| Patrick Smith | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972 San Juan, Puerto Rico |
| Field | Animation |
Patrick Smith (born 1972 in San Juan, Puerto Rico) is an installation artist, animator and filmmaker now based in Tribeca, New York City.
Smith studied at University of Massachusetts Amherst and has since then been working as an independent animator in New York City. The beginning of his animation career has been told by himself like this:
In 1994, I was in college, and one night decided to animate something strange. I didn't know how to draw, let alone animate, so I just did something abstract. A friend of mine told me I should put an MTV logo on it and send it to them. So I mailed a VHS of it to "MTV Networks" the address I got from the phone book. About two weeks later I got a call from a guy named Abbey, who said that they wanted to buy it. I remember the day he called, because it was the same day that I got my rejection letter from Cal Arts. The budget was $8k. I re-animated the same thing, a bit tighter, and I had to re-do the logo and sound. The spot won a BDA award (Broadcast Design Association) and a Jury Prize at the 1995 Holland Animation Festival. After I finished the ID, MTV offered me a job in layout on Beavis and Butthead, which was my first ever studio job, and which brought me to New York City. Those were the days.[1]
His directorial debut was for the Emmy-nominated MTV series Down-Town, continuing on to direct the popular animated series Daria.[2] Since then he has directed a handful of short films which earned him much reputation at film festivals worldwide as well as numerous awards. Besides those short films Smith creates commercials as well as pieces of installation art, sometimes published as street art (and eventually stolen).
Smith's bizarre, morphing style tells symbolic stories of identity and emotion, and has extended beyond film. His Public Installations, featuring numerous unclothed figures, piled on top of one another creating large shapes, have earned the artist a multitude of accolades outside the world of animation.[2]
Smith is also a Professor and Senior Thesis advisor at the Pratt Institute in New York, a fellow with the New York Foundation of the Arts, and a curator for multiple international film and animation festivals.[2]
"Puppet" was awarded the Best Animation Prize at the 2006 Northampton Independent Film Festival in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Contents |
Best Animation, Northampton Independent Film Festival, 2006. Best Animation, Action on Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2006. Best Animation, Griffin International Film Festival, 2006. Best Animation, Grand Festival Award, Berkeley Film Festival, 2006. Best Animation, Phoenix Film Festival, 2007. Best Animation, Backseat Film Festival, 2008. Honorable Mention, Signals International Film Festival, UK, 2006. Honorable Mention, Smogdance Film Festival, 2007. Third Place, First Glance Film Festival, Los Angeles, 2006. Runner Up, Asheville Film Festival, 2006. Third Place, Lake havasu Film Festival,AZ, 2007. Second Place, ASIFA-East (Association Internationale du Film d'Animation), 2007. Best Animation, Naperville Independent Film Festival, 2008. Best Animation, Arizona Underground Film Festival, 2008. Best Animation, 2004 Northampton Film Festival. Best Animation, 2005 Savannah Film Festival. Best Animation, 2005 Temecula Valley International Film and Music Festival. Best Animation, 2005 Myrtle Beach Film Festival. Best Animation, 2005 Golden Film Festival. Best Animation, 2005 Spindletop Film Fesitval. Best Animation, 2005 Long Island Film Expo. Best Animation, 2005 Black Point Film Festival.. Best Animation, 2006 Garden State Film Festival. 1st Place, 2005 ASIFA-East (Association Internationale du Film d'Animation) Pulcinella Award Nomination, Cartoons on the Bay 2005, Italy. Honorable Mention, Tribeca Underground Film Festival, 2005. Honorable Mention, Smogdance International Film Festival, 2006. Honorable Mention, 2005 ASIFA-San Francisco(Association Internationale du Film d'Animation) Finalist, 2006 Nicktoons Film Festival. Best Music Video, 2007 No Exit Music Video Festival. Best Music Video, 2005 Oxford Film Festival. Jury Prize, 2004 China International Cartoon Animation Festival. Best Music Video, 2004 Urban Mediamakers Film Festival. Winner, 2004 IMVF, International Music Video Festival. Winner, Sponsored Films, ASIFA-East Animation Festival. Bronze Award, 2005 Kalamazoo Animation Festival. Best Debut Film, 2001 New York Film Expo. Winner, "Oz" Award, 2003 Chicago Animation Festival 2nd Place, 2001 ASIFA-East Animation Festival. 2nd Place, 2002 ASIFA-San Francisco Animation Festival. Best Animation, 2006 Myrtle Beach Film Festival