Shoulder Rubbing

In episode 91 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we talk through some of the film highlights of this year’s Annecy festival award winners, including new work from Bruno Collet, Ludovic Houplain, Thomas Renoldner, Pedro Casavecchia and Daria Kashcheeva.
I'm also delighted to welcome special guest Regina Pessoa, whose latest film Uncle Thomas: Accounting for the Days picked up the special award for Best Original Music as well as the Jury Award for a Short Film following its debut earlier this month at Animafest Zagreb.
We also speak with Jérémy Clapin, another double-winner at this year’s edition whose new feature film I Lost My Body won the Audience Award and the Cristal for a Feature Film. Having also picked up the Nespresso Grand Prize after screening at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week the film has been picked up for distribution by Netflix.
Also discussed in this episode: Annecy’s swelling footfall, making Aladdin ‘hip’, when post-production works against animation and the plight of long-running Brazilian festival Anima Mundi, who are presently raising funds to ensure next month’s edition can go ahead.
Stream below or direct download:

Easter Mundi

Another update from the Lendas Animadas camp - one of my episodes Como Surgiram as Estrelas will be featured as part of a special series of programmes taking place at the Rio Creative Conference this weekend. Put together with the lovely folks at Anima Mundi (where this episode screened in competition last year and was picked as one of the 10 best Brazilian films of that edition) the screening kicks off 11am on April 7th at the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro.

Naughty little rock-faced children, scampering around

Just got wind of some good news that one of the episodes of Lendas Animadas I was lead animator on is presently a finalist for the Japan Prize International Contest for Educational Media. I'm not sure what happens if it wins but the event's Facebook page has put up the first (to my knowledge) clip from the episode which you can check out below:

As you've probably deduced, the animation is taken from collages and drawings by schoolchildren across Brazil that have been made animatable. I was working to storyboards by the project's Art Director Adriana with only a vague idea of what the narrator guy was saying, so it's kind of a new experience to actually see this with subtitles. This is also the same episode that screened at Anima Mundi back in July - Como Surgiram as Estrelas (How the Stars Were Created) - and I'm chuffed to say it was picked as one of the 10 best Brazilian films at that festival, making it eligible for a BNDES Award. It didn't win though. So, y'know, fingers crossed for this other thing.

I hear tell the narrator guy is something of a telenovela heartthrob over there

With a couple of screenings left for Lendas Animadas this weekend for the São Paulo leg of Anima Mundi here's a first look at the series posted on their newly-launched Facebook page:

It's great to hear things are moving forward and there should be a broadcast date before too long. Be sure to like and follow the page. Maybe brush up on your Portuguese a bit also.

Another Manic Mundi

I was very happy to learn recently that some work of mine will be playing at Anima Mundi this month. For whatever reason this year's edition is taking place just nine months after 2016's in which Klementhro played. While my next film remains on hold for the duration of my current contract (I literally have to leave the country every day to go to work, so personal film time just isn't on the cards), the festival will be including an episode of Lendas Animadas, the Brazilian TV series I was working on last year, Art-Directed by my pal Adriana Meirelles.

The particular episode featured is one I was lead animator on titled Como Surgiram as Estrelas (How the Stars Were Created) and will play in the screening Children's Shorts 2. I'm not sure when it will actually be broadcast but getting to be part of Anima Mundi again is grand news indeed as they've always been pretty good to me. As usual the festival has two sets of screenings in Rio de Janeiro and  São Paulo, the times/dates for our screening are as follows:
Rio de Janeiro

• 15/07/2017 - Cine Odeon, Centro Cultural Luiz Severiano Ribeiro - 2pm
• 20/07/2017 - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil CCBB/RJ - 3pm
• 22/07/2017 - Centro Cultural dos Correios - 1:30pm
• 23/07/2017 - Cine Odeon, Centro Cultural Luiz Severiano Ribeiro - 11am
• 27/07/2017 - Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil CCBB/RJ - 3pm

São Paulo

• 26/07/2017 - Caixa Belas Artes - 3pm
• 29/07/2017 - Centro Cultural São Paulo - 2:30pm
• 30/07/2017 - Centro Cultural São Paulo - 1pm

If anyone's able to make it to the fest it's looking like a great edition overall, with other selected work including Chintis Lundgren's Manivald, Rune Spaans's The Absence of Eddy Table, Eva Cvijanović's Hedgehog's Home, Ann Marie Fleming's Window Horses, Diane Obomsawin's I Like Girls, Jennifer Zheng's Tough and Sean Buckelew's Lovestreams.
Happy Brazil times!

Another Busy Weekend

It's been a long journey, but this Friday November 4th will be the final stop of the Nuit du Court Métrage leg of Short Film Nights, the touring programme that has graciously included Klementhro, seeing the film screened throughout Switzerland over the course of this year. The twenty-third and final city on what's been a terrific tour with some brilliant and much-appreciated exposure will be Lausanne, the screening itself taking place at the Pathé les Galeries at 7:25pm. Many thanks again to the Short Film Nights team for bringing my bizarre little film along for the ride!

On Saturday November 5th the film will see its Chinese premiere at the KuanDu International Animation Festival in Taiwan. It will be screening in the programme KDIAF's Choice 5 for a relatively early (9am) start. It's another interesting crop I'm very happy and humbled to be amongst, with work from some great artists including Kim Noce, Shaun Clark and Isabelle Favez among others.

On those exact same dates the film will doubtless be befuddling Brazilians over at Anima Mundi. Following the first batch of screenings that took place in Rio de Janeiro, the second wave will be in São Paulo with two screenings at the Cinemateca Brasileira. On November 4th it'll screen at 6pm in the Sala Petrobras, with a 3pm screening in the Sala BNDES the following day.
Tchau for now!

"Can't pay? We'll literally do everything in our power to not have to take it away, 'cause I got these bad knees, see..."

These days my fictional creation Klementhro, once thought to be a bit of an out-to-sea loner, has way more of a life than I do. As such he has a pretty packed few days of galavanting hither and thither ahead of him while I sit at home watching Can't Pay repeats and praying the various After Effects renders I have cued up don't crash.

Klementhro, the comparative socialite, will be enjoying a rare US outing at the SoDak Motion Festival this Thursday, October 27th. Screening alongside work by some excellent filmmakers including Tomer Eshed and fellow Bristol School of Animation grad Simon Acosta, the film will play in the festival's Animation Competition 6:30pm at the South Dakota Art Museum.
Some miles away on the following night, the Nuit du Court Métrage tour will take the film to La Chaux-de-Fonds, where the evening's proceedings will kick off around 8pm at the Cinéma ABC.
The night after that (October 29th, not to condescendingly imply you can't do basic addition) the tour is headed to Neuchâtel, again looking at an 8pm start at the Cinéma Studio.

On top of all that, the Brazilian animation fest Anima Mundi has unveiled its full programme and, as previously indicated, Klementhro is among the official selection! From tomorrow onwards it will screen as part of Shorts 5 in such fine company as Joost Lieuwma's Paniek! and the times/venues for the Rio de Janeiro screenings (there'll be more in São Paulo next month) are as follows:

• 25th October: 10pm, Cine Odeon - Centro Cultural Luiz Severiano Ribeiro
• 26th October: 6pm, Livraria Cultura
• 28th October: 3pm, Cine Odeon
• 29th October: 5pm, Cidade das Artes - Teatro de câmara
• 30th October: 6pm, Cine Odeon

Ooh, hang on. I think they're about to finally take something awa- no, false alarm. As you were.

Summer Nights

Some general updates to keep you lovely bunch up to speed.
Firstly I'm really happy to see that mine and Laura-Beth's recent coverage of the stop-mo segments of The Little Prince caught the attention of the film's director Mark Osborne:

Amazing coverage of the genius team behind the stop-mo seqs of #TheLittlePrince! See and hear how it came to be! https://t.co/qgI6oB1wal

— Mark Osborne (@happyproduct) August 10, 2016

Even this many years in, it's still very validating to see people appreciate what it is we set out to do and I'm very proud to have been among the outlets for the team to discuss their process. If you didn't catch the episode you can give it a download here!

Montrealites - don't forget that Animaze kicks off today! Be sure to swing by the Museum of Fine Arts (Maxwell Cummings Auditorium) for Friday's 3pm Human Nature screening and catch Klementhro alongside some smashing films, or check out the full festival programme to see the other nifty stuff they have going on over the weekend.

From September on it's looking like a very busy few months for the film as far as international screenings go - between tours, festivals and special events my buddy Klementhro will be pestering audiences all over the globe through November. The furthest away looks to be Brazil's Anima Mundi who today announced their official selection and it looks like the adorable, paddle-dependent fool cut the mustard! This will be my third Anima Mundi inclusion so much love to the programmers. The event is set to take place in Rio de Janeiro late October and São Paulo early November, will keep you all posted.

In the more-immediate future, following the aforementioned Busho Festival in Hungary on September 3rd the film will get probably its quirkiest screening as part of the Fantoche International Animation Film Festival's Bagno Popolare 'spa film programme' on the 8th and 9th at 9pm. This will see a variety of water-themed films projected by a thermally heated outdoor pool - The Bäderquartier - where viewers/bathers can relax and unwind. Other great films include Julia Pott's Belly, Tomek Ducki's Baths and Thomas Stellmach/Maja Oschmann's exquisite Virtuos Virtuell, one of the major case studies included in my new book Independent Animation.

On that note, a few of you who pre-ordered it or ordered it when it first came out have been wondering when it will arrive - I'm still trying to determine that, but having made some enquiries the general consensus seems to be that the UK street date (good gracious, aren't I hip?) for the book is August 29th, for those who like to buy their books the traditional way. You can of course buy it online from all good retailers and the CRC website itself. So the date retailers are listing may be an indicator of when copies are being dispatched but if I learn any more concrete information I'll be sure to let you know.

Also just a reminder that I'll be speaking about the book and other related animationey outpourings at Animation Super Grill at Cardiff's KIN+ILK September 3rd. There's still time to pick up tickets and I've gleaned that thanks to some recent sponsorship the early bird price has been frozen, so considering the variety of events on offer it's a steal! The following Monday (5th) I'll also be talking about the book at the monthly local meetup Bring Your Own Animation Bristol. There's a lot of discussion points in the book so I'll be aiming to make each presentation unique for those of you who might be able to make both. The night will kick off at 7:30pm at The Lazy Dog, it's a great excuse to show off new animation work for feedback and Jake Hobbs from Wonky (who also helped out with the book) will be speaking as well. Check out their event page for more info and hope to see some of you there!

On a completely separate subject I wanted to leave you all with an old live recording from about five years back where I growl my way through a stab at Faith No More's deep track 'Why Do You Bother'. I've dug this out in honour of tomorrow's re-release of the band's long-OOP debut album We Care A Lot that the song appears on. Originally released 31 years ago before they were signed to a major label, this record often gets overlooked - I myself might not have gotten wind of it had its 10-year-delayed CD release not occurred pretty much exactly as I was getting into the band back in 1995. Even though it's always felt more like a collection of demos from a production standpoint, there are clearly moments of genius throughout, and this song has always been one of my all-time favourites of their entire back catalogue.
Even cooler is that this week they're doing a couple of celebratory shows with Chuck Mosley, the vocalist for their first two albums who's always been (unfairly) in eventual replacement Mike Patton's shadow - but then, isn't everybody? So after you've heard my warbly attempt I'm sure they'll show you how it's really done. Check out the live stream tonight on their Facebook page.

The continuing adventures of Papai Noel

Anima Mundi starts this weekend, and it's a thrill to say that "The Naughty List" will receive a whopping TEN screenings from then until the end of the month. It's shown as part of their International Panorama 2 section that will be screened at the following dates/times/venues:

Rio de Janeiro
July 15th - 5:30pm - Teatro 2 CCBB
July 16th - 2pm - Teatro 2 CCBB
July 17th - 3:30pm - Teatro 2 CCBB
July 19th - 5pm - Cinema Odeon BR
July 21st - 1pm - Centro Cultural Correious, Praça Animada
July 24th - 4:30pm - Cinema 2 CCBB

São Paulo
July 27th - 3pm - Livraria Cultura 1
July 29th - 9:30pm - Fund. Memorial da América Latina, Sala 3
July 30th - 10pm - Livraria Cultura 2
July 31st - 12noon - Fund. Memorial da América Latina, Sala 3

Coupled with the inclusion of my first animationey venture "House Guest" last year, the festival is making great strides in remedying my terror toward the nation of Brazil that those "Elite Squad" movies instilled in me. For info on all the other events and screenings on offer check out the festival website.Next month the film will be screening in competition at the Monterrey International Film Festival in Mexico. As with Anima Mundi it's another event that had the good manners to show "House Guest" a couple years back, and as such is automatically in my good graces.There's another Skwigly piece of mine up today, this one a review of the recent Allen Ginsberg biopic - and graphic novel tie-in - "Howl". My interest in it is mainly as an admirer of Eric Drooker, who was the animation designer and did a pretty impressive job visualising Ginsberg's work. Drooker's major graphic novels "Flood" and "Blood Song" are two of my favourites, and his long-standing association with the late Ginsberg makes him an ideal choice for the film's animated portions. Plus the number of film reviews that dismissively referred to the film's 'cartoon parts' were starting to bug me, so I wanted show it some respect in that regard. You can read it here:
"Howl" Film & Graphic Novel Review by Ben Mitchell

The Running Ben

Last week I ran the Bristol 10k, which goes against pretty much every gene I've inherited. I appreciate that to some out there 10 kilometres represents a recreational morning jog but with my history of borderline-hedonistic decadence and general fatass-itis, it's a pretty significant achievement for me. Although I was somewhat humbled the moment I crossed the finish line when my body succumbed for a split second to some kind of sob/dry-heave hybrid convulsion, but that dignity lapse aside the event was without incident. Huge props to my PT Hattie for making the extra effort to keep me motivated, given that I couldn't run more than 2k in one stretch back in February it's been a big boost to my health overall.

My followers and I...just like Forrest Gump...

Before the run I'd set up a JustGiving page which is still up if anyone has the inclination to donate. There are some goodies you get in return - naturally my self-made pap and some animation-related bits and bobs, so please do check it out.More good news (back in the comparatively sedentary world of animation) is that "The Naughty List" will be shown as part of Anima Mundi, the Brazil-based festival which takes place from July 15th-24th in Rio de Janeiro and the 27th-31st in São Paulo. The festival screened "House Guest" a bunch of times last summer and I'm incredibly happy to be involved a second year in a row.On the subject of festivals, I recently wrote an overview of my experience at the Stuttgart Animation Festival (ITFS) which is now up at Skwigly. Generally speaking it's pretty positive, kinda makes me wish I could go to more festivals, so hopefully the next film will be the one that gets me flown all over the globe. Until then you can read the article here:
The 18th Stuttgart Festival of Animated Film – Overview

Adieu, rotting duck thing.

I woke up this morning to the dramatic thump of something large and cumbersome being pushed through my letterbox. Turned out to be the bulky (and very pretty) program for Anima Mundi along with the return of the last 'House Guest' screening copy. Thus ends my zombie duck's reign of terrifyingly adorable shenanigans on the international festival circuit. As I have so vainly documented, it's had an astoundingly good run given that it was both my first film and a student film made for literally nothing. A little over two years since its completion I cannot really explain what a humbling experience it's been seeing it do the rounds alongside other films by friends, contemporaries and even some of my heroes in the industry. I know that on here I write like a self-aggrandising ass most of the time, and maybe some people who don't know me in real life might not pick up on the irony, but the truth of the matter is that we're living in pretty rough times where to keep afloat in the industry you have to drink the Kool-Aid for the most part. Sometimes it can be a lot of fun but generally speaking when you work for a company or someone else's project there are plenty of moments of second guessing and self-doubt. As 'House Guest' was always mine its completion and positive reception have kept me inspired to keep hammering out my own projects, hopefully with an equal balance of confidence and self-awareness. So thanks once again to everyone who selflessly helped with the film, all the festivals (big and small) that gave it a chance and everyone who contacted me personally to say nice things about it.

They also threw in a 'participation' certificate. Which is both a new one on me and pretty nice of them.

So moving on, first I want to mention the Babelgum Animation Film Festival which currently has a whole bunch of shorts online you can watch and vote on. Nothing of mine in there but some friends' films such as 'Wherever You Go There You Are' by Sara Barbas, 'Ami' by Dominique Bongers and 'Noesis' by Sophie Klevenow are all worth a look. I haven't had time to watch the others but some that I'm familiar with and enjoy include '8-Bit Waterslide in Real Life', 'Marcel the Shell With Shoes On' and 'Pigeon Impossible'.Finally, yesterday was the last day you were able to hear my new Struwwelpeter song 'Set You Free' as part of BBC Introducing. If you missed it, I of course recorded it myself and you can forever listen to it here.
If you want to hear the song without the intro and strange backhanded editorialising at the end it's part of 'Digital Stimulation', a download-only EP available now and completely free. It includes three songs from 2006's 'Agnosticaust' and three from the forthcoming album 'The Book of Women'. All the tracks are alternate mixes/edits to the ones that appear on the albums themselves and as such are completely exclusive to this release. So download it and spread it around like a delightful musical compote!Download 'Digital Stimulation' by Struwwelpeter
Alternatively you can stream the EP on SoundCloud.
Now for a weekend of showreel editing and updating. Try to contain your envy.

Pour Rire

It's a beautiful, sunny day in Montreal, the best city in the world. Yet here I am, alone in a friend's apartment, blogging on her laptop with the curtains drawn. I disgust myself.
Having spent the last week completely away from civilisation, now I'm in the city I'm hurriedly catching up on missed correspondence, work crap and a smattering of early responses to the new film so I can get my ass outside where I'll doubtless stop at the nearest Second Cup (the closest Canuck approximation to a Caffe Nero) and settle in the sunshine. In other words, business as usual.As well as a much-needed break in the country I have a whole mess of Juste Pour Rire shows booked this week, starting last night on an amazing note with Greg Giraldo and 'Opie & Anthony' regulars Li'l Jimmy Norton, Bawby Kelly and the lovable stammering mushmouth Rich Vos. I should elucidate as to why this is relevant - during production of 'The Naughty List' and pretty much every work-from-home commission I've taken on over the last year, I've been listening to O&A nonstop. It's the shit. Nothing takes the edge off having to scan a hundred frames of animation like a good Ramone call, misogynistic Bill Burr rant or some down-to-earth relationship advice from Patrice O'Neal (to my delight both Burr and O'Neal will be playing later in the week, as well as fellow regular Jim Jefferies). Last night also introduced me to Tiffany Haddish, who will hopefully become a big deal very soon as she's genuinely hysterical.Now that I've sufficiently kissed enough arse, it's time to predictably turn the spotlight back on me in yet another abandonment of humility and self-awareness. I'm really very happy to say that 'House Guest' will be getting SEVEN screenings at Anima Mundi, five in Rio and two in Sao Paulo.It's a real coup. Opening the 'Horror Panarama 2' strand, here are the times and places as copied off the website:
Centro Cultural Correios - Praça Animada
18/07/2010-21:00

Cinema CCBB SP
28/07/2010-19:00
31/07/2010-17:00

Unibanco Arteplex Botafogo
21/07/2010-22:00

Cinema 1 CCBB RJ
22/07/2010-17:30
25/07/2010-19:30

Cinema Odeon BR
23/07/2010-20:00

I am a happy Canuck.

The dead duck that just won't die

So you went ahead and acted on that nagging impulse to book a holiday to Brazil this July, yet this strange, alarming feeling plagues you. A sense that somehow your visit will be for naught if you don't cross one vital thing off your list...
What luck then, that I'm hear to remind you. In Rio de Janeiro from July 16th to the 25th - and in São Paulo from the 28th to August 1st - is Anima Mundi 2010! Fantástico! And yes, predictably, my vested interest in said festival is, as always, down to the inclusion of 'House Guest', much to my delight as I've at this point 'retired' the film from the festival circuit. That it gets one (possibly) last screening pretty much exactly two years after it was finished gives me that warm, tingly feeling the rest of you deadbeats need pharmaceuticals - or, I dunno, human companionship - to attain.It's in pretty impressive company to boot. Amongst the other included films are Bill Plympton's 'Santa: The Fascist Years' and 'The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger', Adam Elliot's superb 'Mary & Max' (a film whose virtues I extolled previously), and the recent Bafta-winner 'Mother of Many', a film about midwifery I enjoyed a lot for its candour in regard to what a frontbottom-wincingly grim debacle childbirth really is. But, y'know, in a sweet way.Many thanks to the Anima Mundi peeps, go check out their website, blog and Twitter. As always the wheres and the whens will be posted when I knows them, fo'sho'.
In celebration I'm off to my balcony to relish what's sure to be a fleeting period of lovely warm weather while sipping homemade caipirinha. I is a cultured fellow.