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Extraterrestrial influencers making social media content about human food, a scientist producing genetically modified fruits and the soul-sucking dangers of capitalist hustle culture all come together in “Boys Go to Jupiter.” Inherently unexpected in the landscape of American independent film, Julian Glander’s idiosyncratic delight is the rare animated feature made outside of this country’s major studios. With his hilariously offbeat, uniquely stylized and surreptitiously profound debut, Glander joins a small but notable list of directors daring enough to try their hand at indie animation in the U.S., joining the ranks of Bill Plympton, Dash Shaw and Don Hertzfeldt.

Billboards preaching threatening Bible verses and orange groves with sinister origins proliferate in the Florida beach town where “Boys Go to Jupiter” unfurls. There resides brooding 16-year-old Billy 5000 (Jack Corbett), who has left his childish interests behind to become preoccupied with making money delivering food via an app called...

Growing up, Don Hertzfeldt first fell in love with animation while attending screenings at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. Every year in the ’90s, the venue held an annual animation festival, which his parents took him to, where he spent hours watching short films from animators as diverse as Bill Plympton, “Wallace & Gromit” creator Nick Park, and future Pixar directors.

“For a kid, growing up with Saturday morning cartoons and Disney movies, seeing that there’s an independent world out there was mind-melting,” Hertzfeldt told IndieWire in an interview. “You know, I had no idea you could do this independently, by yourself. And it was massively inspirational. I think seeing those indie films made me want to be an animator, and thinking ‘maybe someday I can have a movie in one of these programs.'”

Now, Hertzfeldt is doing one better and making an animation festival himself.

When one starts watching Adult Swim’s Common Side Effects, it’s easy to feel confused about exactly what it is. Is it a comedy? A thriller? A drama? A sci-fi epic? A bizarre drug trip?

After a while, though, it becomes clear that the answer to all those questions is the same one. Just as it is for the question of whether this is one of the best new shows of the year:

Damn right it is.

The animated series, which debuted back in February, was created by Joseph Bennett and Steve Hely,...

When people ask me what my favorite film festival is, I know what they expect to hear: something upscale and exclusive, like Venice or Cannes, with their red carpet premieres and interminable standing ovations, where the winning filmmaker goes home with a golden something-or-other, be it a lion, a bear or the Palme d’Or.

What they don’t expect to hear is that the top stop on my travel calendar is, in fact, Annecy, which isn’t a traditional film festival at all, but more of a cross between Comic-Con and Cannes, dedicated entirely to animation.

Personally, I believe that animation is the purest form of cinema there is. Unlike the vast majority of filmmaking, where you point a camera at something that exists — what we think of as “live action” — with animation, you start with a blank page (or screen), and everything that appears on it must be drawn,...

Chicago – Bill Plympton is a true animation legend. He will represent his “Plympton Twisted Toons” on June 1st, 2025, in person at the NYC Metrograph Theater, and through Metrograph At Home. For tickets/info, click Plymp-Toons.

The two screening sets will include 1997’s “I Married a Strange Person” (listen to the anecdote in the Podtalk below) with shorts (“Hot Dog” and “Santa: The Fascist Years”) and 2013’s “Cheatin’” with shorts (the classic “Push Comes to Shove” and “Footprints”). Bill Plympton will be making an appearance at the Metrograph … and as a bonus will be whipping up sketches on the spot for any audience members who want to take home a little piece of cartooning history. The film sets will release simultaneously on June 1 with Metrograph At Home.

’Plympton’s Twisted Toons’ at the Metrograph

Photo credit: Metrograph.com

Recognized by the Academy and the Festival de Cannes, a staple of...

Once upon a time, MTV stood for Music Television and played nothing but music videos around the clock. At a time when 24-hour programming in any form was still novel, there was something comforting about being able to switch on the tube at 3am and watch a Split Enz video. MTV was the only channel within the rapidly expanding cable expanse offering this then-novel service, so no one was clamoring for it to air, say, reruns of "The Monkees."

When MTV became a pop cultural phenomenon, the company got ambitious and began trying out non-music-video programming. In 1985, they really did begin airing reruns of "The Monkees," but that same year they also brought the brilliant BBC punk-rock sitcom "The Young Ones" to American viewers. They eventually got into original programming in 1987 with the game show "Remote Control," which introduced Gen X-ers to comedic talents like Ken Ober, Colin Quinn, and...

The early 1990s were an exciting time for animation. Throughout the 1980s, mainstream commercial cartoons had become, well, commercials, Many of them were owned by toy companies and only put into production to advertise toy products. New cartoon shows wouldn't be greenlit unless they possessed "marquee value," which is to say they were "established IPs" (to use the modern lingo). 

This over-commercialization deeply branded a generation, but caused storytelling to suffer. Certain animators sick of the Reagan era began to branch out in the '90s, and the world experienced a sudden explosion of creativity. Animators like John Kricfalusi (whose achievements and gross misconduct alike are chronicled in the documentary "Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story") and Mike Judge began animating aggressively crude, playfully subversive shows like "The Ren & Stimpy Show" and "Beavis and Butt-head," respectively. Elsewhere, animation exhibitors Spike & Mike began touring theaters with both classic...

The 25th Woodstock Film Festival will feature a lineup of world, North American and U.S. premieres, joining acclaimed fiction and nonfiction films from Sean Baker, Steve McQueen, Alexis Bloom, Raoul Peck, Marielle Heller, Jesse Eisenberg, Jacques Audiard and many more.

The festival, which runs from October 15-20 in the Hudson Valley towns of Woodstock, Rosendale, Kingston and Saugerties, will see writer-director Paul Schrader receive the Honorary Maverick Award. His latest, Oh, Canada, starring Richard Gere, Uma Thurman and Jacob Elordi, will screen at Woodstock. Filmmaker Ira Deutchman will be presented with the Honorary Trailblazer Award; Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís will receive the inaugural Art of Activism Award. [Scroll for the full lineup]

McQueen’s Blitz, starring Oscar-nominated actress Saoirse Ronan, serves as Woodstock’s centerpiece film. Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, starring the Oscar-nominated actor and Kieran Culkin, closes the silver jubilee edition of Woodstock. Sean Baker’s Anora heads to...

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.

Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.

Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...

This year, the International Film Festival Rotterdam had independent animation legend Bill Plympton as a special guest. He was interviewed, performed a masterclass, showing how his style of animation worked, drew sketches for attendants, the lot. A true gentleman. Also, he brought his newest feature film with him: a western called Slide. In it we see a mysterious guitar player arrive in Sourdough Creek, a small town with lumberjacks, fishermen, and a local saloon-slash-whorehouse where the town's mayor resides. This mayor, Jeb, is corrupt and rotten to the core. Together with his brother Zeke he tyrannically abuses his authority and kills anyone who stands in his way, including guitar players who play 'slow music'. This does mean the mysterious guitar player immediately gets a job...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The 30th Slamdance Film Festival announced its annual Sparky Awards on Thursday evening, with Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident from Italy taking narrative feature grand jury honours and Matt Moyer, Amy Toensing’s Inheritance prevailing in the documentary feature category.

The Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize was awarded to Zoe Eisenberg’s Chaperone and the Episodes Grand Jury Prize went to Restorage by E’an Verdugo.

Audience award winners included Omar Kamara’s African Giants for best narrative feature and Hadley Austin’s Demon Mineral for documentary feature.

The Agbo Fellowship was awarded to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film The Steak...

The 2024 Slamdance Film Festival has announced its winners with Giuseppe Garau’s The Accident landing the narrative Grand Jury prize, and Matt Moyer and Amy Toensing’s Inheritance landing the top doc prize.

African Giants from director Omar Kamara took the audience award for best narrative feature, with Demon Mineral from Hadley Austin taking the prize for doc feature.

In the Unstoppable section, which feature projects by filmmakers with disabilities, Good Bad Things from director Shane Stanger took the top prize.

“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ‘24,” said Slamdance director Taylor Miller. “We thank our programmers, sponsors, industry partners, and everyone at The Yarrow for creating an inclusive environment in which the filmmakers have been discovered by record-breaking audiences.”

See...

“Inheritance,” “The Accident” and “Good Bad Things” are among the award winners at the 30th annual Slamdance Film Festival. The winners were announced Thursday at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Park City – The Yarrow in Park City, Utah.

The three films feted the Feature Grand Jury Prizes, while the Audience Awards went to “African Giants,” “Demon Mineral,” “Good Bad Things” and “Night Drives.”

The festival also announced the recipient of their Agbo Fellowship from Slamdance alumni Joe and Anthony Russo. It went to Kiarash Dadgar, whose short film “The Steak” was programmed as a part of the Narrative Shorts competition and included a $25,000 prize with mentorship from the brothers.

“This year’s award-winning films leave an indelible mark on the world of independent cinema. Each one delves into groundbreaking storytelling and the spirit of human resilience, highlighting the extreme filmmaking talent on show at Slamdance ’24,” Taylor Miller, Slamdance director, said in a statement.

Debbie Harry, lead singer of Blondie, will be among those taking part in on-stage talks at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which runs Jan. 25 to Feb. 4.

Harry narrates the latest film by Amanda Kramer, “So Unreal,” an essay-documentary about the relationships between cinema, humanity and technology. On Jan. 27, the two will give an IFFR Talk discussing their work as artists with distinctive esthetics whose careers have developed across film and music.

As previously announced, other speakers in the IFFR Talk program include actor Sandra Hüller, and directors Anne Fontaine, Marco Bellocchio, Bill Plympton and Billy Woodberry.

Directors attending with their titles in the Limelight section, which is for films from established filmmakers, include Mexican filmmaker Amat Escalante with “Lost in the Night,” Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland with “Green Border” and Tunisian filmmaker Kaouther Ben Hania with “Four Daughters,” which is shortlisted for an Oscar.

Fontaine will attend the world premiere of her 19th feature film,...

Sandra Hüller, who is an awards contender with “The Zone of Interest” and “Anatomy of a Fall,” will be one of the guest speakers taking part in the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Talks program later this month.

In her talk, Hüller will “delve into her acting trajectory, discussing the highlights of her career, but also lesser-known performances – including work in the theater and other arts,” the festival said. She will talk about her approach to acting and character with an emphasis on “The Zone of Interest,” playing at this year’s festival, and the different methods of the directors she has collaborated with through the years.

The program also includes a talk by Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, who comes to IFFR with his latest examination of Italian history, “Rapito.” In this wide-ranging talk, Bellocchio will “reveal his passion as a filmmaker and his emotional connection to all stages of the filmmaking process.

Other speakers at festival include Marco Bellocchio, Billy Woodberry and Anne Fontaine.

Sandra Hüller has joined the line-up of special guests confirmed for the talks programme at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), which runs from January 25-February 4.

Hüller will discuss her recent work, including on Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone Of Interest, which plays in the IFFR 2024 Limelight section, and on the Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy Of A Fall for which she won the European Film Award for best actress in December 2023.

Also speaking in the IFFR Talks programme is Italian director Marco Bellocchio whose latest feature Rapito is screening at the festival.

Sandra Hüller Set For Rotterdam Talks Program

Awards season frontrunner Sandra Hüller has joined the roster of speakers lined up for the talks program of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. She joins 16 previously announced talks guests who also include L.A. Rebellion filmmaker Billy Woodberry, veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio, animation maestro Bill Plympton, French director Anne Fontaine and avant-garde German director Alexander Kluge, who continues to blaze a trail at the age of 91 with his new AI work Cosmic Miniatures. As previously announced, IFFR opens with Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South and 14 titles are in the running for its top Tiger award.

Bavaria Fiction Restructures Development Team

Germany’s Bavaria Fiction is rejigging its development team with Thomas Kren placed in charge. Work has begun to restructure the unit, with Kren expanding his existing role to “accelerate and coordinate...

Festival runs January 19-25 in person, January 22-28 online.

Slamdance Film Festival has announced the roster for its upcoming 30th anniversary edition, which is bookended by Carol Dysinger’s previously announced post-Afghanistan War documentary One Bullet and Vanessa Hope’s IDFA closing night documentary Invisible Nation, a profile of Taiwanese first female president Tsai Ing-wen.

Running January 19-25 in person and January 22-28 online, this year’s event returns to Yarrow Hotel in Park City where the festival launched and will showcase 32 features, of which 17 are world premieres, as well as 75 shorts, and five episodics.

Festival organisers said this year...

In Korea, the age of 19 marks the brink of adolescence – and in the same way, the Seoul Indie-Anifest seemed to be at a crossroads. Its programming this year looked both to the past and to the future. The special guest selection juxtaposed classic American animator Bill Plympton with a much younger contemporary, Jérémy Clapin; the film programming spilled over into more segments and now, web animation; and, in due turn, the festival turnout seemed greater in number than ever before.

Within the Korean selections of Independent Walk and First Flight, then, it is almost fitting to see the tension between past and future present in the awards. “Echo” (Kim Sangjoon), which follows a cannibalism case in the 1990s, took home the coveted “Star of Indie” Grand Prize this year. On the other hand, the speculative future of “How to get your man pregnant” (Noh Gyeong-mu) scooped the Prize for Independent Walk,...

The best R-rated animated comedies are also some of the best cartoon movies period. Today, both children and adults are well-versed in the style and tone of PG-rated animation, as many contemporary cartoon movies have become at par with live-action films in terms of storytelling. This, however, has stolen the spotlight from R-rated comedic cartoons. It's a pity because the lack of restrictions afforded by an R-rating allows these cartoons to further push the boundaries of the medium - in ways that animated comedies permissible for children cannot.

Indeed, between puppet-oriented dramedies, Adult Swim movies about anthropomorphic fast food, and a profanity-filled musical, R-rated animated movies almost prove that adults are more immature than kids. Moreover, from the unapologetic vulgarity of movies like Heavy Metal and Sausage Party, the philosophical inquiries of Mind Game, to the political hard sci-fi of A Scanner Darkly, the best R-rated comedies have come a long way.

Animayo, Spain’s leading animation festival, is celebrating its 18th edition with the help of Disney legend Andreas Deja who will be presenting his independently-produced short, “Mushka.” “Having Deja choose Animayo to debut his film in Spain is the greatest honor,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which unspools May 3-6 on the island of Gran Canaria.

A hand-drawn 2D animated story about an unlikely friendship between a young girl and a Siberian tiger in 1970s’ Soviet Union, “Mushka” is Deja’s directorial debut. His lauded Walt Disney Animation Studio credits include “The Lion King,” “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”

Other notable Spanish premieres at Animayo include that of Jan Bubenicek and Denisa Grimmova’s “Even Mice Belong in Heaven,” about two mortal enemies, a mouse and a fox, who after an accident, find themselves in animal heaven.

Animayo will also treat attendees to...

Warning: Spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 18.

While The Simpsons season 34 episode 18 didn’t seem to have a couch gag in its opening credits, this was soon revealed to be an elaborate setup when the entire episode was revealed to be one long couch gag. The Simpsons does not have many rules that the show holds dear. Since its inception, The Simpsons has made an active effort to subvert and deconstruct the rules of conventional television writing, mocking schmaltzy sitcom Golden Moments with cynical “lessons” and ending many episodes with a fourth-wall-breaking acknowledgment that the preceding plot didn’t make much sense.

However, despite how fast and loose The Simpsons plays with its rules, the show does have some reliable elements. For example, even the darkest jokes in The Simpsons aren’t as explicit as Family Guy’s punchlines or as profane as South Park’s gags. Similarly, almost every...

Leading animation festival will open with Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds.

French director Benoît Chieux’s Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Wind is to open the Annecy International Animation Film Festival which runs from June 11-17.

The film – about two young sisters who discover a passage between this world and the extraordinary universe of The Kingdom of the Winds - is one of 11 titles selected for the festival’s official competition, where it will compete for the Crystal award.

Scroll down for full list

Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s Kensuke’s Kingdom – which is...

Celebrating six decades as the animation industry’s premier international showcase and cementing a growing position as Hollywood’s preferred French getaway, the Annecy Intl. Animation Festival revealed its 2023 program in Paris on Thursday, unveiling a formidable selection of world premieres and industry debuts.

If only for the breadth of this year’s official selection, Annecy looks set to for its most fulsome and abundant edition.

Among the 11 titles competing for this year’s Cristal – Annecy’s top prize – Jérémie Périn’s sci-fi drama “Mars Express” and Jim Capobianco & Pierre-Luc Granjon stop-motion Leonardo da Vinci epic “The Inventor” will make their world premieres. Other eagerly anticipated titles include “Chicken for Linda!” from Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach, “Four Souls of Coyote” from by Áron Gauder, and “The Inseparables” by Jérémie Degruson.

Titles like Liu Jian’s “Art College 1994” and Sepideh Farsi’s “The Siren” will arrive in the idyllic French...

The Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its 2023 edition, running from June 11 to 17.

More than 13,000 animation professionals are set to descend on the French festival’s lakeside setting for its traditional mix of screenings programs across all formats, Work-in-Progress and First-Look sneak peeks, and presentations going behind the scenes of upcoming animation productions.

Competition title Sirocco And The Kingdom Of The Winds by French director Benoît Chieux opens the festival. The fantasy follows the adventures of two young sisters as they try to make their way home after getting trapped in the world of their favorite book.

A Cat In Paris and Phantom Boy director Alain Gagnol co-wrote the screenplay for the feature lead produced by Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions.

The film, which world premieres in Annecy, is among 11 titles competing for the festival’s Crystal award.

Another three French productions debut in Competition: Chiara Malta and...

Filmmakers and executives, creatives of music, theater and art remembered Tom Luddy as friend and mentor, tastemaker and cultural force who deployed an astonishingly vast network to nurture talent and bring people and projects together over decades.

The co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival passed away in February.

“I am thinking of getting a tattoo of you on my arm,” said Irish director Mark Cousins at tribute event at the Paris Theatre over the weekend. “Here is Hitchcock on my arm, and here is and Kira Muratova. Maybe you would fit between the two?” He added, “For the rest of my life, I will see partly through your eyes. I miss you and I love you.”

“Tom Luddy was a constant presence. The sun around which so many of us have revolved,” said Ken Burns. The two met when Burns screened Huey Long at Telluride in 1985. “For the next 35-plus years,...

Warning: Spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 13.

While The Simpsons has staged hundreds of couch gags over the years, the series still managed to pull off an innovative first with the format in season 34, episode 13. The Simpsons season 34 has repeatedly proven that the long-running animated sitcom is still dedicated to breaking the rules of television and playing with conventions and tropes that viewers expect from the medium. The Simpsons returned from its hiatus with season 34, episode 13, “The Many Saints of Springfield,” and, from its opening scene onwards, the outing messed with audience expectations.

While some of the best episodes in season 34 broke The Simpsons’ rules within their stories, “The Many Saints of Springfield” didn’t even wait until the episode had begun to start changing up the formula. The couch gag of “The Many Saints of Springfield” managed to take the opening gag structure that appears in almost every episode...

(Welcome to Animation Celebration, a recurring feature where we explore the limitless possibilities of animation as a medium. In this edition: "I Married a Strange Person!")

In the 1990s, MTV ran an animated showcase called "Liquid Television," which was a groundbreaking collection of early computer-animated shorts, highly-influential hand-drawn shorts, and was the launchpad for several high-profile originals, like Mike Judge's "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "Æon Flux." MTV snagged some of the most adventurous and experimental shorts from seasoned animators and designers of the era, including Charles Burns, Richard Sala, David Daniels, and Bill Plympton.

The latter was behind the 1987 Academy Awards-nominated short, "Your Face," which featured a man singing about the face of his love, as his own face begins to distort into increasingly unusual positions. He would go on to direct the animated musical feature, "The Tune," which was self-funded and incorporated footage from his shorts "The Wiseman,...

The minds behind The Simpsons recently discussed the process they used to create the legendary animated TV show's iconic opening sequence couch gags. The show's 34th season debuted on September 25th, continuing its stretch as the longest-running American sitcom of all time. The Simpsons will air its landmark 750th episode later this season, as the series continues to show unparalleled staying power over three decades on TV screens with no signs of slowing down.

Director David Silverman and showrunner Matt Selman sat down with GQ recently to talk about some of the biggest moments of The Simpsons' ongoing 34-year run, including their unique and ever-changing couch gag opening sequences. Selman spoke about how the producers would enlist staff writers who were not busy to come up with fun ideas for couch gags ahead of time. Selman also said that the couch gags are not related to the creative writing of...

While The Simpsons has taken a few potshots at its competitors before, season 34’s Treehouse of Horror Halloween special was the first episode to explicitly make fun of South Park, Rick and Morty, and Family Guy in the same gag - and even made room to mock some other comedy series at the same time. So far, The Simpsons season 34 has seen the series mock itself more than ever before. This would be an impressive feat for any show, but for a series as famously self-aware as the anarchic animated comedy, season 34’s commitment to mocking the many plot holes of The Simpsons, the show’s storytelling shortcuts, and even its competitors has been impressive.

In The Simpsons season 34, episode 6, “Treehouse of Horror Xxxiii,” the series parodied Westworld with a segment set in a theme park that allowed patrons to re-enact their favorite scenes from Golden Age episodes of The Simpsons.

Warning: Spoilers for The Simpsons season 34, episode 4.

While Drew Barrymore’s role as herself was a fun cameo in The Simpsons season 34, her appearance creates a major plot hole because of the episode’s other star. The unclear canon of The Simpsons has always confused viewers since the series will often rewrite the backstories of major characters or retcon events out of existence without warning. As a cartoon comedy, The Simpsons has a little more leeway than most sitcoms when it comes to the show’s lack of continuity, but even this can be taken too far at times.

For example, The Simpsons season 34, episode 4 “The King of Nice,” saw Marge become a daytime television presenter while Krusty also transitioned to the genre. Both characters found great success in their new roles, only to soon tire of the daytime television industry. Near the episode's end, Drew Barrymore played herself as...

While The Simpsons season 34 has already taken creative risks so far, the first full-length Treehouse of Horror movie parody represents another step forward for the show’s familiar format. Rather than playing it safe, The Simpsons season 34 has made a commendable effort to make a lot of potentially risky creative decisions in its first few outings, from explaining how The Simpsons predict the future to breaking the fourth wall even more than usual. However, one of The Simpsons season 34’s biggest, and potentially most promising, risks appears in its plans for the show's iconic Treehouse of Horror.

The Simpsons’ “Not It” will see the long-running series air the first of two Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials featured in season 34. However, airing two Treehouse of Horror episodes in one season is not the only risk the episode takes, as "Not It" sees Krusty the Clown play the part of Pennywise in...

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In proudly weird Portland, Oregon, far from the Hollywood moviemaking machinery, an animation empire arose in the mid-’70s. It was fueled by a hippie-collective exuberance and one man’s “burning ambition,” as a colleague describes the enterprising energy of Will Vinton, the company’s driving force, in the engaging and insightful Claydream.

With incisive use of clips from the Vinton catalog and discerning interviews with Vinton and those who knew him, Marq Evans has made a film that pays tribute to its subject but is no starry-eyed celebration. Not unlike the characters Vinton and his collaborators brought to the screen through Claymation (a Vinton coinage and registered trademark), the doc combines exhilarating whimsy with dark and complex emotions. And any film that incorporates deposition footage is not likely to be headed toward a simple happily-ever-after.

Those legal proceedings pitted Vinton against Phil Knight,...

The Book of Genesis contains two competing creation stories: There’s the one where an all-powerful deity conjures everything in six days, and the version where a more anthropomorphic god rolls up his heavenly sleeves and makes man from clay.

Guess which one the visionary stop-motion artist Will Vinton would have preferred.

Co-inventor of the “Claymation” technique, Vinton wanted to be the second Walt Disney. Colorful eyegasm “ClayDream” celebrates all that Will Vinton Studios achieved — its most beloved characters include the California Raisins, rabbit-eared Domino’s Pizza menace “the Noid” and Eddie Murphy series “The PJs” — while musing about what might have been, had control of the company not been wrested away from him by Nike honcho Phil Knight, who rechristened it Laika and put his son Travis in charge.

That was an unhappy end for Vinton (who died in 2018), to be sure, but like the Old Testament origin story, this saga has multiple versions.

Two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton has boarded the series “Guard Dog & Bill Plympton in Brazil,” directed by Brazilian animator Cesar Cabral.

Cabral’s stop-motion “Bob Spit: We Do Not Like People” won best feature at the Quirino Awards last May.

Currently in pre-production, “Guard Dog” follows the celebrated over-anxious or just neurotic yellow canine of te title alongside his creator Plympton. “The series’ general idea is to bring Guard Dog and his owner –in this case Plympton himself – to tour Brazilian cities and draw their tourist and artistic impressions of our country,” director Cabral told Variety.

The Coala Filmes and Cup Filmes co-production is backed by Federal incentive body Fundo Setorial do Audiovisual (Fsa).

To air on pay TV Canal Brasil, the three-minute, 18-episode series will mix 2D and stop-motion techniques and will complement a 52-minute documentary on Plympton traveling through Brazil in the company of Cabral and Cup Filmes producer,...

Even with two Oscar nominations under his belt, a resume that includes commercials for Geico and music videos for Kanye West and Weird Al, animator Bill Plympton remains committed to the DIY ethos and unique hand-drawn style that launched his career 35 years ago. “That’s the great thing about animation — there are no rules, so you can do anything you want,” he said during a Q&a following a screening of some of his shorts at the 15th annual Mendocino Film Festival Sunday. “I like to try and break the rules as much as possible.”

Plympton and his humorously provocative work had a receptive audience in the remote Northern California community known for its wine, weed, and art, delighting the audience with the kind of intimate programming that’s just not possible at the largest festivals. He also offered a first look at his upcoming Kickstarter-funded feature “Slide,” took...

Chances are, you landed on this review because you’re trying to game your Oscar pool, looking for a clue as to what will win the always-underseen shorts categories — in a year when they were unceremoniously booted from the telecast, no less. Well, if it’s predictions you’re looking for, there’s little contest among this year’s cartoon contenders: Academy favorite Aardman Animations has delivered a delightful frontrunner in “Robin Robin.” But don’t stop reading there! In an unusually adult-leaning year, the traditionally kid-friendly category is well worth watching in its entirety, whether in theaters or on demand, thanks to stalwart distributor ShortsTV.

The program opens with “Robin Robin,” which seems poised to earn Aardman its fifth Oscar. This half-hour Christmas musical was hatched by Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, who joined the Bristol-based studio for the express purpose of co-directing this Netflix holiday special, about a...

With fears our winter travel will need a, let’s say, reconsideration, the Criterion Channel’s monthly programming could hardly come at a better moment. High on list of highlights is Louis Feuillade’s delightful Les Vampires, which I suggest soundtracking to Coil, instrumental Nine Inch Nails, and Jóhann Jóhannson’s Mandy score. Notable too is a Sundance ’92 retrospective running the gamut from Paul Schrader to Derek Jarman to Jean-Pierre Gorin, and I’m especially excited for their look at one of America’s greatest actors, Sterling Hayden.

Special notice to Criterion editions of The Killing, The Last Days of Disco, All About Eve, and The Asphalt Jungle, and programming of Ognjen Glavonić’s The Load, among the better debuts in recent years.

See the full list of January titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

-Ship: A Visual Poem, Terrance Day, 2020

5 Fingers, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1952

After Migration: Calabria,...

Exclusive: Oscilloscope has acquired North American rights to Marq Evans’ Claydream, which premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival.

Marq Evans’ feature documentary revolves around claymation icon Will Vinton’s legal fight with Phil Knight. The Nike founder in the late 1990s came in as an investor and eventual took over the famed stop-motion production company Will Vinton Studios, which rose to prominence inventing the California Raisins, Dominos Pizza’s the Noid and the talking M&Ms as well as countless movies, TV series and commercial successes.

The film, produced by XYZ Films, Starburns Industries (Anomalisa), The McCaw and One Two Twenty Entertainment, is being sold by XYZ heading into the virtual AFM. O-Scope is planning a 2022 stateside release.

Vinton’s output was legend, fueled by the popularity of his California Raisins which belted out “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” in ads for the California Raisin Advisory Board. They alone spawned two TV specials,...

“Pearl Diver” by Norway’s Margrethe Danielsen has swept Spain’s 16th Animayo Gran Canaria Festival awards, making off with the International Grand Jury Prize as well as plaudits for best student short film, stop motion and comedy for adults.

“Pearl Diver” follows three odd couples: a hedgehog that falls in love with a balloon, two oysters anxious to meet; and an Arctic couple drifting apart.

The stop-motion animated short was produced at Volda University College and has already won a string of awards worldwide. Aside from scooping a cash prize of €3,000 and a trophy, “Pearl Diver” qualifies to compete for the Academy Award’s short list of qualifying animated shorts.

Italy’s “Where Night Falls” by Francesco Filippini nabbed the best 3D, best comedy for all ages and best screenplay awards. The short revolves around a boy and his grandmother as they set off on a shamanic journey to discover their roots.

Animayo Gran Canaria, Spain’s prominent Canary Islands-based animation festival, has expanded threefold as it divides its multiple activities into three sections: In-person over May 5-8; an avatar-based virtual event on May 13-15; and online from May 17 through October.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has been a blessing; it came as a shock at first but we found a creative solution,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which also includes VFX and video gaming.

By deploying an avatar-based virtual event platform dubbed Roomkey (formerly Teooh) that enables professional and enterprise communities to sit and interact in the same digital space, Animayo Gran Canaria became the first animation festival in the world to go virtual last year. “We lured up to 45,000 participants in 2020 and expect to reach or surpass that tally in this edition,” Perea said. “Going virtual has been a blessing for mid-sized festivals as it has allowed us to expand...

As “The Simpsons” marks another milestone this Sunday with its 700th episode, fans can be rest assured that there are many more to come beyond that. Fox recently renewed the animated institution for another two seasons, bringing the show to Season 34 (and a grand total of 757 episodes) in 2023. But what happens after that?

“We’re going to definitely do 757,” said executive producer Al Jean. “I wouldn’t say that’s the end but I don’t know how much further we can go.”

He laughs at the idea of making it to an even 1,000 episodes, noting that it would take another 12 years to pull off that feat. But it’s not out of the question, and Jean notes that with virtually every classic series being rebooted — including animated entries like “Beavis & Butt-Head” — he doesn’t think “The Simpsons” would stay dormant for long even if production stopped. “As soon as they cancel us,...

Albert Brooks is back as a guest voice on “The Simpsons” this Sunday for the first time in six years, and Variety has a sneak peek at his latest role on animated series.

In “Yokel Hero,” Cletus (Hank Azaria) becomes a singing sensation, with the help of Homer (Dan Castellaneta). Then Cletus turns on his fans, ruining everything. Brooks makes a guest-voice appearance as the “Slick Manager” (that’s the character’s name) at “United Parasites Management Company,” eager to sign Cletus and make him a star. Scroll down to watch the first-look clip.

“Yokel Hero,” which airs Sunday, March 7 at 8 p.m. on Fox, is the first time Brooks has provided a guest voice on “The Simpsons” since 2015.

Executive producer Al Jean touted Brooks’ appearance this time out as longer than normal, “almost all of the third act… and of course, he’s always hilarious. It’s really funny to record him,...

Outside episodic television, adult animation is seldom procured at studios in the U.S. Still; the medium has found stateside keepers of mature content among independent creators. Dash Shaw, alongside fiercely autonomous storytellers like Don Hertzfeldt and veteran Bill Plympton, is one of the most visionary American animation filmmakers pushing past the thematic and aesthetic boundaries imposed in family-friendly fare.

Read More: 25 Most Anticipated 2021 Sundance Film Festival Premieres

In “Cryptozoo,” his follow-up to the hilarious disaster teen comedy “My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea,” Shaw, who’s also quite prolific in the comic book arena, has gone bolder and more intricate in a kaleidoscopic adventure best dubbed as the “Jurassic Park” of mythical creatures.

Continue reading ‘Cryptozoo’: Dash Shaw’s Spectacular Animated Adventure Is the ‘Jurassic Park’ Of Mythical Creatures [Sundance Review] at The Playlist.

International attention to Indian animation has certainly refocused after the release of “Bombay Rose”, and this particular short is no exception. Freelance animator Shaheen Sheriff tempts smiles and laughter in this year’s “Asian Focus” of Cartoon Underground’s International Competition with their five-minute film, “Watchmakers at Time’s End.”

“Watchmakers at Time’s End” is Screening at Cartoons Underground

“Watchmakers at Time’s End” revolves around a Kerala watchmaker’s dilemma in a whimsical alternate universe. At one point, a meteor hit the Earth so hard that the Earth has been tilted off-center from its axis; since then, it has been nigh impossible to measure time. One day, however, a mysterious substance falls from the heavens – one that allows the watchmaker to accurately tell time again. The joy is only short-lived, however, once another meteor shower destroys what little is left.

The film is certainly charming. With the zany...

If you’re looking to dive into the best of independent and foreign filmmaking, The Criterion Channel has announced their August 2020 lineup. The impressive slate includes retrospectives dedicated to Mia Hansen-Løve, Bill Gunn, Stephen Cone, Terry Gilliam, Wim Wenders, Alain Delon, Bill Plympton, Les Blank, and more.

In terms of new releases, they also have Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’ Bacurau, the fascinating documentary John McEnroe: In the Realm of Perfection, the Kenyan LGBTQ drama Rafiki, and more. There’s also a series on Australian New Wave with films by Gillian Armstrong, Bruce Beresford, David Gulpilil, and Peter Weir, as well as one on bad vacations with Joanna Hogg’s Unrelated, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, and more.

See the lineup below and explore more on their platform. One can also see our weekly streaming picks here.

25 Ways to Quit Smoking, Bill Plympton, 1989

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Roy Rowland,...

Without Spike & Mike, two hippie friends from Riverside, California, who pioneered the animation festival in the late ’70s, the indie short wouldn’t have become the cultural phenomenon that has helped shaped the industry today. That’s the takeaway of the celebratory documentary, “Animation Outlaws,” directed by stop-motion animator Kat Alioshin (“The Nightmare Before Christmas”), available now on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Vudu, Fandango Now, PlayStation, and Vimeo.

“Beyond anybody in the world, we stepped up and did it first, and premiered it first, and made it first — and that’s why the documentary is so important to me,” said Spike Decker, who first promoted rock bands and classic horror movies with the late Mike Gribble (who passed away from cancer in ’94) before segueing into animation festivals. Their “Spike & Mike’s Animation Festival” and the “Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation” (launched in ’90) made the art form “something more dangerous...

Mike Gribble, co-founder of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation, was just 42 years old when he died of pancreatic cancer in 1994 — an awful case of a larger-than-life film-world figure dying before his work was done. That probably would have been the perfect time for Kat Alioshin’s short, oh-so-adulatory “Animation Outlaws,” which plays more like a pop-art tribute video than a well-rounded documentary about Gribble and marginally less eccentric accomplice Craig Decker (aka “Spike”).

As it is, the film arrives long after the world of animation has been permanently reconfigured, thanks to a rebellious CG venture known as “Toy Story” and a little innovation called the internet. Today, it could be difficult to convince college kids — who grew up on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, and for whom anime has moved mainstream — that there was a time just a few decades back when Disney was practically the only game in town.

Any community or movement requires the support of curators and fans to flourish. Spike and Mike are credited with investing in a market where one didn’t exist and without them it’s quite possible we’d never have the likes of The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, and Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim. Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation was born when two concert promotors from Riverside, California: Craig “Spike” Decker and Mike Gribble, who started showing cartoons between acts. Originally sourcing from smaller distributors, college campuses, and the National Film Board of Canada, they grew their brand to compete with others and found their niche with their Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. Originally a touring show that started in non-traditional venues on college campuses, the tour grew to include independent cinemas. That’s where I discovered it–on our annual family trip to Disney. Although intended for audience members 18 and older,...

Four female Italian bandits known as “Le Drude” are the protagonists of “My Body Will Bury You” a Sicily-set revenge drama/Western set in 1860 that is among standout titles presented to prospective buyers and sales agents during the Rome Mia market’s What’s Next Italy showcase.

This second feature by Alessandro La Parola, whose bittersweet comedy debut “E se domani” won some prizes and critical accolades, is loosely based on the director’s research about the period when Garibaldi in his effort to unify Italy invaded Sicily, then a lawless territory where gangs of female rebels formed. Footage of the film (pictured) revealed a genre-bender that mixes period costumer, Western, and action tropes. The trigger-happy killer among the four fierce women — who have joined forces to avenge cruelties that they, and others, have been subjected to — is played by Sicilian actress Margareth Made who emerged in Giuseppe Tornatore’s “Baaria.