June Shmune

A solid half-decade after it originally made its festival debut, I've finally put my fifth animated short Sunscapades online. It's a film I was initially quite proud of insofar as it came out exactly as I pictured it in my head, which is a rare thing indeed, but I grew a little conflicted about it for a few reasons I won't bore you with here. It had a nice chunky festival run either way, with stops including the BFI London Film Festival, LIAF, Encounters, LSFF, Just For Laughs, Sydney Film Festival, MIAF, Cardiff Animation Nights (twice! What a lovely bunch), Anima Brussels and a whole lot more. It was also an opportunity to work with the wonderful Weird Eye Collective talents Laura-Beth Cowley (producer and voice of Lily and Milly), Fiona Viani-Pericchi (voice of Billy) and Hannah Stevens (background paintings) and boasts some fantastic painterly contributions from Carwyn David, plus some spooky music courtesy of Phil Brookes. So give it a watch and let some sunshine into your lives:

Tomorrow night (June 22nd) I'm putting on another Bristol Animation Meetup (BAM) with my pals from Rumpus Animation and Sun & Moon Studios. This time we're congregating at the King Street Brew House from 7pm and I'll be shamelessly using the opportunity to have a quasi-launch of the new book.

You can have yourselves a merry little thumb-through and if you conclude it's a book you need in your life (as any rational person would) then I'm offering a special BAM-exclusive, mates-rates discount. As with every edition of BAM, all animation professionals, students, enthusiasts, fans and hobbyists from Bristol and the surrounding area – really anyone who fancies making the trek - are welcome.

Back to the book, check out the video above for a cheeky peek at what it looks like in hardback. Then spit coffee at your screen when you see how much the bloody thing costs. Ah well, some things just aren't in my control.

Things are busy as ever in the land o' Skwigly, so be sure to swing by and get caught up. On top of some great coverage from the team on indie hit Lackadaisy, Estonian masterpiece Old Man Cartoon Movie: Lactopalypse!, Star Wars Visions: Season 2, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Genndy Tartakovsky's new project Fixed, in the lead-up to the summer I've put out a trifecta of National Film Board of Canada coverage, looking at new work from Thao Lam and Kjell Boersma (Boat People) and the welcome return of previous Skwigly interviewees Janet Perlman (The Girl with the Red Beret) and Janice Nadeau (Harvey). Some other fun stuff coming up, so keep 'em peeled and be sure to follow us on our Twitter, Insta, Facebook and YouTube so you have a better chance not letting that pesky algorithm hide our goodness from you.

Okay, that's enough. Now be off with you.

March Shmarch

In episode 109 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast I speak with thrice-Oscar-nominated directing duo Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, whose body of work includes the incredible NFB short films When the Day Breaks and Wild Life, speaking about their career and their latest project The Flying Sailor, loosely based on real events.

We also welcome back Turning Red director Domee Shi speaking with Skwigly contributor Ryan Gaur about the film’s positive reception and road to the Oscars. Download here or stream below:

Speaking of recent site contributors, you might also want to check out Penny Whitehouse's conversation with Alex Davy of Blue Zoo as well as Mel Cionco's interview with Rich Magallanes of Nickelodeon. 

That's all I got. Get on outta here, you.

That 'monthly roundup' idea didn't pan out, did it?

I've been kinda quiet 'cause, well, shucks, I don't have a whole lot to say these days. I'll rattle off some general updates to keep this site from going into atrophy.

The epic, protracted journey of Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires has reached its conclusion (some five years after I joined the film's post-production team in its latter months) with a suitably-retro home media release. I don't really buy blurays, except for the occasional animation one, but the sheer strength of craft that went into this is a pretty good justification to pick it up and by some accounts I've read this version looks a little nicer than its streaming alternatives.

Another journey's end worth mentioning is my stint with the fine folks at Shy Guys Studios wrapping up after four-and-a-bit years. It's probably the longest I've been at one place (albeit while juggling a ton of other gigs on the side, as my gluttony for punishment dictates) and it led to some really fun projects including graphics and titles for a bunch of TV shows, animation for educational/health films (the one above was a lot of fun) and my most recent film Speed which managed to tick a few more festival selections off my personal wishlist. As with all the best gigs the real highlight was the people I got to meet through it and I hope we'll manage to work alongside one another again down the line.

Elsewhere the world of Emojitown is growing like gangbusters, having just hit a million followers on its main YouTube channel and over 125k on its more recent TikTok channel. I've been working with WildBrain Spark as a consultant and contributing director/producer on its social media shorts which have accrued a stunning 250+ million views since the end of last year. It's a pretty incredible thing to see this kind of response to a brand new IP, so fingers crossed things continue as it's been a fun world to be a part of and occasionally inject my weirdness into.

Things are still active and busy over in the land of Skwigly (I certainly post there a lot more than I do here) with some National Film Board of Canada/Annecy coverage highlights including a chat with Métis filmmaker Terril Calder (Meneath: The Hidden Island of Ethics) and conversation with multi-Oscar-nominated duo Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby (When the Day Breaks, Wild Life and The Flying Sailor). Also in competition at Annecy is Magical Caresses, an NFB series on demystifying masturbation by Le Clitoris director Lori Malépart-Traversy, who returns to our podcast Intimate Animation to discuss the project. Stream below or download here. 

Other coverage to check out includes an interview with Hamish Steele who recently adapted his progressive YA graphic novel series Deadendia into a new Netflix show Dead End: Paranormal Park (some brilliantly talented folks worked on this one), Laura-Beth's interview with Sam O'Leary, who did an incredible job paying tribute to the shit-your-pants-scary animated PSAs of yore in the series 7 finale of Inside No. 9 (cheers to Mr. Shearsmith for the RT), a trifecta of interviews for Autism Awareness Month with Jorge R. Gutiérrez, Dani Bowman and Grainne McGuinness courtesy of writer Martyn Warren and new contributor Ryan Gaur's editorial pieces on streaming vs cinema, the upcoming Futurama reboot and the feature film Lightyear.

Ryan joins the latest episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast with a segment interviewing Lightyear director Angus MacLane and producer Galyn Susman. We also feature a chat between Laura-Beth and director/writer Loren Bouchard, co-director Bernard Derriman and co-writer/producer Nora Smith of The Bob's Burgers Movie. Again, it's streamable below and here's your download link, ya lucky so-and-so.

I think that's all the talk-about-ables for now. This summer might see things get a bit less quiet as there are a bunch of project announcements on the horizon, so, y'know, stay mildly alert.

Update (nah, that isn't satisfying)

Hi there folks, it's been a minute. In fact I don't think I've ever gone over a month without finding some excuse to talk about myself on here. So, y'know, time to overcompensate. 

Over in Skwiglyville we have ourselves a new, (mostly) Annecy-focused episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast featuring animation royalty Joanna Quinn. Joanna's been one of our biggest supporters in every respect since the earliest days of Skwigly and we've been eagerly waiting for an excuse to bring her on the podcast (although she has appeared previously on a podcast minisode from back in the days of BAF) since before it even started, so what better than to discuss hers and Les Mills's long-gestating new Beryl film Affairs of the Art? On top of receiving the Special Jury Distinction for Direction at Annecy the film, co-produced by the NFB, has won awards at Clermont Ferrand, Animafest Zagreb and Kaboom among others and is easily one of the most technically stunning films doing the rounds this year. Download link here or stream it below:

Also discussed in this episode are Annecy shorts highlights, Mikey Please and Dan Ojari's upcoming Aardman/Netflix special Robin Robin, Erick Oh‘s immersive short Namoo, Marq Evans’s Will Vinton documentary ClayDream, Alberto Vázquez‘s Unicorn Wars, Jorge Gutierrez’s Maya and the Three, Netflix’s adult animation slate including the stop-motion anthology series The House and the announcement of Robert Morgan's feature film debut Stopmotion.

Our new interview series Animation One-To-Ones is coming along nicely with our latest episode welcoming back the uniquely wonderful Anna Ginsburg, who previously appeared on Intimate Animation to discuss her film Private Parts. Since then she has done some brilliant work including What Is Beauty? for CNN, A Love Hate Relationship for Breast Cancer Now (which recently screened as part of Annecy's Commissioned Films programme) and Typically for Bloody Good Period alongside fellow Intimate Animation alum Caitlin McCarthy. You can download the podcast here or watch below:

We have a whole bunch more of these planned for the foreseeable, so to be sure that you don't miss any you might want to go ahead and subscribe to our YouTube channel.

We also have the tenth and, for the time being, final episode of Visible in Visuals up on the site, in which organisers Tanya Scott and Hodan Abdi discuss what progress has been made and what still needs to be done with a panel of contributors - Bimpe Alliu, Mohamed Orekan and Paula Poveda-Urrutia - who were instrumental in getting the series off the ground. Download forevs or stream to your heart's content:

It's been a real privilege to have been able to give this series a podcast platform through Skwigly and if you've not yet listened I strongly urge you do so. Fingers crossed that it will continue in some form once they've had a regroup as there are many more discussions that I'm sure need to be had.

If you're in more of a readin' mood than a listenin' mood then prepare to be effervescent with excitement that my book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films is available at 20% off until August 1st as part of the Routledge/CRC mid-year sale. Another CRC book worth checking out is Andrijana Ružić's Michael Dudok de Wit: A Life in Animation, a thoroughly-researched overview of the director's filmography and working process that I enjoyed a great deal (you can read my full review here). There are also a couple of recent interviews you might want to check out, including my catch-ups with Claude Cloutier (Bad Seeds) and Michelle Kranot (The Hangman at Home/We Are at Home), who have both made stunning new work worth keeping your eyes open for.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ben Mitchell (@benlmitchell)

Since my last post I actually clocked that the end of April marked ten years of my involvement with Skwigly, beginning with my first book review of Bill Plympton's autobiography, followed shortly after by an interview with the man himself. I hadn't planned on doing more for the site (much less one day taking it over) and, given how crucial discovering his work had been to my switch of career direction from graphics to animation and films, meeting Bill felt at the time like everything coming full circle. But, as is often the case in life, it turned out to be the beginning of something far grander. The current team would eventually take it over a couple years later and I'm hugely proud of what we've grown it into and the wealth of relationships that have branched out from it. I posted up a bunch of memories that stood out over on my Instagram including crossing paths with other inspirational figures Joanna Quinn, Signe Baumane, Peter Lord, Billy West, Rosto, Richard Williams, Tomm Moore and some previously unseen footage of chats with Adam Elliot (another crucial artist who helped shape my career direction) and a then up-and-coming Rebecca Sugar, not to mention the ongoing relationships with organisations such as the NFB and Cardiff Animation Festival and some unexpected excuses to sit down with folks outside of the animation sphere like Kaada, Charlie Kaufman and Caroline Thompson.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ben Mitchell (@benlmitchell)

The fact of the matter is that's just the tip of the iceberg and there are a ton of other wonderful memories I didn't have time to post up, such as organising an interview and fan Q&A with legendary Jan Švankmajer; speaking with inspirational talents Bob Jaques, Stephen DeStefano and Jim Gomez for a Ren & Stimpy special; literally hundreds of chats with artists whose work I love (see the big ol' list under Skwigly Interviews on the right there); getting to bring on my amazing friends who've been smashing it like Jo, Jane, Lauren, David, Phil, Mary and Matt; driving folks nuts with Steve's MAF quizzes; interviews conducted in lightning storms; bringing my dad on the podcast to chat about his work on Yellow Submarine; curating programmes for Encounters, BAF, MAF, CAN and CineMe; working with other festivals including Animafest Zagreb, ITFS Stuttgart, DAFF and Anima; appearing on TV to talk about dirty cartoons with Steve; teaching the world to sing in Brussels; teaching the world to sing in Manchester; even being stranded in Geneva waiting for a bus to Annecy after my flight from Bristol was delayed by 4+ hours has, by virtue of the folks I met along the way, become a fond memory...just about.

It isn't all roses though and unfortunately doing this kind of work means you occasionally encounter the odd nutjob or angry little raging bellend. And sometimes someone you admire when you first meet/interview them turns out to be, well, not so admirable. While those stories do make for better anecdotes, I'll save them for me memoirs. What is clear is that those instances are completely eclipsed by the comparative wealth of joyful moments and that's an important thing to hold onto. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ben Mitchell (@benlmitchell)

More important than anything else is that it was through running Skwigly that I met my favourite lady person Laura-Beth when she came on board as a contributor and eventually our main Features Writer. I'd never have suspected that indulging what started as a hobby for niche animation journalism would have brought somebody so wonderful into my life and she continues to surprise, impress and inspire me every day.

Fun fact: our marriage was such a legendary event within the animation world that acclaimed director Wes Anderson included a replica of our wedding venue in his stop-motion adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox...nine years previously.

Now go follow her Insta if you haven't yet because it's much more interesting than mine. 

End o' month bits o' business

Following on from episode one, the second Visible in Visuals podcast has gone up today in which panelists Esther Ajibade, Bimpe Alliu, Mel Garber, Mohamed Orekan, Rizwan Rafiq, Tanya J Scott, Ash Wu and Beverly Yeang are chaired by Hodan Abdi to discuss the question “Why is fair and diverse representation within animation important and how can we improve it?”

In this panel, representation within animation content – and how these representations impact the audience watching it – is discussed from a POC perspective. Download here or stream below:

To get in touch with – or learn more about – Visible in Visuals you can follow them on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and email visibleinvisuals {at} gmail.com.

While you're on Skwigly you might want to catch up on some recent interviews as it's been a minute or two since I've mentioned any on here. Recently I spoke with Cliona Noonan when her film was part of the Cardiff Animation Nights August screening; her film Wet & Soppy has since been released online and nabbed a Vimeo Staff Pick so give it a watch and learn more here. 

I was also able to catch up with Daniel Gray whose previous film teeth (co-directed with Tom Brown) was a major case-study in my book Independent Animation: Developing, Producing and Distributing Your Animated Films. In our latest interview he discusses his spooky solo follow-up HIDE, made in collaboration with the National Film Board of Canada, La Cellule Productions and CUB Animation, in anticipation of its premiere at the Ottawa International Animation Festival last week.

Two other NFB productions screening at OIAF this year are Robin McKenna's Thanadoula as well as 4 North A, which brings together the talents of Jordan Canning and animator Howie Shia (whose previous work we've covered includes BAM and Marco's Oriental Noodles). They're all visually stunning pieces and well worth learning more about, so give the interviews a read and keep your eyes peeled for the films as they're sure to be hitting the festival circuit in a big way.

More nifty news for Laura-Beth Cowley's The Gift in that it is among the Finalists in the Salem Horror Fest's Wicked Shorts programme that takes place this weekend! You really couldn't imagine a better pairing. Looks like there's a lot of great things on to sink your teeth into so take a peek at the full programme here.

Spooktacular

Just in time for Halloween, our spooky eighty-sixth episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast features directorial duo Dale Hayward and Sylvie Trouvé - whose National Film Board of Canada film Bone Mother has been released online this month - speaking with Laura-Beth. We also round-up some creepy animated short film highlights we've caught during our recent patronage of the BFI London Film Festival, Cardiff Animation Nights and the Encounters Late Lounge and get up to speed on the progress of Marimo, while Steve and I discuss the legacies of two dearly-missed animation stalwarts Roger Mainwood (Ethel and Ernest) and Claymation pioneer Will Vinton, whose work has and will doubtless continue to leave a lasting impression on animation history. As always you can either direct download or give it a stream, although if it's still the 31st when you're reading this I'd recommend the latter as there's a 50/50 chance you'll get to hear a secret (well, not so much now) 'haunted' version of the episode. 

Sticking with the theme, the next festival that will be featuring my own creepy short Sunscapades is Abertoir: The International Horror Festival of Wales that takes place at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre from November 13th-18th. I'm not sure when exactly the film will screen just yet but I'm assuming it'll be either Thursday 15th or Friday 16th in one of the shorts programmes. In the meantime treat yourself to a gander at the festival line-up, it looks like a pretty fantastic event, all things considered.
Right, back to my evening of waiting for trick-or-treaters to show up and watching their faces fall when I give them handfuls of loose Fisherman's Friends. You've got to keep active as the nights draw in, folks.

Power Couple

For the eighty-first episode of the Skwigly Animation Podcast I'm thrilled to have been able to speak with Alison Snowden and David Fine of Snowden Fine Animation.
Having met at the NFTS, the pair went on to work with the NFB for their short George and Rosemary and the Oscar-winning Bob’s Birthday that later inspired the hit adult animated sitcom Bob and Margaret.
Alison and David have teamed up again with the NFB for their latest film Animal Behaviour, their first new short film in over twenty years that will be taking major festivals by storm in the coming weeks, with official selections at Animafest Zagreb, the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Anima Mundi.
Also discussed in this episode: Upcoming highlights from Annecy, the curious world of Disney’s early sequels, the misguided efforts of Circle 7 and the not-especially-destructive trailer for Ralph Breaks the Internet.
Direct download here or stream below:

The Stag Podcast

In episode 73 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast - the last episode I will produce as an unmarried man, no less - we welcome Ireland-born, Vancouver-based visual artist Eoin Duffy, director of the National Film Board of Canada short I Am Here.
Having studied Visual Communication at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Eoin’s background in graphic design ultimately led to motion graphics and animation, notable works including his debut 2012 short On Departure with 2014’s The Missing Scarf shortlisted for Best Animated Short at the 86th Academy Awards and nominated for Best Short Film at the 27th European Film Awards.
Produced by Shirley Vercruysse and Maral Mohammadian of the NFB and Executive Produced by Michael Fukushima, the film will screen in competition at this year’s Encounters Short Film & Animation Festival in Bristol as part of the screening Animation 1: Packing A Punch (the same screening will feature Laura-Beth's film Boris-Noris - so be there, god-damn you)
Also discussed in this episode: Aardman‘s first full Early Man trailer, the latest Bertram Fiddle outing from Rumpus Animation and intriguing new goings-on with stop-motion nightmare master Robert Morgan. Stream below or direct download:

Ben betwixt fests

As I froghop from Animafest in Zagreb to Annecy (in, y'know, Annecy), here are a couple of interviews worth sharing.

In episode 72 of the podcast we welcome Eva Cvijanović, director of the National Film Board of Canada/Bonobostudio short Hedgehog’s Home that, on top of playing in the Annecy competition this week (with Anima Mundi to follow in July), recently picked up the Animafest Audience award, understandably so as it was easily the most enthusiastically-received film that played at the fest).
A graduate of Concordia University, Eva’s independent film work includes 2010’s Once Upon a Many Time and 2013’s Seasick. Her work with the NFB began with her participation in the seventh edition of the Hothouse apprenticeship scheme, for which she made The Kiss (2011). Since then she has created the micro-short Survival of the Fittest (originally produced in 2014 and released this year as part of the NFB’s Naked Island series) with Hedgehog’s Home, a stop-motion adaptation of Branko Ćopić’s classic children’s book, being her most ambitious film project to date.
Also discussed in this episode: Annecy anticipation, the quasi-controversy of Red Shoes, Emoji Movie emoting and the gloriously dubious VFX of Twin Peaks. Stream above or direct download here.

I've also today put up a written interview with the film's co-producer Jelena Popović about her involvement in the films as well as some other recent projects including Chintis Lundgren's Manivald, Sheldon Cohen’s My Heart Attack, Theo Ushev’s Blood Manifesto and the recent NFB micro-shorts series Naked Island. She's a tremendous person doing tremendous things so please do take the time to check out the piece and look into some of what she's been up to, you'll be glad you did:
Producing Animation: Jelena Popović
Right, off to get in some lake time before press duties commence. Happy heatwave, everyone!

Peaks and Valley

Couple Skwigly updates, we have a new contributor Simmon Keith Barney whose first piece puts forward some interesting ideas about how to approach alternate frame rates for your animation projects. Good food for thought and I kinda wish I'd read it before I embarked on my current film Sunscapades which I made the increasingly regrettable decision to animate all on 1s. Give it a read here and see what you think.

In episode 68 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we welcome Robert Valley, director of the original Vimeo animated documentary short Pear Cider and Cigarettes.
Developed from his own self-published graphic novels and produced by Cara Speller of Passion Pictures, the film tells the true story of Valley’s attempts to keep his childhood friend from destroying himself, a task that grows increasingly difficult as time wears on. Earlier this month Pear Cider and Cigarettes picked up an Annie Award for Best Animated Special Production and is among this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Animated Short.
Also discussed in this episode: BAFTA wins, Oscar nominees, recent National Film and Television School output and the questionable necessity of a Beauty and the Beast remake.

Last week on the site I spoke with Montreal-based director Eva Cvijanović, whose Branko Ćopić adaptation Hedgehog's Home (produced with the NFB and Bonobostudio) premiered at Berlinale recently and is a real treat for stop-mo enthusiasts. Click the link below to learn more:
Interview with Eva Cvijanović
It's only briefly touched upon in the interview but something that struck me about this film is that it makes great use of Kenneth Welsh's propensity toward broad character performances, something that was horribly misused when he was in Twin Peaks. Basically he came in pretty late as a sort of replacement bad guy who was all set up to be kind of Hannibal-esque and ended up more like a panto villain. Then Lynch directed him in the last episode and he was genuinely brilliant. Goes to show how many people involved in that series just didn't know what they were doing (says the guy whose directorial experience comes to less than an hour's worth of animated shorts). Anyway, he's very good in this is the point.

I'm gearing up for the inevitable Twin Peaks rewatch before the new series starts in May. I love Lynch and am probably in the minority when I say that Fire Walk With Me is my favourite film of his, but only about a third of the actual TV show's episode really matched up to either as far as my personal enthusiasm went. Plus because I loved the film so much I remain annoyed that David Bowie and Keifer Sutherland's characters never appear in the show, although I gather Harry Dean Stanton's will in the new ones so that's a brownie point already. Basically I'm hoping the new show will be Fire Walk With Me: The Series, something that would leave a lot more hardcore series fans than not pretty disappointed, I imagine.
No idea why I'm typing all this. Ah, I'm procrastinating again. That'll be it.
OKAY. Back to work.

Dog and cats living together, mass hysteria...

In episode 55 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast we’re joined by special guest Paul Driessen. Presently based in France, the Dutch-Canadian animation director began his career on George Dunning’s iconic 1968 feature Yellow Submarine and has been consistently prolific in the world of animated shorts since the early seventies.
Initially developing his style at the National Film Board of Canada, Paul has subsequently produced over twenty-five films both in Canada and the Netherlands. Amongst these are such acclaimed works as An Old Box, Cat’s Cradle, The Killing of an Egg and the Oscar-nominated 3 Misses. His recent NFB film Cat Meets Dog – produced by Marcy Page and Maral Mohammadian and co-produced in The Netherlands and Belgium – embraces several traits of Paul’s signature style, depicting interweaving narratives and realities through use of split screen and manipulating time in a manner evocative of prior work such as The Boy Who Saw the Iceberg and Oedipus.
The film has screened internationally at festivals including HAFF, NFF, Sitges and Animatou, with an upcoming screening at the prestigious Hiroshima International Animation Festival this August.
Also discussed in this episode – Pokémon GO (of course), how Ghostbusters fans ruined their own childhoods, the artifice of progressive subject matter in animated film and television and San Diego Comic Con animation news for Steven Universe, Rick and Morty, The Lego Batman Movie and Batman: The Killing Joke. Stream below, subscribe or direct download:

I hope I packed enough sunscreen

FFS

Happy Sunday everyone! Typin' atcha while bathed in the eerie, warming glow of Bristol Airport's flourescent lights at a time of morning I'm very rarely awake either by or until. Soon, however, I'll be Annecy-bound and it's sure to be a fun jaunt, if wet and exhausting. There'll be lots of Skwigly coverage, naturally, in fact some of it's already gone up. Steve has a round-up of the UK presence at the fest while I catch up with Patrick Osborne, he who directed the universally-beloved Oscar-winning Disney short Feast (that we spoke with him about previously). Since then he's been working away with the Google ATAP team on the VR film Pearl that festivalgoers can check out at the festival, where Patrick will also be part of a panel discussion on the possibilities and practicalities of VR filmmaking.

While most of what Annecy has on offer will be new to me, there are few personal recommendations for others who are attending that I have from my various travels and dealings in recent months. On the features side of things, look out for Ann Marie Fleming's NFB film Window Horses, which draws on the talents of some wonderful animators to tell a story of Iran's cultural landscape from the perspective of an out-of-water Westerner (I also have a director interview going up next week).
Also worth a watch is the fascinating Psychonauts: The Forgotten Children by Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero, a feature-length outing for the characters established in the short film Birdboy boasting much-improved design and animation and some unexpectedly bizarre humour that was right up my street. You can read my full review of the film for more on what I made of it.
I also have to give props to Penny Lane's Nuts! - it's a film that at first strikes the viewer as misguided and a little confused, being an adaptation of a clearly non-impartial biopic of medical and broadcast pioneer 'Doctor' John Brinkley. As it goes on, however, all confusions are evaporated, revealing a very astute and commendable character study. Ironically my only issue with it is the animation, but I'll expand on why when my review goes up later in the week.
As far as short films are concerned, again there's a lot I've not yet seen but of the ones I have here are some absolutely cracking pieces of work to watch out for:
How Long, Not Long (Michelle Kranot/Uri Kranot, Denmark)
Squame (Nicolas Brault, Canada)
Spoon (Marcus Kempken, Germany)
Stems (Ainslie Henderson, UK)
Blind Vaysha (Theo Ushev, Canada) 
Accidents, Blunders and Calamities (James Cunningham, New Zealand)
The Head Vanishes (Franck Dion, France) - interview going up on Skwigly tomorrow.

In non-Annecy Skwigly round-up news, on top of an interview with Ren & Stimpy APC veteran and Looney Tunes-redesigner Jessica Borutski about her new show Bunnicula, last week was largely devoted to shining a bit of a spotlight on some fresh-faced Canadians who have recently made their first professional animated films as part of the National Film Board of Canada's ongoing Hothouse apprenticeship scheme. We did a similar thing last year, this time around hearing from Hothouse alumnus and Mentoring Director Malcolm Sutherland, as well as the filmmakers themselves: Curtis Horsburgh, Duncan Major, Rhayne Vermette, Lorna Kirk, Catherine Dubeau and Pascaline Lefebvre. There's some really lovely work there and the films are all very short, so give 'em some love.
Righto, time to wrap up, I've got a plane to catch.
UPDATE: No I don't! Not for another five goddamn hours. Top notch work, EasyJet!