Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

- Last night ASIFA East held its shindig at the New School. There was a screening of the award winners which lasted about 2½ hours but generally moved quickly. A quiet gathering in the garden followed the screening.

My favorite of all the films screened was MILCH, Igor Kovalyov‘s beautiful film. It won 2nd Best Independent Film. It was the third time I’d seen the film, and it’s just as powerful. It takes a bit of thought. I also love the United Airlines commercial by Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis. I don’t remember what prize that spot took, but it’s a beauty of a film that I’ve seen many times and still enjoy.

When I get a complete list of winners and don’t have to depend on my memory, I’ll post them.

Old friends and new who I met at the after party included: ASIFA East’s current president, David Levy, its last president, Linda Simensky, as well as AWN’s Ron Diamond, Jason McDonald, Adrian Urquidez, Yvette Kaplan, Deborah Solomon, Ray Kosarin, Candy Kugel, Heather Kenyon, Biljana Lubovic, Willy Hartland, Bill Plympton, John Dilworth, Masako Kanayama, Janet Benn and Skip Battaglia.

There were plenty of others there, but my memory is fading fast. Too many people at too many parties this past weekend.

My sadness at this version of this Festival is that there was no Charles Samu Award offered or given (I thought MILCH would have been perfect for it). This, I thought, was going to be an award in honor of the most enthusiastic animation devotee I’d ever met. It was created after Charles’ death in 1989 in conjunction with the Leo Dratfield Fund and Robert Flaherty Film Seminars. This award was a link to the past and a link to the rest of the world of film and animation. But then when I realized last night that there was to be no such award, I also realized that most of those newer folk in the audience wouldn’t remember who Charles was or care. Without the award, they never will.

Somehow, to me, the ASIFA East Awards ended up getting smaller by dropping at least the mention of his name on this prize.

- Wednesday there’s the program at The Film Forum, CARTOONS: No Laughing Matter?, which I’m looking forward to. It’ll be nice to meet up with some animators from the more experimental world that ASIFA tends to ignore.

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