The animated shorts of crazy Asian talents and friends announced for Virtual Showcase

The animated shorts of crazy Asian talents and friends announced for Virtual Showcase


Flushing City Hall has announced that the selected films will be awarded awards this year Crazy Talented Asians & Friends animation shorts showcase, "Celebrating APA Heritage Month, Frame by Frame", a YouTube live streaming event on Saturday May 29th at 18pm. (EDT). The evening program also features live conversations with the artists to share their stories.

“Flushing Town Hall is thrilled to continue promoting the works of young emerging artists of Asian heritage with the return of Crazy Talented Asians & Friends. Asian / Asian-American artists and their stories need to be heard and appreciated, especially in these times, "says Ellen Kodadek, Flushing City Hall Executive and Artistic Director." We have been a strong advocate of artistic equity since 1979, advocating local, immigrant, national and international artists. We develop partnerships and collaborations to bring people together by presenting art and culture from around the world. Highlighting Asian / Asian-American perspectives and talent is an important part of our mission. "

The event premiered in 2020 with great audience success and brought together a community through beautifully animated stories, all despite the challenges of COVID. The animated short films selected this year, which represent the top 4% of several hundred submissions, were chosen by a panel of experienced film professionals for their extraordinary storytelling, art direction, animation, production and sound design. In addition to creative imagery and soundtracks, these films feature a range of different stories and experiences like the APA (Asia / Pacific American) community itself.

These include (among others):

  • Harunohi, or Spring Day, is about kindness that, although everyone has it, tends to freeze when the cold days continue, away Imai Yuka.
  • In the forest, we grew up is about two red pandas who set out to build their dream home together in a bamboo forest, from Vincy Guan e Sunny Moon.
  • Not said speaks of cultural dysphoria and the barriers between grandfather and grandson, di Mei Lian Hoe.
  • Mirage surprises viewers with a skilful use of special effects, di Xiaoli Zhang.
  • Excavated! tells the story of nine eccentric thieves on a mysterious mission, by Alan Dharmasaputra Wijaya.

This year's jury is led by Mrs. Hsiang Chin Moe, artist and educator with experience in higher education, manufacturing, technology and management. In addition to being the BFA Animation Chair at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, she is also on the board of Women in Animation as Chair for Education Program, where her direct goal is to provide support and resources to students as well as educators. to achieve the 50/50 gender equality target by 2025.

“It is a great honor to celebrate APA Heritage Month with an incredible selection of animated films. Special thanks to all the directors for sharing their stories with our audience and for inviting us on a journey of imagination. Their talent is a true representation of how unique and creative Asian-American filmmakers are, and the celebration extends to all Asian creators around the world, "says Hsiang Chin Moe, Lead Advisor.

The jury also includes:

  • Wen-Chin Hsu he has been technical director of lighting at Pixar Animation Studio since 2008. Before joining Pixar, he worked for Tippett Studio and ILM. Her work is included in numerous VFX movies, animated feature films and she specializes in storytelling using colors and lights.
  • Gonzalo Janer is a Colombian character animator and motion graphics artist, currently working at Nickelodeon and teaching animation at ESPOL (Guayaquil - Ecuador). He is passionate about programming and the technical aspects of animation: creating art through code and scripting tools to help his workflow.
  • Pilar Newton is an animator, cartoonist and educator. He started doing animation production art in shows such as Courage the Cowardly Dog for Cartoon Network and MTV Daria. In 2008, he founded his Brooklyn-based production company PilarToons, LLC. Pilar also teaches animation at City College of New York and the School of Visual Arts.
  • CJ Walker is an illustrator and background artist currently residing in New York. They currently work at Titmouse NY as a background designer and layout artist, but have also been a background painter, character layout artist, prop designer, resograph printer, and perspective teacher.
  • Wendy Cong Zhao is an independent artist based in Brooklyn, New York. She has been working and teaching in the field of animation since 2011. She began her career as an editor and composer at Signe Baumane's Studio. He also worked as a senior producer at Bill Plympton Studio. His animated documentary My first sessions was published by The New Yorker. He recently directed two music videos for Verve Records.

"Flushing Town Hall is proud to continue amplifying Asian / Asian American voices by providing a platform for young and talented animators to showcase their works and promoting creative dialogue on storytelling with animation forms," ​​says Ya Yun Teng, Chinese Project Director of Flushing Town Hall. "It was particularly moving to see how the event brought together people from diverse backgrounds during this unprecedented global pandemic."

The May 29 program will screen only some of the selected films, due to the limited time. This year's selected animated shorts are:

  • 15: 45, Alisha Liu
  • #happy, Yu-Ju Kuo and Huiching Tseng
  • A poem in bamboo, Chun-Yao Chang and XuFei Wu
  • Return to the sourceSandra Lucille
  • BEYOND THE LINEJinuk Choi
  • DuckyWinnie Wu
  • FIRE, Ofer Baby Jacoby
  • Half SabaBen Molina
  • Happy New Year of the Rat 2020, She she
  • Harunohi, Imai Yuka
  • In the forest, we grew up, Vincy Guan and Sun Woo Moon
  • Not said, Mei Lian Hoe
  • Mirage, Xiaoli Zhang
  • Nowhere, man, C.K. Lu
  • Growing up too much, Ollie Yao
  • Pyramid, Ihsu Yoon
  • Excavated!, Alan Dharmasaputra Wijaya
  • Seeing blind, Jazmine Lee
  • Signal lingersHarry Chen
  • Stage frightYuyang Zhang
  • Take out, Moksha Rao
  • The night without borders, Li-Wei Hsu
  • Organized lifeYu Wang
  • The river, Ping An Huang
  • Video letter, Moon Wang
  • Winter bath, Jingpei Xiao

Asians and crazy talented friends is a series of community-led programs dedicated to the works of Asian / Asian Americans - to showcase the diverse creativity and impact this community has to offer by bringing together families, friends and viewers from diverse backgrounds to celebrate their stories.

Register for "Celebrating APA Hertiage Month, Frame by Frame" here.



Go to the source of the article on www.animationmagazine.net