Bedside Literature

I'm very excited to announce the official release date of the latest Skwigly book - Intimate Animation - by myself and the incredible Laura-Beth Cowley.

In recent years, there has been a surge in animated projects that have pushed boundaries, broken taboos, prompted discussions and wowed festival and online audiences alike through compelling storytelling and unmatched artistry. Join Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley of Skwigly Online Animation Magazine and the Intimate Animation podcast as they take you on a tour of the landscape of contemporary animated films that deal with themes of love, intimacy, relationships, anatomy and sexuality – and the incredible artists behind them.

Through research and firsthand interviews with trailblazers such as Signe Baumane, Andreas Hykade, Ruth Lingford, Michaela Pavlátová, Bill Plympton and Joanna Quinn, as well as newer voices including Sawako Kabuki, Renata Gąsiorowska, Will Anderson, Sara Gunnarsdóttir, Michaela Mihalyi, David Štumpf, Levi Stoops, Lori Malépart-Traversy, Anna Ginsburg, Veljko Popovic, Joseph Wallace, Renee Zhan and more, Intimate Animation looks deeply at how animation has been used to present elaborate and complex concepts relating to love and sexuality.

Exploring the role animation has played in sex education, self-discovery, the body, lust and love, as well as how the medium can be used to visually represent emotions, feelings and concepts not easily described in words nor depicted through live-action filmmaking, Intimate Animation is the ideal book for professional animators, filmmakers, enthusiasts, researchers, academic and students of animation and film studies interested in the themes of love and sexuality.

The book will be released March 27th and is available to pre-order now (use code LP96LCNPH at checkout through this month for a whopping 20% off!)

Fantasy, desire, libido and the mechanics of tramway operation

Today myself and Laura-Beth are launching the first of a brand new podcast series over on Skwigly. Titled Intimate Animation, the plan is for it to start life as a six (or ten, we'll see how it goes) part miniseries that will go up on alternate weeks to the regular podcast I do with Steve. Expanding the podcasts to separate series is something we'd passively planned on doing since day one so I'm glad this is finally in motion, it should pave the way for a handful of other additional podcast series we've been developing that'll focus on other specific areas within animation.
This first new venture came from our mutual enthusiasm for animation that takes on themes of love, relationships and sexuality, sometimes way more effectively than live-action is able to. Some of you may recall - or even came along to - our Skwigly/CineMe event Love, Lust and Libido a couple years back, which collected together a whole host of films that prove that point, so there's a wealth of discussion material off the bat.
Structurally it'll be quite similar to the main podcast (at least to begin with) as far as combining discussion and interview segments. We've got a pretty long list of potential case studies and figured we'd kick things off by digging out a previously-unheard (in full) interview with Michaela Pavlátová, director of some superb films including the Annecy Cristal-winning Tram. Stream below or direct download here.

Dailies

Steve Henderson and I - sharp young men

I've returned from Bradford - a magical land where everyone wears running clothes, yet nobody runs - and I have to say that BAF was a big win. For a relatively modest event, the caliber of guests was blisteringly high with some exceptional work screened. Skwigly was a strong presence at this year's edition, by which I mean we scurried about the place irritating everyone like a skin rash. As well as a laid-back, repeat showing of our Skwigly Showcase (prepared for the Encounters fringe programme back in August) I joined Steve for what's now become the BAF/Skwigly Quiz.

With Joanna Quinn

We were also able to get a heap of interviews with some brilliant talents, including MacKinnon and Saunders, Michaela Pavlátová and Dave McKean, while I was privileged enough to both finally meet and live-interview longtime Skwigly supporter and all-around fabulous lady Joanna Quinn.

Laura-Beth Cowley, Adam Elliot and myself

The last day was particularly exciting as I got to both meet and interview Adam Elliot, who I spoke of in the last entry. In spit of jetlag and emergency dental surgery he was incredibly upbeat and entertaining, his onstage discussion with the UK's own stop-motion hero Barry Purves the undeniable highlight of the week. As I had hoped, I (with the help of Skwigly contributors Tom and Laura-Beth) was able to record and release a series of daily podcast minisodes while over there. Head on over to Skwigly to hear exclusive interview excerpts with Dave McKean, Joanna Quinn, Michaela Pavlátová and Adam Elliot, or you can stream the entire set below: Next on the Skwigly agenda is an extended trip to my homeland Quebec where I'll be covering the latest developments over at the NFB as well as Montreal's 12th Sommets du cinéma d’animation! Quite the busy beaver, am I.