Community Spirit

"Down in front!"

I'm very pleased to report that the Skwigly/Encounters Showcase evening was, by all accounts, a resounding success. As it turned out demand exceeded supply as far as available seating went so a lot of folks had to prop themselves up at the bar, but to everyone's credit they stuck around and the films themselves got a brilliant response, which is the main thing. The venue was great, with screening facilities that really did the films justice and pint glasses of popcorn that seemingly appeared out of nowhere for the audience's nourishment.

Pic via @EncountersSFF on Twitter

As well as the amazing friends of mine who came by, some of the filmmakers themselves were also in attendance and it was great to chinwag with some new folks from the Bristol animation scene. Due to work and distance constraints myself and a couple of writers were the sole Skwigly-ites there, but the Looking Glass staff and Encounters Fringe Events organiser Steve Presence were very helpful. After the screenings wrapped I quickly devolved into a babbling, local-ale-fueled drunken degenerate as a reward to myself (putting on a facade of competent professionalism really takes it outta me) and had a brilliant evening overall.

 You can check out a full list of the evening's selection over at Skwigly. Thanks so much to Lee Daniels, Oli Putland, Linda McCarthy, Ant Blades, Špela Čadež, Will Adams, Emma Bell, Rumpus, Animade, Yonni Aroussi, Ben Genislaw, Paul Hill, Craig Knowles, David Ridges, Ross Butter, Isabel Peppard, Will Anderson, Sam Morrison, Darren Robbie, Jamie Smart, Jane Davies, Philippe Vaucher, Jon Dunleavy, Georgia Yorke, Barry Purves, Dan Ojari and Mikey Please for letting us screen their work!
The subsequent phone/email/social media feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, and while there are no immediate plans to have these types of events be a regular Skwigly thing, as a trial run to cut our teeth I can't imagine it having gone better.
Now to catch up on a week's worth of snoozage. I am plumb-tuckered out.

Skwigly Showcase - Wednesday Flier

Our Skwigly Showcase event is tonight at the Looking Glass in Bristol! If you're free, come by around 7:30, say hello and watch some free toonage of an evenin'! More info on Facebook.

Skwigly Showcase - Tuesday Flier

Hopefully see some of you sexy folks there tomorrow!

Fringe Inducing

This year Skwigly's media partnership with the Bristol Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival is a little more involved and has extended to its Fringe Events programme. To that end I was approached a little while back to put together a screening of short films on behalf of the magazine, which was a lot of fun and made fine use of our recently-launched Skwigly Showcase.
If you're not aware of it, the showcase on the website is basically a means to get any animation work someone has already posted online to the Skwigly audience. It's gotten a lot of great feedback so far and been a wonderful insight into how talented our readership is. For the showcase evening we've picked some of our personal favourites and I've also reached out to a few filmmakers whose work, while not available to the general public as of yet, has really bowled me over.
I think it'll be a fun night, so if anyone's around Bristol this Wednesday (28th), swing by the Looking Glass just next to St. Nick's Market, around 7:30-8ish. You can find out more info on the event at Skwigly or on Facebook. It's also totally free, so don't say I never treat ya right!
Here's an e-flier to whet your whettable bits:

Miss Us?

You've probably all noticed that the sun is shining brighter and food is tasting sweeter today. That's of course because it's NEW PODCAST DAY!

Alright, alright. Contain yourselves.
After a not-especially-intentional summer break, we've come back with some pretty great guests on offer. Steve interviews Eric Goldberg and Lauren MacMullen from the Disney camp on their new Mickey Mouse short Get A Horse; Laura-Beth talks to Saschka Unseld, the director of the Pixar short Blue Umbrella that's been accompanying Monsters University; and swarthy Bieber-alike Tom chats to Teri Hatcher on her voiceover roles in Planes and Coraline. That's Teri Hatcher as in Lois & Clark and Desperate Housewives, which is pretty damn surreal. We also have a more Planes-centric video of the interview which should help explain the 'swarthy Bieber-alike' comment:


As well as all this we chat with director and fellow podcaster Aiden McAteer on the Annecy film selections and read out some listener stories of freelance nightmare commissions.
Good, wholesome content all round. As always you can listen below, subscribe on iTunes and/or direct download!