Presenting episode 104 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast! In this episode we meet Jared Bush and Charise Castro Smith, the directors of Disney's 'Encanto' coming to Disney+ on December 24th, as well as the film's producer Clark Spencer. We also welcome directors Jac Hamman, Sarah Scrimgeour (Magic Light's 'Superworm') and Massimo Fenati (Eagle Eye Drama's 'The Abominable Snow Baby'). Also discussed: The recent passing of respected animation historian Giannalberto Bendazzi, MAF 2021 event highlights, podcast fanmail, this year's new 'South Park' specials and the resounding failure of Seth Rogan's 'Santa Inc.' Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson Interviews conducted by Ben Mitchell and Martyn Warren Edited and produced by Ben Mitchell Music by Ben Mitchell

Skwigly Podcasts

Skwigly Podcast 104: Winter 2021 - 'Encanto', 'The Abominable Snow Baby' & 'Superworm'

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Ben Mitchell in conversation with Czech filmmaker and educator Michaela Pavlátová. Having previously appeared on the Skwigly podcast strand Intimate Animation to discuss her short film work including the Annecy Cristal-winning 'Tram', Michaela's latest project is 'My Sunny Maad', a feature-length animated adaptation of Petra Prochazkova's 'Frišta'. Produced by Negativ, Sacreblue Productions and BFILM, the film tells the story of Herra, a Czech woman who moves to Afghanistan to be with her husband Nazir and his family; when their hopes to have a child of their own don't turn out as planned, the couple take in the ailing Maad, a young boy who proves to be an anchoring presence in Herra's tumultuous life. Following inclusion at this year's Annecy festival, 'My Sunny Maad' is playing at the Manchester Animation Festival and as part of the 25th edition of the Czech Centre's Made in Prague cultural festival this month.

Animation One-To-Ones 11 - Michaela Pavlátová

Presenting episode 103 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast! In this episode we preview event highlights from this year's upcoming Manchester Animation Festival and welcome Mikey Please and Dan Ojari to discuss their Aardman/Netflix seasonal short 'Robin Robin'. Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson Interview conducted by Laura-Beth Cowley Edited and produced by Ben Mitchell Music by Ben Mitchell

Skwigly Podcast 103: Autumn 2021 - Mikey Please & Dan Ojari

Presenting the third episode of 'Intimate Animation' season 4, brought to you by the online animation magazine skwigly.com Join Skwigly's Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley as they explore, discuss and interview the talents behind animation that deals with adult themes of love, relationships and sexuality. In this episode we meet Renee Zhan, whose film 'Soft Animals' is presently screening as part of this year's Encounters Film Festival having premiered earlier this year at Annecy. Since beginning her animation studies at Harvard University under Ruth Lingford, Renee's films also include the Sundance Jury Award-winning 'Reneepoptosis' and last year's National Film and Television School mini-epic 'O Black Hole'. Last month saw the director join BlinkInk's talent roster following her contribution to their Adult Swim 'Off The Air' episode 'Progress'. Also discussed in this episode: Encounters highlights including Animated Encounters Grand Prix winner 'Farce' (dir. Robin Jensen), Best of British Animation Award winner 'Eating in the Dark' (Dir. Inari Sirola), 'Annah la Javanaise' (dir. Fatimah Tobing Rony), 'Self Scratch' (dir. Chenghua Yang), 'Night of the Living Dread' (dir. Ida Melum), 'Trona Pinnacles' (dir. Mathilde Parquet), 'Breaking Bread' (dir. Yuan Li Elizabeth Xu), 'Jeijay' (dir. Petra Stipetic/Maren Wiese), 'Günter Falls In Love' (dir. Josephine Lohoar Self), 'Love is Just a Death Away' (dir. Bára Anna Stejskalová), 'Sweet Nothing' (dir. Joana Fischer/Marie Kenov), 'Lolos' (dir. Marie Valade) and 'Granny's Sexual Life' (dir. Urška Djukić) plus recent work from Henriette Reitz, Christa Jarrold and Future Power Station. Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley Interview conducted by Laura-Beth Cowley Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell

Intimate Animation 4-03 (27/09/2021) - Renee Zhan

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Ben Mitchell in conversation with Marie Valade, a Quebec-based animation filmmaker whose latest film 'Lolos ('Boobs'), premiered earlier this year at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Festival. Both equally poignant and witty, the film sees a young woman drawn in ink who is forced to deal with paper breasts appearing on her chest. She must quickly come to terms with these new strange things. Her breasts lead her into increasingly unusual situations that reveal her deepest anxieties: the fear of becoming a woman, the apprehension of female rivalries, the taming of male desire, the worries related to becoming a mother and finally the fear of cancer and a loss of bearings. 'Boobs' is both a comic and dark journey that explores a woman's love-hate relationship for her body and her femininity. It highlights the powerful symbolism that breasts evoke for everyone. 'Boobs' is presently screening as part of the Toronto International Film Festival and Bristol's Encounters Festival. In 2010 Marie obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Film Animation at Concordia University and participated in the NFB's Hothouse apprenticeship program. Since then, she has collaborated on short and feature films and cultural mediation projects. Fascinated by traditional frame by frame animation techniques including pixilation, object and puppet animation and 2D animation, she likes to play with the boundaries between narrative storytelling and experimental creation. See more of Marie's work at cargocollective.com/mariev As well as continuing to work in animation Marie is co-director of Festival Stop Motion Montreal, whose 15th edition takes place September 10th-19th 2021. For more information visit stopmotionmontreal.com/

Animation One-To-Ones 10 - Marie Valade (Lolos / Boobs)

Presenting the second episode of 'Intimate Animation' season 4, brought to you by the online animation magazine skwigly.com Join Skwigly's Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley as they explore, discuss and interview the talents behind animation that deals with adult themes of love, relationships and sexuality. In this episode we catch up with Will Anderson, whose film 'Betty' is released online this month following a festival run including screenings at Pictoplasma, Encounters and Animafest Zagreb as well as a BAFTA Scotland win and Scottish Short Film Award at the Glasgow Short Film Festival. The film follows lovebird Bobby as he searches for his butter, his Betty and ultimately a love that has apparently melted away. Also discussed in this episode: The evolution of 'Tuca and Bertie' in its second season, BlinkInk's E4 miniseries 'Blind Love on First Date Island', Adeena Grubb's stop-mo short 'Dating is Shit', Sacha Beely/Strange Beast's animated Gillette spot 'A Song For Pubes' and Diablo Cody's inscrutable "sexying up" of 'The Powerpuff Girls'. Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley Interview conducted by Laura-Beth Cowley Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell

Intimate Animation 4-02 (18/08/2021) - Will Anderson

Presenting episode 9 of Animation One To One's, the Skwigly podcast that showcases the talent behind some of our favourite animation. In the latest podcast we take a trip into the multiverse with Stephan Franck, the Animation Supervisor behind Marvel’s What If...? series which is streaming now on Disney Plus. With an extensive history in animation, story creating, boarding and directing  and an equally illustrious career in comic publication Stephan is perfectly placed working alongside director Bryan Andrews and head writer AC Bradley to take the MCU as we know it flip the script, reimagining famous events from the films in unexpected ways. This is Marvel Studios’ first original animated series. Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch more One-To-Ones and subscribe to the Skwigly Podcast feed from your favourite podcast provider. Guest: Stephan Franck Presented, edited and produced by: Steve Henderson Music and graphics: Ben Mitchell

Animation One-To-Ones Episode #09 - Stephan Franck (Marvel's What If...?)

Welcome to another episode of Animation One-To-Ones, the Skwigly Podcast which puts the animation community front and centre. In this episode we're joined by two talents from Sony Pictures latest animated Feature Vivo, Director Kirk DeMicco and Screenwriter Quiara Alegría Hudes. The animated musical adventure features all-new songs from Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Tony, Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of Hamilton and In the Heights. And follows a one-of-kind kinkajou, who spends his days playing music to the crowds in a lively square with his beloved owner Andrés. But when tragedy strikes it’s up to Vivo to deliver a message that Andrés never could: A love letter to the famous Marta Sandoval, written long ago, in the form of a song. Yet in order to get to Marta, who lives a world apart, Vivo will need the help of Gabi – an energetic tween who bounces to the beat of her own offbeat drum. In a world of musical films Vivo strands apart, wearing the love for music and the craft of well told family animation on its sleeve, showcasing an exciting blends of song, design and story. Prior to Writing and Directing Vivo Kirk DeMicco is best known for helming The Croods from DreamWorks. Screenwriter and Story writer Quiara Alegría Hudes is best known cinematically for Into the Heights. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch more One-To-Ones and subscribe to the Skwigly Podcast feed from your favourite podcast provider. Guests: Kirk DeMicco & Quiara Alegría Hudes Presented, edited and produced by: Steve Henderson Music and graphics: Ben Mitchell

Animation One-To-Ones Episode #08 - Kirk DeMicco & Quiara Alegría Hudes (Vivo)

Welcome to another episode of Animation One-To-Ones where we speak with Megan Nicole Dong, the creator of Netflix Animation's latest offering Centaurworld, which streams from the 30 July. "A war horse is transported from her embattled world to a strange land inhabited by silly, singing centaurs of all species, shapes, and sizes. Desperate to return home, she befriends a group of these magical creatures and embarks on a journey that will test her more than any battle she's ever faced before." Megan has worked in features for Dreamworks and on tv series for Nickelodeon before being scooped up by the streamer to bring us centaur world musical cavalcade of muppety mayhem with a surprise around every corner, filled with magic sparkles and merriment and action adventure. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel to watch more One-To-Ones and subscribe to the Skwigly Podcast feed from your favourite podcast provider.  Guest: Megan Nicole Dong Presented, edited and produced by: Steve Henderson Music and graphics: Ben Mitchell Clips courtesy of Netflix

Animation One-To-Ones #07 - Megan Nicole Dong

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Laura-Beth Cowley in conversation with award-winning London-based director Elliot Dear. Elliot Dear is an almost indecently talented animator, illustrator and director. His dazzling mixed media films are consistently groundbreaking, emotive and atmospheric. Elliot’s work displays a range and skillset rarely seen. Incorporating live action, stop motion and both hand drawn and 3D animation, his films feel like a throwback to the golden age of animation, whilst managing to be utterly contemporary and cutting edge. Elliot's notable mixed-media works include the John Lewis campaign 'The Bear & The Hare' and the BBC spot 'The Supporting Act'. Having built a superb body of work as a director at BLINKINK, Elliot's latest project is another Xmas-themed animation 'All Through the House', a season two episode of the Netflix anthology series 'Love, Death + Robots'. Animation One-to-Ones are available to download and stream via your preferred podcast provider or on our YouTube channel - like and subscribe for more. Interview conducted by: Laura-Beth Cowley Guest: Elliot Dear Presented, edited and produced by: Ben Mitchell Music: Ben Mitchell Thanks to Clive Olamiju and Reed Wiles

Animation One-To-Ones #06 - Elliot Dear

Presenting episode 102 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast! In this episode we review and discuss highlights from this year's Annecy International Animated Film Festival, including standout shorts in competition, Mikey Please and Dan Ojari's upcoming Aardman/Netflix special 'Robin Robin', Erick Oh's immersive short 'Namoo', Marq Evans's Will Vinton documentary 'ClayDream', Alberto Vázquez's 'Unicorn Wars', Jorge Gutierrez's 'Maya and the Three', Netflix's adult animation slate including the stop-motion anthology series 'The House'. We also welcome the legendary filmmaking team of Joanna Quinn and Les Mills to discuss their filmography and working history including their latest short 'Affairs of the Art', which received the Special Jury Distinction for Direction at Annecy. Also discussed this episode: Reflections on ten years of Skwigly for Ben and Steve, the announcement of Robert Morgan's feature film debut 'Stopmotion', the fiddly UX of online animation festivals and the Manchester Animation Festival's current call-for-entries. Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson Interview conducted and edited by Steve Henderson Edited and produced by Ben Mitchell Music by Ben Mitchell

Skwigly Podcast: Summer 2021 (21/06/2021) - Joanna Quinn & Les Mills

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Ben Mitchell in conversation with award-winning London-based animator and director Anna Ginsburg. Following on from our first conversation with Anna in episode 2 of our podcast series Intimate Animation to discuss her Random Acts film 'Private Parts', in this episode we discuss some of the major projects she has worked on with Strange Beast in the five years since, including her viral CNN film 'What is Beauty?' (a visual overview of the ever-changing pressures on women to conform to body shape ideals), her more recent collaboration 'Typically' with Caitlin McCarthy (an animated celebration and destigmatisation of periods for Bloody Good Period and Mother) and her boldly-designed and beautifully animated Breast Cancer Now short film 'A Love Hate Relationship', playing this week in competition as part of Annecy 2021's Commissioned Films programme. Produced by Strange Beast with agency Weber Shandwick, the film conveys the different journeys, and accompanying emotions, women go on with their breasts; from pride and embarrassment as their breasts develop, to their breasts attracting attention from others, to breastfeeding and attending mammogram appointments. Animation One-to-Ones are available to download and stream via your preferred podcast provider or on our YouTube Channel - like and subscribe for more. Interview conducted by: Ben Mitchell Guest: Anna Ginsburg Presented, edited and produced by: Ben Mitchell Music and graphics: Ben Mitchell

Animation One-To-Ones #05 - Anna Ginsburg

Skwigly are proud to present the milestone tenth panel from Visible In Visuals, an organisation pushing to make the animation and VFX industries more diverse and inclusive through honest, open conversation. Episode 10 features a chat with people instrumental in getting ViV off the ground, discussing what progress has been made and what still needs to be done. Panel: Bimpe Alliu - VFX Concept Artist Mohamed Orekan – Animator Paula Poveda-Urrutia – Line Producer Tanya J Scott - Art Director Chair: Hodan Abdi This panel was recorded in May 2021 Illustration by Mohamed Orekan

Visible In Visuals 10 - Milestone Special

Skwigly.com presents the Animation One To One Podcast with Ross Bollinger, creator of the hit YouTube show Pencilmation. With over 18 million subscribers and nearly 10 billion views for the elastic antics of pencil mate and pencil miss the success of the channel has allowed ross financial and creative autonomy on what he can do next, which has led him to create a brand new series Gil Next Door. We sat down with Ross to find out more about his work and running an animation empire on YouTube Animation One to Ones are available to download and stream via your preferred podcast provider or on our YouTube Chanel - like and subscribe for more. Presented by: Steve Henderson Guest: Ross Bollinger Edited and Produced by Steve Henderson Music and Graphics: Ben Mitchell

Animation One-To-Ones #04 - Ross Bollinger (Pencilmation)

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Laura-Beth Cowley in conversation with Mike Rianda, director of the Sony Pictures Animation/Netflix animated feature 'The Mitchells vs. The Machines'. Mike’s animation career includes his hugely successful CalArts film ‘Work’, as well as his role as creative director and writer on Disney’s critically-acclaimed and BAFTA-winning series 'Gravity Falls'. In his new film, co-written and co-directed with Jeff Rowe and produced by Oscar winning duo Phil Lord, Chris Miller as well as Kurt Albrecht, we follow creative outsider Katie Mitchell whose hopes of a new start at her dream film school are dashed by her nature-loving dad’s insistence on one final road trip where the two might finally bond. The already-doomed venture is scuppered further by a technological uprising, with every gadget from smartphones to Furbys joining forces to capture and rid the world of humans. The Mitchells will have to work together in order to stop the robot apocalypse. Animation One-to-Ones are available to download and stream via your preferred podcast provider or on our YouTube Chanel - like and subscribe for more. Interview conducted by: Laura-Beth Cowley Guest: Mike Rianda Presented, edited and produced by: Ben Mitchell Music and graphics: Ben Mitchell

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