Mike Judge is an animator, filmmaker, writer and voice actor who has made some of the most iconic American comedy films and television, including Beavis and Butt-Head, Office Space, Idiocracy, and co-creating King of the Hill and Silicon Valley. Judge’s work has been adored by youth and confounding parents for decades, as his subjects often mix the idiotic, boring, ordinary and meaninglessness malaise of contemporary life. But within the hilarious absurdity, his characters are embodied with a well-observed authenticity, revealing deeper existential truths of our daily experiences. A small respite in an infinite American sprawl. We are pleased to have Mike Judge in person to discuss his work, alongside the presentation of two of his features, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and Office Space.
Paul will show 3 of his films, talk about his work as a choreographer and show how this led him to animated films. Topics will be “the cinematographic view as a choreographic element to the subject and space” and “generating meaning through the relationship between body and object”.
He investigates the question of whether choreographic concepts can be used in the film as an emancipated art form from the body and where they create a dimension that can be raised by a model to speak about film. Sharpen the eye for the order and disorder of movements, patterns and textures.
„Choreography is not the art of making dances (a directional set of tools), it is a generic set of capacities to be applied to any kind of production, analysis or organization: Expanded choreography“
The Hybrid Films of Pia Borg
Friday 5pm BAMPFA
Q&A Moderated by Christoph Steger
Sunday 1pm Shattuck 2
Pia Borg is a Maltese/Australian filmmaker based in Los Angeles. Her films and installations challenge questions of form and cinematic registers, exploring the pull between the real and the mediated, between non-fiction and the constructed genres of science fiction and horror. Working with archival footage, CGI animations, and performed re-enactments, Borg’s films portray historical and cultural events, chronicling psychological phenomena like false memory syndrome, collective hysteria and the opal fever surrounding extractive industries.
Caroline Leaf Retrospective
Thursday 5pm Shattuck 2
Saturday 5pm BAMPFA
Q&A with Michael Fukishima
After developing groundbreaking techniques in several early works, Canadian-American filmmaker Caroline Leaf found a home at the National Film Board of Canada, where she produced numerous films, including the Academy Award–nominated The Street. Her intimate films focus on familiar spaces that we share as families and communities, with simply observed stories that are true to life. Her tactile manipulation of materials under the camera mirrors the themes in her work, creating fluid transitions between places and evoking the ongoing metamorphosis of her characters. The mundane passage of time is rendered with care and grace.
Description: Both a presentation and a performance, Sam Rolfes takes a motion-captured walk through the fragmented 3D environments of past animations and stage shows, pulling apart some of the principles and mechanics of the semi-improvisational VR puppetry and virtual choreography that have arisen in his practice over the last couple years. In the process, A Mocap Walk attempts to dodge the pitfalls and obstacles of eyecandy-esotericism for contemporary experimentalists, and grapple with the implications of our reliance on rapidly iterating creative tools underwritten by powerful megacorps.
Sarina Nihei’s animation style has been influenced by both American and European cinema. Estonian animation had an especially strong impact on her animation style while she was studying a BA in graphic design in Tokyo. Because of this influence, she makes absurd stories by means of a traditional way of animation, which is hand-drawn on paper using black pens and acrylic paints. Sarina creates everything in her films by herself except for the sound, and in this program, she will explain how she became an independent animation director after graduating from London’s Royal College of Art, as well as detailing her ongoing influences, including 70s and 80s horror films and quirky Estonian animation.
During this talk, Gabriel will present his two films Yùl and the Snake and The Night Of the Plastic Bags. Through this presentation, he will talk about his debut with films and animation, his desire to make movies for cinemas, and his practice of drawing. He will talk about his cinematic and animation approach, his inspiration with music, how he mixes reality and imagination, and how he uses the medium of animation to create his striking films.
Lifelong Animation Learning
Panelists: Jan Pinkava, Bobby Beck, Alison Mann
Moderated by Terrence Masson
Saturday 12:30pm David Brower Center
Presented by
Finding, keeping and creating your dream job is about lifelong learning for animators (and teachers) of all ages. Join in the conversation with industry/animation/education veterans to get insight into the ever shifting world of animation production & education. With the likes of Sony and Netflix, QUIBI and IGTV shifting to ARTIST driven aesthetics, Is it “easier” than ever to pitch your own original IP? What are the next breakthroughs in how 2D/3D/XR stories and tools work together? Have remote collaboration & distributed production finally caught on?
The New Wave of Latin American Independent Animation
Thursday 5pm Shattuck 4
Friday 9:30pm Shattuck 8
Saturday 3pm Shattuck 4
Presented By
There is not an only way to describe Latin American Animation because Latin America is a great and diverse mix of cultures. There are also many different cultures and socio-economic contexts inside every country, having each one its own and singular identity. However, History of Latin American countries has been characterized by periods of violence, censorship and discrimination and, recently, many right-wing governments have made huge cuts in culture. Animation is often being used as a tool for sociopolitical engagement and many of the films erase the boundaries between documentary and fiction. While Latin American mainstream animation has become more and more visible in the recent years, independent films have not been sufficiently exhibited or discussed. There is just a very little market for short films in the region. But despite of not having financing, several events like independent festivals or laboratories had spread across Latin America, laying the foundations for future animation. This selection of short films shows the very unique artistic, thematic and technical diversity inside the early stages of the new Latin American animation.
Despacito: a Quick survey of Latin American Animation
The animation history of Latin America is the history of a fractured continent trying to figure itself out. Unlike the way animation developed in the United States, which seemed to revolve around technological advancements, intellectual properties, and patents; animation for Latinoamerican countries was as a tool to express the needs of oppressed artists that lived in ever-shifting political landscapes. A need that is reflected in the broken aesthetics, the empirical passion to learn, and the underlying violence that courses through many of these films. Come take a look at this mosaic and maybe learn why animation could be the best tool for America at this moment in time.
Join Disney Animation’s Terry Moews as he discusses his extensive career as a layout artist and how his journey inspired him to direct his recently released Short Circuit film, “The Race.”
Terry Moews (Director) is a 23-year Disney veteran, who came to Walt Disney Animation Studios in 1996 to supervise and shoot the live-action backgrounds for the innovative computer-animated feature, “Dinosaur” (2000). Following “Dinosaur,” Moews was chosen to create the CG layout department for Disney’s “Chicken Little.” He went on to serve as Visual Effects Supervisor, Layout Supervisor, Studio Department Leader and Layout Artist on such films as “Bolt,” “Big Hero 6,” “Tangled,” “Frozen,” “Zootopia,” “Moana,” “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” and “Frozen 2.” Heavily inspired by Disney’s animated works of the 60s and 70s as well as other animated films both short and long form, Terry sees his tenure at Disney as a realization of his childhood ambitions. Before coming to Walt Disney Animation Studios, Terry supervised and contributed visual effects work on over 20 feature films (including “The Abyss,” “Total Recall,” “Speed,” “Stargate,” “Predator,” and “Lost Boys”).
How to Pitch Your Film
(to people who can actually get it made)
Panelists: John Agbaje, Katie Baron, Dustin Davis, Michael Fukishima, Brooke Keesling, Asalle Tanha
Friday 11:15am David Brower Center
Presented By
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.
SKILLBARD
An Indie Filmmaker's Guide Too Working With Composers/Sound Designers
Over the years we’ve worked with a squillion different animators, film-makers, artists, studios and agencies of varying size and experience. But no matter how big or old or ugly a client is, it can sometimes be difficult for them to know exactly how best to work with us; unnecessary obstacles can materialise in the process, simply because our work has never actually been explained.
In our informal presentation/workshop kind of thing, we hope to present to you, the film-makers, some practical tips for how to get the most out of your time with your chosen sound designer/composer. It’s mostly little things like “please don’t remove frames without telling us where from”.
tl;dr: We want to make your film sound better by giving some insight into what we do.
Suzan Pitt Retrospective
Friday 7:30pm Shattuck 4
Saturday 5:00 pm Shattuck 4
Suzan Pitt is an internationally acclaimed artist whose paintings and animated films are in many private collections and museums including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Ludwig Museum in Germany. She has had major exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Stedlijk Museum in Amsterdam and the Venice Biennale. Pitt has designed sets and costumes for two major opera productions in Germany which were the first operas to include animated images for the stage. Suzan Pitt was perhaps the first artist to create one of a kind painted art coats beginning in 1984.
Cake is a handcrafted assortment of short films and short series carefully curated and presented weekly on FXX and FX on Hulu. The half-hour show features both original and acquired programs from animation and live-action filmmakers from around the world. This specially-made animation showcase for GLAS 2020 celebrates a diverse array of animated stories that are laugh-inducing, thought-provoking, artistic and raw. A panel discussion with featured artists from Cake will follow the screening.
Carl Burton will be joined in conversation with GLAS programmer Sean Buckelew, who will ask him about his practice, influences, inspiration and a wide-ranging spectrum of questions about media culture at large that is sure to generate many hot takes. You may very well raise an eyebrow while browsing your phone.