LA: Check Out The Animation Breakdown Festival This Weekend At Cinefamily
Those who live in or around Los Angeles will have a real treat this weekend as Cinefamily hosts the third annual Animation Breakdown Festival. Running from Thursday to Sunday, the festival will screen a ton of great animation shorts and features, both old and new.
In addition to the great content, the festival will also have cool guests like Rick and Morty’s Dan Harmon and Bob’s Burger creator Loren Bouchard. Many other cool things will be included, but you can check out all that - as well as the schedule and lineup - below:
L.A.’s annual Animation Breakdown Festival returns to the Cinefamily December 10th-14th, this time as a four-day-long explosion of mind-expanding international animation, old and new, shorts and features.
Reveling in the art, science and soul of animation, presenting works that are utterly singular and singularly astonishing, ABD brings LA premieres, sneak peeks, deep cuts, and live guests, the fest brings fans together with talent like Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard, Rick and Morty’s Dan Harmon (Community) and Justin Roiland, beloved music video director Lance Bangs, the Duplass Brothers (Togetherness) in support of their new HBO animated show, the artists behind Nickelodeon hit Pig Goat Banana Cricket, and little-known yet revelatory experimental animator Sky David, this year’s honoree.
Last but not least, the festival sees a momentous moment for Cinefamily, as it debuts its first film restoration, in collaboration with Cinelicious: the never-released in the U.S., breathtakingly psychedelic and brutally transgressive Japanese art-house jewel that is Belladonna of Sadness.
Events:
Thurs 12/10, 7:30pm: Opening Night: Animation Breakdown Roundup! -- Showcasing the hand-picked best of contemporary animation from around the world in a trademark Cinefamily feat of curation: the silly to the sublime, the surreal to the stupid, and everything in between. Featuring brand-new shorts and L.A. and U.S. premieres.
Thurs 12/10, 10:00pm: An Animated Evening with Lance Bangs -- Renowned music video Lance Bangs screens animated highlights from his career, including Kanye West’s “Heard Em Say,” and previews episodes from his upcoming Viceland TV show, Party Legends.
Fri 12/11, 7:30pm: Rick & Morty Live! -- Creators Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland, along with writer Ryan Ridley, will improvise a completely new episode of Rick and Morty, including live drawing. Followed by a Q&A with the creators, joined by stars Sarah Chalke and Chris Parnell.
Fri 12/11, 10:00pm: Belladonna of Sadness (L.A. Premiere of the Brand New Restoration!) --
One of the great lost masterpieces of Japanese animation, never before officially released in the U.S., the new Cinelicious restoration of Belladonna, the first-ever spearheaded by Cinefamily, marks a major rediscovery for animation fans. Considered on par with Fantastic Planet as an LSD-soaked 70s head trip, this occult, erotic, proto-anime by Osamu Tezuka (Astro Boy) is not for the faint-of-heart—it’s one of the most beautiful and emotionally shattering films, animated or otherwise.
Sat 12/12, 12:00pm: MOUSE-TERPIECE THEATER: The Art and Artists Behind Disney’s “Mickey Mouse” (2015) -- This ain’t your great-grandfather’s Mickey Mouse! If you haven’t yet seen the 2015 revamp of the classic Disney gang (Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, and Pluto), it’s time to fall in love all over again.
Sat 12/12, 4:30pm: Karel Zeman: Adventurer in Film + Inspiration -- Early animator Karel Zeman created hand-made special effects unsurpassed today. Learn about his life and work in this new documentary, in which modern artists try to recreate his effects today using the same handmade techniques, and feast your eyes on his most dizzyingly impressive work, Inspiration, in its entirety.
Sat 12/12, 7:30pm: Loren Bouchard Show & Tell -- The comedic genius behind Bob’s Burgers, Home Movies, and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist participates in the unique Cinefamily format of “Show & Tell,” sharing treasures and rarities from his own personal archives.
Sat 12/12, 10:30pm: Outrageous Video Games III: My So-Called Second Life -- Today, more people experience animation through video games than any other medium. ABD takes us on a kaleidoscopic survey of wild and wonderful worlds where people play.
Sun 12/13, 12:00pm: High Five!: Creating Nickelodeon’s “Pig Goat Banana Cricket” -- Nickelodeon’s bold, adventurous and absurd series born from the brains of renowned indie comic book artists Johnny Ryan and Dave Cooper and executive produced by Emmy/Golden Globe winner David Sacks (The Simpsons, 3rdRock from the Sun), gets the Cinefamily “behind-the-scenes—No, really behind-the-scenes” treatment. Join us for a Q&A with Ryan and Sacks, followed by a live table read with series voice actors Candi Milo (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) as Goat, Paul Rugg (Freakazoid!) as Banana, and Tom Wilson (Back to the Future’s Biff!) as Cricket, and an exclusive sneak peek of a brand-new episode. Bring the kids and join us on the back patio for a signing with the cast and creators!”
Sun 12/13, 2:00pm: Invention for Destruction aka The Fabulous World of Jules Verne -- Experience pioneering Czech animator Karel Zeman’s greatest feature, a feature based on several of Jules Verne’s nautical epics. A technical tour-de-force, you’ll marvel at the hand-made, in-camera special-effects wonders that put modern CGI to shame.
Sun 12/13, 4:30pm: HBO’s Animals (w/ The Duplass Brothers in person!) -- Join creators Phil Matarese and Mike Luciano along with executive producers Mark and Jay Duplass as they offer a sneak peak at their new HBO show Animals -- Like Girls, but with New York’s least-loved inhabitants: lovelorn rats, gender-questioning pigeons, and midlife bedbugs.
Sun 12/13, 7:00pm: The Ace of Light: The Films of Sky David -- Endlessly inventive, breathtaking, and singular, criminally overlooked artist Sky David’s groundbreaking experimental works employ techniques from hand-drawn to computer to ones invented himself, like re-shooting frames projected into a tank of water. Come get turned on to his work by Sky himself, this year’s honoree, with an in depth presentation on his life and work.
Sun 12/13, 9:45pm: Undervolt & Co’s Experimental Animation Mixtape -- The vibrant world of video art is made accessible by underground label Undervolt & Co., run by artists Yoshi Sodeoka, Johnny Woods and Rea McNamara. Undervolt has created an impressive video-art installation to enjoy throughout the fest, featuring a 9-monitor high tower of hallucinatory wonderfulness.
