Bonnes Nuits

More meandering for our man Klementhro, as he continues to paddle his way through unsuspecting Swiss territories! If you happen to be in our near Morges in Switzerland on October 14th then why not mosey on down to the Cinéma Odéon for 8pm and check out the Nuit du Court Métrage programme? From the feedback that's been trickling through I gather these nights have proved great fun, so I'm very happy to be along for the ride. More tour stops to come!

Golden Oldies

For our sixtieth episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we’re proud to feature an interview from this year’s Canterbury Anifest in which Skwigly contributor Neil Whitman meets Peter Firmin of Smallfilms, the production company that brought the UK such timeless classics as Bagpuss, The Clangers, Noggin the Nog and Ivor the Engine. Joining Peter is Daniel Postgate, son of the late Smallfilms co-founder Oliver Postgate who has actively continued and commemorated his father’s legacy through the recent Clangers revival, presently in production on its second series.
Also discussed in this episode – the staying power of animated preschool classics, the end of a modern TV animation era as Adventure Time and Archer draw to a close, Disney’s questionable propensity toward ‘live-action’ remakes of their animated features plus a preview of the exciting events on offer at this year’s forthcoming edition of the Manchester Animation Festival.
Stream below, subscribe or direct download:

Baked Goods

Following the previous episode featuring Anna Ginsburg on her film Private Parts, episode three of Intimate Animation effectively bookends the past week or so of Encounters coverage with a look at another Late Lounge entry. Laura-Beth and I got to have a lovely chat with attending filmmakers V Veronica L. Montaño and Manuela Leuenberger as the festival was winding down to talk a little bit more about their brilliant Lucerne School of Art and Design grad film Ivan’s Need. We previously heard from both of them (along with fellow filmmaker Lukas Suter, who wasn't at Encounters unfortunately) during the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival last year but as it's a film that Laura-Beth and I both adore we were keen to chat a bit more about how it came to be.
Also discussed in this episode are more abstract animation approaches to themes of love and sex, including Réka Bucsi‘s beautifully-made new film Love and Grant Orchard‘s mograph microshort Yeah Just There. If you're not in a streaming mood here's the ol' download link for late-night listening.

On the significantly less saucy subject of Klementhro, there are two opportunities early in October to catch the film in Germany. Firstly this Sunday October 2nd it will play as part of the first Animation Competition screening at 4pm alongside some great work including Job, Joris and Marieke's A Single Life. The festival takes place at Paul-Wunderlich-Haus, if you fancy swinging by you can buy tickets here.

The following week on Saturday October 8th the film is screening at Filmzeit Kaufbeuren in the Filmblock V programme, which kicks off at 8pm at the Stadttheater Kaufbeuren. You can download the full programme here for more info.

In between both of these there will be another stop on the Nuit du Court Métrage tour for any Swiss short film enthusiasts among you. The touring programme's first October stop will be in Fribourg on Friday 7th at the Cinemotion-Les Rex, kicking off at 8:15pm. All told it's going to be a busy month ahead for Klementhro and happily I can confirm that he'll still be doing the rounds through til January 2017 at least. There's life in the old seadog yet, evidently. Watch this space for updates!

The Magnificent Seven

The final Q&A session from last week's Encounters festival is now up on Skwigly, and we're going out on a high with seven animation filmmakers sharing some insight into their work and processes, whose films screened as part of the animation programmes It’s Only Natural, A Look Inside and Art & Design. Listen below to hear from Sean Vicary and Samantha Moore, whose quasi-documentary films The Nose and Loop respectively were both commissioned for the Wellcome Trust. We also have some more abstract work from animation directors Paul McKelvie (Rorschach Kristalle), Francisca Villela (A Better Situation) and David Buob (Me By You). Ruben Leaves director Frederic Siegel also returns to the podcast (having previously appeared in our Skwigly at KLIK! minisode series) and to round things off we have Croatian director Marko Dješka on his film Ghost Town. As always you can direct download, should you so desire.
Many thanks to Kieran Argo and Kellie Hasbury for all of their assistance in getting everything sorted last week, it was a fantastic edition of the festival and I'm keen to share more about it with you all later in the week. If you've not yet caught the previous filmmaker Q&A minisodes then I've put them all together in a handy playlist:

"Chasing the night away..."

It's a double-screening for our lad Klementhro this Friday in Switzerland! Continuing the fabulous Nuit du court métrage tour the film is part of, there will be two simultaneous showings in Yverdon (at the Bel Air cinema) and Sion (at Cinéma Arlequin), both of which kick off at 8pm.

Would that I could be at either myself - as it happens that particular night I will be gleefully seeing Chuck Mosley (or Mosely, depending on which album sleeve you read) in concert as he's had the good manners to come to Bristol and play just down the road from me. Mr. Mosley was the predecessor to Mike Patton as the original vocalist for Faith No More, a band I may have voiced some enthusiasm for once or twice. Although the band found major fame after his tenure they undoubtedly made some amazing music together and I count plenty of the tunes he sang on as amongst my favourites. Also 'Introduce Yourself' was the first Faith No More album chubby li'l me was able to save up enough pocket money to afford and so it will always hold a special place in my heart.
The show is part of his ongoing European tour and proceeds are going to the homeless charity Crisis, so any Bristol folks out there should definitely swing by the Bierkeller this Friday night.

Meanwhile my Encounters/Skwigly Q&A sessions continue today as I meet attending filmmakers whose films screened as part of the animation programme It’s Only Natural - Lissi Muschol (Producer, The Wild Boar), Cartoon d'Or nominee David Dell’Edera (Dir. Balcony), Simon Scheiber (Dir. The Lighthouse) and Tomek Ducki (Dir. Emily King: The Animals).

Listen below or direct download. It's a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it.

Semi-Brief Encounters

It's been a fun first few days at the Encounters festival here in Bristol, and for the second Q&A Skwigly podcast minisode we meet filmmakers whose work screened as part of the animation programmes The Weight of Humanity and Top of the Class. Recent graduates Jennifer Zheng (with her Kingston University film Tough) and Jodie Haslam (with her UWE Bristol School of Animation film The Race) are joined by Ben O’Conner, director of A Terrible Hullabaloo. Then animator Joseph Wallace and Meryn Cobbin of Picasso Pictures discuss their work on the stop motion James music video Dear John, directed by Péter Vácz (you can learn more from Joseph and Peter about the project in my recent feature article on the project). Also we meet Luc Gut (OS Love) and Gábor Osváth, the producer of Réka Bucsi's gorgeous new film Love.
I'll be taking the weekend to break things up a bit, so all being well episode 3 will go up on Monday. In the meantime you can stream episode 2 below or download for later listenin'.

The Post Show

As mentioned yesterday, I'm putting together a series of Skwigly Podcast Minisodes for this year's Bristol Encounters festival. Showcasing a diverse range of animation techniques, this year’s official selection is rock solid, combining local and international talent, and I'm delighted to have the opportunity to run the audience Q&A sessions after each screening. Recorded after yesterday's evening screening, in this first episode we meet attending filmmakers whose films were included as part of the animation programme Moving Pictures: Zoltán Aprily (Dir. Ungvár), Sara Barbas (Dir. Final Call), Yolanda Barker/Claire Winter (Director/Animator, After I Saw You), Mike Brookes (Dir. The Petard Pinch), Anete Melece (Dir. Analysis Paralysis) and Charlie Miller (Co-director, Player 2)
You can download episode 1 here or stream it below:

String Theory

The indefatigable Skwigly Animation Podcast is creeping up to its sixtieth episode, and I'm stoked that in our latest we welcome back LAIKA President and CEO Travis Knight, talking about his directorial debut Kubo and the Two Strings. Granted it's only a slightly longer version of the video interview I posted earlier in the month, but frankly I'm shouting from the rooftops about this film as much as I possibly can.
Also in this episode Steve and I mull over why the film doesn't appear to have gotten as many bums on seats as it should have as well as the various approaches a film's marketing campaign can take, in particular comparing the approaches of Disney's Moana and Dreamworks' Trolls. I also unearth a buried memory of an old animation I've never been able to track down for decades, so give it a listen (or a direct download for later) and see if you can help me out.
Some more animationey goodness to look forward to is the newly-launched programme for the second Manchester Animation Festival. As with its inaugural edition I'll be helping out here and there for a few of the events but here's an overall preview of their programme as broadcast live from their Facebook page earlier this evening:

Before then it's the Encounters festival here in Bristol this week. This year as part of Skwigly's media partnership with the event I'm doing a series of post-screening Q&A sessions that will start going up tomorrow. If you're in town be sure to swing by Waterside 1 at The Watershed immediately after each competition screening, roughly 1:30pm and 7:30pm each day until the end of the week.

Floating along

The nomadic Klementhro continues his Swiss travels this weekend as part of the ongoing Nuit du court métrage tour he finds himself on. First stop is Geneva, a city I unexpectedly wound up spending some time in earlier this year when my flight was delayed and I missed my shuttle to Annecy (the full horrorshow was documented in that week's podcast - it turned out to be a luvverly day in the end). Proceedings will kick off at Les Cinémas du Grütli from 8pm on Friday September 23rd.
The following night anyone in or around Delémont may wish to mosey on down to Cinemont and catch the programme there, again beginning at 8pm. Would that I could join old Klem on his travels; at this point he's getting out way more than I am.
That's all I gots for you today, folks. As you were.

"What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE BOX?!"