“My only weapon is my pen. And the frame of mind I'm in. I'm a songwriter. A poet.” Hand-drawn, CG, and stop-motion characters, both dramatic and comedic, evoke life in this year’s animated shorts program. In Dan McHale’s Splotch (US 2015, 4 min), coffee takes on many morphing forms, while in David Jansen’s Daewit (Germany 2015, 15 min), a man raised by wolves learns to forgive. A mash-up of interstellar dimensions is the focus of Kathleen Quillian’s Stardust Serenade (US 2014, 4 min), and in Nina Paley and Theodore Gray’s Chad Gadya (US 2015, 3 min), spinning matzah dances with animated embroidery. Puppets are raucous in Tamara Hahn’s Honky Cat (US 2016, 5 min), and found objects create cadence in Ainslie Henderson’s Stems (UK 2015, 3 min). In Michael Dudok de Wit’s Oscar®-winning Father and Daughter (Netherlands/UK/Belgium 2000, 9 min), a girl matures while longing for her missing father. Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj’s Borrowed Time (US 2015, 7 min) portrays a sheriff haunted by a childhood memory, and in Diego Maclean’s Clouds (Canada 2016, 11 min), a villager interprets the skies to ominous effect.
Guests in attendance 10/14: Andrew Coats, Lou Hamou-Lhadj & Amanda Deering Jones (Borrowed Time);
Dan McHale & Valerie Boulbes (Splotch); Kathleen Quillian & Gilbert Guerrero (Stardust Serenade)