“A sunburn across the bridge of your nose. A warm belly on a cold rock. Do you remember what it was like to run so fast that you can hear your heart beating in your head? An examination of texture, the internal, and the floating bits on the tops of your eyes. These films showcase the idea of play, pain, and the memory of an outside world materially experienced, not unlike dairy cows experiencing grass for the first time in a year.

Sunning is considered a comfort behavior in many animals. A tactile experience of facing the sun to warm oneself raises body temperature and reduces heart rate. After a prolonged period of languid gestures, we need to bask to remember. This program showcases films that warm up our bodies, hearts, and minds slowly re-acclimatizing to the world from outside. Using light, animation, and emotional memories, these filmmakers explore the tangible possibilities of a world best experienced through touch.”

This program presents the work of filmmakers and artists Anouk De Clercq and Tom Callemin, Elena Duque, Anu-Laura Tuttelberg, Timoteo Guillem, Josh Cloud, and Nazlı Dinçel.

Programmed by Jordan Wong & Sam Gurry.

07/2021

“Who are the queer heroes walking amongst us now or in recent times? A celebration of LGBTQ+ figures who have helped push forward culture and society a little more for the rest of us. A collaboration during the 2020 quarantine between 14 LGBTQ+ identified animators around the world, the structure is based on the old Surrealist drawing game Exquisite Corpse. Each animator nominated a hero then was given a different hero to animate, passing on their last frame to the next animator to form their first frame and so on.” ~ Cartoon Brew

Added Judith Butler to this mix. Alas, poor gender, I knew they/them well!

See the film here

10/2020

“In 2019, we were privileged to host four free screenings at local libraries, universities, and at our annual festival, GIRAF, showcasing the work of LGBTQ2S+ animators. Each screening was accompanied by a pair of critical responses from a collection of talented writers, curators, artists and animator, exploring the context of the films, their personal relationships to the work, and the potential of queer animation more generally.

We’re now honoured to be able to share those writings and reflections with the world. On LGBTQ2S+ Animation collects those essays, comics, and other works. It isn’t meant to be a comprehensive picture of the past and present state of queer animation—when we began this project, it was immediately clear the gap in the literature was far too big for any one publication to fill, especially one as modest as this. What On LGBTQ2S+ Animation is, then, is a conversation starter, a place where artists, animators and critical writers can explore  topics of queerness, identity and representation in animation from a  variety of angles.” ~ Quickdraw Animation Society

I am happy to have my essay, Waiting on the Render: Contemporary LGBTQ2S+ Animators and the future of Queer Animation, as part of this anthology :)

More information and access to a free digital copy can be found here.

07/2020