Hello, cartoon fans, I’m back with a whole lot of info.
In August we had a great screening of “Slide” in Oregon, at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation and Technology. I was also in Portland for my high-school reunion, and the festival was great about arranging a screening of “Slide” for Thursday so I could go to my reunion on Friday. Murphy’s Law kind of dictated that those two things would be in conflict if we didn’t arrange for them to be on different days.
“Slide” won two awards in Portland, both the silver award for Best Animated Feature, and also the Audience Choice Award for Best Animated Feature! WOW! Two awards from the same festival!
Then in September I went up to Montreal for a screening of “Slide” at the Animaze Animation Festival, I think they’ve only been around for a few years – but the only festival screening of “Slide” so far had been in Vancouver, so I took the opportunity to fly up to Quebec when Laurie Gordon invited me.
I had another event scheduled in London, Ontario right after, an appearance at the London Comic-Con. Thankfully the two events in Canada were able to communicate with each other and I was able to go straight from Quebec to Ontario, without flying back to NYC in-between. That saved me a lot of time.
Also in September, I spent a great week in Paris attending the Formula Bula event. It was basically a lot like the wonderful MoCCA Arts Festival here in NYC – lots of tables of indie-published books, film screenings and panels. I got to meet Stephanie Clement, who directed the animated short “Pachyderme” which got an Oscar nomination last year.
I did my Master Class on indie animation and was totally surprised by the love from the audience. You must remember, I’ve been away from Paris for maybe 7 or 8 years because of COVID and delays with the completion of my new feature “Slide” (In France, the film is titled “Duel a Monte Carlo del Norte”) but the audience reacted like I’d never been gone at all. Wild, unstoppable applause and crazy yelling – those French! Have I become the Jerry Lewis of animation?
And then to top that off, I got word that at the prestigious L’Etrange Festival in Paris, the audience laughed throughout the screening, and again, wild applause at the end….and I wasn’t even there!
Another reason I was in Paris was to meet with my fantastic French distributors, E.D. Distribution. They set up a number of press interviews for the spring release of “Slide” there. It was also on this visit that I was able to do a Master Class to a packed audience at the great animation school, Gobelins.
Just recently, I was able to go to a NYC screening of “Wild Robot”, directed by the brilliant Chris Sanders, of “How to Train Your Dragon” fame. (That’s one of my all-time favorite films, by the way.). “Wild Robot” was beautiful to look at. He simulated the look and feel of traditional animation to give the CGI a real hand-made look. I remember reading the book and enjoying the storytelling at that time, but somehow it didn’t translate very well to the movie screen. I give it a B+.
Reviewers are giving “The Wild Robot” a good shot at the Best Animated Feature Oscar for this year, they’re also predicting “Inside Out 2” for second place and “Memoir of a Snail” by Adam Elliot for #3.
Now, I have a bunch of appearances coming up I’d like to let you know about:
October 17-20, I’ll be in Artists Alley at the New York Comic Con, signing and selling my cool animation artwork at Table D-06. In addition to the art we’ll have my DVDs and books for sale as usual. I’ll also be doing caricatures again so if anyone wants to see themselves drawn like a Plymptoon, come on by! Everyone who stops by will get a free sketch and a postcard.
See the whole line-up for Artists Alley and get tickets (if still available) here:
https://www.newyorkcomiccon.com/en-us/exhibitors-and-artists/artist-alley.html
On October 19, my new animated short “Duckville” will have its WORLD PREMIERE up at the Woodstock Film Festival, 5 pm at the Woodstock Community Center. I wish I could be there for this screening, but I’ll be at the NYCC all weekend. But if you’re near Woodstock, you should totally go!
For tickets to the Woodstock Film Festival’s screening of animated shorts, please go to:
https://woodstock2024.eventive.org/schedule/fiercely-independent-animation-66d2337eb628be0040407ae0
Friday, October 25 at 7 pm, I’ll be at the Animation Speak/Easy Vol. 12 event at Rullo’s Bar at 560 Fifth Ave. in Brooklyn, NY. This is part of ASIFA-East’s Animation Weekend, and this is a FREE event. As a guest, I’m going to introduce a film that will be screened, then a Q&A about the film will follow. This monthly event has become a big smash hit, and I’m honored to be invited by the wonderful Lisa Labracio.
For more information about this event, please visit:
http://animationspeakeasy.com/
Then on November 5-10 I’ll be in Corsica, France – doing a bunch of animation instructions in the town of Bastia at a festival called Cinetica. So if you’re there, come join me for a swim in the Mediterranean.
And finally, I’ll be at the legendary Big Apple Comic Con on Saturday, November 23 at the Wyndham New Yorker Hotel, located on the corner of 34th St. and 8th Avenue in Manhattan. So please come by and say hello! 9 am to 6 pm. For information and tickets, please visit:
In the middle of ALL THESE events, my studio is also having its Fall Art Sale. Check out my Facebook page or my Instagram account for more information. But the pricing structure is the same as the last few Art Sales:
Any art from “Your Face” or my “Simpsons” couch gags is $300 per piece
Any art from “How to Kiss” or “25 Ways to Quit Smoking” is $200 per piece.
Any art from any other Plymptoons is just $100 per piece – plus postage, which is $12 within the U.S. or $30 to another country.
You just have to e-mail us at studio@plymptoons.com with the name of the film(s) you want to buy art from, and my staff will send you some scans to choose from. The sales of my animation art help me stay in business and provide you with new shorts and features, so please start your collection of animation art today!
I’ve also included a new cartoon, attached below. Hope you like it. See you again soon!
Your buddy,
Bill Plympton
