La Lista Traviesa!

After last week's lamentation that "The Naughty List" hasn't gotten much of a response from kids' festivals, I just heard that it'll be part of Anifest Rozafa, another predominantly children-oriented festival in Albania this September. Which is nice of them. Forward thinking. I guess them Albanian young'uns have thicker skins. I've always liked that about them.The film's screenings later this month at Mexico's Monterrey International Film Festival I now know will be on Friday 19th (6:30pm), Sunday 21st (4pm) and Tuesday 23rd (9pm) at Cinépolis Las Américas. So if you want to be in Mexico in time you better make a move, sharpish.
Meanwhile, I'm continuing my VHS archival project, transferring any rarities or nostalgic vignettes ne'er released commercially that I come across. Midst amusement at recalling my adolescent impulse to record all manner of 'saucy' European films and Susie Bright documentaries, there have been some pretty good finds here and there. It'll take a while to transfer and upload them all, but here are a handful of snippets from an animation show called "Dope Sheet" back in 1997. I only taped part of one episode (I think because I knew John Kricfalusi was going to be on it and I wanted to see what the voice of Ren looked like) and from what I can see the show seems a little patchy and slow overall. This excerpt from a segment on animation in advertising is kind of interesting for the advice of Oscar Grillo to newcomers (IE don't bother) and a brief conversation with young up-and-comer Luis Cook (who has since both upped and come):

Another piece on cartoon wartime propaganda, similar to the previous doc I posted and notable for the contribution of a still-alive Chuck Jones:

And the aforementioned John K interview in which he extolls the virtues of Bob Clampett and Robert Mitchum:

Hope those entertain you all, because I'm out of things to write. Uh...bye.

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

Feeling Festive

Just to follow up on some of the recent festival news, I now have dates and times for when each one will be showing ‘House Guest’. I figured that, rather than post a separate entry for each one as I found out, it’d be better to just go through them in one post. Excessive blogging is very wasteful to the environment, doncha know…
Fresh Film Fest will include the film as part of their ‘Ordinary Madness’ panorama screening at 10:15pm on Friday, August 14th. More info here.
The Monterrey International Film Festival screens ‘El Invitado’ at 6:30pm on Saturday 22nd, at 9pm on Tuesday 25th and at 4pm on Thurday 27th. All screenings are at the MM Cinemas Leones, screen 8.
Among the other films included is a personal favourite of mine, ‘Our Wonderful Nature’ by Tomer Eshed. If you can’t make the festival I’d recommend you go ahead and watch it on Youtube. It puts the kibosh on any possibility of ‘House Guest’ winning a prize, but it cracks me up regardless. This is the kind of film I’d love to be able to do a few years down the line.
At BornShorts in Denmark, the film is being shown at The Old Mill on friday 28th. The screening starts at noon, for further info and a complete schedule go here.
At the Busho Film Festival ‘House Guest’ will be screening as part of their Informational Screenings throughout the festival, 2nd-4th September. Truth be told I’m a little unclear as to how this will be presented, but the festival can be contacted at their website for more info.

Now I'm Hungry for Monterey Jack Cheese...

Came home from Download (all in all a smashing, sunny time) to some good news. The 5th Monterrey International Film Festival will include 'House Guest' in its line-up. Nice warm fuzzy feeling, so thanks to all involved with the selection.
I don't have any specific info about when it will screen, other than the festival runs from August 21st-29th. Oh, and it's in Mexico :P
Will post more when I know. In the meantime I'm gonna run my unwashed self a bath. This is what happens when you go five days without the amenities of civilised society: