The gang's all here

 

As Encounters is about to kick off it's an exciting time for my new film Sunscapades and hopefully I'll get to see some of you at either the Wednesday or Thursday screening! To mark the occasion I've put up a new sneaky teaser clip for y'all. This is the third and probably final one as any more would give away one of the main story points, but your appetite for my moving doodles is not yet sated you can see the other teasers here and here.

It's worth mentioning also that tickets for next month's BFI London Film Festival - at which the film will also be screening - are now on sale. The Real Horrorshow screening takes place at the Prince Charles Cinema on Sunday October 14th at 3:30pm, then at the Rich Mix Cinema on Thursday October 18th, 6:15pm. If you're thinking of going it'd be best to act swiftly as they're selling fast, so grab 'em up here.

With its appearance at The Official Twin Peaks UK Festival looming, my earlier film Klementhro continues to charm its way into programmers' hearts or, at the very least, convince them of its value as tolerable filler material. On October 6th it will be part of the shorts programme Animation Bazaar at the inaugural edition of the Margate Film Festival in association with Short Sighted Cinema who gave it some love last year. The screening, taking place at Cliff's, will start at 2pm and tickets are priced very reasonably at whatever-the-hell-you-feel-like. Pretty sweet deal, I'd say.

Meanwhile Laura-Beth Cowley's film Boris-Noris continues its strong streak with today's announcement of its inclusion in this year's Manchester Animation Festival, the fourth edition of which will take place at HOME November 13th-15th. The film will be part of the Student Films Panorama on the 15th at 2:20pm. MAF is always a fun one and you can check out the full line-up (including some of our regular Skwigly events and a screening of Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires) here.

Following its inclusion in the touring programme Festival Ciné Junior at the beginning of the year, starting this month Boris-Noris is also part of Les p’tites bobines, a selection Ciné Junior highlights that will be screening at events and before feature films at independent cinemas in the French department Seine-Saint-Denis over the course of the next twelve months. You can check out the Ciné Quartier Libre website for more info, though it'll help if you speak that Franceland speak.

In a similar vein the film will precede a special screening of Wes Anderson's Isle of Dogs this Friday at Sinema Sadwrn in the Welsh village Llansadwrn. It's an inspired pairing and should make for a great event, so check out their Facebook page for more info if you fancy checking it out.
Phew! And it's only Monday...

Dogged Persistence

For our eightieth episode (EIGHTIETH?!) of the Skwigly Animation Podcast I'm delighted to bring you an assortment of insights into the making of Wes Anderson’s latest critically-acclaimed stop-motion feature Isle of Dogs from four of the film’s key crew members!
This episode features audio from the special presentation Making Isle of Dogs that I was privileged enough to get to chair at the recent Cardiff Animation Festival, where we hear from:

• Kim Keukeleire (Lead Animator)
  After finishing her Masters degree in Animation Cinematography and Videography at the Enseignement National Supérieur des Arts Visuels (ENSAV) de La Cambre in Brussels in 1992, Kim has worked for several companies such as Passion Pictures, BBC Animations, Aardman, Cosgrove Hall and Will Vinton Studios (now Laika).
  Amongst others, Kim animated on Fantastic Mr Fox (Wes Anderson), Frankenweenie (Tim Burton) and Chicken Run (Nick Park & Peter Lord). She was the animation director of the recently Oscar-nominated French animation feature film My Life as a Courgette.
• Joshua Flynn (Sculptor/Fabricator)
  Joshua is a sculptor and puppet fabricator specialising in the stop-motion industry for feature films and commercials.
  Originally from Cardiff, Josh studied BA Animation at the University of Glamorgan (now the University of South Wales). After graduating in 2011, he has worked on a number of productions across the UK including Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel and his most recent film, Isle of Dogs.
  Together with his brother Nathan, the two of them make up SculptDouble, creating sculptures, maquettes and animations.
• Kerry Dyer (Head Of Department – Puppet Hospital)
  Kerry has over 10 years experience working in Stop Motion animation, for both TV and Film. Including: Ooglies, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires and Isle Of Dogs.
  She began her career as an animator, before finding she enjoyed the mechanics of armatures and the feel of clay between her fingers. She recently ran a team of ten, stitching together and generally repairing the inhabitants of Trash Island for Isle of Dogs.

Laura-Beth also brings us an exclusive chat with Key Animator Tim Allen, whose stop-motion career began with Tim Burton’s The Corpse Bride and has gone on to include TV series such as Fifi and the Flower Tots and Shaun the Sheep with features including Fantastic Mr Fox, Frankenweenie, Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires and Isle of Dogs. Tim also conducts animation workshops at festivals and events across the world.
Also on this episode – an overview of our personal CAF highlights, cultural appropriation, the problem with Apu that The Problem With Apu has brought to light, how not to get a job at Aardman and a special appearance from festival organisers Lauren Orme and Dani Abram.
Direct download here or stream below:

If they call you 'butt' over there it means they like you, I recently learned

It's Friday! We made it to the end of another week! Go us!
That means there's now a mere six days to go before Cardiff Animation Festival kicks off and I'm very excited to be heading over there alongside Skwigly brethren and animationey pals alike.
There's a packed schedule of amazing events from Thursday 19th through to Sunday 22nd and while it's worth taking the time to peruse the full programme here are a couple I'm involved with:
As part of the Industry Day on the 19th I'll be on the 2pm panel Getting To Market with Helen Brunsdon, Adam Bailey and Huw Walters where we'll be discussing "the fine art of promoting and selling your work, from TV ideas to short films, at markets around the world". You can pick up an Industry Day pass here if you've not done so already.

Kim Keukeleire

On Saturday 21st I'll be chairing the Q&A session Making Isle of Dogs at 8:45pm, which will directly follow a 6:30pm screening of the film itself. This will be a great opportunity to learn about the crafting of the exceptional new Wes Anderson film from artists Joshua Flynn (puppetmaker), Kim Keukeleire (lead animator) and Kerry Dyer (puppet repairs), so you won't want to miss it.
I'll also be speaking with some of the attending filmmakers in competition for the Animator's Brunch Q&A sessions that will take place on the 21st and 22nd at 10:30am. Not only will you be able to meet/grill these splendid folks but you'll get to do so with coffee and croissants to hand - plus both sessions are free to attend, so treat yisselfs!

Other festival highlights you'll want to check out include a festival-long exhibition and Friday night special presentation for Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires, the spectacular stop-mo feature I contributed some VFX bits to last summer, as well as a talk by all-around top bloke Grant "Hey Duggee" Orchard, a writing for animation panel, the official launch of Anim18, life drawing, a Bring Your Own Animation session (at which I may attempt a sneaky preview of my latest film Sunscapades), screenings and Q&As for recent features Early Man and The Breadwinner - not to mention a heap of parties and networking events you can get sauced at. Then there's the official selection itself, which as a member of the jury I can assuredly say is packed full of absolutely top-shelf work. Say hello* if you're there!
*Not an obligation. In fact an across-the-room-half-nod is already above and beyond.