The Animation Show
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The Animation Show is a semi-annual touring festival of animated short films that premiered in fall 2003. It was created and is personally programmed solely by award-winning animators Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt.
Following the demise of other American touring festivals of animation, the stated purpose of the Animation Show is to continually bring animated short films back into proper cinemas, where most of them were intended to be seen, and to "free these artists from the dungeons of Internet exhibition". It is the first-ever festival of animation to actually be curated by working animators and has been described as a "passion project" by its creators, not something intended to turn a giant profit.
A sister series of Animation Show DVD volumes are also available, but the producers stress that the theatrical and DVD lineups are intentionally a little bit different, to encourage audiences to not just wait for the DVD but to visit the cinema and view these films properly. As stated on the Animation Show programs and flyers, once the current edition of the Show is out of theaters, it's "gone forever".
A fourth season of the Animation Show has been announced for American theatrical release in 2008.
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[edit] History
The first season's 2003 tour visited over 200 North American theaters with occasional appearances from the producers (Mike and Don) and Q&A's with many of the award-winning filmmakers involved. The program included "everything from forgotten classics to the very latest in computer animation". This included many current Academy Award nominees, as well as the restoration of a 5 minute excerpt from Ward Kimball's 1957 Disney film, "Mars and Beyond". The tour concluded with the DVD release of Animation Show, Volume One.
A second Animation Show toured throughout 2005, featuring Don Hertzfeldt's The Meaning of Life and new films by animators like Peter Cornwell and Georges Schwizgebel.
The third season of The Animation Show began its nationwide release in January 2007, featuring new work by animators Joanna Quinn, Mike Judge, and Bill Plympton, as well as Don Hertzfeldt's Everything Will Be OK.
The fourth season began April 25 in Austin, Texas and Columbus, Ohio.
[edit] The Animation Show 4 (early reviews)
The Animation Show's new tour is just beginning its march across the country. These are just a few quick blurbs from the openings in Austin and Columbus. The contributors will update as things progress.
The Animation Show 4
Austin Chronicle (pick of the week) -Part of the joy of the program is its all-inclusiveness; there’s room here for the dirty-bird chortles of "Yompi the Crotch-Biting Sloup" and the earnest, gosh-wow inventiveness of PES’s “Western Spaghetti”. At 20-plus entries, the program slightly blurs in its haste and expanse, but even that is addressed in Julian Grey's elegiac adaptation of former poet laureate Billy Collins’ “Forgetfulness,”. It’s a lovely, tender short, a moment of quiet in an overstuffed but superlative program.
Austin American Statesman -The spectrum of animation is here, from stop-motion to primitive ink. Some shorts bask in pregnant quietude; others twitter with such spastic speed that their impact hits subliminal registers. A global survey of a spunky art form that has little in common with the extreme showcases of Spike and Mike.
Austinist -Featuring a wide range of styles and narrative structures, including repeat appearances of some jail-bait bunnies, a Teletubby like crotch-cruncher and a couple of wacky, half-witted Australians, our eyes were glued to the screen for the full hour and a half.
Columbus Alive -The latest edition lives up to its track record of presenting high-quality animation from around the world and giving audiences a good time. One thing definitely in its favor is volume — more than 20 shorts are included, the number pumped up by several series of short shorts featuring recurring characters. The program is also nicely light on filler, with several memorable, stand-alone shorts that cater to various tastes.
[edit] 2003 Theatrical Program
"Welcome to The Show" by Don Hertzfeldt
"Strange Invaders" by Cordell Barker
"Mt. Head" by Koji Yamamura
"the Adventures of Ricardo" by Corky Quackenbush
"Mars and Beyond (excerpt)" by Ward Kimball
"Ident" by Richard Goleszowski for Aardman Animation
"Billy's Balloon" by Don Hertzfeldt
"The Cathedral" by Tomek Baginski
"Intermission in the Third Dimension" by Don Hertzfeldt
"La Course A L'Abime" by Georges Schwizgebel
"Parking' by Bill Plympton
"Fifty Percent Grey" by Ruairi Robinson
"Early Pencil Tests" by Mike Judge
"Vincent" by Tim Burton
"Rejected" by Don Hertzfeldt
"Das Rad (The Rocks)" by Heidi Wittlinger
"The End of The Show" by Don Hertzfeldt
The subsequent "Volume 1" DVD release did not include "Mars and Beyond", "Rejected", "Vincent", "Ident", or "Strange Invaders".
Shorts added to the DVD were:
"Brother", "Cousin", and "Uncle" by Adam Elliot
"Aria" by Pjotr Sapegin
"Moving Illustrations of Machines" by Jeremy Solterbeck
"Bathtime In Clerkenwell" by Alex Budovsky
[edit] 2005 Theatrical Program
"Bunnies" by Jakob Schuh and Saschka Unseld
"Guard Dog" by Bill Plympton
"F.E.D.S." by Jennifer Drummond
"Hello" by Jonathan Nix
"Pan With Us" by David Russo
"The Man With No Shadow" by Georges Schwizgebel
"Rock Fish" by Tim Miller
"Ward 13" by Peter Cornwell
"When The Day Breaks" by Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
"Fireworks" by PES
"Fallen Art" by Tomek Baginski
"The Meaning of Life" by Don Hertzfeldt
The subsequent "Volume 2" DVD release included all of these films with the exception of Georges Schwizgebel's "The Man With No Shadow".
Shorts added to the DVD were:
"Magda" by Chel White
"A Painful Glimpse into my writing process" by Chel White
"Kaboom!" by PES
[edit] 2007 Theatrical Program
"Beavis and Butt-Head introduction" by Mike Judge
"Rabbit" by Run Wrake
"City Paradise" by Gaëlle Denis
"Everything Will Be OK" by Don Hertzfeldt
"Collision" by Max Hattler
"9" by Shane Acker
"Eaux Forte (Tidal Wave)" by Remi Chaye
"Davey and Son of Goliath" by Corky Quackenbush
"Guide Dog" by Bill Plympton
"Versus" by ?
"No Room For Gerold" by Daniel Nocke
"Overtime" by Oury Atlan, Thibaut Berland and Damien Ferrie
"Dreams and Desires: Family Ties" by Joanna Quinn
"Game Over" by PES
