Best of Ottawa screening next week!

Quick post to let y'all know that if you missed Ottawa '09, you can still catch some hilights and enjoy air-conditioned comfyness at our Best of Ottawa screening next Thursday! Here's the skinny:

1.2 Best of Ottawa International Animation Festival Screening

Enjoy highlights from the 2009 edition of the OIAF, co-presented by the Toronto Animated Image Society and the NFB Mediatheque. The Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF) is the largest of its kind in North America, attracting film buffs, art lovers, filmmakers, and cartoon fans from around the world to the nation's capital. The 2010 Festival takes place October 20th-24th.

Best of Ottawa International Animation Festival Screening
Thursday, July 15, 2010, 7 PM
NFB Cinema, 150 John Street
$6, $4 for TAIS members, students, seniors, Front Row passholders

Films screening include:
Love on the Line, Postalolio, Please Say Something, The Bellow’s March, Chick, The Black Dog’s Progress, Magic Cube and Ping-Pong, The Art of Drowning, History of the Meat Packing District, MGMT Kids, The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9! And Inherent Obligations

Come on downs, bring friends, and decompress with some cool toons. Later!

Mike Geiger's Olympic Spirit

New one from Mike Geiger, this time it's a take on the whole Olympic funding thing. I think what Mike has to say here is pretty evident in the animation. Actually, this nicely animated piece of social disturbance was created in conjunction with CITIZENShift, "a National Film Board of Canada website dedicated to citizen engagement and social change." Nice to see the NFB continues to give citizens a voice...written, spoken, filmed or in this case, animated. Good on ya!

Either way, it's typical Geiger goofiness, and nicely done. Check out Mike's other animations on his YouTube page, and check out CITIZENShift, see if you want to contribute. More to come!

UPDATE- Fergot, check out Mike's Blog as well!

Les Drew and Janet Perlman

Just wanted to end the week with a post of Les Drew's immortal 'Blue Safety Dog' in 'Every Dog's Guide to the Playground', which I discovered on YouTube in the process of searching out Janet Perlman's ChickenJam entry, viewable on her site. In the process of locating her site, I found out that she's got a new film! Produced at Acme Filmworks for client Liberty Mutal, it's titled 'Hot Seat'.



More to come.

ChickenJam Online!

If you've been by the TAIS main site, you've noticed that the full version of the ChickenJam was uploaded to the newly minted TAIS Youtube page (been using me own up to this point) and is ready to enjoy. Kudos to Tara and Madi for the edit, Bryce for the V.O., and our sponsors Line Boil, Nemu-Nemu and the NFB.

And extra special thanks to our filmmakers: Martin Sal, Alex Novitski, Ariel Villaverde, Camille Grandjean, Jesse Jind, Jonathan Amitay, John F. Weldon, Max Hall, Neil Lapointe (who?), Daniel Epton, David Pagurek van Mossel, Jeff Tran, Fabian Dores Pais, Greg Parker, Mike Constable, Adam Fitzgerald, Hector Borboa, Janet Perlman, Joseph Troy, Lisa Murzin & Cesar Forero, Lorenzo West, Matt Hartwell, Michael Jessen, Michael Tallon, Mike Funt, Charles Wilson, Olanrewaju Oluwafemi, Nick Fox-Gieg, Onno Knuvers, Peter Giesbrecht, John F. Weldon, Raphael Rosenwald, Jonathan Cheeseman, Robert Shedlowich, Susan Justin, Tammy Dubinsky, and Madi Piller.

Photos and other stuffs from the TAIS Showcase next week. Have the happy weekend!

Jewish Animation is the fo-shizzle

Last night's showcase of Jewish animated films was such a hit, I could just plotz. According to Madi, it was a packed house, with 130 people in attendance including Arnie Lipsey, Eugene Fedorenko and Nick Fox-Gieg. All in all, a darn good time.

Speakin' o' good times, don't forget our upcoming workshops with the forementioned Mr. Fox-Gieg and Mike Weiss. More info in the Workshops section of the TAIS site, or just hit the link. I'm out, cheers!

Fred loves the chicken! (not literally, you pervs...)

Just a quick post with Episode #176 (!) of Channel Frederator, now featuring more chicken! Yep, the powers that be at the big red Fred were nice enough to program the ChickenJam trailer into this week's episode...look for it at around the five minute mark. And stick around for the rest of the show, o' course! From the site:

"First up, we have a sweet music video for Broken Social Scene's "Pitter Patter Goes by Heart" called "Note To Self." Second is the Manila Folder Classifieds and the adventures therein. Certainly, there are no adventures quite like the ones in the Manila Folder Classifieds, as you will see. and finally, we have something cool with "I've Got Nothing," a look at the creative process and the response to the blank page."

Sounds cool. Check it. And start makin' your chicken-a-mations, right after you mark May 29th and June 25th on your calendars. Get it to us by the first date, so we can throw it up on the big screen at the NFB Cinema come the second. I'm out...more later!

TAIS nooze! April edition

Hookay, bunch o' stuff to cover here. Latest TAIS newsletter done be out (thank you Tara and Madi), but there's just too much goodness to post it all here. Honestly, it's huge. So, if ya wanna reads it, become a member! Come on, ya know ya wanna.

I finally managed to get the DEFINITIVE version of the ChickenJam trailer up...for a while there, we was going through sponsors like nobodies bidness. I originally wanted to get Toon Boom onboard, but them's busy folks...hopefully I'll get ahold of somebody there before the big date. And MyToons? Ah, alas, MyToons. Amid has posted about it, read it here. So, officially, our event sponsors are:

Channel Frederator: Eric Homan's given the green light to run the trailer in the April 21st episode of the big red cartoon show. Noice!

Line Boil: Aaron Simpson's sister site for all things animated. Aaron already gave us some of that there pimpage, and he's also shippin' us some shoits. My man!

NFB: Michael Fukushima over at the National Film Board got us 9 dvd's of chicken-flava'd short animated goodness, as well as a venue (The most awesome NFB Cinematheque here in Toronto) to host the event. Good on ya!

Finally, I've got a line on some prizing from afar...specifically, Honalulu. More on that later. Meanwhile, relax, sit back, watch a decidely green ep. of the Fred, and I'll be back with more nooze. Be sure to drop by the TAIS website and click on the links on the left...Tara's been updating like mad!

Extra Life, Ishu Patel and other schtuffs...

O.k., so it's been a hairy week. Workin' on multiple games for multiple clients, extra hours to get thing ready for a new site we're launching at the day job...plus, I think I just pissed off my boss, and he doesn't piss off easily. Yeef.

So I'll leave you with a new toon and news. I created this for an event called Extra Life, happening tomorrow. It's a 24 hour gaming marathon with the proceeds going to a Texas children's hospital. Organized by Jeromy 'Doc' Adams, in honor of a girl named Tori (a good friend of Doc's) who died of a rare form of Leukemia early this year. Check out my toon, then check out the event.

Sending off this short and my 'First Time Out' short to KAFI, the Kalamazoo Animation Festival. They've recently opened their call for entries, so send 'em a DVD with yer stuffs!

Next, our homies over at MyToons are lookin' for spooky Halloween-a-mations, and yes, I'll be shooting them a link to both the Monsterjams. Get 'em your creepy toons soon, there's some good prizes to be had.

Finally, don't forget the special TAIS sponsored events happening this weekend featuring master animator (and all-round swell dude) Ishu Patel. Head over to the TAIS site for all them juicy details.

Right, that about wraps it up! I'll try to have some more Halloween inspired nooze and animation goodies for ya next week. Later, animators! (jebus, did I just write...)

TAIS event: Aardman retrospective

Just a quick post to show y'all some of the goodies brung over from ol' Blighty by Aardman's own Helen Brunsdon. She's heading up to Ottawa next for the fest, so if you missed the show (free, by the way) you can catch it up there, although you'll have to buy the tickets. Thanks to the NFB for setting up a second simulcast room for all the extra folks what showed up. More to come!

Aardman event!

Sorry for the long absence, blog-buddies, it's been that kind of a summer. Fortunately, it's come to an end with a nice aperitif in the form of a free event, sponsored by TAIS and held at the NFB! Programmed by Helen Brunsdon and hosted by Michael Fukushima, it's a night of Aardman faves, and it's free! Check out the poster, or head on over to the TAIS or NFB sites for more info. Laters!

TAIS Showcase 2008: Monster, baby...monster.

Find more artwork like this on Channel Frederator RAW

First off, apologies for not posting sooner, but the whole thang left me a lil' wore out. Trust me when I say this thang was huge...so huge we had to pull chairs in from the foyer (thanks to the NFB staffers!) to accomodate the extra folks wanting to see the show, and we still had to turn people away!

The TAIS Showcase 2008 Monster Edition was just that, monster. A huge crowd, special prizes (thanks to Monster Factory, they were a huge hit!), some incredible films, and then there's the MONSTERJAM, the piece de resistance of the night. 45 entries, an incredible 8+ minutes of animation from around the world. Special thanks to TAIS judges Patrick Jenkins and Jeff Baker for taking the time out to pick us some winners.

The prizes for the night went to:

Best Monster Category:

1st Prize Monster : Mateus Acioli & Naima Almeida from Brazil
2dn Prize Monster : Alex Novitsky form Toronto
3rd Prize Monster : Ceri Watling From UK

Best TAIS SHOWCASE 2008 Category :

1st Prize : Vladimir Kooperman from Toronto, Film: C- Block
2nd Prize : Elise Simard from Montreal, Film: The Occupant
3rd Prize : Marc Beurteaux from Toronto, Film: The Last Feast

Audience Award :

Best Monster : Mateus Acioli & Naima Almeida from Brazil
Best TAIS Showcase 2008 : Brian Sinasac from Toronto , Film : Headwinds

I'll be expounding on the virtues of our winners more come Monday, as well as picking my three fave monster films for the TAIS Blogger's Choice awards! As for the MONSTERJAM, I'll be submitting it to Frederator hopefully next week, but it's so huge, I'll be sending it in two parts...more on that later. Meanwhile, enjoy the photo slideshow of the event. Photos by our own Madi Piller and hosting courtesy of Fred Raw. Enjoy that there weekend!

TAIS Showcase Monster Edition 2008

It's almost time! The TAIS Animation Showcase will be held on Friday of next week, featuring the MONSTERJAM! We'll be giving away prizes, there's a special jury awarding a lil' sumpin' to the best films in the showcase and the 'jam, and a sweet reception afterwards. All that for 5 bucks...cheep! Double-special night for me, cuz my film 'First Time Out' will be screening as well as the jam film I've help organize...nice! So come on out, and show your support for independant animation!

TAIS nooze and Beguiling special!

Long time no speaky, blog-buddies. Been down with the sickness, but don't worry, I'm up on all the going's on at TAIS. Board members met on Friday to select films for the up-coming Animation Showcase. I wasn't present, not wanting to give the other board members a lil' token of my infection, but I'm sure the line-up is gonna be stellar...Madi don't pick no junk. Speakin' of whom, I'll be meeting up with Madi to look at all the MONSTERJAM entries on Monday...apparently, there's a lot of 'em. Like six minutes worth! Damn, this is gonna be good. Board members will be meeting again later in the month to pick out winners for our Monster Factory stuffies and graphic novels. I'll let you know about some of the filmmakers in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, things be hoppin' over at the Beguiling as well! Legendary underground comic artist Spain Rodriguez will be in town, promoting his new book as part of the Toronto art festival 'Luminato'. And Chris has snagged some tickets! If you wants one, needs one, do go and head over to the Beguiling's web site for all them details; only, don't dawdle, 'cuz they will go fast. Later!

Reminder: Frédéric Back

Just a quick reminder about our upcoming week of events celebrating the works of Frédéric Back. Remember, these are all free, so come on out and show Mr. Back some love.

The Toronto Animated Image Society is proud to present:
Frederic Back : Drawing Life
Master animator, Oscar®-winning award, environmental activist.
TAIS will be presenting a program of 80 minutes of 35mm film prints:

All Nothing
Crac!
The Mighty River
The Man Who Planted Trees

Where: The Bloor Cimena ( Bloor and Bathurst )
When: Saturday March 15, 2008 at 4pm ( ARTIST IN PERSON ) -– FREE ADMISSION !

Also for the first time in Toronto, an exhibit of Frederic Back drawings at the Gallerie at the Alliance Française of Toronto, The Bluff Gallery at the Scarborough arts Council and at the gallery Celine Allard at the Centre Francophone.
Visit : www.tais.ca for complete information

This unique exhibition and film screenings is made possible
thanks to the financial support of SAXON INVESTMENTS,
the loan of works of art and films by Radio Canada
and our community partners : LIFT, Cine-Byte Digital,
Alliance Française of Toronto, Centre Francophone and Scarborough Arts Council.

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Toronto Animated Image Society
60 Atlantic Avenue, suite 102
Toronto, Ontario
M6K 1X9

tais@bellnet.ca
www.tais.ca
416-533-7889

Oscar nominees: Madame Tutli-Putli

Madi has made a request for some Oscar nominee pimpage, and I'm glad to give it. The NFB's own 'Madame Tutli-Putli' is up for 'Best Animated Short' this year, and I can't begin to describe it. It's film noire, poetic, sad, surreal, uplifting, frightening...and how in the livin' hell did they pull them faces off? The directorial team of Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerowski sweated their ever-lovin' heads off to produce (along with NFB English Animation producer Marcy Page) one of the NFB's best shorts in years. So show 'em a lil' love and wish 'em luck...although even with all the stellar films in the running this year, I don't think luck will be a factor. Oh, and if you haven't seen the film, here's your chance...the NFB recently conducted a bit of an online scavenger hunt to unlock all 23, 287 frames of the film online. Go and watch.

Bead Game: Ishu Patel

A quick post to start off the week, with a rediscovered short from NFB legend Ishu Patel. Found this on YouTube whilst I was looking for "Divine Fate", my fave film of his and winner of the Grand Prize in Ottawa in '94. If you've not seen "Fate", it's available on a VHS collection from the NFB. I'd really like to see a fully comprehensive DVD collection of the NFB's great directors, along the lines of the Norman McLaren collection. For now, enjoy "Bead Game", a classic NFB short from (believe or no) 1977. More NFB goodness later.

TAIS event: Martine Chartrand

This year's gonna be chock-ablock with some amazing screenings and workshops at TAIS, and we're starting the year with a doozy...one of NFB Montreal's finest animators is going be here in Toronto to give us a glimpse into one of the toughest, most beautiful styles of animation there be: paint on glass.

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Paint on glass animation

Join us for an exclusive workshop with acclaimed Montreal NFB animation artist Martine Chartrand.
Martine trained in Russia with Alexander Petrov in order to master the difficult technique of paint-on-glass animation. She will be sharing her animation techniques and guide a group of artists through the process of paint-on-glass animation during the TAIS/NFB workshop.

Saturday March 01 from 6-9pm and Sunday March 02 from 10-5pm
Location : NFB Mediatheque 150 John Street, Toronto
TAIS and NFB members: $35
Non Members: $50
Enrollment is limited to 25 people – 2 day workshop.
RSVP: tais@bellnet.ca
Ref.: Martine Chartrand Workshop

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Here's a doc I found on the YouTube with Martine talking about her Jedi skills with paint and glass. Warning, it's in Quebecois, so this'll be a bit of a french lesson as well...bonus! Courtesy of Lien Multimedia.



More on Martine tomorrow. Meantime, go sign up for the workshop! And I'll have another big surprise for y'all early next week. Cheers!

Kaj Pindal's Birthday Anijam!

Let's end the week with a special sumthin' for a special someone. Master animator Kaj Pindal celebrates his 80th on Dec. 1st, and TAIS members Ruth Tait, Madi Piller, Bryce Hallett, Craig Marshall and meself whipped up a special birthday greeting just fer him! Extra kudos to Bryce for editing and prepping everything for the film, which was screened for Kaj at the big event at the NFB cinematheque last night. Go Kaj!

What can I say about the man and the event? Well, I'll leave that up to fellow animation blogger and industry vet Mark Mayerson...he's posted an excellent summary including a list of words from well-wishers over at his Mayerson on Animation blog. Glad to see another local animation blogger! Mark's the cat behind Monster by Mistake, and has been workin' in the animation industry for almost 30 years, so he can say more about Kaj and better than this scruffy pooch. Raise a glass to one of Canada's best. Cheers!

NFB celebrates World Animation Day!

World Animation Day. The best damn idea what I never heard of, and the fine folks at the National Film Board of Canada are having a week-long celebration to honor the blessed event...in Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto, Winnipeg and Moncton, no less! Workshops, special screenings, get-togethers, you name it, and TAIS is hip-deep in that action! The NFB is holdin' a swingin' shindig on the 26th, and yers truly will be there, camera in hand to grab some of the action. And a vodka martini. Check out the animation, then go to the NFB website for more of them details. Cheers!

OIAF '07: 10 Reasons #1-Jacques Drouin

Helene Tanguay, the NFB's own earth mother and worldwide spokesperson for animation had herself a special screening at this year's fest. The topic: 10 reasons to love animation, a.k.a. ten of her fave films. She started the set with Jacques Drouin's masterwork 'Mindscape'. Wasn't able to track it down online, but I did find some of his other work, an excellent antiwar piece called 'Ex-Child'. That incredible flowing sandlike graphite-on-paper textured look comes courtesy of his mastery of the Alexeieff-Parker Pinscreen, a massive version of the moveable pin screens on those novelty clocks you can find at Radio Shack (sorry, The Source). The amount of work and attention to detail in a Drouin film is staggering...his flowing, rippling images have become an NFB hallmark. More of Helene's faves later!