SXSW 2012: Animated Shorts




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SXSW 2012: Animated Shorts

By Michelle Higa Fox

The animated shorts follow our music video and film titles coverage to wrap up our SXSW 2012 round-ups. The SXSW love’s not over though – there’s some panel coverage and an interview with Wayne White and Neil Berkeley on their fantastic documentary, Beauty is Embarrasing, on the way.

Animated shorts were sprinkled throughout SXSW. In addition to the main animation block, the pulpy Midnight Shorts Competition included David Lewandowski’s going to the store, Robert & James Dastoli’s Machines of the Working Class, and Rebecca Sloan & Joseph Pelling’s Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared. Sloan and Pelling’s short went on to win Best Midnight Short of the festival.

The Medium Cool: 4 (not so) Shorts program featured Don Hertzfeldt’s it’s such a beautiful day, the final chapter of his Everything will be OK trilogy. The beautiful (23-minute!) short film shows Hertzfeldt stretching his technique, blending traditional animation with experimental optical effects – a stick figure Tree of Life. Hertzfeldt’s it’s such a beautiful day tour is in its last weeks, so if you happen to be in Atlanta, Charlotte, Nashville, Memphis, Madison, or Minneapolis grab your tickets!

Unfortunately, many of these short films are not available to watch online (yet). I’ve embedded the trailers in lieu of the full-length pieces for almost all the films. This is mostly due to the fact that many of these films are in the middle of their festival runs. The film festival vs. online debate is an ongoing dilemma for filmmakers that has been explored by Short of the Week, Something Left, Something Taken directors Tiny Inventions, and Defective Detective director Avner Geller.

Fortunately, this years winner of Best Animated Short, (notes on) biology by Danny Madden, is available on Vimeo. Enjoy!