October Shmoctober

The fabulous Manchester Animation Festival is less than a month away, so if you've not yet checked out the schedule then get your arse in gear. Of course, you won't want to miss such standout events as the Skwigly Screening featuring a cavalcade of incredible recent short films that won't be seen elsewhere at the fest, nor the nail-biting adrenaline rush that is the Skwigly Quiz, and for your convenience they'll both be happening on Wednesday November 15th one after the other (7pm and 8:30pm respectively in the HOME event space). Head over to their website and have yourselves an anticipatory peruse of the ol' schedge. Hope to see you there!

My publisher Routledge is having itself a sale, so if you'd been um-ing and aah-ing about treating yourself to a copy of my big sexy book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films - Second Edition, loaded though it is with insight from the indie animation crowd's best and brightest - then why not go ahead and do it now while there's a whopping 20% lopped off the price? And if you buy two or more books from them, they crank the discount up to 25% - dayum, yo. Free shipping on top of all that? Hells yeah.

Here are a few recommendations of other Routledge titles you might want to pair my book up with, benevolent soul that I be:

• Animation: A World History - Giannalberto Bendazzi
• Make Toons That Sell Without Selling Out - Bill Plympton
• Action and Analysis for Animators - Chris Webster
• Acting and Performance for Animation - Derek Hayes and Chris Webster
• Directing for Animation - Tony Bancroft
• Dream Worlds: Production Design for Animation - Hans Bacher
• Mad-Eyed Misfits: Writings on Indie Animation - Chris Robinson
• The Foley Grail - Vanessa Theme Ament

But of course if you really want to give yourself a treat then just go ahead and buy two or more copies of my book. Or pair it up with the First Edition and see how many differences you can spot; there's literally no better way to spend an evening!

Whatever you decide, the sale lasts until the end of the month so act fast. 

In episode 111 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome back Charles Huettner and Sean Buckelew as well as Benjy Brooke of Green Street Pictures, whose new adult animated series Scavengers Reign kicks off today on Max.

Also discussed in this episode: MAF highlights, Chicken Run and Rick & Morty recasts, mutual Mutant Mayhem enthusiasm, the evolution of Bristol Animation Meetup, upcoming projects from the NFB and the worrying dearth of animation at this year’s Encounters Film Festival.

While you're over in Skwiglyville, I'd urge you to check out some of the wonderful pieces from our fantastic team of contributors, including Mel Cionco's piece on the fear of trans stories in animation, Larry Fried's editorial on audiences' relationship with - and expectations of - Pixar, and Ryan Gaur's interview with the team behind The Spider Within.

Speaking of Max, another show headed to the Network-Formerly-Known-as-HBO is the fifty-fourth (crikey) season of wholesome Muppet extravaganza Sesame Street, which kicks off November 9th over in the States. I spent a big chunk of this past year as comp supervisor on some of the animated segments directed by the always wonderful Jo Hepworth and it's a massive privilege to have been involved in such a long-standing cultural institution. Can't show or tell that much else about it but you can catch a few glimpses of the segments in the trailer below:

July Shmuly

The biennial British Animation Awards has opened the first categories of its 2024 call for entries. I'm proud to be working alongside the team again for its next edition, which will take place in March of next year. The BAAs are now accepting entries in the categories Best Undergraduate Student Film, Best Postgraduate Student Film and Best Short Film, so if you've got a film burning a hole in your pocket then be sure to get submittin'.

In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome Peter Sohn and Denise Ream, director and producer respectively of the latest Disney/Pixar feature film Elemental.

Also discussed: Annecy highlights, MAF developments, the return of Futurama and the strange new phenomenon of animators being spotted in the wild. Check it out below or download it forevs.

June Shmune

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:

Tomorrow night (June 22nd) I'm putting on another Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) with my pals from Rumpus Animation and Sun & Moon Studios. This time we're congregating at the King Street Brew House from 7pm and I'll be shamelessly using the opportunity to have a quasi-launch of the new book.

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.

Things are busy as ever in the land o' Skwigly, so be sure to swing by and get caught up. On top of some great coverage from the team on indie hit Lackadaisy, Estonian masterpiece Old Man Cartoon Movie: Lactopalypse!, Star Wars Visions: Season 2, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Genndy Tartakovsky's new project Fixed, in the lead-up to the summer I've put out a trifecta of National Film Board of Canada coverage, looking at new work from Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma (Boat People) and the welcome return of previous Skwigly interviewees Janet Perlman (The Girl with the Red Beret) and Janice Nadeau (Harvey). Some other fun stuff coming up, so keep 'em peeled and be sure to follow us on our Twitter, Insta, Facebook and YouTube so you have a better chance not letting that pesky algorithm hide our goodness from you.

Okay, that's enough. Now be off with you.

January Shmanuary

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:

• Canolfan S4C Yr Egin, 7pm Tues 24th January
• Pontardawe Arts Centre, 6pm Sat 28th January

Well that’s it for now. As you were.
 

Accentuatin' the positive

A couple new podcasts for ya, both a bit different from the kind of stuff we usually do but definitely worth a listen. In the latest episode of Animation One-To-Ones I'm joined by Cardiff-based animator Lauren Orme, who previously appeared on episodes 80 and 93 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast. In this latest episode we talk about the ways in which she has steered both Cardiff Animation Festival and her animation studio Picl in a more eco-conscious direction while also actively researching practical and practicable solutions for combating the increasingly concerning realities of climate change.

The latest endeavour of Lauren’s is the newly-launched Planet Positive Animation Network to help animation, VFX and games companies and freelancers become environmentally sustainable and help us reach net zero sooner. You can watch the interview above or stream below (or download here).

While the new network will be hosted digitally, CAF has plans to run events enabling members to meet and share ideas in person. CAF is also sharing resources on their website, and is offering a consultancy service for animation companies who want a little more help reaching net zero or becoming environmentally sustainable. 

We've also popped up the first of a four-part series of special podcast minisodes for the I'M FINE! project we've been presenting with the Linoleum Contemporary Animation and Media Art Festival. Taken from the Q&A panel sessions that accompany the screening programme, these feature artists sharing their experiences and insights into mental health, burnout and staying motivated as animation filmmakers. In episode 1 we hear from Will Anderson (The Making of Longbird), Anna Mantzaris (Enough) and Margarida Madeira (Playing Death). Stream down there or download right here.

I’M FINE! will be available on the MEGOGO media service during the LINOLEUM festival, which will be held online from 7 to 11 September.  Follow the news of the project on Skwigly, at linoleumfest.com, on the festival’s Instagram profile or at the I’M FINE! Facebook event page.

That 'monthly roundup' idea didn't pan out, did it?

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.

Things are still active and busy over in the land of Skwigly (I certainly post there a lot more than I do here) with some National Film Board of Canada/Annecy coverage highlights including a chat with Métis filmmaker Terril Calder (Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics) and conversation with multi-Oscar-nominated duo Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby (When the Day Breaks, Wild Life and The Flying Sailor). Also in competition at Annecy is Magical Caresses, an NFB series on demystifying masturbation by Le Clitoris director Lori Malépart-Traversy, who returns to our podcast Intimate Animation to discuss the project. Stream below or download here. 

Other coverage to check out includes an interview with Hamish Steele who recently adapted his progressive YA graphic novel series Deadendia into a new Netflix show Dead End: Paranormal Park (some brilliantly talented folks worked on this one), Laura-Beth's interview with Sam O'Leary, who did an incredible job paying tribute to the shit-your-pants-scary animated PSAs of yore in the series 7 finale of Inside No. 9 (cheers to Mr. Shearsmith for the RT), a trifecta of interviews for Autism Awareness Month with Jorge R. Gutiérrez, Dani Bowman and Grainne McGuinness courtesy of writer Martyn Warren and new contributor Ryan Gaur's editorial pieces on streaming vs cinema, the upcoming Futurama reboot and the feature film Lightyear.

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.

Roundup: March/April 2022

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). 

Laura-Beth and I also continue the fourth season of our Intimate Animation podcast series, featuring special guest and recent Oscar-winner Alberto Mielgo (The Windshield Wiper) in our latest episode. Also discussed: More on the British Animation Awards including award wins for previous Intimate Animation guests Renee Zhan, Anna Ginsburg and Caitlin McCarthy, love and sex-themed highlights from Miyu Distribution‘s new YouTube channel Bang Bang, the Manchester Animation Festival's new events strand MAF Presents and the return of Cardiff Animation Festival.

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).

In Session 2 Laura-Beth speaks with Jana Kattan (Checkpoint), Cliona Noonan (Soft Tissue), Alisa Stern and Scott Ampleford (Posted No Hunting), Sacha Beeley (Babeheaven: Craziest Things), Lina Kalcheva (Other Half), Flora Martyr (04111311), Cleo Parker (The Big Top) and Hoching Kwok (Prince Edward). As always many congrats to Lauren, Elys and the incredible Cardiff Animation team for pulling off an incredible event boasting some amazing guest presentations and incomparable musical entertainment. You could tell it gave everyone there a real boost and felt the most 'normal' that anything's felt in a good long while.

Right, I'll be back later. Not sure with what, exactly, but knowing me there's a good chance it'll be some more podcasts.

Roundup: January 2022

Been a quiet-ish start to 2022 as far as things I can publicly mention, so as we reach the end of the month here's a few bits and pieces to throw into the ol' void in one go.

Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, the insane stop-mo feature I did some bits on a few years ago, is finally being released to buy or rent this coming Monday after last year's brief theatrical run. This is just online and in the UK for now but knock wood there'll be some physical/international release updates soon.

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The House, one of the projects I was looking forward to the most in 2022, had the good manners to be released right at the beginning of the year, so I've rather gleefully devoted some time to giving it coverage. Head over to Skwigly and have a read of my review and interview with the incomparably gifted directors Emma De Swaef, Marc James Roels, Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Paloma Baeza. As with Chuck, this boasts some true stop-motion greats among its crew, although tonally it's miles away. Definitely give it a watch if you get a sec.

Going back to something I worked on (in a small sense) - Laura-Beth Cowley's Crafty Witch has a couple more screenings coming up. Firstly the excellent Berlin festival British Shorts (who have been gracious enough to screen my films Klementhro, Sunscapades and Speed in the past) will be showing it tomorrow at two venues - 8pm at City Kino Wedding and 8:15pm at Sputnik Kino. Laura-Beth also spoke with culture blog The New Current about making the film - have a read here.

Another Berlin outing for the film will be on Saturday, February 5th at the Final Girls Berlin festival. Crafty Witch will be screening as part of the 11pm Shorts 6: Midnight programme, again at City Kino Wedding. Grab your tickets here.

Last Orders

In our final Skwigly Animation Podcast episode of 2021 we're delighted to welcome the teams behind some of this holiday season’s most anticipated animation projects. Our prolific contributor Martyn Warren speaks with Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith, the directors of Disney's Encanto, as well as the film's producer Clark Spencer. We also welcome Jac Hamman and Sarah Scrimgeour, the directors of Magic Light's latest Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler adaptation Superworm which airs 2:30pm Xmas day on BBC1.

Another animated adaptation hitting screens on December 25th is Eagle Eye Drama's take on Terry Pratchett's The Abominable Snow Baby, which airs 7:30pm on Channel 4 following the success of their 2020 animated version of Quentin Blake's Clown; director Massimo Fenati joins us to talk about his career and how the projects came together.

Also discussed in this episode: The recent passing and legacy of respected animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi, Manchester Animation Festival 2021 event highlights, podcast fanmail, this year’s new South Park specials and the catastrophic reception to the new seasonal stop-motion series Santa Inc. Stream above or clickety-here to download.

If you're after more holiday viewing then it's worth mentioning that the BBC4 documentary Secrets of British Animation was recently repeated, which means it'll be on the ol' iPlayer for the next few weeks. It's a great (if brief) look at what the UK has brought to the table on the animation front, occasionally interrupted by myself and Steve offering up the odd bon mot here and there, so if you missed it the first time around give it a look-see.

A'ight fam, I'm out. See y'all in '22.

Heavy on the puppets today

In the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome Mikey Please and Dan Ojari to discuss their seasonal Aardman short Robin Robin, coming to Netflix next month. Written by Ojari, Please and Sam Morrison, the short is produced by Helen Argo with Sarah Cox exec producing; it's lovely looking and something wholesome to bung on as the nights grow darker and foreboding-er, so be sure to add it to your watchlists.

Also discussed in this episode: Event highlights from this year’s upcoming Manchester Animation Festival, including feature film presentations My Sunny Maad (dir. Michaela Pavlátová) and Flee (dir. Jonas Poher Rasmussen), The House WIP, Animated Answers featuring Ainslie Henderson, MAF Fellowship Award recipients Jorge R. Gutiérrez and Sandra Equihua’s new series Maya and the Three and the return of the much anticipated/feared Skwigly Animation Quiz.

Stream above or hoarde it for keepsies.

After a long period floating around in distribution limbo Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires (on which I whipped up some old-school, Richard Edlund-esque VFX and made some grunty background noises) will finally be getting itself a UK cinema release. Head over to the film's official site for local showtimes; it'll be around for a week or so from the 29th. If you're not sure what to expect, well, the trailers don't really leave much room for ambiguity:

It's sure to be contentious (I doubt the director would have it any other way) and I have immeasurably fond memories of working on it as well as the wonderful folks I got to know through it. It also boasts some of the strongest stop-motion animation I've ever seen by some of the absolute best in the business; a shame for them, then, that my job was essentially to scribble all over it.

Ben up in everyone's business

It's been a busy few weeks of festive activity with the Encounters Film Festival, whose final week starts today. As has often been the case in recent years I was privileged to host some of the animation Q&A sessions that have been rolled out over the course of the festival. You can give those a watch below should you be so inclined.

Accompanying the presentation of the official selection this year is Reflective Encounters, a series of critical mini-write-ups of the shorts in competition by a variety of journalists and writers including Laura-Beth and myself. If you want to learn more about the films you can have a read of Laura's writings on Joanna Quinn's Affairs of the Art, Michelle and Uri Kranot's The Hangman at Home, Bastien Dubois's Souvenir Souvenir, Mathilde Parquet's Trona Pinnacles, Dina Velikovskaya's Ties, Daniel Gray's HIDE, Ann Thiel's Shtum, Petra Steptic and Maren Wiese's Jeijay, Yuan Elizabeth Xu's Breaking Bread, Noam Paul's The Quest for Freedom and the Longing for Belonging, Martin McNally's Excerpt, Michael Salkeld's Abstraction and Coffin from Gobelins. Meanwhile I take a look at Marine Blin's What Resonates in Silence, Tomek Ducki's Plantarium, Katarzyna Agopsowicz's Prince in a Pastry Shop, Chenghua Yang's Self Scratch, Paul Mas's Precious, Cliona Noonan's Wet and Soppy, Marie Lechevallier's Knot, Claude Cloutier's Bad Seeds, Przemyslaw Swida's Co-Ognition, Yi-Han Jhao's The Frolic and Renee Zhan's Soft Animals. 

Renee also joins us for the latest episode of our Skwigly podcast Intimate Animation. Since beginning her animation studies at Harvard University, her films also include the Sundance Jury Award-winning Reneepoptosis (recently released online) and last year’s National Film and Television School mini-epic O Black Hole. Give it a listen below - or a download, whatever melts your butter.

Also discussed in this episode - more Encounters highlights including some of our Reflective Encounters focuses as well as the Animated Encounters Grand Prix winner Farce (dir. Robin Jensen), the Best of British Animation Award winner Eating in the Dark (Dir. Inari Sirola), Annah la Javanaise (dir. Fatimah Tobing Rony), Günter Falls In Love (dir. Josephine Lohoar Self), Love is Just a Death Away (dir. Bára Anna Stejskalová), Sweet Nothing (dir. Joana Fischer/Marie Kenov) and Granny’s Sexual Life (dir. Urška Djukić) plus recent work from Henriette Reitz, Christa Jarrold and Future Power Station.

In our latest episode of Animation One-To-Ones earlier in the month I also met Marie Valade, whose film Lolos (Boobs) is screening at part of the Encounters Late Lounge programme. Both equally poignant and witty, the film sees a young woman drawn in ink who is forced to deal with paper breasts that appear on her chest, leading her into increasingly unusual situations that reveal her deepest anxieties. We also discuss Marie's work as co-director of Festival Stop Motion Montreal, whose fifteenth edition just wrapped. You can watch the video above (don't forget to subscribe to our channel so as not to miss future episodes) or stream/download the audio podcast version.

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If you're in a reading mood you might also want to check out my written interview with Ida Melum, whose NFTS grad film Night of the Living Dread is screening in both the animation and comedy programmes. The film - in which we follow the nighttime tribulations of Ruby, a young scientist whose attempts at sleep are obfuscated by an ever-relatable onslaught of embarrassing memories - brings Ida’s gift for storytelling, observational comedy and adventurous set pieces together with a full team of talented artists. She's definitely one to watch out for.

The Manchester Animation Festival has revealed its 2021 programme and with it the rather splendid news that Laura-Beth's latest film Crafty Witch (on which I made some noises and tickled some ivories) will be part of their MAFter Dark screening. This will take place in-venue at HOME 8:30pm on November 17th and online an hour later. The day before, festivalgoers can virtually join Steve and I for another edition of our rage-inducing Skwigly Quiz. That'll be at 9:30pm on the 16th so hope to see some of your lovely faces in those Zoom windows. Grab your passes from noon tomorrow!

You can catch Crafty Witch before then - this week, in fact - if you happen to be hanging out in Maribor, Slovenia where the 11th StopTrik International Film Festival is about to kick off. The film will be screening this Thursday at 3pm in the Big Hall at the Vetrinj Mansion as part of the festival's Panorama programme. Don't forget it's also part of the Encounters programme for the next couple days if you happen to have a pass for that.

Look, I went full circle; I'm smooth like that.

Seriously, where's the butter?

Well hey there, gang. Hope your August has been positively majestic.

Been a quiet spell for Speed but we've got ourselves a couple September screenings comin' up. First up is the 16th edition of Breda's BUT B-Movie, Underground & Trash Film Festival over in the Netherlands. I've always had a soft spot for these folks going back to when they screened my old student short House Guest in 2009; more recently they gave my 2018 gore-fest Sunscapades an airing and it's reassuring to know that, six films in, I'm still pretty trashy. This looks like a hybrid festival and Speed will be part of the Shorts Block 2: Mean Girls with the physical screening taking place September 5th 7:30pm at the Nieuwe Veste arts centre. Alas the online program is only available to locations in the Netherlands, but if you're so geographically blessed you can find out more at their website.

Later in the month will see the 10th anniversary edition of FIFIGROT Festival du Film Grolandais over in in Toulouse, France. Speed can be seen in Au bon moment as part of their Bar-Bars Cine-Bistrot et concert programme on the 24th September 8:30pm at O Bohem. Check out their full programme here.

In our latest episode of Intimate Animation Laura-Beth catches up with Will Anderson, whose film Betty was just released online this month following a festival run including screenings at Pictoplasma, Encounters, Animafest Zagreb, GLAS and PÖFF Shorts as well as a BAFTA Scotland win and Scottish Short Film Award at the Glasgow Short Film Festival. As with all of Will's films it's funny and unique as well as being genuinely quite touching. This was one of my favourites of the last couple years and I was privileged to get to screen it as part of Cardiff Animation Nights back in March - definitely give it a watch and have a read of Laura-Beth's longer interview from around this time last year.

Also discussed in this episode: The evolution of Lisa Hanawalt's Tuca and Bertie having moved to Adult Swim for its second season, BlinkInk's E4 miniseries Blind Love on First Date Island, Adeena Grubb's stop-mo short Dating is Shit, Sacha Beely/Strange Beast's animated Gillette spot A Song For Pubes and Diablo Cody's inscrutable “sexying up” of The Powerpuff Girls. Stream above or download 'ere, why doncha?

Lastly it's worth a mention that my book Independent Animation is again available to nab at 20% off as part of the publisher's Social Science sale. In fact for the next little while you can whack that discount all the way up to 40% if you enter the promo code X001 at checkout. Not too shabby, eh? You have to buy it from Routledge, mind, but they cover your shipping so why the ever-lovin'-heck wouldn't you?

Jabberin' on

Something to perk you up during this mostly-overcast springtime is the beginning of a brand new season of our podcast series Intimate Animation. In this episode Laura-Beth speaks with sensational director Shoko Hara whose Oscar-longlisted animated documentary Just A Guy, exploring the complex world of women sexually attracted to violent sociopaths (specifically Richard Ramirez), has been doing the rounds at some of the biggest festivals out there as well as our recent Skwigly Screening for Cardiff Animation Nights where it got some tongues wagging. 

We also discuss the strangely hypocritical sexual politics of Space Jam 2, curious European IPs such as Monsieur Flap and John Dillermand, new series including Solar Opposites and the return of Big Mouth as well as short films of note from the CAN screening, TAAFI's recent online edition and this year's Annecy official selection. You can stream the full episode above or download here, though if you're tight on time right now here's a little Insta-preview:

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If you're in a Skwigly mood you might also want to check out the full interview with recent Nexus signees Haein Kim and Paul Rhodes whose film Peepin was also part of the CAN screening. 

Another update regarding the Brussels Independent Short Film Festival: Courts Mais Trash whose final form will be as an online event and not a hybrid as previously hoped. The dates will be the same (April 21st-28th) and the full programme will be accessible via a super-cheap event pass, unless you live outside of Belgium in which case you'll be able to just see nine out of ten programmes so it's still a good deal. Thankfully Speed is part of the Ouverture screening which can be viewed worldwide, so y'all can breathe a huge sigh of relief on that front.

Speaking of festivals, I'm back on preselection for another edition of the illustrious Encounters Film Festival and it'd be mighty lovely to check out any new fillums you fine fillum-maker folks out there might have in the chamber. I've been fortunate enough to be involved in this particular event as a filmmaker, journalist, event host and curator (not all at once...well, sometimes a couple of those at once) and it's always a blast, so you could do a damn sight worse than checking out their call for entries. Incidentally you can watch my specially-filmed introduction to Speed's inclusion in last year's edition; it's sure to answer any burning questions you may have about the film: