More excuses to leave the house

Exciting developments here in Bristol as the briefly-dormant Encounters Film Festival will be returning later this month for its 30th edition. Having worn a bunch of different hats for this event over the years, it was a privilege to take the reins as Animation Programmer and put together five programmes packed with incredible new shorts, as well as consulting on the festival's genre programmes and industry events. More info on each programme below (all competition screenings take place in Cinema 1 at the Watershed and will be followed by a Q&A with any attending filmmakers):

• Animated Encounters 1 (1pm Sep 24)
  From a father grappling with his son's emigration to a woman literally birthing her reproductive organs, these animated stories confront life's awkward realities head-on.
• Animated Encounters 2 (5:30pm Sep 24)
  A European traveller sketches her way through Cape Verde, a cat seeks enlightenment, and a mother weaves memories through colourful sweaters. These contemplative works range from Nordic winter poems to drag queen revelations, united in quiet contemplation.
• Animated Encounters 3 (10am Sep 25)
  The messy realities of minds and bodies under pressure. Characters battle screen addiction, explore their own anatomy, and confront childhood trauma through bold animation techniques. These unflinching stories tackle everything from teenage pregnancy to language identity, using surreal visuals to make the internal external.
• Animated Encounters 4 (2:30pm Sep 25)
  Tender stories celebrating memory, family bonds, and the search for belonging across generations.
• Animated Encounters 5 (12pm Sep 26)
  Eight exciting works push animation into uncharted territory, unafraid to go places live action cannot. Ancient Chinese erotica inspires an Estonian tale of vanity, while nude models battle mosquito stings and a hypersensitive woman navigates a harsh world.

The 25th will also be a dedicated animation industry day, and kicking off proceedings will be a special presentation on mine and Laura-Beth Cowley's new book Intimate Animation, featuring special guests Baz Sells and Ben Jackson of One6th who'll be discussing the production of their recent short Two Black Boys in Paradise (also screening in competition); we'll also be selling books at an exclusive Encounters discount if you haven't yet snapped it up and want to save a few sheckels. Also on the docket throughout the day are presentations from the likes of Dan Ojari, Tanya Scott, Karni & Saul, Dane Winn, Neeraja Raj and Chris Shepherd as well as dog life drawing, a stop-mo workshop and a showcase and reception for the newly-launched UK branch of Women In Animation.

Capping off the day will be another edition of Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM), again teaming up with our pals at Festivus and taking place at the Three Tuns pub from 7pm. 

The next day at Watershed Cinema 3 I'll be hosting an Artist Masterclass with storyboard artist Jay Clarke, discussing his career with a focus on his work for acclaimed director Wes Anderson. Other events you might want to check out include a special screening of the modern classic Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind with director Michel Gondry and writer Charlie Kaufman in attendance, a UK premiere for Gondry's new film Maya, Give Me a Title, the legendary Late Lounge featuring some stunningly twisted animation and a preview screening of Emma Hough Hobbs and Leela Varghese's Australian animated feature Lesbian Space Princess. In fact, there's too much good stuff on offer to list here, so give the programme a peruse and grab your passes now.

Sunny times ahead

I'm very happy to reveal that my film Sunscapades will screen here in Bristol next month as part of TWO programmes for this year's Encounters Short Film Festival!
It's the first time I've had a film in the fest since 2011 and it's a real honour and privilege to be among a line-up that includes some of my favourite new and established filmmakers whose work includes Wildebeest (Nicolas Keppens), Cabin Pressure (Matthew Lee), Perinatal Positivity (Emma Lazenby) and Brexicuted (Chris Shepherd).
The full line-up looks fantastic, with some personal favourites including Ooze (Kilian Vilim), Via (Izzy Burton), KUAP (Nils Hedinger), Travelogue Tel Aviv (Samuel Patthey), Mamoon (Ben Steer) and Hybrids (Kim Tailhades) as well as recent interviewees Robert Löbel (Island) and Patrick Bouchard (The Subject).
Sunscapades will screen in the festival's animation competition programme Happy Sad on Wednesday September 26th at 2pm, then again the following day in the comedy programme From the Sublime to the Ridiculous at 8pm, both at Bristol's Watershed in Cinema 1. Check out the current programme here and stay tuned for even more event updates as they come!

Dribbling Felt

This week sees the relaunch of the Skwigly Podcast after 3+ years and 30 episodes. The new version will see myself, Steve and other members of the Skwigly team bringing you more regular podcast content in a shorter, more streamlined form.

For our first episode of Skwigly Podcast 2.0 (episode 31 overall) we are delighted to feature an interview with recent NFTS graduate Nina Gantz, whose short Edmond has already proved popular and won multiple awards including both the Canal + Creative Aid Award and the Graduation Film Jury Award at Annecy 2015!
Stream the latest episode below or direct download here.
To catch up on the podcast so far be sure to visit the Podcasts section of the site and, so as not to miss out on any future episodes, you can subscribe on iTunes!
Also up on the site is a new interview with director Chris Shepherd (the talented fellow behind Dad's Dead, Who I Am and What I Want and The Ringer) discussing his new rubberhose-inspired animated promo The Concept for Lambchop offshoot HecTA. To learn more about Chris's prior work you can also have a listen back to our 2013 interview in episode 15 of the podcast:
Finally I want to say a special thanks to those of you who've picked up Throat: Nobody's Waiting since it came out last week. Early feedback has been very positive and I'm glad some kindhearted folks have stuck with the story to the bitter end, so to speak. Y'all are still lovely indeed.

What they look like in real life, innit?

Yam Handed

You look down in the dumps, old friend. As well you should, if things are so dreary that you've come here of all places for distraction. How about a heapin' helpin' o' HuHa to perk you up, misery-tits?
Episode 9 of Wobble Box went up earlier this week, my wee contributions to which being the deoderant (1:01 in) and escalator (2:09 in) skits.

The former was an entirely Toon Boom affair, including the backgrounds which I kept loose'n'colourful'n'simple.

As per there was a lot of fun design work coupled with minimal animation. Get some sketches down ya:

That last one is for the escalator bit, the assets for which were also done in Toon Boom. I wanted to do something less identifiable as my style and so went with something more cartoon-modern.

The colour approach was thought up on the fly - rather than solid colours I scribbled them in on their own layers on a boil, exporting them separately from the character animation before compositing both with textures in After Effects.

Over in Skwigly land we have a new podcast after yet another unexpected hiatus. There was one scheduled for September but we hit our first genuine snafu when our lead guest inexplicably rescinded permission to be included. First time for everything, I suppose.
Far better sports are Chris Landreth - the Oscar-winning NFB director known for Ryan, The Spine and now Subconscious Password, a wonderfully-relatable tale of a man's inner turmoil as he struggles to recall the name of an old acquaintance he's bumped into at a party - and Chris Shepherd, the chap behind the much-loved shorts Dad's Dead and Who I Am and What I Want among others. Shepherd has recently been involved with 12foot6, Random Acts and Autour de Minuit, the latter for his new live-action/rotoscoped short The Ringer, a genuinely touching father-son tale and one of my favourites from this year's Encounters.

Thrown in the mix are musings on shows like The Simpsons outstaying their welcome, general Encounters chitchat and my usual sanctimonious pontifications on filmmaking. You can do the streaming/subscribing/downloading thang at your leisure and discretion. Whichever option suits you best. There are no judgements here.