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.

Kick, Scream etc

After unearthing last week's Garbage cover I've had more of a rummage through old recordings and found this passable stab at some Chuck Mosely-era Faith No More: This was recorded in Cheltenham in the Spring of 2011 to a positive crowd who evidently weren't familiar enough with the original track to appreciate what a second-rate job I was doing with it.

If that's left you feeling without a paddle, back in the world of animation I'm happy to say my sneaky new film will be drifting its way to Canadian shores as part of the esteemed Ottawa International Animation Festival!

Alas, it's proved too intimidating and impressive to be playing in competition but the extremely kind and beautiful folks at Laika (the studio behind Coraline, ParaNorman and The Boxtrolls) will be screening it at their Salon des Refusés party this coming Thursday, September 17th at 11pm.
Similarly you may catch a glimpse of the film if you head down to the Rumpus Animation/Skwigly party in Bristol on that same night. That'll take place a little earlier, from 7pm UK time, so if you're in town for Encounters head on over to Kong's of King Street and we'll see you there!