Das Kurzfilmfest, niemals mehr gesehen...

After a successful trip to Cologne I've consumed enough twelve-inch coiled wurst to ne'er again feel insecure as a male, along with all manner of cakes, unending breakfasts, meals between snacks between meals and perhaps even the odd apéritif hither and thither. "The Naughty List" seemed to go down well at the festival, people laughed in all the right places despite it being in English. Now I've seen what BetaSP looks like on the big screen though, I think I'll be getting an HD transfer of the film done quite soonish. It may be a case of a filmmaker being overly-precious about his own crap, but hey, it's my crap and if I want it to be rich, colourful crap rather than washed out, faded crap then that should be my prerogative, nein?

From memory this is a loose rendition of the quality dip from the original video to the screened one. Serves me right for being cheap.

I also think I may have eaten my balls slightly when asked to talk about the film afterwards, though I only remember the roar of blood inside my head over my babbling. At some point I think I got a laugh, and bear in mind this was a crowd of Germans. GERMANS, fer cryin' out loud...*
At any rate it was a great evening and I'm hugely grateful for the opportunity and to my host/tour-guide/all-around Wundergal Veronika for putting me up. I've thrown cards and flyers and promo crap everywhere they'll stick to so knock wood there'll be more Germanic exposure to come for my Santa-in-undies film.Meanwhile it's getting two more outings, firstly on October 30th for the 3rd Thermaikos Film Festival. This is great news personally as the 1st edition was also the first festival a film of mine ever got into, so it's nice to 'return' so to speak.After that it'll be at Louisiana's Red Stick International Animation Festival in Baton Rouge. This has been on my wishlist for a while and I don't tend to get that many US screenings so I'm a happy camper indeed. The festival will be between November 10th-13th, specifics later.
On another note, congratulations to Alexio Anastasio for successfully raising enough funds to finish and promote "Adventures In Plymptoons", a documentary on one of my bigger influences Bill Plympton that's frankly long overdue. I got wind of the doc last month while working on another, not entirely unrelated project which I'll save for another entry. Here's a trailer to go out on:

*It's a JOKE, don't even start...

Army of One. If that.

I'm something of a lone wolf. Not in an appealing, alpha dog sense - more the limping, out of shape runt who can't keep up with the rest of the pack, whose 'lone' status is out of his hands. As such I'm fending for myself in a lot of respects, questioning of late the satisfaction of freelancing. A part of me is starting to itch for a regular studio gig lasting beyond a few weeks or months at a time. Of course, who's to say as soon as that happens I won't immediately start hankering for the comparative freedom of the way things are now. The grass is always greener on the other side. You like that? I made that up. True story. You can use it if you like.
What?In the meantime I'm prepping for my visit to Cologne where "The Naughty List" will be making its festival appearance at the Cologne Comedy Festival as well as its TV debut on WDR, a network I fondly associate with several pro-shot Faith No More concerts. I'm sure they have other valuable programming too. The film closes the Köln Comedy Kurzfilmfestival broadcast this Friday (15th), beginning at 10:40pm and repeated at 1:45am on Einsfestival.The trip is in the midst of my continuing effort to redefine my professional representation and I'm getting a bunch of materials ready to pimp my sweet self, like new business cards, promo DVDs, flyers etc. As I'm still debating several options for potential sales agents - and having no studio representation to speak of - promotion and marketing is on me. It's kind of what I'm comfortable with, but self-representation is kind of like onanism with a lot more self-hatred, depression and money spent on printer ink. When I describe myself as 'award-winning animator' or list accolades for any given project I cringe and bite my fist, but it's a necessary evil. After five years it would be fatuous to say that there isn't a direct correlation between the amount I big myself up and the frequency of work that comes in or festivals that pick up my films.To supplement the "Naughty..." bumph I've put up some new web teasers for "House Guest" and "Ground Running". In the case of the former it's to help promote the DVD, delayed from last year's planned release after the film got an unexpected second wind on the festival circuit. Have a gander:

In case you didn't see it when I put it up previously, I may as well throw in a snippet of "The Naughty List" for your viewing pleasūr:

On a closing, non-me note, my pal and former "House Guest" helper elf Joanna Hepworth has her latest film "Dinnersaurs" included in this year's Animated Encounters online selection. Give it a vote because it's cute and you'll glean some dating tips:

Debuting all over the place

If Tesco can get away with pulling the xmas crap this early on, then screw it, so can I! The holiday season starts this month with a trio of international screenings for "The Naughty List"!
As I already blathered about, it'll be part of the Cologne Comedy Festival but now I know that the specific screening is Friday 15th at 8pm, as part of Screens of Comedy. I will be there! I'm usually not as my films tend to get accepted by festivals far, far away, but this one's a special circumstance. It will also at some point be broadcast on WDR, which will be a nice first for me.Before then, though at a time I've yet to determine, I can now confirm that the film is indeed included as part of the animation strand for the IASI International Film Festival. Hurrah!But before any of that I'm pretty stoked to say that it will also be shown at this year's European Animated Film Festival Balkanima, which screened "House Guest" last year! Screening this Wednesday (the 6th) as part of the European Panorama at noon. The following day it will also be screening Sophie Klevenow's superb short "Noesis" which I did some sound work on, so there's two reasons to get your ass over to Belgrade. More info at their official site and Facebook group.

Compensation

After the low note last week ended on, I've had a bit of a turnaround in disposition being presented with a couple of reasons to cheer up.

Firstly I was very happy to see that, for the time being at least, one of the animated segments I produced for Channel 4's SuperMe project is the first thing you're presented with when visiting the production company Somethin Else's website.

That's right, I screengrabbed it. I'm that type of person.

Nice to have the extra exposure while I can get it.Next up is the very welcome and sooner-than-expected news that my third animated short 'The Naughty List' will be making its festival debut this October at Internationales Köln Comedy Festival, with a TV broadcast thrown in. Merry xmas!What makes this especially good news is it gives me an excuse to visit my Cologne-based friend and frequent collaborator Veronika Broscheid whose own film 'The Lonely Socks Club' makes a cameo in mine, playing on Santa's TV.

The film within the film.

She also helped out a lot with the film in cleanup/post and provided some last-minute German subtitles for the screening copy, so it's really fortuitous that it's first screening will be in her city.
Festival specifics to follow, as always. It's looking to be a good week.