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The first New York Animation Festival presented a diverse international program of film and video animation from May 13-15, 1999 in New York City. Over 2,500 attended the three-day event, held in New York's Greenwich Village at The New School's Tishman Auditorium. The Festival gave New York the world with over 150 animations from 15 countries presented at the Festival and in satellite programs that began in April.
The Best of Festival Award went to Deviant!, a 7-minute film from England directed by Eoin Clarke and produced by Phil Davies, presented as part of the Festival's International Program. Academy Award winner Bunny, directed by Chris Wedge, received the award for Best Digital Film. Level 13 Entertainment, a division of Film Roman, awarded the "Skidmore Award" for Best Short Film to Don Hertzfeldt's Billy's Balloon. A complete list of Festival Awards, Honorable Mentions, and Citations can be found on the awards page, as well as descriptions of the awarded films.
OVER 50 FILMMAKERS IN ATTENDANCE
More than 50 filmmakers with work in the Festival attended the event, including: Bill Plympton (The Exciting Life of a Tree and More Sex and Violence), Emily Hubley (One Self: Fish Girl), Robert Smigel (Saturday Night Live's Titey and Conspiracy Theory Rock), Jim Trainor (The Bats, recipient of the award for Best New York Film), Steven Dovas (Call Me Fishmael, recipient of a Judges' Citation for Humor), Steve Subotnick (Hairyman). Former Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh (whose film Mindless Bob was presented in the Festival) performed at the opening night party.
A significant international contingent was present at the Festival, including, from Australia, Rhian Hinkley (Buckstop; recipient of a Director's Citation for Technique); from Austria, Dietmar Offenhuber and Markus Decker (Bike); from Canada, John Barclay (Small Potatoes), Jo Mueris (Two Little Girls: A Bull and a China Shop), Diane Craig and Dan Craig (producers of Graham Falk's Untalkative Bunny; recipient of a Judges' Citation for Humor), and Francis Desharnais (C'est En Revenant Du Congo); from England, Jonathan Hodgson and Jonathan Bairstow (Feeling My Way) and Jan Otto Ertesvaag (On Hold); from Finland, Milla Moilanen (Wanted, recipient of a Director's Citation); from Israel, Guy Harlap (The Itch; which received 2nd Place for Student Film); from Japan, Jun Kinoshita and Hiromi Habuto (Distortion); and Danish filmmaker Jorgen Klubien (The Little Wooden Boy).
SATELLITE PROGRAMS EXPAND REACH OF FESTIVAL
IIn addition to the May 13-15 screenings, satellite programs expanded the scope of the Festival throughout the city. In April, Maureen Selwood, Associate Director of the Experimental Animation Program at Cal Arts, curated and presented a program of work by recent Cal Arts graduates at the Knitting Factory Video Lounge. On May 11, and in conjunction with Thundergulch, John McIntosh, chair of the BFA Computer Art program at the School of Visual Arts, presented a program of SVA work at the New York Information and Technology Center's Video Wall, across the street from the New York Stock Exchange. Two programs of digital animation ( an International Program curated by Festival Director Matt Isaac and a Pratt Institute Program curated by Pratt Computer Graphics Professor and NYAF Judge Michael O'Rourke ( were presented at the Digital Video Wall at Rockefeller Center.
COMMUNITY COMPONENT CONNECTS ANIMATORS WITH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
New York animators John Moynihan, a member of the Festival's Selection Committee, and Beck Underwood, whose film That Creepy Old Doll was presented at the Festival, conducted workshops in drawing and basic animation techniques with young people from junior high schools in Manhattan's Lower East Side neighborhood. The workshops took place at and were held in cooperation with Henry Street Settlement, a social services organization in Manhattan, and supported by a grant from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. |
