Category Archives: Festival 2013

MinnAnimate II and Animation Station at Northrup King during Art-A-Whirl

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Northeast Minneapolis animator John Akre will install his Stop Motion Animation Station in Northrup King Room 245 during Art-A-Whirl. He will be working on a stop motion animated film in the space and invites anybody dropping by to help create the film. Join him on Friday, May 16th from 5 to 7 pm, Saturday, May 17th from noon to 5 pm and Sunday, May 18th from noon to 3 pm.

After each day’s animation activities, stay and watch a great collection of animated films. On Friday at 7 pm, Saturday at 5 pm and Sunday at 3 pm, MinnAnimate II, a collection of animation from around the state of Minnesota (and Eastern South Dakota) will screen in the same space. Check out the MinnAnimate II program here.

Join John as he animates “North by Northeast,” a short poetic essay by Andy Waltzer.

For more information, visit www.JohnAkre.com or www.MinnAnimate.com.

John Akre is a fiscal year 2014 recipient of an Artist Initiative grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is funded, in part, by the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.

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MinnAnimate II photos!

David and Mary Sandberg at MinnAnimate II Trevor Adams heading in to MinnAnimate II The Ritz Theater The audience settles in John does the intro The long line of animators at the Q and A after the show. Animators mingle after the show. Mingling after the show.

MinnAnimate II at the Ritz Theater. What a fun night!

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MinnAnimate in l’etoile Weekend What’s What

MinnAnimate is in the l’etoile Weekend What’s What!

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MinnAnimate in Art Hounds!

MinnAnimate got a great write up in Art Hounds today!

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MinnAnimate in City Pages A List

MinnAnimate made the City Pages A List for this week!

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MinnAnimate II Bios

Here are bios of the animators featured in MinnAnimate II, September 12, 2013:

 

Trevor Adams

As an outsider artist, Trevor Adams is oblivious to most animation techniques analogue and digitial, and painfully aware of how hip his record- and comics collection is.  Despite barely graduating high school, he attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a year and managed to pay off his debts in 3 months after dropping out freshman year.  He was born the same year Nixon resigned and cites his birthplace the same as Bruce Conner and Moondog.

John Akre

John Akre is an animator, community video maker, and media teacher who lives in Northeast Minneapolis and organized the MinnAnimate Festival.

Greg Bro

Greg Bro is a Minneapolis writer/animator who makes silly cartoons and eats nachos for dinner.

Adina Cohen

Adina Cohen grew up in Santa Rosa, California where at a young age she became interested in Stop Motion animation. After making a couple of festival awarding films in high school, she went to study Stop Motion the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in Minnesota. During her studies she was able to produce 2 semi finalist Adobe Design Achievement Awarded films. As a recent graduate she has recently moved to the LA area to work in Stop Motion professionally as well as continue to make independent short films. Her other interests include spoken word, screenwriting, figure drawing, and making video blogs on YouTube.

Dane Cree and Claire Strautmanis

Keylime is a collaborative animation duo. Using the combined efforts of two local experimental animators. The duo includes Dane Cree, who is a recent 2013 graduate from MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and Claire Strautmanis, who is currently working toward the completion of her degree at MCAD as well. Both animators prefer to use hand drawn or stop motion techniques to develop their flow of images. 18˚N 65˚W is the first animated work that the duo has brought into fruition and was originally created for their Gallery 148 exhibit at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. There are plans to continue with the Keylime collaboration in the future once a new subject captures their interest.

Emily Fritze

 

Emily Fritze is a freelance animator and illustrator. She graduated from Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2012 and continues to live in Minneapolis.

 

Cable Hardin

Cable Hardin creates commercial and independent content for film, TV, festival and web venues in addition to teaching animation and production at South Dakota State University. Cable also specializes in special makeup effects for film and  television. Since developing the animation coursework in the Visual Arts department at South Dakota State University, Cable has also been promoting animation as an art form in Brookings, SD and the region with the establishment of the SDSU Animation Mini- Fest in 2007 and developing it into the SoDak Animation Festival in 2009, both of which showcase animation of all kinds to the public and also offer hands-on workshop to elementary school-age children.

Peter Kirschmann

Peter Kirschmann is a youth worker, media maker, and student studying technology and education, based in Cambridge, MA. He likes encouraging folks to tell their own stories through media, because who else will? He helps to organize MNKINO, a bimonthly film screening in Minneapolis which encourages folks to experiment with and create short videos.

Lora Madjar

Lora Madjar is a Bulgarian native and first generation New American. After graduating from Math High School specializing in graphic design and computer programing with French emphasis in 1998, she emigrated to the United States to pursue her bachelors (Boise State University, Boise, ID) and masters (University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN) degrees in Fine Arts Studio in painting and drawing. Although she considers herself a painter, since 2004 she has combined the art of puppetry and short film to tell her stories. The themes and objects from her paintings serve as a starting point in the short stop-motion animations. “Snow” (2006), her first major short, was featured in “Women With Vision 2007: Filmmakers / Video makers” at the Walker Art Center. Since 2009 she has been working on “Finding (A)way” and with the help of the Artist Initiative grant FY 2012 from the Minnesota State Arts Board, she has been able to complete part one of her short film. She lives and works in Minneapolis, MN as a teaching artist and a mother of two little boys.

Mahieu and Levi Spaid

Mahieu Studios Productions uses animation to bring our hand drawn characters to life right here in Minneapolis, MN. Everything began with the creation of one curious kitten, Little Lucy, and her daily adventures. Since her arrival at the studio, a number of friends visit to share their stories with us. Mahieu Spaid, the resident artist and author, does her best to draw out their lives while Levi Spaid gives them movement in animations programs. Life Under the Dome is one of their first productions but only one of many projects. Our team couldn’t resist the challenge of trying to share all the studio characters in a way that was fun and more interesting than a flat sheet of paper. Audiences and art fans get a better sense of what personalities the drawings represent, or they get an inside look at what goes on inside the minds of an artist and animator.

Beth Peloff

Beth Peloff likes to make cartoons (still and moving), documentaries, music, cookies, and soup.

Lisa Rydin Erickson and Karen Kopacz

Lisa Rydin Erickson is an artist in Saint Paul. Primarily a 2D artist she draws daily on her ipad while on commute to work downtown. She also illustrates and paints both fine art and backdrops. Recently she painted large tent size paintings for the Flint Hills international Children’s Festival. Karen Kopacz is a designer, musician and artist. Creating music for more than 20 years, her vocals and guitar have appeared on a variety of obscure and avant-gard albums.

Dave and Mary Sandberg

Dave & Mary have worked commercially & independently in California and Minnesota. Dave currently teaches character animation and storyboard at MCAD.

Tom Schroeder

Tom has been making hand-drawn animated films since 1990.  His films have been broadcast on Independent Lens, the Sundance Channel, Canal + France, SBS in Australia and CBC in Canada and have screened at the American Cinematique in Los Angeles and Anthology Film Archives in New York.  The films have also played widely on the international festival circuit, including at Annecy, Rotterdam, Sundance, Ottawa, South by Southwest and Edinburgh, and have won over thirty festival awards.  Tom received Minnesota State Arts Board Grants in 1991, 1999 and 2006, Jerome Film and Video Grants in 2000 and 2004, McKnight Fellowships in 2006 and 2011 and Bush Fellowships in 1997 and 2008.  He has directed commercials for Kashi, Samsung and Hertz Car Rental and is currently represented as a director by Global Mechanic, Vancouver, Canada.

Oanh Vu

Oanh Vu is a youth worker at the Science Museum of MN and an artist with a Bachelors of Arts in Studio Art from the College of St. Benedict. When not working Oanh can be found making videos and organizing MNKINO a bi-montly video screening.

 

Scott Wenner

 

Scott Wenner has been animating since Christmas of 1986 when he received an “Etch A Sketch Animator” from Santa Claus. Exiting the dot com bubble in the late 90’s, Wenner moved from Interactive 2D Animation to Broadcast Design before landing as a Flame artist in 2003. Compositing and Effects work on music videos for Prince, Liz Phair, Low, and others followed. Now Creative Director at motion504, Wenner has directed live action and animation for clients such as Syfy, Target, and Starz, and has provided Visual Effects Supervision on spots for Nexxus, St. Ives, & The History Channel.

 

Wolfgang Wick

 

Wolfgang Wick is a Minneapolis teenager who has made over a dozen films utilizing Claymation/stopmotion techniques.

 

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MinnAnimate Profile: Tom Schroeder

tom_schroeder_director_marcel, king of tervuren
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your animation.

I have been making hand-drawn animated films since 1990.  My films have been broadcast on Independent Lens, the Sundance Channel, Canal + France and Spain, SBS in Australia and CBC in Canada and have screened at the American Cinematique in Los Angeles and Anthology Film Archives in New York.  The films have also played widely on the international festival circuit, including at Annecy, Rotterdam, Sundance, Ottawa, South by Southwest and Edinburgh, and have won over thirty festival awards.  I received Minnesota State Arts Board Grants in 1991, 1999 and 2006, Jerome Film and Video Grants in 2000 and 2004, McKnight Fellowships in 2006 and 2011, Bush Fellowships in 1997 and 2008 and a Rooftop Filmmakers Grant in 2013.  I have directed commercials for Kashi, Samsung and Hertz Car Rental and am currently represented as a director by Global Mechanic, Vancouver, Canada.

Why do you like animation?

Animation attracted me initially because it demands multi-disciplinary thinking. My educational background is in literature, so I first approach a film as a narrative form.  With a couple of exceptions my films are adaptations of short stories.  The stories are, of course, communicated through the language of film, translated into visual staging and sound design.  And because the films are conceived and executed one frame at a time, one really gets to explore the expressive relationship between the style of the animation and the content of the story.

Tell us about your short in this year’s festival.

Marcel is a rooster who belongs to a friend, Ann Berckmoes, in Tervuren, a suburb of Brussels, Belgium. During a bird flu scare in Europe a few years ago, the provincial government issued a requirement that domestically kept fowl be killed.  Ann initially tried to put Marcel to sleep with increasingly large doses of sedatives in his food, but every morning he was in his tree at dawn, vigorously calling out “cuculurucoo!”  She failed in multiple timid attempts to kill Marcel, the order was lifted and she celebrated by obtaining three chickens for Marcel.  He had a son who, when he grew, became territorial and fought his father.  Marcel was blinded in one eye and fled his kingdom.  He returned eventually, fought and killed his son to regain his territory.  Most recently, he survived an attack by a fox.  Marcel simply refuses to die.

During May of 2011 Ann visited my wife and me in St. Paul and I took the opportunity to record her telling Marcel’s story. She recorded the story in English, Dutch and French.   I licensed a piece of music composed by Phil Kline and recorded by the string quartet Ethel.  After editing the different language versions of the story to the music, as I’ve done with my other “documentary” animation projects (for example “Bike Race”), I then analyzed the audio track frame by frame and drew to this structure. Technically, it’s the first film I drew directly into the computer with a Cintiq, a computer screen upon which one can draw with a stylus.  And, somewhat ironically, the loose, painterly style of the film developed from working digitally rather than drawing on paper.  The animation was about half rotoscoping from live action footage I shot and half traditional character animation.

As for the abstract transitional sections, these came about as a formal expression of the main theme of the film.  When I initially heard Ann telling Marcel’s story, I though “ah, Greek tragedy enacted by Belgian roosters,” but I also remembered a line from Camus’ essay on Sisyphus.  I’m paraphrasing now, but it’s something to the effect “There is no fate that cannot be overcome by scorn.”  I wanted to give Marcel this willful defiance, but I also wanted to find a visual equivalent to his dilemma.  And so, as Marcel fights to stay alive, his representation in the film struggles to fight against the forms breaking into an abstraction of line and color.  Form and abstraction, life and death, matter and energy, etc.  I’ve always felt that the most successful animated films have an awareness of the relationship between the technical aspects of the production and the narrative content.

Do you do other kinds of art that inform your animation work?

I play and record music and that has led to doing the sound design for my films myself.  It’s pretty fun after working many long months on the animation for the film, at a point when the material has become a little bit dead to you, to bring it to life again with the sound.
Who are some of your favorite/inspirational animators?
Initially, Norman McClaren, Caroline Leaf and the Brothers Quay.  Recently, I’ve been really impressed by films from Daniel Sousa, Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby, Rosto and Jeremy Clapin.
Is Minnesota a good place to do animation? And what do we need here to make it a better place for animation?

I’ve lived in Minneapolis for 25 years or so and it’s been great for me.  Lots of arts grants available, relatively cheap to live.  Between Mn Film Arts, the festivals, the Walker Art Center, the Trylon, Landmark Cinema there are plenty of opportunities to see good independent/world films projected large in the dark.  I’ve been able to support myself through a combination of teaching and commercial work.  It’s worked well for me as an independent animator.  Obviously, if you want to work in mainstream television or movies, you probably don’t want to stay in Minneapolis.

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MinnAnimate II Program

MinnAnimate Jr. – animation created by youth

The Three Little Pigs in a Different Kind of Story – Created by first and second graders during Art Camp in Halllock, MN this summer.

Cheat – created by youth at Animation Camp at IFP MN this summer.

The Princess Knight – created by Iris and Emma at Animation Camp at IFP MN this summer.

Rise of the Pepperoni – created by Max, Jonah, and Marcus at Animation Camp at IFP MN this summer.

Art Changes Everything – created by youth at Animation Camp at Intermedia Arts this summer.

Revenge of BunnyFish – created by Levi, Delia, Bea and Chavez at Animation Camp at Intermedia Arts this summer.

The Story of Steve – created by Sarah and Maxine at Art Camp in Halllock, MN this summer.

MinnAnimate II

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French Movie – Scott Wenner

French Movie is an all-animated short film set to a poem by Best American Poetry Editor David Lehman.  The film deconstructs passages from the poem and from classic French cinema resulting in storytelling through scenes of singular objects and environments.

ship of fools pic

Ship of Fools – Emily Fritze

“Ship of Fools” is a story based on the Renaissance notion of casting off the town lunatics by putting them on a boat to sea. On their aimless journey, these characters are pursued by a monster that gains powers with each person it devours.

Keepaways Poster Frame

Over Your Shoulder – Brian Barber

This was a music video done for Duluth’s Homegrown festival. For 5 years, filmmakers have been given a random song from a local band and then they make a video for it. The first year, we only had a weekend, but after that the timeline has stretched to a couple of months. This is my 4th contribution to the Homegrown Music Video Festival. I’m lucky the Keepaways were willing to play along and have some fun with this, they really made it come together.

the trip

The Trip – Adina Cohen

It follows a man, Jim Bob, as he tries to not be late for his flight to Bona Bona. But there are many obstacles in Jim Bob’s way, including a clown who wants immediately to get into Jim Bob’s Pants.

dcree_octostill_2013

18˚N 65˚W – Dane Cree and Claire Strautmanis

18˚N 65˚W is a stream of consciousness, collaborative hand drawn animation. Inspired by a two week period spent on the island of Vieques, Puerto Rico. Animated by Dane Cree and Claire Strautmanis

F(A)chekingIn

Finding (A)way – Lora Madjar

“Finding (A)way” is a short stop-motion animation about a young woman’s escape from her oppressive life and country. She lands in a different version of her past and realizes that she holds the power to transform her life wherever she is by creating and becoming part of a supportive community. The current version is part one of the complete story.

Spaceman Jones

Spaceman Jones – Wolfgang Wick

A spacemen tries to take a photo of a space animal with tragic consequences.

uproot

Uproot – Oanh Vu

Uproot, is the second video in a series about Xuan Nguyen and Hiep Vu, immigrants from Vietnam to New Ulm, Minnesota.  In this video, Xuan shares her struggle to bring her children to the U.S. after being forced to leave them behind when she escaped Vietnam.

 climateconferencestill

Climate Conference  – Dave and Mary Sandberg

A surprise guest arrives at the Climate Conference.

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Famous People. Fast Food – Greg Bro

At the Burger Buddy, you never know who might stop by for a burger & some fries. Written, voiced, and animated by Greg Bro, “Famous People. Fast Food.” debuted at the 2013 L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival.

Mahieu Studios Productions

Life Under the Dome: Series I – Mahieu Spaid

Life Under the Dome enters the world of muffins, cupcakes, and sweet sushi. The short animation takes place in a pastry shop where the creative confections are shaped like sushi, pets, and other classic characters. They come to life when no one is eyeing their frosting or sugar coated sprinkles. All they can do is observe the world through their cake dome.

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The Uncle Mike Show – Cable Hardin

An unfortunate tv show host is troubled by the program’s sponsors.

unpop still

Unpop: The Story of Lenny Halwar – John Akre

A forgotten celebrity artist is remembered and then forgotten again.

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Worm – Caleb Wood

Bilaterally Symmetrical Invertebrate.

transplant still

Transplant – Trevor Adams

Transplant is a cosmic dream of the origins of the universe as projected through the sounds and life-flashes of bicyclists, puppeteers and posers in Minneapolis. It was hand-scratched onto previously exposed 16mm film.

thoughts_still

Thoughts of an Artist – Cole Behrends, Evyn Erickson, Sabrina Jenema, Shelby Vongroven

The classic tale of muses, fears, and inspirations as told from four different young artists’ perspectives.

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Street Animation Station at Central Avenue Open Street – John Akre

Public animation with people on the street at this summer’s Central Avenue Open Street event.

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Treebellion – Beth Peloff

What happens when nature decides it has had enough?

bird shit

Bird Shit – Caleb Wood

A closer look at bird shit.

Migration and Murmuration pic

Migration and Murmuration – Lisa Erickson/Karen Kopacz

The song “Bits and Pieces” written for this animation describes the dots and arrows that represent starlings flying in their habitual murmuration form. As the hawk chases them they band together and chase back, taunting and teasing and finally succeeding, settle down to the ground as an exhausted hawk flies off to find a less protagonist contender.

Marcel, King of Tervuren 03

Marcel, King of Tervuren – Tom Schroeder

Marcel survives the bird flu, alcohol, sleeping pills and his son Max.  Though blinded in one eye, he remains the King of Tervuren.  Greek tragedy as acted out by Belgian roosters.

leonard

Leonard – Michelle Brost

A lumberjack with possible anger problems meets an unexpected friend.

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The Mysterious Arrival of an Unusual Letter – Scott Wenner

A lonely old fellow receives a mysterious letter from his long deceased father. Based on a poem by Mark Strand.

dear twin cities

Dear Twin Cities, – Peter Kirschmann

I’ve lived in the Twin Cities for a decade, and in that time it’s become my home. In the fall of 2013, I’ll be moving away to go back to school. This short was made as an open letter to the cities I’ve grown to love, a litany of the places I will miss. This was originally produced for MNKINO38: Arrivals and Departures at Northern Spark 2013.

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MinnAnimate Profile: Lora Madjar

lora madjar

About me and my animation

 

In 1998 after I finished math high school where I specialized in French, computer graphics and basic programing, I came to America to pursue “the dream.” I followed my foolish passion for all things art, literature, and philosophy. By 2007 I have completed my Bachelors (Boise State University, Boise, ID) and Masters degrees in Fine Arts Studio Painting and Drawing. You may ask yourselves, how this hardcore oil painter, in love with technology and all things moving, turned into an animator? I am immensely grateful to the Fine Arts Program at the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis, MN) that nurtured my new venture. My films would never have been materialized had I missed the opportunity to take all at the same time “Puppetry in Theater” class with Michael Sommers, “Narrative Video” with Lynn Lucas, and “Sound Art” workshop with Abinadi Meza.

 

Finding (A)way­’s story is not far from the themes of my paintings. My work stems from my life experiences and the stories we share with each other every day – the ones full of joy and the ones we find ourselves wallowing in sorrow – yearning, dreaming, hoping, remembering, and indulging in bouts nostalgia.

 

The world of animation I found to be a great place to tell a story. I don’t think of the work as animation as much as a series of moving paintings, rich in color and textures. The importance of mark making and surface (mis)treatment is evident in my paintings. I try to translate that tactile experience in the flatness of the digital projections.

 

Why do you like animation?

 

Making things move that other wisely are static is magical. Anything becomes possible. Art making, creating, bringing things to life – what else is there?

 

Other arts I do that inform my animation?

 

I will always will be a painter and that is why color and texture and very important elements in my films. I don’t perform in figure theater, although what I learned in shadow puppetry finds its way in the picture as well. I grew up around puppeteers, actors, filmmakers, and artists of all kinds, so I take advantage of any chance I have to see live theater and art in person. I am an avid reader and for the last few years I have been experimenting with writing; have been very self-conscious about my “words” but that is an element I want to add to my animations to strengthen the story. Before I was introduced to oil painting, I worked extensively with dry and wet media, collage, pastels, incorporating fabrics, found objects, and sand so there is a connection between that experience and building the sets, painting them, sculpting heads and dressing the puppets. Plus I always wanted to have a doll house as a kid and perhaps creating all these environments is making up for it.

 

 

About my short

 

Finding (A)way tells a story about a female character that escapes her oppressive home country to find herself in a similar version of her past hell in the land of her dreams. In the begging she is gutting fish and when she lands in her new world she ends up selling that fish, working in a fast food fish shack. There is a next chapter in the works. Ending on a nihilistic note was bugging me so I have plans to continue working on the film by adding spoken and written word along the new ending.

 

Animators:

Jan Švankmajer, The Brothers Quay, Jirí Barta (Toys in the Attic), Trey Parker and Matt Stone (Team America), Donyo Donev along with other Bulgarian animators, the artists behind Madame Tutli-Putli, Peter and the Wolf. Along with raising my little boys I am constantly exposed to the latest animation on Sprout network where life footage, computer animation often blends such as the work by the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio.

 

Minnesota and Animation

 

I am not part of the professional animation world so the answer to this question comes from the point of view of a young mother – all I need to animate is free time and enough sleep. Minnesota has great schools and more financial support for artists than other places. Big part of this short has been supported by an Artist Initiative State Arts Board Grant. My film studio is in my basement so I will stick around these lands for a bit longer because of the above reasons. I would love to also connect with other local film/animating creatives in my area, talk shop and learn more.

 

 

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MinnAnimate Profile: Dane Cree

dcree_octostill_2013

Why do you like animation?

 

It allows us to show the audience multiple versions of compositions that could stand alone.

Moving imagery + sound = more sensory stimulation

Do you do other kinds of art that inform your animation work?

 

Painting, video, performance, installation always in an experimental fashion.

Who are some of your favorite/inspirational animators?

Ryan Larkin, Allison Schulnik, Andreas Hykade

 

Is Minnesota a good place to do animation? And what do we need here to make it a better place for animation?

 

More screens and projectors running animations publicly around the twin cities (on loop).

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