Launchy

I was at the launch party for this year's Encounters programme last night and it has to be said that it's looking to be a very strong year. The small handful of animated films they showed were pretty sophisticated and to be honest I'm not sure how well my li'l auteur venture will measure up, but it's great to know it's amongst some good company. The two that grabbed me in particular were "Hurdy-Gurdy" (D. Seideneder), an elaborate and intricate time-lapse style stop motion piece, and "Luminaris" (Juan Pablo Zaramella), one of very few films I've seen to use pixilation comedically (as opposed to, y'know, creepily).
There's some great events lined up including a Studio AKA showcase which I caught at ITFS and is definitely worth checking out, as well as Cartoon Saloon and special programs for Irish and Brazilian animation. The truly SPECTACULAR news is that John Kricfalusi will be doing an in-person Q&A which I booked the nanosecond I found out about it. To put it in perspective - without John K there'd be no "Ren & Stimpy", without "Ren & Stimpy" there'd be no preadolescent impulse for li'l Ben to fuck around drawing cartoons and without that I'd probably be working in telesales about now.My film "Ground Running" will be shown as part of the Arnolfini animation screening "The Human Condition" which will be at 10am on Thursday November 17th and then repeated at noon on the 19th. Other animators featured as part of the festival include Grant Orchard, Julia Pott, Richard Phelan, Francesca Adams, Sam Morrison, David O'Reilly, Louis Hudson and Mikey Please.