March: Jury Nights March 9, 11, 16, 17 April 15: Networking event with ASIFA-East, WIA, WICM, Jill Gilbert April 21: Animazing Festival Event May 9: ASIFA Animation Festival
Now Accepting Films! Deadline March 1st
Download Entry Form
The festival is a unique showcase for the most groundbreaking independent and commercial animation being produced in the industry today. Enter your film today!!!
Jury Screenings for ASIFA-East’s 41st Annual Animation Festival!
Free and open to all, but only up-to-date ASIFA-East members may vote in the jury screenings. It is possible to join or renew a membership that evening – please print out and bring this membership form with you.
All screenings start at 7pm – Members should arrive at 6:30 to sign in to get a ballot.
TUESDAY, MARCH 9 – Student Films (3rd fl. amphitheatre) THURSDAY, MARCH 11 – Commercials/Promos under 2mins (3rd fl. amphitheatre) TUESDAY, MARCH 16 – Independent Films (3rd fl. amphithertre) WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17 – Sponsored Films over 2 mins (5th fl, rm. 502)
SVA School Of Visual Arts 209 East 23rd Street (Bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave) NYC * See dates for room locations *
One of Glen Kean's original rough animation drawings from "Beauty and the Beast"
“WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY” Movie review by Emmett Goodman
I was lucky enough to attend a preview of Don Hahn’s new documentary, “Waking Sleeping Beauty”. The Dolby Screening Room is a small theater, which is mostly used for critical viewings. Honestly, I felt out of my league there, as possibly the youngest audience member. Still, I can say it was worth it.
Most film artists of my generation know of the Disney Renaissance that took place in the late 80’s and 90’s. After a series of critical and/or financial disappointments by the mid 80’s, it seemed the Disney empire’s best years were behind it. Then with the appointment of new CEO Michael Eisner, along with Frank Wells and Jeffrey Katzenberg, the studio found new direction. These led to some of the studio’s most successful films ever, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. Don Hahn, primarily a producer, directed this documentary, which covers the inner workings of the Disney studios between 1984 and 1994.
There are several animation and film giants on view here, mostly seen through home movies shot buy future Pixar legends John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. There are several early clips of Lasseter, Ranft, Hahn, Brad Bird, John Musker, Ron Clements, Glen Keane, and Tim Burton at the studio in the early 80’s. Unfortunately (and not surprisingly) these guys came to Disney full of energy and new ideas, but were soon reined in by management more interested in keeping the studio’s reputation intact than in creating groundbreaking work.
click here to read this article in its entirety
Article written by Dayna Gonzalez.
This past Friday night, ASIFA-East was treated to a very special and entertaining evening with The Singing CPA, Steven Zelin. I cannot believe that we spent 3 hours talking about taxes and the evening just flew by! Animators and artists came armed with questions regarding every possible scenario we encounter on a daily basis, and Steven took the time to thoroughly go over every nuance of this crazy business in regards to taxes and the IRS. And he did it while strumming his guitar the whole time, and breaking out into hilarious songs, about, you guessed it, filing taxes!
As artists and animators, the world of taxes is often a hard one to understand and navigate. I don’t think it’d be too far-fetched to say that most of us find taxes a mystery and a bore at the same time. The majority of us work on a freelance basis, whether we choose to freely or are reluctantly pushed into it by the sheer nature of the animation business. By the time tax time comes around, most of us have a mixture of 1099s, W2s, unemployment, and a mountain of receipts to go through. Dealing with taxes can be a confusing mess. That’s why I’m a huge advocate of arming yourself with as much knowledge as possible about your finances and business. As freelancers, we cannot rely on the traditional safety net of an employer taking care of us. It is up to us to do that for ourselves. We are our own advocates. I think it’s highly beneficial to see an accountant that understands the issues freelancers face, and what better one, than one who is a freelancer himself!
Read the entire article here!
still from Hedgehog in the Fog
Acclaimed Russian animator, Yuri Norstein stopped by the SVA theatre last night, to show his films and have a Q & A with the audience. The animation community here heavily anticipated the evening, and the house was packed. It had been 10 years since Yuri’s last visit. Many well-known NY animators turned out to hear him speak, and it was very inspirational to be listening to such an amazing artist.
Click here to read this article in its entirety.
Steven Zelin, The Singing CPA
Steven Zelin is the Singing CPA. He writes and performs funny songs about taxes and accounting, and he’s been a certified public accountant for over 10 years. He started his career with PricewaterhouseCoopers and currently is the principal of a practice specializing in providing high quality tax and accounting services to individuals, small businesses and non-profit organizations. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Nightline, The New York Daily News and many radio shows. He is a regular guest speaker at SVA and teaches Accounting at Long Island University. Mr. Zelin has an MBA in Finance and Marketing from Fordham University.
He will join us on Feb 19 to discuss (and sing about) the business of being an artist with a focus on taxes as April 15th approaches. He will walk us through an interactive exercise in preparing a tax return, give advice on record keeping for artists, and provide resources on how you could get your tax returns prepared for free. Bring your tax questions to what is sure to be an entertaining event!
Steven Zelin, The Singing CPA Friday Feb 19, 7 PM SVA 209 E. 23rd Street Room 502, 5th Floor Admission: Free www.theSingingCPA.com
We were treated to a Secret of Kells screening a few weeks back.
The film, now nominated for best animated film of the year (which I think it deserves) was directed by Tomm Moore.
Friends of ASIFA-East, Spoiler Alert Radio, interviewed him recently and you can listen to it here.
