Presented by:

Sunday October 25th
5:00–7:00 PM
Northwest Film Forum
1515 12th Ave, Seattle WA 98122
206-329-2629
Located on Capitol Hill between Pike and Pine
click for directions and parking information

Ron Diamond is returning to the Pacific Northwest with his Animation Show of Shows. Ron travels to festivals around the globe and selects the best work for his screenings.

11th Annual Animation Show of Shows

Photograph of Jesus

Directed by Laurie Hill / U.K. / Run Time 6:42
Executive Producer: Basil Stephens

Looking for photographs of Jesus, yetis and Hitler in 1948? In this documentary-fantasy based on true stories of requests for impossible archival images, fact and fiction collide,
belief runs amok and unruly images take on a life of their own.

Awards
Most Inventive Film, Odense International Film Festival, Denmark
McLaren Award for Best New British Animation, Edinburgh International Film Festival
Best Animated Short, Seattle International Film Festival, USA
Laurie Hill was born in Norfolk, UK and holds degrees in English and Art from
R.H.B.N.C., Surrey; Kings College London; and Chelsea College of Art and Design,
London. After working for nine years as an information designer for a mainframe
computer firm, she received an MA in animation at the Royal College of Art, London.
Selected for Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2007. Finalist in Jerwood Moving Image
Awards 2008. Winner of Short & Sweet / Getty Images Short Film Challenge 2008.

The Da Vinci Time Code

Directed by Gil Alkabetz / Germany / Run Time 2:49

In this deconstruction (literally and figuratively) of Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper,” Alkabetz creates an animated film from fragments of the familiar masterpiece, allowing us to discover secret movements. The people in the picture eat, dance, discuss and argue, until finally all are silenced.

Awards
Film of the Month, Filmbewertungsstelle, Wiesbaden
Special Award: Music for Animation, Stuttgart Int. Animation Festival

Gil Alkabetz was born in 1957 in Kibuz “Mashabei Sade,” Israel and studied graphic design at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem. From 1985 to1995, he worked as a freelance animator and illustrator and as a teacher at different art schools in Israel, and since 1995 has worked as an independent film maker in Germany. He is currently a professor in the HFF, “Konrad Wolf”, Potsdam and a teacher in the Filmakademie BW. His previous films, which have won awards throughout the world, include Bitzbutz (1984), Swamp (1991), Yankale (1995), Rubicon (1997), Morir de Amor (2004), and A Sunny Day (2007).

Volgens de Vogels (According to Birds)

Directed by Linde Fass / Netherlands / Run Time: 5:26

The morning dawn reveals an great grey owl. With his arrival the birds awake, filling the woods with their sounds and movement. Their little rituals make the forest a rich and powerfull place. But as with all things, it only lasts for a moment.

Awards
Judges Award, International Competition, Melbourne International Animation Festival
First prize, Film Front Festival Gorinchem
First prize, student competition, Holland Animation Film Festival
Special Jury Prize, Kino Proba

Born in the Netherlands in 1985, Linde Faas has always been fascinated with movement and the meaning of sound. He studied animation at Sint Joost Art Academy (Breda), graduating in 2008. His graduation film, Volgens de Vogels, received the Sint Joost Academy Award. He has a special fascination for the concept of silence, which he tries to explore in his films and drawings. Nature is also a very important and recurring theme in his work.

Santa: The Fascist Years

Directed by Bill Plympton / USA / Run Time 3:25
Produced by Biljana Labovic / Narrated by Matthew Modine

We all think of Santa as “Jolly Old St. Nick.” But who knew that he has a dark hidden
past that’s very un-jolly? This short film uncovers and explores Santa’s flirtation with
politics and greed.

Born and raised in Portland, Oregon, Bill Plympton graduated from Portland State
University in Graphic Design and moved to New York City in 1968. He began his career
creating cartoons for publications such as the New York Times, National Lampoon,
Playboy and Screw. He was nominated for an Oscar® in 1987 for his animated short Your
Face, and again in 2005 for Guard Dog. Since 1991 he's made nine feature films,
including I Married A Strange Person, Mutant Aliens, Hair High and Idiots and Angels.
Mr. Plympton is considered the King of Indie Animation and is the only person to handdraw
an entire animated feature film.

El Empleo (The Employment)

Directed by Santiago “Bou” Grasso / Argentina / Run Time 6:30
Idea and characters design: Patricio Plaza

On a day like any other, a man goes to work in a world where people are employed in a host of unusual jobs.

Awards
FIPRESCI Award, Annecy International Animation Festival
Special Award, Anima Mundi Festival
Special Jury Award/Audience Award, Bolzano Short Film Festival
Best Animation, Kratkofil Short Film Festival
First Prize, International Animation, Santiago Short Film Festival
Best Animation Award, Festival de Cine Latino de Buenos Aires
Santiago “Bou” Grasso was born on March 11, 1979, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He
obtained a “Designer in Visual Communication” degree in 2003 at the Faculty of Fine
Arts, National University of La Plata (UNLP) and has worked as an illustrator, animator
and comic book artist. His other short films include Nuevas Tecnologías (2004), El
Pájaro y el Hombre (2007), and –Hola? (2007), which won First Prize at the 2008
Cortoons Festival (Italy). His feature film work includes Nocturna, El Arca, Patoruzito,
and Condor Crux, among others. Grasso lives in San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro,
where he works as a freelance illustrator and makes independent animation films.

Nuvole, Mani

Directed by Simone Massi / Italy / Run Time: 8:05
Produced by Ron Dyens & Aurélia Prévieu / Sacrebleu Productions
Crossing the field, we colour ourselves from the yellow of the flower and the spit of the cuckoo.

Simone Massi was born in Pergola, Italy in 1970. After getting his degree in Animated Cinema from the State Institute of Fine Arts of Urbino, he began to work as a freelance animator.

The Spine

Directed by Chris Landreth / Canada / Run Time 11:19
Produced by Marcy Page and Steve Hoban / Co-producer: Mark Smith
Executive Producers: Robert Munroe and David Verrall
National Film Board of Canada

Dan and Mary Rutherford, married 26 years, sit unhappily in a couples’ group counseling session. Angela, another troubled participant in this group, wonders why their marriage has become so lopsided. But when Mary leaves Dan, he undergoes a transformation. What will happen when she returns? The Spine uses a twisted, beautiful and highly original visual aesthetic to look at the ways individuals evolve, adapt and break.

Chris Landreth received his MS degree in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Illinois in 1986 and worked in experimental research in Fluid Mechanics before making his leap into computer animation. In 1994 Chris joined Alias|Wavefront, where, in addition to producing well-mannered software, he created the Oscar©- nominated short film The End (1995) and the Genie Award-winning Bingo (1998). His next film, Ryan (2004), a portrait of animator Ryan Larkin, was honored with more than 50 awards, including an Oscar®. The Spine continues his explorations in the use of unique imagery to represent human psychological turmoil.

Chick

Directed by Michal Socha / Poland / Run Time 5:02
Produced by Michal Socha and Platge Image
Executive Producer: Marcin Kobylecki

The graphically stunning Chick is a humorous true-life story about male-female relations: meeting, dancing, laughing, having sex. A man, giddy with the charm of a femme fatale, leaves a room. He is followed by failure and doom.

Micha? Socha was born in 1981 and graduated from the Faculty of Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where he received an honorable mention from the dean. Chick was his diploma film. Socha lives in Warsaw, where he specializes inanimation and special effects for commercials and TV productions.

Partly Cloudy

Directed by Peter Sohn / USA / Run Time 5:45
Produced by Kevin Reher
Pixar

Everyone knows that the stork delivers babies, but where do the storks get the babies? From cloud people up in the stratosphere, who sculpt babies and bring them to life. Gus, a lonely and insecure grey cloud, is a master at creating “dangerous” babiees— crocodiles, porcupines and more. But as Gus’s creations become more rambunctious, his stork partner Peck's job gets harder and harder. How will Peck manage to handle both his hazardous cargo and his friend’s fiery temperament?

Peter Sohn grew up in New York and attended California Institute of the Arts (Cal Arts). After graduating, he worked at Warner Bros. with director Brad Bird on The Iron Giant, as well as at Disney TV. He started working for Pixar in 2000, beginning in both the art and story departments for Finding Nemo, and later working on The Incredibles in the art, story, and animation departments, and as a story artist and animator for Ratatouille (for which he also provided the voice of Emile). He also worked as a story artist on WALL•E. Sohn currently lives in the Bay Area.

Runaway

Directed by Cordell Barker / Canada / Run Time: 9:15
Produced by Michael Scott & Derek Mazur
National Film Board of Canada

Happy passengers are having a great time on a crowded train, oblivious to the fate that awaits them around the bend. The ensuing crisis leads to a class struggle that is as amusing as it is merciless. Naturally there are victims, but in the end everyone is equal.

Cordell Barker was born in Winnipeg in 1957 and began his career working for “Sesame Street” and collaborating on commercials. In 1982, he joined the NFB and made his first film, The Cat Came Back (1988), which garnered 16 awards and received an Oscar® nomination. After a return to advertising, he made his second film, Strange Invaders, in 2001. It too received an Oscar® nomination and won multiple awards. Like his earlier films, Runaway is an absurd comedy filled with latent social satire. As a filmmaker who focuses on pacing, action and narrative, Cordell Barker enjoys this particular form of expression because it enables him to make the most of his incisive humour