Animation Avantgarde Academy 2012 | Commercials pushing the Boundaries

Since 2010 ANIMATION AVANTGARDE is part of the Vienna Independent Shorts Filmfestivals, to present programmes focusing on animation, experimental film and digital media art as a part of the international competition. This year the curators were Thomas Renoldner and Wiktoria Pelzer.

Since 2011 there is also the ANIMATION AVANTGARDE ACADEMY, initiated by the Studio for Animation / Academy of Fine Arts, this year to be organised in cooperation with the University of Fine Arts.

On the day of the Opening of the Filmfestivals the two international jury members of the ANIMATION AVANTGARDE competitions will present screening / lectures, after that there will be a short film programme at the Gartenbaukino, just a few meters from the Academy of Fine Arts.

Programme

13:00 - 14:00

Léa Beatriz Zagury (Festivaldirector ANIMA MUNDI; Rio de Janeiro & Sao Paolo)

Experimental Animators from CalArts go Industry

Surprisingly many artists, who had been students at the Department of Experimental Animation at CalArts (California Institute of the Arts) later became famous for their work in commercial animation. This is true for Stephen Hillenburg (sponge Bob), Eric Darnell (Ants and Madagascar), Marc Osborne (Kung Fu Panda), Henry Sellick and others...

Their student work is very experimental and interesting. Jules Engel had a great influence in motivating students to be unique and creative with their work, These directors kept that frame of mind when they went to work in the industry. It made a great difference as they brought freshness, style and creativity to it.

14:30 - 15:30

Arjon Dunnewind (Festivaldirector IMPAKT, Utrecht, NL)

Banned Videos Today

Arjon Dunnewind will present films from the project "Banned Videos", which was commissioned for the Impakt Festival 2011.It is a collection of commercials, video clips and other material that was banned from TV-Channels or from YouTube.
Arjon has added a few other works, that fit the theme and will comment the reasons, why certain works even today had to be removed from public view.

17:00

Screening at Gartenbaukino:

Commercials pushing the Boundaries
curated by Thomas Renoldner

BIOGRAFIES:

LÉA BEATRIZ ZAGURY

Léa Zagury co-founded and directs the ANIMA MUNDI Festival in Brazil. As a graphic designer, a music lover and a dancer, she decided that animation was the perfect art form to combine all these arts. She studied animation since 1991 and made few super-8 films and music videos. In 1986, she took part of on animation internship organized by the Brazilian Government and the NFB of Canada. In 1990, she graduated with an MFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts. Her student film got few awards at Festivals and was nominated for the Student Academy Awards. In Los Angeles, she has worked as an effects animator for feature films at PDI, as a development artist at Turner Feature Animation and did several freelance animation jobs for commercials, games and web. Back in Brazil, she co-directed and did animation for a feature documentary and has been directing the Anima Mundi TV series. At the moment, she is very interested in the paths that animation is taking through performances and the new media platforms.

ARJON DUNNEWIND

Arjon Dunnewind studied at the Utrecht School of Arts. In 1988 he was cofounder of the first Impakt Festival. In 1993 he established the Impakt Foundation as an international platform for innovative and critical media culture. He produced TV series about video art and experimental film from 1994 till 1997 and he curates programmes and exhibitions for museums and festivals.

He worked as an advisor for the Dutch Film Fund, department Research & Development, from 1996 until 2000 and currently he is an advisor to the TAX-videoclipfonds, a funding body that supports innovative music videos in The Netherlands.