The 41st Annual ASIFA-East Animation Festival was a wonderful display of talent, art and humor. The 29 films showcased on Sunday, May 9, 2010, were a mixture of industry veterans, studios, students and newcomers. The works of Bill Plympton (Plymptoons), Mo Willems (Weston Woods Studio), Elliot Cowan, and David B. Levy, all established animation artists, stood alongside many animators who are less well known, but all were well deserved prize winners.

The Festival began with a film, Topi, whose break from the traditional genre of animation comedy was a pleasure to watch. The captivating story made up for the sometimes stiff animation. This was the only serious film in the festival. Being confined to only comedy or commercialism sometimes makes animation dull. Breaking from this tradition, the student filmmaker, Arjun Rihan, gave the audience a glimpse into a culture and world many of us in America do not understand, but all of us could relate to the humanitarian approach of the characters. The comedy of animation has been explored vastly over the past century, and this film deserved mention due to its exceptional difference.

Other animations were also well deserved of their prizes, including the innovative Tom Gasek with his independent film Off-Line, set inside an abused microwave oven; the catchy-tuned animations of Sean McBride’s I Am a Paleontologist, David Cowles & Andy Kennedy’s Science is Real, and Tiny Inventions’ Electric Car were all delightful and fun to watch; the simple black & white (and red) line animation of Peter Ahern’s Down to the Bone invoked feelings of pain and anguish with seemingly simple animation; while George Thorman’s Sam the Super Sticky was ingenious and had the crowd in belly laughs with nothing more than sticky notes and line drawings.

As the night went on, the laughs, giggles, and applauds roared through the packed theater. Hundreds were in attendance in the egg-shaped, 500-seat Tishman Auditorium at The New School in Manhattan. The venue provided a wonderful auditorium, however the after-party was set on the 5th floor of an adjoining building. The crowd got backed up on the staircase, and stuck there in an endless line of people not moving for quite some time. Although the theater was well chosen, the after-party location was not, as a bottle neck of Festival attendees were left to stand anxiously to wait and get in. Other than this and a small technical difficulty during the Festival, which all of us who create films can appreciate and understand, the event was a brilliant display of hard work and fascinating art, and was well worth attending. The emphasis on traditional, stop-motion and cutout 2d work far outshone the more modern 3d animation; which was a bit disappointing, in that there wasn’t more 3d represented in the festival.

The festival culminated with Best In Show. The witty story Backwards, by Aaron Hughes & Lisa LaBracio, was another basic line and color 2d animation, with a captivating story which played… well…backwards. In leaving the audience to the surprise ending (or beginning) the filmmakers avant-guard approach ended the festival with laughs, applause and anticipation for next years events. ASIFA-East did a fantastic job with this festival and is sure to delight many more animation enthusiasts in the future. Congratulations to all winners of the 41st Annual ASIFA-East Animation Festival!

Bill Plympton with Caresse Singh

I wasn’t sure what to expect for my first attendance at the ASIFA-East Animation Festival held on Sunday, May 9th at the Tishman Auditorium of The New School. I arrived just in time, barely escaping the Mother’s Day festivities mandated by my large family. The show ran smoothly, with only one technical glitch which most people used as their moment to take a bathroom break.

Some highlights included Backwards, the Best in Show by Aaron Hughes and Lisa LaBracio. The film, revealed entirely backwards and with a wildly unexpected ending (technically, beginning) humorously depicted the bad breakup between a seemingly insensitive guy and an overwhelmingly emotional girl. Though likely unintentional, the bickering was particularly effective because most of it could work either backwards or forwards – a staple of unhealthy romance stuck in an unending cycle.

Honorable Mention Student Film Topi by Arjun Rihan was also a personal favorite. Rich in texture and spirit, and plush with great models and thoughtful lighting, Topi serves as proof that CG can be engaging and compelling.

All rewards were rightfully allotted to the deserving recipients. The reception was amazingly fun and eased me into being more social than I at first thought was possible. Meeting and taking a picture with Bill Plympton was among one of the best parts of the night for me. The after party at a nearby bar and the new relationships formed made it a truly memorable night.

-Caresse Singh (caressesingh.blogspot.com)

PHOTOS FROM THE FESTIVAL CAN BE SEEN ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61591879512&ref=ts

ASIFA-East Animation Festival 2010 Signal Film by Elliot Cowan

Article written by David Levy, ASIFA-East President.

On Sunday May 9th, ASIFA-East presented is 41st annual Animation Festival, sharing the spotlight with mothers everywhere, it being Mother’s Day and all. Speaking of which, we had originally booked the venue for the Sunday before but we ended up getting bumped a week. I suppose we should have next year’s festival on Father’s Day, lest we risk being accused of favoring the fairer sex.

For 41 years this festival has well represented the local community in all its scruffy “jeans and t-shirt” goodness. New York City has its share of glamor, with Broadway shows and world premiere red carpet movie events, but its animation scene is dominated by the indie spirit.

This year the student films were among the best stuff in the fest. The show started off with a pair of honorable mentions for Arjun Rihan’s Topi and George Thorman’s Sam the Super Sticky, and it would be hard to imagine two stranger bedfellows. Topi was a striking 3D film concerning the disastrous situation when Indie and Pakistan were partitioned in 1947, resulting in 1,000,000 million deaths as Hindus and Muslims collided on the way towards their new homes and nation states. Topi uses that charged atmosphere to tell the story of a Hindi boy who nearly becomes a victim of the violence but is saved by a old Muslim man he befriended. It’s a very serious and moving film, lovingly staged and executed. I met Arjun Rihan while in competition at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival in 2008. He was pointed out to me as “a talent to keep an eye on,” and boy did that turn out to be true.

Sam the Super Sticky was far lighter fair, depicting a battle (animated on post-it-notes) between a robot and a dinosaur. Some animated films (be they student or otherwise) seem to be about the joy of making a film, and George Thorman’s whimsical cartoon fits that bill to a tee. Further adding to the effect was his acapella soundtrack with all grunts and sound effects preformed by hand, or should I say, by throat?

Coming in at 3rd place was Together!, a Pratt University film by the affable and talented David Sheahan, which was a love letter to full and quirky animation, and (to my mind) a tribute to the lovely animation of The Greedy, a gloppy gooey character in 1977′s Raggedy Ann & Andy, animated by Emery Hawkins. It’s a delight to see hand drawn animation as good as Sheahan’s that’s not in the service of the cliched Hollywood factory subjects and styles. I’ve seen Together! four times now, and I’m still seeing new things to enjoy in it.

Jake Armstrong not only came in 2nd place with his masterful sci-fi pulp valentine The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9, an SVA thesis film that has nothing “student” about it.

Peter Ahern scored the 1st place student film with his Pratt thesis, Down to the Bone, a film just in time for allergy season. Not does this film score laughs, it simultaneously grosses one out. In fact, one of it’s scene’s (a cat licking the bloody “inside-out” shin of the main character) got one of the biggest reactions I’ve ever seen at the ASIFA-East film festival.

The student category simply had it all, showing even the most cynical among us that the future of indie film is secure.

Other highlights of the festival reel (for me) included:
- The energetic animation by Dan Forgione for the Dancing Diablo sesame spot, Spike and Bubble.
- The retro 60s and 70s fun of David Cowles and Andy Kennedy’s They Might Be Giants film, Science is Real.
- Tiny Inventions (Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata’s), They Might Be Giants film, Electric Car, which was an explosion of cute with love in every stitch. Max and Ru are filmmakers that don’t hold back, even when dealing with a low budget project such as this. The result is a real gem of a film that can’t help but make you smile. For an equally lovely, but more decidedly dark, check out their 1st place indie film, Something Left, Something Taken. It’s a hoot.
- Karen Villarreal’s animation/direction of Mo Willem’s Weston Woods film, Knuffle Bunny Too might be his most realized animated storybook yet. All the nuances of Mo’s work are perfectly captured by Karen’s wonderfully rich and delicately subtle animation. This is a real charmer.
- Elliot Cowan’s new Boxhead & Roundhead film, The Thing in the Distance was another finely crafted outing for his character serial. But, better still was his announcement, at the festival, that he’s secured a first stage of funding for a feature film starring his two characters. In fact, Elliot was our festival V.I.P., having also made the classy opening film as well as the award certificates themselves. What a guy!
- ASIFA-East stalwart, Oscar-nominated John R. Dilworth, scored nice success with his half flash-half stop motion and all-raunchy short Rinky Dink. The film itself is partial retelling of the type of relationship study he’d done in his earlier The Dirdy Birdy, but using his own voice as narration along with some very snappy and crisp flash animation was new territory for the director.
- Tom Gasek provided the one stop motion film in the festival with his excellence in animation-award winning Off-Line, a look inside a typical microwave oven. As the circuits break down (a fork was left in the microwave!), the machine’s parts and guts begin to resemble the aftermath of a battlefield. Lots of great filmmaking here, from a veteran stop-motion director.
- Backwards scored the coveted Best-in-Show prize, going to the newish indies Aaron Hughes & Lisa LaBracio, for their delightful back-to-front production. Although NYC has no shortage of established indie superstars, it’s extra special when an indie debut film lands the top prize of the night.

The free event concluded with wine, beer, soda, (but not necessarily in that order), and salads, sandwiches, and cookies, as everyone got to connect and congratulate the winning filmmakers. Those who survived the reception went on to the post-post festival drinks at at Greenwich Village pub called Filddlesticks. A memorable time was had by all! But, don’t feel too bad if you missed it. We do this every year!

Special thanks to the army of folks, without whom, we could not put on this crazy show:
Festival co-chairs:
Nancy Keegan Lennert
Linda Simensky

Party, food, and wine planners:
Linda Beck
Jen Oxley

Festival reel and website updates:
Adrian Urquidez

Festival postcards:
Justin Simonich
Dan Meth

entry sorting/processing help:
John Lustig
Tatia Rosenthal
Katie Cropper
Emmett Goodman
Masako Kanayama

wine wranglers
Alma Sheppard
John Lustig

wine pourers:
Emma Simonich
Jen Oxley
Pedro Delgado
Dayna Gonzalez
Mike Rauch

festival opening film and certificates designer:
Elliot Cowan

Our hosts for the evening:
Anezka Sebek
The New School

Our festival accountant:
Steve Zellin
The New School

And, last but not least:
Thanks to everyone who entered a film this year!…
and, also, thanks to the entire ASIFA-East board of directors

PHOTOS FROM THE FESTIVAL CAN BE SEEN ON OUR FACEBOOK GROUP PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61591879512&ref=ts

2010 OPENING FILM

Elliot Cowan

BEST IN SHOW

Backwards
Aaron Hughes & Lisa LaBracio

INDEPENDENT FILMS

1st Place
Something Left, Something Taken
Tiny Inventions

2nd Place

Let’s Make Out
Stephen Neary

3rd Place

The Hybrid Union
Hybroll Animation

Excellence in Animation
Off-Line
Tom Gasek

Excellence in Design

The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead & Roundhead -
The Thing in the Distance
Elliot Cowan

Excellence in Writing/Humor
Rinky Dink
Stretch Films, Inc.

Excellence in Experimental Techniques
Aesthetic Species Maps (2009)
David Montgomery

Excellence in Soundtrack

The Cow Who Wanted to Be a Hamburger
Plymptoons

SPONSORED FILMS

1st Place
Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity
Weston Woods Studio

2nd Place

I Am a Paleontologist
Sean McBride

3rd Place

Electric Car
Tiny Inventions

Excellence in Animation

Innovation Driven
FlickerLab

Excellence in Design

Science is Real
David Cowles & Andy Kennedy

Excellence in Design
Emperor’s New Clothes
Dancing Diablo

Excellence in Writing/Humor
Hysterical Psycho: “Intro”
W/M Animation

Excellence in Writing/Humor
Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus
Weston Woods Studio

COMMERCIALS
1st Place

Don’t Miss It!
David Cowles & Jeremy Galante

2nd Place
Batter Up
David B. Levy and Elliot Cowan

3rd Place
Hysterical Psycho: “Moon Cheese”
W/M Animation

Excellence in Animation
Dennis & Gnasher
Red Kite Animation

Excellence in Humor
My Daughter Studies
David B. Levy

Excellence in Design

Spike & Bubble
Dancing Diablo

STUDENT FILMS
1st Place

Down to the Bone
Peter Ahern

2nd Place

The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9!
Jake Armstrong

3rd Place
Together!
David Sheahan

Honorable Mention

Sam the Super Sticky
George Thorman

Topi
Arjun Rihan

You are invited to…

The 41st ASIFA-East Animation Festival!

Sunday, May 09.
6 PM
Tishman Auditorium
The New School
66 W.12th Street
Admission: FREE!
-party/reception to follow immediately
Postcard design by Dan Meth.

Last night we wrapped up the last of 4 jury screenings for the upcoming ASIFA-East animation festival.

Student Films

First of all, a big congratulations to every student who had the belief in their film to step up, pay an entry fee and have it screen for their peers.

There is, I think, always a distinct pattern when watching a large collection of student films.

In every class, there’s probably going to be one incredibly talented person, who knows how to draw, animate, takes the time to learn the technology and has some understanding of the storytelling process.

There’s usually a mid range of capable animators who can only get better and better.

The last section is made up of reasonably uninspired individuals and this is reflected in their films.
And of course we saw a little of each.

Commercials and Promos under 2 Minutes

A diverse collection of media.

As is the case these days, a lot of puppeted matter, much of it was done with some style and flair.

Independent Films

This category is really the heart of the Festival.

We had the chance to see new films from two of the cities animation stalwarts (I’m not sure either of them would care to be referred to as warts, though…), plus some films from up and comers.

Very little in the way of character animation and great drawings, though.

Sponsored Films

The last night of jury screenings is always the hardest for anyone who’s sat through the previous eight or nine hours of films, but this year I think it was the strongest night, bolstered mainly by some great music videos from a certain band who favors the NYC animation scene.

It was also nice to see animation from more animation stalwarts (who are less warty than the other stalwarts).

As always it was a mixed bag although with less treats than one would care for, I think.

There was a surprising lack of bad flash, very little 3D animation and a peculiar abundance of music videos.
Why so many, I wonder?

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 *