This spring I've continued to be a busy traveler - I feel a bit like a neophyte musician, traveling all over the world trying to make a few bucks, spread awareness of my work and try to make a few new fans.
ANIMAYO FESTIVAL, CANARY ISLANDS, May 8-10
My first trip in May was actually to two festival events - the first was a stop in the Canary Islands, where my buddy Damian holds the wonderful Animayo Festival. There were a lot of great guests, one of them was the famous John Musker of "Hercules" and "Aladdin" fame. He had so many great stories about the Disney Studios - however, I forgot to ask him about my being invited to work on "Aladdin" as the animator for Genie character (a job which I turned down).
MEKNES ANIMATION FESTIVAL, MOROCCO, May 10-15
From the Canary Islands I flew to attend FICAM, aka the Meknes Animation Festival. Fortunately the two festivals worked together to get me from the Canary Islands to Morocco, so I didn't have to go back to New York and catch another flight - and the schedule was tight so I don't think I would have been able to do that. When I think of Morocco I always think of deserts and camels, however all I saw were beautiful orchards and fields of colorful flowers. It was a very important festival for me because I was being honored with a Lifetime Achievement prize, there was a huge photo of me hanging from the front of the cinema.
As usual, I did a "Slide" screening and a Master Class - they were both held kind of late at night so the turnout was not immense. The hotel where I stayed was quite magnificent but it was built in the 1930's and since then it's been going a bit downhill. They had two wonderful pools, one of them was very large, and two tennis courts that were overgrown with ivy. It would be a great place to shoot a surreal murder mystery film.
FRAMED INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION FESTIVAL, GRONINGEN, NETHERLANDS, May 23-26
Another trip I took in May was to a new festival, called Framed, which took place in Groningen in the Netherlands - they'd heard about "Slide" and contacted me to arrange a screening and also a Master Class. Groningen is a quaint city that of course is adacent to a canal, and they have a large Gothic cathedral and a clock tower that are a few centuries old. But by contrast there's a very futuristic-looking museum that showcases contemporary art.
I didn't have much luck selling my animation art there, after the screening, because most of the people who came to my class were students, and I guess they didn't have much money. But there was one woman there who also saw me at Animayo, and she ended up e-mailing my office manager and she bought some of my art online, so it wasn't a total loss.
ANIMAFEST ZAGREB, CROATIA, June 3-8
The historic Animafest in Zagreb is one of the oldest animation festivals in the world, and this was my next stop. I'm good friends with the festival director, Daniel Suljic. They programmed my classic short "Guard Dog" for a humor program and my new feature "Slide" for a program called "Masters of Animation", which was a nice tribute - and they also wanted me to do a Master Class. It's a huge honor to have my films play there, plus doing a Master Class is always fun.
There were a lot of animation greats there: Barry Purves, Phil Mulloy, George Schwizgebel and the great Michaël Dudok de Wit. The high point was the annual Zagreb picnic - all 100 animators walk through downtown Zagreb to a lovely park where we had wine and a Croatian staple, beef goulash. It was a perfect way to end the festival.
WIESBADEN ANIMATION FESTIVAL, GERMANY June 27-30
Most recently, I traveled to Weisbaden for the Trickfilm Animation Festival, and I was placed in this cute little hotel situated right on the Rhine river, right next to the grand castle of Wiesbaden. It was a wonderful evening at the historic Calagari Cinema, with lots of politicians and locals celebs who came to greet me and watch "Slide". We got a wonderful reception and the line for autographs and sketches went on forever - it was fabulous!
I have more festivals and events coming up, and I hope to bring these to your attention in the next few months - the big one for me is going to be the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation and Technology, which is held in Portland Oregon, August 21-25 at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, 1945 SW Water Ave. As I write this, they haven't posted their complete schedule yet, but perhaps by the time you read this the schedule and a ticket link will be posted here:
https://pdxfestofcinema.com/films/schedule/
I believe they're going to screen "Slide" on August 22, and I'm planning to be there in person for the screening, because I have my high-school reunion in Portland the next day. So I'm killing two birds with one stone, and I've cashed in some frequent flyer miles so I can be in PDX for both events. The PCAT Festival is also going to be screening the documentary "Downwind", directed by Mark Shapiro and executive produced by Matthew Modine and Adam Rackoff, with some animation done by ME. So check that one out, too, if you get a chance, it's an important film about the fallout from nuclear testing.
Another project I did some animation for is the new video by Weird Al Yankovic, called "Polkamania". By the time you read this, the video should have dropped on Friday, July 19. There's about 10 seconds of animation by ME, and then the other animation came from a bunch of other animators that Al hired. You can probably spot my style on the clip that goes with Ed Sheeran's song "The Shape of You".
Check out Weird Al's new video "Polkamania" here:
https://youtu.be/y0ZoX4dBvwk?si=_QNWv8b9TrKWuEmn
Also, we had a big art sale in my studio on a weekend in June - it went very well and we sold enough art to pay the studio rent and some other bills too. But I want to remind everyone that while the live sale is over, we're still selling art from all of my films, that process is ongoing, because for some reason the landlord wants me to pay rent EVERY month. You probably know the drill by now - if you want any signed animation art from any of my films, send us an e-mail to: studio@plymptoons.com and my office manager will send you some scans so you can choose the art you want, and then you just send me the money via PayPal or Zelle or Venmo or Square and we mail it out to you! What could be easier?
Have a great summer! Talk to you again really soon!
-Bill P.
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