ASIFA-East Animation Awards
Image from Asifaeast.com
This past Sunday I made my way to The New School to check out ASIFA's Animation Awards Ceremony. The event was co-hosted by the New York chapter of the Association Internationale du Film d’Animation, and the Parsons School of Art, Media, and Technology at the The New School (as stated on their website).
The program started off by presenting all of the awards and then followed with a screening of each film. I'd like to highlight a few films that were memorable to me. It is worth mentioning that most of these films are participating in the festival circuit and are more than likely not viewable online at this time. The best way to see them is at festivals and by keeping up to date with the creators themselves.
Scent of Geranium - Naghmeh Farzaneh
"Immigration is a new chapter in one's life, a chapter with unexpected events that can take one's life down paths different from the one imagined. This film is an autobiographical account of the director's experience with immigration."
I really enjoyed Naghmeh's authentic story telling. I'm empathetic to immigrant narratives because my family migrated to America and faced a lot of the similar things expressed in this short. Here she shares her experience moving form Iran to NYC and the pressures of assimilating into the society and culture. She is self conscious of her physical features as well as her accent. Truly a beautiful short worth finding. You can learn more about Naghmeh on her website www.naghmehfarzaneh.com
Ring Around the Mulberry Bush - Pox Films Inc.
Ring Around the Mulberry Bush is the short film debuting Lily and Ruby from the upcoming feature film PLUSH. Here Nick animates Lily entering her bedroom. The set has been built out with hand sculpted furnishings and details. Her wardrobe has been designed and tailored to the body of the puppet. To be released this summer with screenings in New York and Los Angeles.
I'm a huge fan of stop motion. I was intrigued by this short because it isn't visually what I go for and I appreciated that. The characters by not falling into a standard cute, big head bright eyes design we are accustomed ti allows you to really be attentive to the story being told. When studios and artists treat animation as a medium and not a drama it allows captivating content to be made. I found myself wanting to learn more about these characters. Check out the trailer for Ring Around the Mulberry Bush below and visit poxfilmsinc.com for more info.
Filthy but Fine - Arthur Metcalf
A tough night in a tough city.
I loved this film because of the visual design. The animation style is extremely fluid and he exaggerates all of the principals of animation in ways that are very familiar to old classic cartoons such as Looney Tunes, early Mickey Mouse shorts and even more recent classics such as Ren & Stimply and Spongebob Squarepants. The characters and the environment play very well with positive and negative space and the pacing of this short is well done. You never feel as if a moment is hanging around for too long. There is a humorous cameo as well.
You can see more of Arthur's work at his site doubleflawless.com and watch Filthy but Fine below.
Those are just 3 out of many many films that were shown. You can visit ASIFA-East's website for more info about the festival, the other films and more. *Updated* See the rest of the winners here