2022 Character Animation Producers' Show

The Producers’ Show took place on Wednesday May 4, 2022, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ David Geffen Theater! This was the first time since 2019 that the event was in person. We screened 27 films made by our students (view the list here), with 600 guests in attendance. Our students made truly incredible films this year, it was such a joy to see their work on screen. Thanks to CalArts leadership, and our sponsors, for making it possible for this event to take place.

Health and safety protocols were implemented, including masking at all times indoors, and proof of vaccination or negative test. For safety reasons, food wasn’t served, but we provided small boxes of Godiva chocolates to everyone after the event.

Our students’ films can be seen on our 2022 Vimeo Channel and YouTube Playlist, please check them out!

2022 Character Animation YouTube Playlist

Panel discussion "Inside 'Arlo the Alligator Boy'" →

The 2021 GLAS Animation Festival is currently taking place online — the festival is truly a must-see! It features a number of film competitions, retrospectives, Q&A’s, demos, and more. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to moderate a panel discussion about the upcoming feature film Arlo the Alligator Boy (Netflix), with creator Ryan Crego and several incredible artists from his team. The film will be available April 16, and the series I Heart Arlo later this year. Thanks to GLAS and the Arlo crew!

‘If Anything Happens I Love You’ →

Directors Michael Govier and Will McCormack, along with producer Maryann Garger, reached out a while back about If Anything Happens I Love You (Netflix), a beautiful and important film they were developing. After reading the script and having early discussions with the team, I connected them with CalArts Character Animation alumnx Youngran Nho, who became the animation director and animator on the film, as well as animators Haein Michelle Heo and Julia Gomes Rodrigues (also graduates of our program). Read more about the film on Deadline.

Update: If Anything Happens I Love You received the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in April 2021!

Read more articles: Cartoon Brew, Awards Daily, Below the Line, Film Independent, Salon, and The Signal.

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Filmmakers Present: 2020 Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival

It’s a great joy to be associated with the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, which programmed my film Bubble back in 2006, and has continued to support the film throughout the years! Many thanks to Dan Bennett, director of the festival, for organizing this fun panel discussion about filmmaking and animation, posted on the festival’s YouTube channel. (Update: the video is now private, and I’m including an Instagram post by the festival instead.)

CalArts-Gobelins Collaboration class

When CalArts announced in the summer that all instruction would be remote, I proposed a class for Fall 2020 that would bring together students from the Character Animation Program at CalArts, and Gobelins, l’École de l’image in Paris, France. With thanks to our partners at Gobelins, as well as our dean at CalArts, we launched the class in September! The students were randomly paired in teams of two (one from each school), and each team created a short animated project together. This was the first curricular collaboration of its kind between the two schools, and I’m very grateful to the students for taking the leap of faith to enroll in the class, as well as working together across time zones and oceans.

CalArts-Gobelins Collaboration class, Fall 2020

CalArts-Gobelins Collaboration class, Fall 2020

2020 Virtual CalArts Character Animation Open Show →

We weren’t able to have our annual Open Show this year, usually held every April, featuring all of the films our students complete during the academic year. But – thanks to our students, faculty and staff — we did a livestream on YouTube in September of the films our students completed during the pandemic thus far. Hats off to our students for their incredible persistence through this difficult year!