Open Screening with ASIFA-East

Article written by Linda Beck.

If you’ve not yet been to the annual ASIFA East open screening, it’s a crying shame.  This event celebrates the professional and the amateur, the rudimentary and the polished without the pressure of judgment.  Anyone may bring animation to see it on the big screen and get some feedback. This is a forum for works in progress and/or pieces that would otherwise remain unseen by major audiences for one reason or another.

Monday night offered a healthy variety:  a handful of student films and reels (from Edinboro University, NYU, University of Southern California, and Rochester Institute of Technology), a few experimental or non-linear pieces, a slew of independent narrative films and film segments, and some work for hire pieces.  Animators were asked to say a few things about their pieces as an introduction from their seats.

Unbelievably, this year’s program was just over an hour long.  Surely, more of you have work that you’d like to show off.  I challenge you to have something – even as rough as a short animatic – to share with a generous and supportive audience next year.  Don’t be shy!