Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

ASIFA East is preparing for their annual festival which will take place tomorrow evening, Sunday, May 19th.

The program will take place at Tishman Auditorium at The New School (66 West 12th Street, NYC) from 6:00 pm – 11:00 pm.

Following the program and the small party upstairs (open to everyone)
there will be a party at Fiddlesticks, located at 56 Greenwich Ave starting at 11:30pm.
This is just downtown a couple of blocks from the New School.
A cash bar will be in operation for this party.

The Awards Ceremony and Reception afterwards are free and open to the public.
We would appreciate the donation of $5 from non-members to help us
continue serving the animation community in New York area and beyond.

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- The NY chapter of the MP Academy has recently added something new to about half of their screenings. After some of the films they’ve offered a Q&A session with some of the film makers.

Last week we saw Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin discuss their work on The Great Gatsby. This past Monday, Sarah Polley discussed her documentary, Stories to Remember. Thursday night Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig answered questions about their film Frances Ha.

It was a pleasure to see Noah Baumbach and learn how shy he is, yet how he controls the stage when he takes it. To hear him talk about his obsession with Woody Allen, or to hear Greta Gerwig talk about finding her character in co-writing the script and then having to find it anew after handing the script over to a director, made for interesting talk.

Having enjoyed the film very much, I was really involved in their responses. Naturally, that made for a good evening, for me, at least.

Here are some of the photos I took before I decided to forget the camera and pay more attention to the conversation.

On Tuesday next week the Academy is screening Epic.

Yet there’s no Q&A. We’ve asked and the Academy said they offered, but Blue Sky said no. A chance for Chris Wedge to reach out to the Oscar voters, and he says no. Just the same, I’m curious about the film. I know nothing of what to expect. It looks action/adventure, shrunken people. Doesn’t sound like me.
A cgi Arietty with boys doing boy college prank things. We’ll see. I’ll let you know what I think on Wednesday or Thursday.

- Of course the big animated package to be dumped on us this summer will be Pixar’s sequel to their 2001 hit, Monsters Inc. The original audience for this is twelve years older. Will it be the same audience returning for more or will it be the same audience looking for an add-on, or will it be an older audience looking to share with their kids?

From every indication I’ve seen, it looks like Lassiter and friends is hedging their bets and going to cover ALL the bases. I don’t know if that’s a workable strategy . . . everything.

After seeing Baunbach’s film, Frances Ha, I read a piece in the New Yorker. Within the article there’s a sort exchange about some work both he & Gerwig are doing in writing for a Dreamworks Animated film. I thought you might like to see the short section from that article:

Baumbach was still on the phone—“No, not her. Not for this”—when the van stopped in midtown, in front of a building where DreamWorks has an office, and moments later he and Gerwig were in a bare, well-lit room, videoconferencing with executives in California about whether or not cartoon dogs should be seen in hats.

This is Baumbach’s third animated film. He co-wrote Wes Anderson’s “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (2009), based on the Roald Dahl novel. For a children’s film, it has unusually strong notes of melancholy: at one point, Mrs. Fox tells her husband, “I love you, but I never should have married you.” A year later, he rewrote “Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted” for DreamWorks—a lighter assignment, encouraged by Stiller, who plays the franchise’s lion hero. Baumbach and Gerwig’s screenplay, not yet fully green-lit, is about a Brooklyn mutt, Freddy, who becomes separated from a young girl named Heidi when her parents divorce. Artists in California had sketched a few sequences and showed this material to Baumbach and Gerwig, who were delighted. Baumbach, who plans to direct the film, gave notes, including “The squirrel seems . . . not necessary” and “I love the mustache.” He wondered if it was still realistic to show home delivery of newspapers. Gerwig said, gently, “It’s pretend. Dogs also don’t talk.”

Baumbach and Gerwig then read aloud from a scene that was soon to be storyboarded. Freddy has set off to look for Heidi, who may be in Manhattan, and he has met a guide called Wise Dog, who imagines himself to be sophisticated. Together, they reach the top of a building under construction in Brooklyn. “A blinding light comes through the door,” Baumbach said. “They would approach the edge of the building, and, as their eyes adjust to the light, you’d see Manhattan in the background and the little dogs looking at it.”

Gerwig read Wise Dog’s line: “Every time, it takes my breath away. This, and side two of Rod Stewart’s ‘Every Picture Tells a Story.’ ” (Baumbach later said, “Let’s see if that line makes it into the multiplex.”)

Baumbach continued, “Then Wise Dog says to Freddy, ‘So that’s where you want to go, huh? Manhattan?’ ”

Gerwig read Freddy’s line: “That’s where Heidi is. That’s where I need to be. I know I’m meant to be with her again. I feel her love all around me. And, with every step and every breath, I love her more.”

An e-mail from Kathy Rose is always a welcomed treat:

Hi,
Here are two new videos:

An excerpt from “The Rite of Spring” for the group collage for the Festival International Videodanse de Bourgogne:


“Rite of Spring” excerpt from Kathy Rose on Vimeo.

Greg Boyer’s “No More Worry, No More Blue”

“”No More Worry, No More Blue” from Kathy Rose on Vimeo.

Thanks,
Kathy Rose

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Giraf

The GIRAF Animation Festival has come a callin’ for submissions.
Their Deadline being August 15, 2013 so you have ample time to prepare.

The 9th GIRAF (or the Giant Incandescent Resonating Animation Festival) is looking
for Animation submissions, in all styles, genres, lengths, and mediums.

Our programs are a strong eclectic mix of animation, representing the best of the medium from
Claymation to CG. We focus on presenting indie, experimental, and underground animation that pushes boundaries through new techniques, unique visions, and stimulating subject matter. Our 2012 program featured visiting artist Nick Cross!

We DO NOT CHARGE A SUBMISSION FEE, and encourage short and feature length local, national, international, and student submissions.

Animators can submit online at: http://giraffest.ca/submissions/


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St. Louis

I’m pleased to note that I will be presenting two programs of films (one for oldsters, one for youngsters) this coming August at the St. Louis Kids Children’s Film Festival this coming summer. As part of the program I will be leading a workshop for kids introducing them to the art of animation.

The filled weekend will extend from from August 2nd-4th.

Looking forward to it.

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