura-Beth and I meet award-winning Concordia graduate filmmaker Lori Malépart-Traversy, whose student short Le Clitoris
has generated a great deal of buzz since it premiered in June of this
year. The film uses traditional 2D animation techniques to tell the
story of the oft-misunderstood clitoris and how its standing in society
has changed over the centuries, from the patriarchal attitudes of the
Catholic Church to the dismissive theories of its ‘Enemy Number 1’
Sigmund Freud.
Having won the Audience Award at Womanimation! and Best International Student Short Film at Animasivo, the film’s ongoing
festival run includes showings at Ottawa, Anima Syros, KROK, FAFF, Anim’est and the TIAS Animation Showcase, with upcoming screenings at Anima Mundi, KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, DOK Leipzig and Sommets du cinéma d’animation. Subscribe, direct download or stream below:
