17th Annual Animation Show of Shows Press Kit
ACME FILMWORKS PRESENTS
THE 17TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS
For 16 years, The Animation Show of Shows has been created, curated, and presented by Ron Diamond to introduce new and innovative short films exclusively for animation studios, societies, schools, and festivals around the world. Each year over 3,000 animated shorts are created, some of which take years to complete, but only a handful are seen outside the inner circles of the animation community. The Animation Show of Shows is Ron’s vision to heighten the exposure for this extraordinary art form and entertainment platform and to allow international audiences to experience these in a theatrical environment with other peers that share the same passion for animation. This compilation has brought 29 of the films showcased in previous Animation Show of Shows to receive Academy Award® nominations with nine winning the Oscar®.
In THE 17TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS, these beautifully crafted, unique films are also paired with documentary portraits featuring four of the directors as they shed light on the motivation, process and experiences that lead to the making of their films.
The techniques of these innovative films range from hand-drawn, paint on glass and stop-motion, to the latest computer-generated imagery, with its ability to conjure entire worlds with astonishing verisimilitude. Together these films capture, in the words of Andrew Stanton, director of Finding Nemo, “all the wit, cleverness, integrity, warmth and humor that humanity is capable of,” and have a universal appeal that makes them ideal for sharing with family and friends.
THE 17TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS will be distributed theatrically this fall across the US and will feature the current top animated shorts from around the globe. This extraordinary program of 11 films is created by animators from Australia, France, Ireland, the US, Russia, Switzerland, and Iran, with 7 films with women directors or co-directors, and many of which have garnered awards from distinguished festivals such as Cannes, Sundance, SXSW, Berlinale. This will be the first theatrical release of this annual program, finally sharing these animation talents with a wider audience.
Acme Filmworks Presents THE 17TH ANNUAL ANIMATION SHOW OF SHOWS features the following films:
- THE STORY OF PERCIVAL PITS, created by Janette Goodey & John Lewis
- TANT DE FORETS, created by Geoffrey Godet & Burcu Sankur
- SNOWFALL, directed by Conor Whelan
- BALLAD OF HOLLAND ISLAND HOUSE, created by Lynn Tomlinson
- BEHIND THE TREES, created by Amanda Palmer and Avi Ofer
- WE CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THE COSMOS, created by Konstantin Bronzit
- MESSAGES DANS L’AIR, created by Isabel Favez
- STRIPY, Written and directed by Babak Nekooei & Behnoud Nekooei
- ASCENSION written and directed by Thomas Bourdis, Martin de Coudenhove, Caroline Domergue, Colin Laubry, Florian Vecchione
- LOVE IN THE TIME OF MARCH MADNESS, directed by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano
- WORLD OF TOMORROW, directed by Don Hertzfeldt
THE 17TH ANNUAL SHOW OF SHOWS is curated by Ron Diamond and presented by Acme Filmworks. This showcase premiered in Los Angeles beginning on September 24 at the ArcLight Cinemas Hollywood and then will go to over 20 cities across the nation after.
THE 17TH ANNUAL SHOW OF SHOWS is a 501(c)(3) non profit created for the expressed purpose of expanding awareness of exemplary animated Short Films and Animated Short Film restoration and preservation. Donations are tax deductible. Earnings from the distribution of the Animation Show of Shows will be used for the sustainability of our mission and compensate the participating animators/rights holders.
PRESS FOR HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES AND INTERVIEWS CONTACT: RON.DIAMOND@ANIMATIONSHOWOFSHOWS.ORG
The Story of Percival Pilts
Created by Janette Goodey & John Lewis, Australia, New Zealand
Tant de Forets
Created by Geoffrey Godet & Burcu Sankur, France
Based on the poetry of Jacques Prévert and originally part of the “En sortant de l’ecole” series, the “Tant de Forets” (So Many Forests) poem denounces the destruction of forests to make paper pulp, but paper is used to alert people about the threats of deforestation.
Geoffrey Godet was born in France. From very young, he has always liked to draw. When he got older, he became interested in CG animation and even started doing some 3D animations from the age of 13. He studied animation at Supinfocom Valenciennes for three years and graduated from the program in 2013. Godet is fascinated by both the creation of beautiful 3D animations and the more technical aspect of it. He met Burcu Sankur during his studies at Supinfocom, and the two now work together as a directing duo team. They enjoy creating detailed and colorful 3D animations with a graphic look.
Burcu Sankur was born and grew up in Istanbul. From a very young age, she enjoyed drawing and doing all sorts of crafts. She ended up studying visual communication design in Istanbul. Later, she moved to France to pursue a master’s degree in 3D animation at Supinfocom. During her animation studies, she became more and more involved in art direction and illustration, and discovered her real passion for that aspect of filmmaking. She now lives in Paris, France and works together with Geoffrey Godet as a director duo team to create animated videos. She loves playing with shapes and colors in her images, and is inspired by nature and traveling.
Snowfall
Created by Conor Whelan, Ireland
An anxious young man who has a moving experience at a friend’s house party. A story of fleeting love, of mixed emotions, and of how we interact with each other.
Conor Whelan is an animator and designer living in Dublin. He studied Visual Communication at the National College of Art and Design and graduated in 2012, and since then has been animating in production houses. Snowfall is his first short film.
“Making Snowfall was a slow but thrilling process as it’s my first short film. From initial storyboards to finished piece took about twelve months of evenings and weekends. Moments of excitement upon seeing a shot come together were dispersed between long weeks of hand-drawing the in-between frames. One of the nicest parts for me was watching the film with sound effects for the first time, which were done by a really talented sound engineer called Fab Martini. I wanted to make a film whose core message was that love, however fleeting or unrequited, is something to be grateful for. Our lives our full of ephemeral joys that should be savored and remembered and I wanted the film’s main outlook to be one of hope, ultimately.”- Conor Whelan
The Ballad of Holland Island House
Created by Lynn Tomlinson, USA
Animated clay paintings tell the true story of the last house on a sinking island in the Chesapeake Bay, a large and important estuary and waterway in Maryland, on the East Coast of the United States. In an Old-Time Music ballad, the house sings of its life and the creatures it has sheltered during its lifetime journey from tree, to timber, to home, to an ultimate return to nature. It contemplates time, environmental change, and the rise of the seas.
Lynn Tomlinson’s ongoing projects and research push the boundaries between animation and other media and focus on environmental change, metamorphosis and transformation, and states of subjectivity. She works in a wide range of media including animation, documentary, visual effects, sculpture, mosaic, and community-based public art. Lynn’s animation has been screened in international festivals and has aired on children’s public television, MTV and Sesame Street. She also leads workshops that use animation and technology to engage and students, particularly girls and young women.
Behind the Trees
Created by Amanda Palmer and Avi Ofer, USA
2:47 - 1.77 - 24fps - Stereo and 5.1 - 2D
Premiered on July 30, 2015
An imaginative animated short created from a found voice memo, “Behind the Trees” features Amanda Palmer’s reflections on the curious things her husband- Neil Gaiman- mutters while he sleeps.
Amanda Palmer is a fearless singer, songwriter, playwright, blogger and an audaciously expressive pianist who simultaneously embraces – and explodes –traditional frameworks of music, theater and art.
Avi Ofer is a freelance illustrator and animation director. He has worked on a variety of different projects across many mediums, including books and editorial illustrations as well as both commissioned and independently produced animated films. Avi’s myriad of work has been exhibited in art shows and screened in film festivals around the world.
We Can't Live Without the Cosmos
Created by Konstantin Bronzit, Russia
15:20 - 1.85 - 24fps - Stereo and 5.1 - 2D
Premiered at the Hiroshima International Animation Festival on August 21, 2014
Two cosmonauts, two friends, try to do their best in their everyday training life to make their common dream a reality. But this story is not only about the dream.
Konstantin Bronzit is an Academy Award nominated director born in St. Petersburg in Russia. Throughout his career, Bronzit has made about ten short films and won for more than 100 different awards at festivals around the world. In 2001, Bronzit was nominated for French Film Academy Award "Cezar" (for the animated short film "At the Ends of the Earth") and in 2009, Bronzit was nominated for an Oscar (for his animated short film "Lavatory - Love story"). Bronzit is also a distinguished member of the French Film Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Messages Dans L’Air
Created by Isabel Favez, France/Switzerland
6:09 - 1.85 - 24fps - Stereo and 5.1 - 2D
Premiered at the 50th Solothurner Filmtage Festival on January 22, 2015
A universe made completely of paper is the starting point of this love story, as past, present and future events emerge from the folds in the paper. A young woman discovers a message of love enclosed in a folded paper bird. She then witnesses the tragic fate of her admirer‘s goldfish. What can she do? This riveting love story is told through the medium of line drawings.
Isabelle Favez was born in 1974 in Berne, Switzerland, she is a writer / director, animator and illustrator, working mainly on animation films. In 1994 she joined the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst in Zurich (HGKZ). She graduated in Film/Video-Gestalterin in 1999. Since then she has focused on the production of animation films, and has directed seven films to this day. Her films have been selected in many film festivals, including Berlin, Hiroshima, Annecy, Zagreb, Ottawa, Stuttgart, and have won numerous awards. She also works as a freelance animator and illustrator for various clients.
Stripy
Created by Babak Nekooei & Behnoud Nekooei, Iran
3:40 - 1.85 - 24 fps - Stereo and 5.1 - 2D
Premiered at the Annecy International Film Festival on June 20, 2015
At a massive factory, the workers have all been given one simple instruction: paint stripes on the boxes. The work is getting done in the usual, monotonous way… that is until one of the workers decides to paint his boxes a little differently.
Babak Nekooie was born on November 16th, 1978 in Zahedan, Iran a city located on the far east of Iran. His brother Behnoud was born on February 1983 in the same city. Hamid, Babak and Behnoud's father, is a trained painter and designer who is also interested in film and animation.
Babak graduated with a BA in Graphic Design in 2003 and started teaching animating on a TV program called "Image and Movement". At the same year he also started teaching masters courses at the University of Art, Tehran. He directed his first animated film; the title sequence of a popular TV series called “Under the City’s Sky”. Behnoud was in college at this time, where he won the first prize of a student contest for best journalism cartoon, which was received from the then president in 1999.
Behnoud started a Graphic Design major at University of Science and Culture In 2004 and joined Babak. They planned to make their childhood dreams into reality. Babak and Behnoud worked at Bamdad Animation Studio from 2004 to 2007. They were two of the shareholders there and had their first co-directing experience; a short film named “New Melody” in this studio. In 2006 Behnoud co-directed and edited a film called “The Horizon Traveler” which won the best short film award at the Fajr International Film Festival in Tehran.
Ascension
Created by Colin Laubry, Thomas Bourdis, Martin de Coudenhove, Caroline Domergue, Florian Vecchione, France
7:09 - 2.39 - 25 fps - Stereo 5.1 - 3D
Premiered at Supinfocom on June 26, 2013
In the early years of the 20th century, two climbers make the traditional ascent, carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary to the top of the mountain. Their trip does not go according to plan.
Colin Laubry was born in Marseille 1989. Colin is fascinated by animation and new technologies, but also old, and that was obvious in his studies at Supinfocom Arles. Colin has passion for mountain and climbing, so he decided to write a story for his graduation movie: Ascension. A Super Team was created around these few lines and after more than a year of tireless work Ascension was born. He is now living in Paris where he is Nuke Technical Director at Illumination-MacGuff.
Thomas Bourdis was born in 1990, in Aix les bains, France. He found his way to the animation field through his passion for the magic of visual effects and animated movies, and began his 5 years studies at the French school Supinfocom in 2008. For Ascension, he found his inspiration as lighter and environmental artist from his life spent in the Alps.
Martin de Coudenhove was born in 1989, in France. After a bachelor degree specialized in economics, he joined the art school Atelier Hourdé in Paris and one year later, in 2008, he transferred to the French school Supinfocom. For this production, he was responsible of the direction, the editing, and the layout of the movie.
Caroline Domergue, born in France in 1988, is currently living near Paris and graduated from the 3D school Supinfocom Arles. Her principal role was lead animator, but she also did some graphic researching, design, storyboarding, rigging, few FX and sound design. She is now working for Disney Channel in Paris and France Television in Nancy.
Florian Vecchione was born in 1989 in France. He decided to enter the course of specialization in computer graphics at Supinfocom Arles. During his course, he co-directed Ascension and some other shorts like Mafioso, Abyss and Sacrée Soirée for the French TV channel Canal+.
Love in the Time of March Madness
Created by Melissa Johnson and Robertino Zambrano, USA
9:15 - 1.77 - 24fps - Stereo and 5.1 - 2D and 3D
Premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2014
Melissa Johnson hit 6’4’’ tall in 8th grade. Although this made her an instant basketball star, “Love in the Time of March Madness” follows her hilarious and awkward misadventures in romance as she dates shorter men and gets cheered or jeered wherever she goes. Blazing with honesty and dark humor, this animated “tall short” is a true story about embracing difference that is certain to disarm and delight.
“I made Love in the Time of March Madness because it’s in my bones. Literally. It’s a dark comedy about my dating life as a woman who hit 6’4’’ tall in 8th grade at 127 pounds with size 12 feet...and lived to tell about it. Wherever I go I receive endless commentary from strangers about my height and unsolicited opinions about the appropriate height of my man, whether I am standing with one at the moment or not. There’s an assumed familiarity with me – the emotional equivalent of a pregnant woman who gets her tummy rubbed wherever she goes. Only I’ve been ‘getting rubbed’ for about twenty years. “Remember, people are always going to be looking at you,” my mother warned me as a kid, “So what are you going to do about that?” I started keeping a notebook in my bag, jotting down my favorite encounters. My experience is sometimes painful, other times flattering, often hilarious, and always revealing about the conditions we place upon one another about gender roles and physicality. I’m grateful for my unusual vantage point through life and made Love in the Time of March Madness in hopes of helping others embrace their bodies as well. After all, we don’t see other people the way that they are, we see them the way that we are. We are canvases for each another.” -Melissa Johnson
“This production was a symbiotic collision of disciplines - I felt the power of Melissa’s storytelling would be best expressed through the medium of animation. What better way to express the feeling of dipping into one’s thoughts and memories - a swirling collection of happy days, hilarious anecdotes, moments of confusion, growth and discovery - than through the amorphous art of manipulating line, form and colour to tell this universal story of discovering one’s self." - Robertino Zambrano
Melissa Johnson is a writer and filmmaker living in Venice, California. She is best known for Brittney Griner: LIFESIZE, a documentary currently airing on ESPN within the acclaimed Nine for IX Series as well as her award-winning feature documentary, No Look Pass, now on Showtime and recently selected for The American Film Showcase. Her popular first-person essays have appeared in The New York Times, Salon.com and Boston Herald.
Robertino Zambrano is an Australian animation director whose work has also been featured at the Annecy International Animation Festival, SIGGRAPH and Encounters Short Film Festival in the UK. Robertino works out of his Sydney-based production practice, KAPWA Studioworks.
World of Tomorrow
Created by Don Hertzfeld,
16:27 - 1.77 - 24fps - 5.1 Surround - 2D and 3D
Premiered at Sundance Film Festival Opening Night on January 22, 2015
A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.
Don Hertzfeldt is an Academy Award-nominated American independent filmmaker whose animated films include, It's Such a Beautiful Day, The Meaning of Life, I Am So Proud of You, Lily and Jim, Wisdom Teeth, Billy's Balloon, Everything Will Be OK, and Rejected. His work has played around the world, receiving over 200 awards.
Working exclusively in traditional hand-drawn animation, Hertzfeldt's first twenty years of projects (1995-2015) were captured entirely on antique 16mm and 35mm animation cameras without the use of computers, post-production compositing, or digital tools. He owns and operates two of the last remaining functioning 35mm rostrum animation stands in America. All special effects were created directly on film, using traditional double exposures, in-camera mattes, and new experimental techniques.
His latest film World of Tomorrow, won Hertzfeldt a record-setting second Grand Jury Prize for Short Film at Sundance, and crushed the competition in the Animated Short category at SXSW in March 2015. To date, World of Tomorrow has received twenty-two awards, including both the Annecy Animation Festival's Audience Award and a Special Jury Citation, and a special Visionary Award from the Nashville Film Festival. Indiewire has called the short film "one of the best films of 2015," and The Dissolve named it "one of the finest achievements in sci-fi in recent memory." The A.V. Club described the film as "visionary" and "possibly the best film of 2015." Hertzfeldt is currently in production on new animated short film, and in pre-production on a new animated feature film.