PROGRAMS 2019

We are pleased to announce the special programs and schedule for the 4th edition of the GLAS Animation Festival.

Image	Program Title
	DENNIS TUPICOFF RETROSPECTIVE Dennis Tupicoff is one of the most accomplished Australian independent animators working today. His unique style of hand-drawn animation mixed with live-action elements creates a feeling of grace in tackling such subjects as humanity and mortality. While he is known mostly for his works in animated documentary, Tupicoff also creates dramas, comedies, documentary hybrids, and film essays; regardless of his cinematic and editorial approach, his films are always introspective, experiential, and honest. We are pleased to present a selection of works by Tupicoff ranging from early works including Dance of Death and His Mother’s Voice to the recent A Photo of Me and Still Alive.
	DENNIS TUPICOFF TALK: WHY ARE ALL YOUR FILMS ABOUT DEATH? It's true that Dennis has spent 45 years dealing with this subject, mainly in animation. But his films are about other things too. Some are funny; some are sad. There are cartoons and documentaries, autobiographical stories and radio interviews, singing skeletons and film stars like Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra, savage dogs and bucking bulls, game shows and a dying man's hallucinations. He uses various animation techniques and live-action, and music from Chopin to bluegrass and gospel rock. So it's complicated. All the big questions will be answered in this talk, with special screenings of two shorts - old (1976) and new (2018).
	JIM TRAINOR RETROSPECTIVE Jim Trainor makes deceptively simple films that inhabit the heads of creatures and characters as they go about their lives, uncovering basic truths that carry profound spiritual depth. Animating with thick, direct lines on unregistered paper, Trainor’s films are both historical and imaginative, artifacts of a completely original mythology. His narratives are a reflection of the harmony of the world: in their violence, they remain innocent, and in their simplicity, they find joy. Jim Trainor is a professor in the Film/Video/New Media department at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He will present a selection of his works and join us afterwards for a Q&A.
	KIM LAUGHTON TALK Kim Laughton is a Shanghai-based digital artist specializing in new media. His work blurs the boundaries between tech demo, music video, experimental film, and viral content - often exploiting cutting-edge imaging techniques to conjure feelings of nihlistic dystopia. Much of his work explores the notion of the uncanny valley: a computer animation concept describing the point in which an audience's empathy becomes revulsion while watching an animated character that is too realistic (but not realistic enough to feel like an actual human). His project #HYPERREALCG, curated in conjunction with David OReilly, cynically touches upon this strange relationship we have with realism in computer graphics culture. Laughton's on-going stream of actual photographs presented as computer-generated images has been widely misrepresented by news sources online. To quote Gizmodo in their report on the project, "It's really crazy how close to life we can get with art."
	MICHELE COURNOYER RETROSPECTIVE Michele Cournoyer is a French Canadian animator celebrated for her surreal hand-drawn motion pictures. Her films offer us a prescient glimpse into the dark corners of our hive mind with the clarity of a waking dream. This is work that somehow balances the visceral with the symbolic, the rational with the incomprehensible. These characteristics become a vehicle for us to deep dive into some heavy topics that burn with Cournoyer's raw personal energy. Surf this psychological wave of babies becoming drunk, burkas becoming armies, and an ever-melting field of black and white symbols shifting seemingly inflexible icons into something wholly new. Join us for a retrospective of her works followed by a Q&A.
	MARC JAMES ROELS TALK Marc James Roels is a stop-motion filmmaker based in Belgium. Alongside his collaborator Emma De Swaef, he has built a body of work that resonates with deep patience and sensitivity. His astonishing attention to visual detail echoes in an equally delicate style of storytelling, one in which the the plot effortlessly emerges from the film's minutiae alongside the story's characters and props. On its own this might be nothing new, except the dense formation of each film frame belies an incredible amount of effort packed into every fragment of this work. This sets the stage for, in Roels own words "a good balance of drama, comedy, tragedy, absurdity and plain stupidity".
	THIS MAGNIFICENT CAKE AND OH WILLY An anthology film set in colonial Africa in the late 19th century telling the stories of 5 different characters: a troubled king, a middle-aged Pygmy working in a luxury hotel, a failed businessman on an expedition, a lost porter and a young army deserter.
	JULIA POTT TALK Julia Pott is an animator from the United Kingdom known for her dark cartoonish wit. Her films resonate with a coming-of-age sensibility both abject and cozy, often staging scenes of anthropomorphic beasts grappling with their hard-to-define feelings for each other. Straddling both commercial and independent working modes, Pott has maintained a distinct visual style that strikes the look of a spontaneous doodle and a tenaciously hewn tableaux simultaneously. Her distinct brand of humor can be found in a variety of animated series including ADVENTURE TIME and LIQUID TELEVISION ONLINE, recently manifesting as her very own television show (SUMMER CAMP ISLAND) premiering this year.
	BRITISH ANIMATION IN THE 80S - CURATED BY IRENE KOTLARZ Highlights of animation in the heady decade of bling, power suits, street cred, MTV, and especially the early, radical days of Britain's Channel 4 Television. It was a golden age, with great college programs, money from Channel 4 , and big budget commercials to pay the bills. Young and established artists grouped into boutique studios to make music videos, TV ads, and independent films, and this program is a sampler of some of their most exciting and innovative work.
	BRITISH ANIMATION IN THE 90S - CURATED BY IRENE KOTLARZ As animation in the US hit the big time led by Disney and Pixar features, in the UK the animation scene was lifted by the rising tide. Aardman became a household name, while at the other end of the spectrum experimental animation was nurtured through Animate!, Channel 4’s co-production scheme with the Arts Council of Great Britain. Artists moved nimbly between independent, experimental and commercial projects, and this program shows the range of their work, which also managed to remain uniquely British.
	CHRISTY KARACAS Christy Karacas is an American filmmaker and musician well-known as the force behind the animated television show SUPERJAIL! His work feels torn from the pages of underground comix, low-budget hollywood movies, 20th century video games, and halloween punk with an outrageous thrift-store sensibility rarely gracing the airwaves these days. Having emerged from the influential art scene around Providence, RI in the early aughts, Karacas became known for his tightly chaotic hand-drawn animations SPACE WAR and BAR FIGHT, charting a path to a series of equally wild commercial projects. His newest work (the freshly minted tv show BALLMASTRZ: 909) adds more sparkle to his motley crew of cultural touchstone. This is 2019 sports-themed anime exploding from the guts of a post-apocalyptic future on roller skates. Christy will give a talk outlining his career path in animation followed by an up close and personal Q + A about whatever you want to know. There might also be some rare treats thrown in for you to see.
	AGE OF SAIL VR Set on the open ocean in 1900, Age of Sail is the story of William Avery (voiced by Ian McShane), an old sailor adrift and alone in the North Atlantic. When Avery reluctantly rescues Lara, who has mysteriously fallen overboard, he finds redemption and hope in his darkest hours.
	DISTRIBUTION 101 WITH MIYU’S LUCE GROSJEAN Luce Grosjean, head of Miyu Distribution, has been sending films to festivals, released them online, selling them... And realizing that there is not that much information about what is distribution, what directors can expect from it and what is a distributor. Her presentation will try to answer these questions and help the directors to ask themselves the good ones.
	BORSCHT CORP Borscht is a nonprofit with the simple mission to redefine cinema in Miami. Local filmmakers created Borscht in response to the lack of regional infrastructure and support, empowering artists to tell ~fresh Miami stories~ Since receiving a knight foundation grant in 2011, Borscht has screened at over 400 film festivals worldwide (including seventeen projects across eight consecutive years at Sundance), won over forty jury and audience awards, gained millions of online views, and featured in dozens of art exhibitions at galleries and museums like the Guggenheim and MoMA. A screening of animation highlights from the Borscht collective in Miami, Florida. Weird, diverse, moving, independent short films from directors like Danny Madden, Alexa Lim Haas, Mayer/Leyva, and Bernardo Britto.
	ILLUSTRATION WORKSHOP WITH JISOO KIM Jisoo Kim is a South Korean artist known for her delicate and powerful designs and illustrations. She studied at the Korean Animation High school to Korean National University of the Arts and California Institute of the Arts. Her personal films have played at Ottawa, Annecy, and Krok animation festivals. Since graduating, she has worked for Disney, Dreamworks, Frederator, and Warnerbros on projects such as Skull Girls, She Ra, and Harley Quinn. Join Jisoo for this special illustration workshop.
	How to Pitch Your Film (to people who can actually get it made) You’ve been working so hard on this new idea. You can tell that this is the one. You’ve never been more excited. Now, you just have to pitch it. Pitching can often be a confusing process for filmmakers. Who do you pitch to? Is this idea appropriate for TV or would it work better as a short film? Is the network looking for work in this genre? I hear Europe has funding for shorts, can I get in on that? I wish someone could give me a straightforward answer! Have no fear, this panel will elucidate the many facets of putting together the perfect pitch. In this conversation, a range of executives, talent managers, and producers will go in-depth on the ins and outs of pitching across the spectrum: from TV series to independent short films.
	MEET'N'GREET Don't forget your portfolio and resume! Portfolio reviews and internship interviews will be available by appointment only.
	NICKELODEON: GETTIN' THE PERFECT GIG Ever dreamed of working at Nickelodeon? Here’s your opportunity to learn how! Join Ariel Goldberg (Manager – Recruitment, Production) and Amy Wu (Manager – Internship Program) for a deep dive into Nickelodeon’s recruitment process and internship program – two of the many entry points to help kickstart your career at Nickelodeon. They’ll share first-hand tips on how to stand out from the competition so you can land that internship or job!
	NETFLIX GETS ANIMATED Netflix loves animation in all of its forms, and wholeheartedly supports the global community of storytellers across all genres, tones, and techniques. Please join a panel of four Netflix Animation creators from both feature film and television series as they share their unique vision and passion for their upcoming projects. Panelists Include: James Baxter , Alex Woo , Shion Takeuchi, Jay Oliva
	A CONVERSATION WITH JOSIE TRINIDAD Josie Trinidad joined Disney in 2004 as a story apprentice. Her credits include a variety of films, including Oscar®-winner "Zooptopia" in 2016. Although Trinidad began her career in story, she originally wanted to be an animator after watching "Robin Hood' when she was 8. Join her as she shares her interesting journey from studying English literature and fine art at UCLA, as well as character animation at CalArts, to navigating a career in story and becoming Head of Story at Walt Disney Animation Studios. Q&A to follow the presentation.
	A TRIBUTE TO ISAO TAKAHATA Isao Takahata was a Japanese Film Director who passed away last year at age 82. He famously co-founded Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki and directed many influential films including GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES, POM POKO, and the Oscar-nominated THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA. His work could be described as French New Wave anime, cartoons imbued with a realism and social gravity not typical to the form. Throughout his long career, Takahata’s films continually defied the expectations of what animation could achieve with sophisticated narratives and an ever-morphing sense of style and tone, prompting the late critic Roger Ebert to describe his work as “an emotional experience so powerful that it forces a rethinking of animation”. We are excited to honor his legacy by showcasing these three films.
	FUNAN Cambodia, April 1975. Chou is a young woman whose everyday world is suddenly upended by the arrival of the Khmer Rouge regime. During the chaos of the forced exile from their home, Chou and her husband are separated from their 4-year-old son, who has been sent to an unknown location. As she navigates her new reality, working in the fields day and night under the careful watch of soldiers, and surviving the small indignities and harrowing realities of the increasingly grim work camps, Chou remains steadfast in her determination to reunite her family – even if it means risking everything. Winner of the top prizes at the Annecy Animation Festival and the Animation is Film Festival, Funan is a searing and remarkable debut from filmmaker Denis Do, who uses his own family history as inspiration for a thrilling story of love, loss and enduring hope in the most trying of times. Featuring the voices of Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) and Louis Garrel (The Dreamers).
	MIRAI From acclaimed director Mamoru Hosoda (Summer Wars, Wolf Children) and Japan’s Studio Chizu comes MIRAI, a daringly original story of love passed down through generations. When four-year-old Kun meets his new baby sister, his world is turned upside down. Named Mirai (meaning “future”), the baby quickly wins the hearts of Kun’s entire family. As his mother returns to work, and his father struggles to run the household, Kun becomes increasingly jealous of baby Mirai… until one day he storms off into the garden, where he encounters strange guests from the past and future – including his sister Mirai, as a teenager. Together, Kun and teenage Mirai go on a journey through time and space, uncovering their family’s incredible story. But why did Mirai come from the future? An official selection at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight, and the epic capstone of director Mamoru Hosoda’s career, Mirai is a sumptuous, magical, and emotionally soaring adventure about the ties that bring families together and make us who we are. Featuring the voices of John Cho (Star Trek, Searching), Rebecca Hall (“The Town,” “Christine”), and Daniel Dae Kim (“LOST”, “Hawaii Five-0”, “The Good Doctor”, 3AD Media).
	SHORTS COMPETITIONS At the heart of the festival is the international competitions, which showcases ten curated programs of the most exceptional contemporary animated short films. These programs are the highlight of the festival as they demonstrate most fully the expressive abilities of animation as a medium. Created oftentimes by an individual artist or small team, these films push the boundaries of film itself through a singular vision not possible in any other medium.
	KOJI YAMAMURA RETROSPECTIVE Koji Yamamura is a Japanese animator with a penchant for the lyrically grotesque. His world is full of characters from children's books attempting to claw themselves from an existential void.... and not quite making it. These films depict life in an inky smear between light and dark: an unclear blend of good and evil that makes every slow frame feel filled with a touch of both life and death. Yamamura's work foregrounds the importance of independent animation in a field of advertisements, music videos, and commercial storytelling - these are animated films serving the human condition above all else. Join us for a retrospective of his works followed by a Q&A.