Author: Newsroom
LOS ANGELES (October 8, 2021) – ANIMATION IS FILM (AIF) announced today the jury members and the special events happening at the 4th annual edition of the Animation Is Film festival, alongside the extremely popular Annecy International and Women In Animation curated program featuring a diverse array of beautiful, thought-provoking short films from around the world directed by women. Additionally, LAIKA, will host a showcase of all five of award-winning animation studio feature films presented in a curated display in the TCL lobby, characters include: Coraline, ParaNorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings and Missing Link. The Festival takes place in-person on October 22-24 and returns to its home at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood. Tickets for ANIMATION IS FILM are now on sale at animationisfilm.com.
“This year’s Animation Is Film jury is made up of a panel of notable industry professionals whose uniqueness and diversity matches the Competition lineup itself. This is a truly wonderful group, and we’re honored to have them,” stated Festival Director Matt Kaszanek.
2021 JURORS
Myke Chilian (Animator; Creator, Tig ‘n Seek)
Myke Chilian is a Los Angeles based animator, storyboard artist, writer, voice actor, and musician. He is the creator and executive producer of the HBO Max series, Tig n’ Seek, which is produced by Cartoon Network Studios. Chilian has previously written and storyboarded for Cartoon Network’s Uncle Grandpa and helped establish the look for Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. In addition to working in animation, Chilian plays the electric accordion with his alt-punk band, The Manx.
Deborah Cook (Stop-Motion Costume Designer)
Originally from England, Deborah Cook has designed and built costumes for every LAIKA film (Missing Link, Kubo and the Two Strings, The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, Coraline). Her designs for Kubo won a nomination for Excellence in Fantasy Film by the Costume Designers Guild, the first time a costume designer for an animated film was recognized, and she received a Visual Effects Society nomination for Coraline. Detailed, in-depth research, innovation in small-scale fabric technology and expertise in engineered fabric movement have made Deborah one of the leading costume designers working in film. Other film credits include The Corpse Bride and The Fantastic Mr. Fox.
Peter Debruge (Chief Film Critic, Variety / Jury Chair)
Variety’s Chief International Film Critic, Peter is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin’s film studies program. Prior to Variety, he spent four years working as an editor for AOL Moviefone. In addition to hundreds of reviews for the Austin Chronicle, Miami Herald and Premiere, his writing on film has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Life, Creative Screenwriting, Backstory and IndieWire. Peter also contributed to the book Variety’s The Movie That Changed My Life.
Sandra Equihua (Netflix’s animated series “Maya and the Three”)
Born in Tijuana B.C., Sandra Equihua graduated from IBERO university with a bachelors in Graphic Design. She has had the opportunity to work as a graphic designer, illustrator and a character designer next to her husband, Jorge Gutierrez, in companies such as WB, Disney, Nick JR, and Nickelodeon. Both created the animated series “El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera”. It was thanks to this series that Equihua was awarded an Emmy. Equihua continues her career working as a character designer for the animated movie “The Book of Life”. She is currently working for NETFLIX on the animated series “Maya and the Three”.
Dan Krall (Artist, Producer, Dexter’s Laboratory)
Krall is an Emmy and Annie award-winning artist, producer, and art director with over 25 years’ experience in the animation industry. He currently serves as Consulting Producer on Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, the upcoming animated series produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Amblin Television and coming soon to HBO Max. Prior credits include popular titles such as Dexter’s Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Chowder, Coraline, and Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Krall is also a published children’s book author and Illustrator.
Kristin Lowe (CCO of Features for DreamWorks Animation)
Kristin Lowe is Chief Creative Officer, Features for DreamWorks Animation. In this role, Lowe oversees feature development, casting and artistic management for the studio’s renowned feature film division. DreamWorks Animation’s upcoming 2022 feature slate includes The Bad Guys, an original film based on the best-selling books, and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, the sequel to the 2011 Oscar®-nominated blockbuster. Recently released films include The Boss Baby: Family Business, the sequel to the 2017 Oscar®-nominated blockbuster comedy, the epic adventure Spirit Untamed, the colorful, glitter-filled Trolls World Tour, and audience favorite and award-nominated The Croods: A New Age.
Erick Oh (Oscar Nominee for “Opera”)
Erick Oh is an Oscar nominated Korean filmmaker based in California, USA. His films have been introduced and awarded at numerous film festivals including Academy Awards, Annie Awards, Annecy Animation Festival, Zagreb Film Festival, SIGGRAPH, Anima Mundi and more. Erick became an animator at Pixar Animation Studios from 2010 to 2016.. Erick’s latest film ‘OPERA’ was nominated for the Oscar and his upcoming project ‘NAMOO’ was premiered in Sundance Film Festival this year.
Ray Pride (Film Critic)
Ray Pride is the longtime film critic of Chicago’s Newcity arts monthly and a contributing editor to Filmmaker magazine. His history of Chicago “Ghost Signs” in words and images will be published in 2022.
Raye Rodriguez (Creator & Executive Producer of Crunchyroll Original Series “High Guardian Spice”)
Raye Rodriguez is the Creator and Executive Producer of the upcoming Crunchyroll Original series “High Guardian Spice.” Raye graduated from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Rodriguez began his career as a director, storyboard artist and character designer at Fox Animation Domination High-Definition (Fox ADHD). He served as a Character Designer at PUNY Entertainment on DANGER & EGGS for Amazon Studios, and as a Storyboard Artist at Sprite Animation on TINPO for Cbeebies.
Charles Solomon (Critic and Historian)
An internationally respected critic and historian of animation, Charles Solomon has written on the subject for the New York Times, Newsweek (Japan), Rolling Stone, the Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, Variety, the Manchester Guardian, and National Public Radio. His books include “The Art of Frozen,” “The Art of the Disney Golden Books,” “The Toy Story Films: An Animated Journey,” “Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Disney’s Animated Classic Beauty and the Beast,” “The Art of Toy Story 3,” “Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation,”
Ramin Zahed (Editor-in-Chief for Animation Magazine)
Ramin Zahed is an LA-based author and journalist who specializes in animation, visual effects, pop culture and indie films. He is the Editor in Chief of Animation Magazine and has written for Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, Los Angeles Times, Sight and Sound and others. Among his recent books are The Art of The Mitchells vs. the Machines, The Art of Vivo, The Art of Love, Death + Robots, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse The Art of the Movie, and The Art of Klaus.
BEST OF ANNECY: SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN FILMMAKERS
Animation Is Film is proud to debut an international showcase of 2021 female-directed animated shorts, curated in partnership with WIA and Annecy. This special program features a diverse array of beautiful, dynamic storytelling experiences that cover a wide variety of subject matter and artistic styles—a concise but compelling display of women’s vision and voice in today’s global animation community.
NO LEADERS PLEASE (dir. Joan Gratz / USA)Works inspired by artists Basquiat, Banksy, Haring, and Ai Weiwei represent Bukowski’s poem’s theme of self-invention.
AFFAIRS OF THE ART (dir. Joanna Quinn / UK, Canada)
Beryl’s back in “Affairs of the Art”, which showcases one family’s eccentric yet endearing obsessions with everything from drawing to screw threads and pet taxidermy.
IT RAINS (LLUEVE) (dirs. Carolina Corral Paredes & Magali Rocha Donnadieu / Mexico)
Is that what mass graves are like, one body on top of the other and nothing else? Through the rain, Oliver sends signals to his mother to help her unearth the truth.
HOW TO BE AT HOME (dir. Andrea Dorfman / Canada)
Lean into loneliness – and know you’re not alone in it. Filmmaker Andrea Dorfman reunites with poet Tanya Davis to craft tender and profound animation on the theme of isolation, providing a wise and soaringly lyrical sequel to their viral hit “How to Be Alone”
CE QUI RESONNE DANS LE SILENCE (WHAT RESONATES IN SILENCE) (dir. Marine Blin / France)
Hiding death doesn’t make it disappear. A young girl suffers from the adults’ silences and feels dispossessed of her right to mourn. As an adult, she describes the tender gestures that bind her to the dead.
LE REVEIL DES INSECTES (THE AWAKENING OF THE INSECTS) (dir. Stephanie Lansaque / France)Mr Lam is an old man, losing his memory since his wife died. The last day of “the insects’ hibernation”, he receives an unexpected visit from Ms. Meng, Taoist exorcist determined to chase demons out of his head.
ANIMATION IS FILM: VIRTUAL PROGRAM
All of these virtual program events are free and available for viewing at AnimationIsFilm.com during the festival.
BAOBAB STUDIOS’ NAMOO: A CONVERSATION WITH ERIC DARNELL AND ERICK OH
Join Baobab Studios’ Chief Creative Officer, Eric Darnell, and Erick Oh, the Oscar-nominated director of their latest animated short film, NAMOO, as they talk about their respective journeys working for big studios such as DreamWorks Animation and Pixar, embracing new technology and working in the world of independent filmmaking. They will discuss their creative freedom from an artistic standpoint, as well as the biggest challenges they faced along the way. They will end by going into a deep dive about creating the studio’s latest animated short film, NAMOO, simultaneously for both theatrical and VR platforms. Using one of the latest state-of-the-art animation tools, Quill, along with real-time technology, NAMOO – translated to “tree” in Korean – is a hand-crafted narrative poem following the beautiful and heartbreaking moments of a man’s life, from beginning to end.
ANIMATION IN VIDEO GAMES
As video games continue to push the boundaries of narrative animation, Slate’s Allegra Frank moderates a discussion on the importance of 2D character designs and development in video game storytelling.
MAMORU HOSODA: IN CONVERSATION WITH LEONARD MALTIN
On the event of the West Coast premiere of his latest film, Belle, Academy Award nominee Mamoru Hosoda sits down with critic Leonard Maltin for an in-depth discussion of his career and the new film.
TALE AS OLD AS TIME: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST TURNS 30
In celebration of the 30th anniversary, Producer Don Hahn moderates a discussion with directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise on the making of a modern animated classic and its legacy 30 years later.
2021 ANIMATION IS FILM COVID-19 PROTOCOLS
In order to provide a safe environment for our filmmakers, visitors and attendees, Animation is Film requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for entry to all festival events. Vaccine and test documentation will be verified on-site by CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort) to maximize a safe and healthy festival for all. For more information, please visit animationisfilm.com.