Another staggered update

Some very happy news regarding my latest film Speed is that it's part of the official selection at this year's Pictoplasma conference. This is an organisation I've been an enormous fan of since before I even started making films so to finally have work included is a real coup. It'll run from September 18th-19th, naturally it'll be an online iteration but their guest line-up and fellow official selectees are all top-notch, plus it's completely free, so it should be pretty damn great. You can check out what's on offer here.

Those wonderful folks over at Routledge are having themselves a summer sale, which means that my chunky book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films is along for the ride at a glorious 20% off until the beginning of August. Don't forget there's FREE SHIPPING on top of that, friends. Grab yourself a copy today and stave off them pesky lockdown anxiety attacks with 440+ pages of indie animation wonderment!

Speaking of books, I've gotten wind that all of the paperback editions of my independent graphic novels have disappeared from Lulu. After a bit of lazy sleuthing it looks like there's been some big update over there and a bunch of stuff's been thrown out of whack, so I'll look into getting them back up but from what I gather their customer service has been lax lately so don't hold your breath.

In truth I'm not really sure if I'll bother as sales of all of them have slowed to a crawl and, while it was a pretty nifty thing in my early 20s, the thrill of the self-published indie comics scene has waned a touch 10+ years on. You can still buy the non-Lulu version of Throat, which I remain kind of proud of, as a three volume set via Amazon and various other outlets. There might be something in re-releasing that as a single book again down the line, we'll see.

A graphic novel project I'm altogether more excited about is the long-awaited print edition of the late great Rosto's absurdist, metaphysical opus Mind My Gap, which finally arrived alongside a stunning vinyl soundtrack to his Thee Wreckers tetralogy and various other goodies. Before he passed away I was peripherally involved in the book as a proof-reader and it's wonderful to see it made flesh by the folks at Autour de Minuit who have really done the fella proud. I'm not sure what future plans there are for non-backers to be able to buy a copy but if I hear anything I'll definitely post it up as it's turned out beautifully and the more people who own it the better.

If you haven't swung by Skwiglyville in a while then you might want to catch up on some of our recent Annecy 2020 coverage, including a new interview with Andreas Hykade about his latest film Altötting. The Skwigly Film Club has also been continuing and the last few weeks have seen us do watch-throughs of Chicken Run, Isle of Dogs, James and the Giant Peach (featuring special guest Joseph Wallace), Watership Down and The Little Prince. Swing by the podcasts section of the site to check them out and get in touch if you have any future film suggestions.

Think that's all I got for this month so far. As you were.

As the nights draw in...

We've got ourselves one more October screening coming up for my cartooney li'l parable Sunscapades. The kids will be returning to Montreal for a special Halloween screening put together by the fabulous folks at Productions Antichambre and Festival Courts d'un Soir who included the film in their 2019 official selection back in April. Head to Anticafé Vieux-Port 6:30pm October 28th (coincidentally my day o' birth) for AntiMOVIE spécial horreur which looks to be a fun night indeed.

There are also a couple of festivals coming up in November you can catch the film at - on this side of the pond Sunscapades will be part of the line-up of the Norfolk Film Festival, which seems like a relatively modest affair but sees me in pretty good company judging by the trailer:

 

The festival will take place November 17th at the Norwich Puppet Theatre. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for updates as they come.

The following day Magma - Mostra di Cinema Breve will kick off its 18th edition that runs from November 18th through to the 23rd. No specifics as of yet but let's just say there's a good chance a certain troublemaking trio may make an appearance.
This is a different event to the Magma Short Film Festival that screened The Naughty List back in 2011 but I'm sure it's just as magmatic. Why, probably more so!

To shift away from my own self-love for a minute, I want to bring up something quite dear to my heart that I hope you folks can spare a sec for.
I've made no secret of my fondness and admiration for the work of the extremely talented and prolific Rosto, whose music and art I've written about at some length across various outlets in recent years. A friend of Skwigly and significant contributor to the my book Independent Animation, the man's enthusiasm and passion for his work was clearly demonstrated by the sheer volume of his output.
With musical origins dating back to the early nineties, Rosto’s interactive graphic novel project Mind My Gap ran from 1999-2014 and spawned a number of multi-award-winning animated shorts along the way, including (the rise and fall of the legendary) Anglobilly Feverson, The Monster of Nix, No Place Like Home, Lonely Bones (the concluding chapter of Mind My Gap) followed by the continuing adventures of the metaphysical band Thee Wreckers with Splintertime and his final film Reruns.

 

Not too long before his all-too-premature passing I was enormously honoured to be approached by Rosto to consult on and proof-read what would be a significant career milestone, the physical graphic novel adaptation of Mind My Gap.
When we last spoke he told me he'd finished a mock-up but I didn't know what the ultimate fate of the book would be until recently learning that Autour de Minuit are aiming for a physical release book/music combo as he had originally envisioned.
Through an incentive-driven crowdfunding campaign that officially launched a few days ago, fans of Rosto’s work can pre-order the set as well as a variety of other milestones of the artist’s legacy, such as the full Thee Wreckers Tetralogy on DVD/BluRay, earlier works including the original Mind My Gap shorts trilogy and The Monster of Nix, a limited edition 180g vinyl LP (I leapt on this) and an assortment of prints, collectibles and rarities.

If you've not yet seen the man's work at the very least let this serve as an introduction to it - it's an incredibly gratifying and inspiring rabbit hole to go down. And if you have some cash on hand for some fun animation goodies, well, there's a whole heap of them to be found here.

How about a little music?

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:

• Overture (To Build A Fire) – Mathieu Alvado
• Anton im Kaufhaus (Analysis Paralysis) – Ephrem Leuchinger
• Theme from Boris-Noris – Ben Mitchell
• Une bonne petite souris (Quenottes/Pearlies) – Mathieu Alvado
• Building A Fire (To Build A Fire) – Mathieu Alvado
• Clitoris Magnificus (Le Clitoris) – Eliazer Kramer
• Lonely Bones – Thee Wreckers
• Wings and Oars – Pierre Yves Drapeau
• End Credits (The Kiosk) – Ephrem Leuchinger
• The Inspector and the Umbrella – Mathieu Alvado
• New Fire (To Build A Fire) – Mathieu Alvado
• End Credits (To Build A Fire) – Mathieu Alvado
• Reprise (The Inspector and the Umbrella) – Mathieu Alvado

Eastbound

In a couple of days the 2017 edition of Animafest Zagreb will be kicking off. There's a brilliant line-up of films including recent favourites Lovestreams, Tough, Le Clitoris, Hi Stranger, Hedgehog's Home, I Like Girls, The Absence of Eddy Table, Love in Idleness and Analysis Paralysis, not to mention a quintet of Rosto films as well as all manner of special events and presentations as previewed in this here press release:
Animafest Zagreb 2017 presents rich programme and distinguished guests
While 'distinguished' in my case can only reasonably refer to my hair going a bit Paulie-Walnuts-grey at the sides these days, the eagle-eyed of you will see that my name does indeed pop up. While mainly helping out as part of the features jury panel I'll be involved in a couple of events, so if any of you lot will be finding yourselves at the fest please do swing by:

ANIMAFEST PRO: BOOK PRESENTATION
Alongside Maureen Furniss (scribe of one of my favourite cultural studies The Animation Bible and the more recent A New History of Animation) and graphic novelist Simon Bogojević Narath (Saturn's Circle) I'll be discussing my recent book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films. The presentation is free to attend and takes place at the Medijateka Francuskog Instituta on Wednesday June 7th, 6pm.
ANIMAFEST PRO: MAKING INDEPENDENT ANIMATION NOW
I'll be introducing and moderating a panel discussion on contemporary independent animation practices with Veljko Popović, Marta Pajek, Dahee Jeong, Marko Tadić. This one's also free and will be at KIC Kulturno on Friday June 9th, 10:30am.
Hope to see some of you there!

End on a Song

The podcasts keep coming over in Skwiglyland, and I'm very pleased to bring you the end-of-year special Animation Composed, a celebration of the harmonious relationship between music and animation. This one's been brewing for a while as, being a musician myself, I've often found myself enamoured of the consideration that goes into animation music - quite frequently it's something that can make or break a film entirely. With the aid of Skwigly contributor and freelance composer Wez this episode's been put together as a sort of podcast 'pilot' that may very well have series potential depending on how well it goes down. The nice thing about it is that, on top of the regular interview segments the podcast series are known for, there's the inclusion of music itself which makes it a pretty different beast. So settle in for over two hours of standout animation music selections and exclusive interviews with special guests.
In this podcast we speak with Norwegian multi-instrumental composer/performer John Erik Kaada (AKA Kaada) whose discography includes the solo releases Thank You For Giving Me Your Valuable Time, Music For Moviebikers and Junkyard Nostalgias as well as the Kaada/Patton albums Romances and probably my favourite album of this year, Bacteria Cult. Kaada’s work as a composer for independent film scores recently extended into the world of animated shorts with The Absence of Eddy Table, directed by Rune Spaans.

We also meet Scot Stafford and Alexis Harte of Pollen Music Group, the songwriting organisation responsible for the music of the ongoing 360 VR filmmaking series Google Spotlight Stories, which includes the immersive film projects Duet, Windy Day, Buggy Night and Pearl.

Also included in this special is music by Phil Brookes, Shane Holly, Thee Wreckers, Happy Camper, Tim & Puma Mimi, François-Xavier Paquin and Skillbard.

Listen to the special below or over on Soundcloud (NB – this episode is streaming only):

Full playlist:

•Phil Brookes – Theme from But Milk is Important

•Shane Holly – Coda (Excerpt 1)

•Kaada – The Absence of Eddy Table (trailer snippet)

•Thee Wreckers – No Place Like Home

•Happy Camper – Winnie & Otto (Otto)

•Tim and Puma Mimi – Dupi Dough (Ivan’s Need)

•Pollen Music Group – No Wrong Way Home (Pearl)

•Pollen Music Group – Les Brises (Windy Day)

•Happy Camper – The Accident (Otto)

•François-Xavier Paquin – Crazy Dance (Wackatdooo)

•Shane Holly – Coda (Excerpt 2)

•Pollen Music Group – Buggy Night (Excerpt)

•Pollen Music Group – Breathless (Duet)

•Phil Brookes – Theme from Three’s A Crowd

•Phil Brookes – The Outsider (But Milk is Important)

•Skillbard – Lovestreams

•Thee Wreckers – Splintertime

"Zip up and let's dance..."

In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome the highly prolific and acclaimed Dutch animator/multimedia storyteller Rosto. With musical origins that date back to the early nineties, Rosto’s interactive graphic novel project Mind My Gap began in 1998 and has since spawned a number of multi-award-winning animated shorts, including (the rise an fall of the legendary) Anglobilly Feverson, The Monster of Nix, No Place Like Home, Lonely Bones (the concluding chapter of Mind My Gap) and his most recent film Splintertime, which branches off into the continuing adventures of the metaphysical band Thee Wreckers.
Fresh from So Far, So Evil a recent exhibition as part of Animateka Aniweb exploring the Mind My Gap universe that took place at the Museum of Moden Art in Slovenia, Rosto’s Splintertime is still going strong, recently picking up a hat trick (Jury Award, Student Jury Award and Audience Award) of prizes at the European Short Film Festival of Bordeaux with upcoming screenings at this year’s edition of ITFS Stuttgart.
Also discussed in this episode: Skwigly anxiety dreams, forehead breasts, upcoming features (The Secret Life of Pets, Angry Birds and the extremely necessary Emoji movie), animators that push the limits and more!
Stream the latest episode below or direct download here.
To catch up on the podcast so far be sure to visit the Podcasts section of the site and, so as not to miss out on any future episodes, you can subscribe on iTunes!