Animation For Adults: The Afa Podcast

Nicole Papadopoulos interviews Rachel Fitzgerald, Director of BUBBLES, featured in Program 70 of our In Competition Films for Season 7 of Animation Nights New York. BUBBLES A puppet grows tormented at the hands of her manipulator. Rachel Fitzgerald Specializing  in 2D animation and direction. Rachel is particularly interested in the  power of the voice on screen, especially voice-over narration and its relationship with an audience. SHOW NOTES 00:40.000 Animation Nights New York presented “Intertwinings” (Program #70 | Season 7 | In Competition Films) Program 70 https://www.animationnights.com/screening70/ 00:56.000 https://anny.media VOD Platform 01:41.617 IADT National Film School in Dublin https://iadt.ie/ 05:29.296 Cell Block Tango Chicago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly3ccyTI-Js 10:20.776 Winner - IndieCork film festival 2019 - Best Emerging Irish Female Director https://indiecork.com/ 11:07.992 Greta Gerwig https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1950086/ 12:16.217 Aisling O’Mara https://www.imdb.com/n

Welcome back to The AFA Podcast Interview Series. This time we were lucky enough to get to talk to Mr Richard Linklater, the acclaimed director of the new Netflix film Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood, as well as Waking Life, School Of Rock, Boyhood and  numerous other acclaimed films. Linklater is one of those rare  filmmakers who is equally comfortable in animation and live action, and Evan Vernon speaks with Richard about how the new film came about.  Get the RSS Feed here. Find all our podcasts here, If  you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review or a 5 star rating? It  can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for  future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here.  You can also now leave us a voice message on our Anchor page.  GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  PATRON or make a donation to help run the site and the show. See all our Episodes here Other ways

Welcome back to another edition of The AFA Podcast Interview series! Today, continuing our interviews with the filmmakers behind this year's Oscar-nominated short animated films, Evan Vernon spoke with UK animation legend Joanna Quinn and her regular writing and producing partner Les Mills, the duo behind the acclaimed Affairs Of The Art. They discuss how their working partnership first began, their earlier work which includes the multiple award-winning short Girls Night Out and the Charmin commercials, as well as their latest film. It's a really fascinating and in-depth interview with discussions about their process and much more. If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review or a 5-star rating? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here.  You can also now leave us a voice message on our Anchor page.  GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  P

Welcome back to another edition of The AFA Podcast Interview series! Continuing our series of interviews with 2022 Oscar-nominated short filmmakers, Evan Vernon sat down (virtually) with Alberto Mielgo, director of The Windshield Wiper.  Before directing this short, Alberto won two Annie Awards and three Primetime Emmy Awards for directing the Love, Death & Robots short The Witness and his work on Tron Uprising. He discusses his very impressive career so far and why he believes that animation is the ultimate art form. If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here.  You can also now leave us a voice message on our Anchor page.  GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  PATRON or make a donation to help run the site and the show. See all our Episodes here SHOW NOTES Alberto Mielgo Love, Death + Robot

Hey there, animation fans and welcome to another brand new instalment of The AFA Podcast Interview series. This time we've got a real treat, the first of our interviews with the filmmakers behind this year's Oscar-nominated shorts! First up, we have British animators Dan Ojari and Mikey Please, who created and directed the Netflix holiday special Robin Robin for Aardman animation.  Evan Vernon chats with Dan and Mikey about their earlier career and how they came to work with their heroes at Aardman! Also, listen out for some very interesting conversation about perceptions of what 'adult'  animation should be. Don't miss it, and don't forget to check out Robin  Robin, it's not just for Christmas! SHOW NOTES: Dan Ojari and Mikey Please Parabella Studios 2022 Oscar Nominations Shorts TV Presents 2022 Oscar Nominated Shorts Theatrical Screenings  If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questi

Bonjour mes amis, and welcome back to Le AFA Podcast! This time we join Evan Vernon, Yvonne Grzenkowicz and Kelly Barahona to discuss this year's Animation First French Animation Festival. Held annually by FIAF- French Institute Alliance Française in New York, the festival has celebrated the best in French animation for the past five years. This year's event was a hybrid event, with both an in-person and an online component. Yvonne is able to talk about her experiences attending FIAF itself, while Evan and Kelly talk about their virtual festival experience. As well as general chat about the festival discussed titled include Last Man Season 2, Summit Of The Gods and The Crossing, the film directed by the festival's guest of honour Florence Miailhe. If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here.  You can also now leave us a voice messag

Evan Vernon interviews Studio Plonter, directors of HOMESICK. Hila Einy, Yoav Aluf and Noy Bar, graduates of Bezalel 2018, were born and raised in Israel. During their studies, Yoav specialized in Stop-motion and Hila and Noy specialized in 2d animation technique. The film "HOMESICK" is their graduation film they created as part of their animation studies at Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. HOMESICK was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021.  HOMESICK A crisis in a young woman's life forces her to return to her parents' home. Her reappearance shakes the delicate balance in the family nest. Studio Plonter Studio Plonter is a creative collaboration that specializes in animation, motion graphics, and magic tricks! We will take any idea, complex or abstract, and will turn it into an accessible, interesting, and magical story. In our studio, we believe that animation must be fun so we take our job very seriously. We will write, direct and produce your

Evan Vernon interviews Daria Kashcheeva, director of DAUGHTER. Daria studies animated film at FAMU in Prague. Her student films were featured at many international festivals. Daria’s original To Accept won the Nespresso Talents 2017 film competition in Cannes. Her Bachelor’s puppet animation Daughter received a Cristal at Annecy Animation Film Festival 2019. DAUGHTER was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. Social Media Links https://www.instagram.com/dariaka_sh/?hl=en (Instagram) https://www.facebook.com/dariakashcheeva/ (Facebook) Interview by Evan Vernon Theme music by Joe Lazenby You can subscribe to The AFA Podcast on iTunes, Acast, and Stitcher. Join ANNY  on our Discord Server! About ANNY: Animation Nights New York is a curated monthly screening event and annual festival first established in NYC in 2015. The event showcases animated short films and virtual reality animation experiences from all around the world and both projec

The AFA Podcast is back with our first regular episode for 2022. And what a way to kick off another year of episodes than by taking a deep dive into Mamoru Hosoda's newest feature film   Belle? Rachael, Dan and Chris briefly discuss their personal perspectives on Hosoda's career before getting stuck into his latest opus. It starts off with spoiler-free thoughts, but if you haven't seen the film yet beware as things get more in-depth and spoiler-filled from 43 minutes in...   you have been warned! If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here.  You can also now leave us a voice message on our Anchor page.      GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  PATRON or make a donation to help run the site and the show. See all our Episodes here SHOW NOTES BELLE review  Find a screening

Welcome back to another edition of The AFA Podcast Interview series. This time, our man Evan Vernon chats with Stuart Forrest, the co-founder and CEO of Triggerfish, the award-winning animation studio based in Capetown, South Africa. They speak about the story behind the studio's latest feature Seal Team, now streaming on Netflix, as well as Stuart's own career path. They also discuss Triggerfish's own story, including how they came to work on Sesame Street and the burgeoning Pan-African animation industry and their upcoming project Kizazi Moto with Disney. If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here or leave us a voice message on Anchor. GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  PATRON or make a donation to help run the site and the show. See all our Episodes here SHOW NOTES Seal Team Review Triggerfish Animation  Kiz

Evan Vernon interviews Noah Mauchly, director of MOUSE. Noah Mauchly is a US-born animator and filmmaker whose work spans a range of human subjects (often represented by odd looking animals) and methods of traditional animation. His first film MOUSE was completed in 2021. MOUSE was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. MOUSE A shy Mouse's simple life is thrown for a loop at the arrival of an unexpected and horrifying visitor. Interview by Evan Vernon Theme music by Joe Lazenby You can subscribe to The AFA Podcast on iTunes, Acast, and Stitcher. Join ANNY  on our Discord Server! About ANNY: Animation Nights New York is a curated monthly screening event and annual festival first established in NYC in 2015. The event showcases animated short films and virtual reality animation experiences from all around the world and both project submission and admission to monthly screenings of in-competition films are free to the general public. If yo

Evan Vernon interviews Matisse Gonzalez, director of Gravedad.  Matisse Gonzalez Jordán is a Bolivian animator, illustrator and  director who graduated in 2019 from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.  Her graduation Film "Gravedad" has been shown in several international  Animation Festivals, won multiple awards and was nominated for the Annie  Awards 2020. Matisse’s shorts explore deep emotions and feelings,  expressing them in tangible ways. Coming from Bolivia and living in  Germany, she connects the best of both worlds creating chaotic, yet  structured; tragic, yet funny; outgoing, yet intimate films. Matisse  recently developed a pilot episode for Cartoon Network Latinoamérica as  part of the Girl Power program for Pixelatl while also working on her  new film as part of ASF (animation sans frontières). Gravedad was  recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. Social Media Links https://vimeo.com

Welcome to a very special episode of The AFA Podcast Interview series and our first episode of 2022. To celebrate the release of adult black-comedy stop-motion anthology The House arriving on Netflix, Evan Vernon sat down (virtually) with three of the film's directors, Marc Roels, Paloma Baeza and Niki Lindroth von Bahr (Marc's co-director Emma De Swaef was unable to make it) First,  Evan spoke with Marc about his career path into animation, how he came to form a working partnership with Emma and the story behind how The  House came to be. In The second section, (from 18:45 aprox) Evan spoke with Paloma and Niki, discussing their own animation origin stories and discuss their contributions to the House. If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows, questions for us to answer or any other enquiries, feel free to email us here. GET EPISODES EARLY AND AD-FREE BY BECOMING A  PATRON or make a donation

Evan Vernon interviews Kilian Vilim, director of OOZE. Kilan was born in Verscio, Switzerland. He received a Bachelor of Animation from Hochschule Luzern - Design & Kunst, Switzerland in 2017. OOZE was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. OOZE In his everyday life, an elevator boy is confronted with the loneliness and the "up and down" of his service. When he tries to attract the attention of his guests, he makes a very different, gloomy encounter with himself. Social Media Links https://vimeo.com/kilianvilim (Vimeo) https://www.instagram.com/kilianvilim/?hl=de (Instagram) Interview by Evan Vernon Theme music by Joe Lazenby You can subscribe to The AFA Podcast on iTunes, Acast, and Stitcher. Join ANNY  on our Discord Server! About ANNY: Animation Nights New York is a curated monthly screening event and annual festival first established in NYC in 2015. The event showcases animated short films and virtual reality animation experien

Evan Vernon interviews Jie Weng, director of THE PEONY PAVILION. Jie Weng was born in an artistic family. Influenced by his father, an oil painter, he started to learn drawing from a very young age. He majored in sculpting in college, but he always felt that it was not something he meant to do. During his exchange study in the United States, Jie met Dan Krall, who did the character design for Coraline by Henry Selick, and found his true passion: stop motion. After that, he taught himself animation, produced two stop motion shorts, and founded his own stop motion studio: Realwood Stop Motion Studio. Realwood Stop Motion Studio has grown to be one of the best stop motion studios in China. Directed by Jie, the team have completed several animated shorts and won numerous awards from all over the world. THE PEONY PAVILION was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. THE PEONY PAVILION "A Stroll in the Garden and an Interrupted Dream" is a scene from "The Peony P

Evan Vernon interviews Jacky de Groen, director of SPERMACETI. Jacky De Groen (1992) is an animation artist based in Ghent, Belgium. His colorfully painted and atmospheric films DIEPERIK (2013) and ECLIPSE (2014) have been shown at film festivals internationally. After graduating from KASK |School of Arts in 2014, he worked at animation studio Film Bilder in Stuttgart for some time. In 2016 he was invited as Animation Artist in Residence in Tokyo by JAPIC. SPERMACETI (2018) is Jacky's first professional film. SPERMACETI was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. SPERMACETI Sailors kill time under a blistering sun, awaiting a sign of their prey. A young mind turns inwards as it traces the wood grain. After bloodshed, a strong arm offers a moment of shelter. A boy gets his first tattoo. Spermaceti evokes the transitional space-time of a young man who finds himself on the threshold of an initiation. As we fluctuate between the underwater and the above, bound

Evan Vernon interviews Nelly Michenaud, director of ALMOST THERE. Nelly Michenaud is a French animator based in London. After graduating from Central Saint Martin, she went to the NFTS for an MA in Directing Animation. The world of Nelly intends to surprise and question. She finds inspiration in daily life, remarkable or not, to transform them with humour and thus emphasise the absurdity of life, the core of her inspiration. ALMOST THERE was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. ALMOST THERE On a train journey without stops or destination, an observer goes to extreme lengths to avoid other passengers, a giant baby runs away from his parents, a romantic woman starts a relationship with a cuckoo, and a naïve boy discovers that some problems can’t be fixed by pictures of unicorns. Film: https://vimeo.com/498951029 Interview by Evan Vernon Theme music by Joe Lazenby You can subscribe to The AFA Podcast on iTunes, Acast, and Stitcher. Join ANNY

Evan Vernon interviews Natalia Mirzoyan, director of FIVE MINUTES TO SEA. Natalia Mirzoyan was born in 1982 in Yerevan. She graduated from the Arts school named after H. Danielyan and the Department of Philosophy in Yerevan State University. Natalia attended the faculty of easel graphics in Saint Petersburg Institute of Decorative-Applied Arts. In 2004 she began working in “Petersburg as an animator and director. Her films “My Childhood Mystery Tree” and “Chinti” have participated in many festivals and received prizes from all over the world. FIVE MINUTES TO SEA was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. FIVE MINUTES TO SEA The mother issues her decree: before you get back in the water, you have to take a break and sit quietly for five minutes. For the little girl, these five minutes are an ocean of boredom that stretches on forever and ever. She starts to watch the other bathers and how they spend their five minutes. Film: https://vimeo.com/468976307 Soc

Welcome back to The AFA Podcast for a very important episode of our interview specials. In this episode, AFA's Evan Vernon spoke with writer, actor and comedian Joey Clift from The Animation Guild to talk about their current efforts to negotiate a fairer deal for animation writers, who are currently paid considerably less than their live-action equivalents for doing the same job. They discuss the #PayAnimationWriters and the wider #NewDeal4Animation social media campaigns which are designed to spread awareness for animation professionals' mistreatment by an industry that they profited greatly from and particularly over the past two years, come to rely on. If you would like to help, show your support on social media by sharing the hashtags and resharing posts from animation workers and campaigners. Huge thanks to Joey and TAG for talking to us! If you enjoy the show, why not leave us a review? It can really help  others discover the show. If you have any ideas for future shows,  questions for us to a

Evan Vernon interviews Signe Baumane, director of MOTHER'S SONG, a 3 minute clip from My Love Affair With Marriage. Much of the work at Signe Baumane Studio in Brooklyn is practical, meaning non-digital. Signe draws most of the animation herself, pencil on paper, Sturgis builds sets out of wood and their Team of artists covers them in paper-mâché and paint. The sets are lit and photographed, the Team pencil shadows the drawings then scans and organizes them into digital files before passing them on to the Latvian Team. MOTHER'S SONG was recently selected as a Winner in the Animation Nights New York 5th ANNY Best of Fest in 2021. MOTHER'S SONG On the night of a full moon, Zelma, age 13, discovers blood on her bed sheets. Her mother and three Mythology Sirens rush to educate her about what it means to be a woman. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/329002938 Interview by Evan Vernon Theme music by Joe Lazenby You can subscribe to The AFA Podcast on iTunes, Acast, and Stitcher. Join ANNY  on our Disco