10th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase
Saturday, July 30th @ 7pm
GEARY LANE – 360 Geary Ave. Toronto
TICKETS $10 advance / $12 door / $8 door TAIS members
Advance tickets are available through Eventbrite: HERE
Screening the best in independent Canadian and international animated short films, the results of the 2016 Anijam competition, and a new work in VR by artist Michael Enzbrunner, the 10th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase is not to be missed!
Official Trailer – 10th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase from TAIS on Vimeo.
Featuring 23 films — selected from over 1000 eligible entries — the finalists in this year’s programme cover a variety of genres and stylistic approaches to the animation art form. Many of the films combine humour, whimsy, and the surreal with stories that address compelling social, philosophical, and political themes. Others push the boundaries of experimentation, producing aesthetic explorations with dazzling impact. 11 different countries including Canada, USA, Croatia, the Russian Federation, the UK, Argentina, Israel, Belgium, Spain, Singapore, and Germany are represented in this line up.
This programme is for mature audiences only.
Awards will be given to four films, as selected by the audience and a guest jury of Canadian animation media artists, including a ‘Grand Prize – Best of the Showcase’ award, and the ‘Audience Choice Award’. The members of the 2016 Jury are Terril Calder, Isaac King, Rhayne Vermette, and Farah Yusuf – full bios available HERE.
Full film programme listed below.
Also featured is TAIS’ Disaster! Anjiam competition. With a theme like Disaster! it’s anyone’s best guess what sort of unfortunate consequences, utter calamity, and moments of misadventure will befall this year’s set of 10-second animated shorts. Created by animators who have been given no guidelines beyond the theme and time cap, come prepared for anything.
Michael Enzbrunner will present a new work in VR at the Showcase this year. Entitled Death Van & the Zeitshow Folks, produced in collaboration with Helge Henning, this VR experience puts participants in the middle of a dreamlike surrealist musical diorama where the viewer is shrunk down to thumbnail size. Created as part of the 2015-16 Artist in Residency program.
Michael Enzbrunner is a Toronto-based illustrator, painter and animator with years of experience in commercial productions and freelance work. In his work he’s aiming for an artistic approach to 3D animation.
This Showcase presentation is made possible through the generous support of The Petman Foundation.
2016 Animation Showcase Poster
For the 10th Annual TAIS Animation Showcase promotional campaign, artist Steven Chmilar was commissioned to produce this stunning artwork. Styled in consideration of our Anijam theme Disaster!, Chmilar’s painting depicts a gigantic child at battle with the elements and offering up a whale to the heavens. Truly epic. Disaster as a force of nature.
Steven Chmilar was born in Grande Prairie, Alberta, where he spent most of his childhood on a farm, helping with chores, drawing and building imaginary civilizations in the woods. While living in Calgary from 2000-2008, he played music professionally and won a national songwriting contest in the spring of 2006 at CanadaMusicWeek in Toronto. From 2008-2012, Steven lived in Victoria BC where he painted and performed as a solo musician. A career shift to full-time visual artist was made after the success of his first exhibition in November of 2011. Since moving to Toronto in the spring of 2012, Steven won “best in show” at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit. He continues to draw and paint every day in preparation for a debut solo exhibition. More of Steven’s work can be found at www.stevechmilar.com
2016 Animation Showcase Programme
(presented alphabetically by title)
Bratpack
Altea F. Claveras
United Kingdom, 2:22 , 2016, Drawn, Rotoscope
Exploring the loss of innocence, this film explores the negative physical and psychological effects young girls face whilst competing in the beauty pageant industry.
Continuum
Noncedo Khumalo
Montreal, Canada, 2:44, 2016, Computer 2D and 3D
An animated short exploring what happens when society’s rejects reject society.
Downtown
Tran Nguyen Tuan Anh
Singapore, 1:32, 2014, Drawn
Downtown: There all the lights will glow
EVERYDAY I DIE
Amitay Leopold
Israel, 4:12, 2015, Computer 2D
A analysis of the feeling of that exact moment of embarrassment in everyday situations, when you feel like you just want to die.
Help! Dying!
Noah Malone
United States, 5:20, 2016, Computer 2D, Drawn
A love of self expanded outwardly towards others who also love themselves.
Hurry Up
(Grouillons Nous)
Margot Reumont
Belgium, 4:50, 2014, Stop motion, Computer 2D, Drawn
At rush hour, a throng of fruit crowds into the metro. Driven at a frantic pace by the music, the drama continues until the last stop.
INA
Muffy Levy
Mississauga, Canada, 1:59, 2016, Stop motion
A daughter retells the story of her mother’s deteriorating health.
Last Judgement
Junyi Xiao
United States, 2:59, 2016, Drawn
50 years ago, the Cultural Revolution took place in China. This short story is about a man involved in group violence during that time.
Le clitoris
Lori Malépart-Traversy
Montreal, Canada, 3:15, 2016, Computer 2D, Paint on paper
Women are lucky, they get to have the only organ in the human body dedicated exclusively for pleasure: the clitoris! In this humorous and instructive animated documentary, discover its unrecognized anatomy and unknown herstory.
Mia’
Amanda Strong & Bracken Hanuse Corlett
Winnipeg, Canada, 8:09, 2015, Computer 2D and 3D, Stop motion, Ink on Paper
A young Indigenous street artist walks the city streets, painting scenes rooted in the history of her people. Alleyways become her secret gallery, & her art comes to life.
Mr. Madila or the Colour of Nothing
Rory Waudby-Tolley
UK, 8:37, 2015, Computer 2D, Drawn, Stop motion
Documenting a series of conversations between the filmmaker and a gifted spiritual healer, this film explores the inner mind, the fabric of the universe and the nature of reality itself, through the sacred art of animation. Oooooooh
PIPO
Eliott Deshusses
Germany, 9:20, 2015, Stop motion
A child is accidentally raised by a TV.
putain
Cypria Donato
Belgium, 5:15, 2015. Computer 2D, Drawn
A voyage through the complex sensations experienced by six female characters in their daily life as prostitutes, and the ways their bodies are involved and exposed.
Roommates
Jamie Wolfe
United States, 3:15, 2016, Computer 2D, Drawn
Four city dwellers are pushed to a breaking point on a day hot enough to liquidize an orange twinsicle. The frosty salvation of the freezer is right across the room, but a greater force keeps the door shut tight.
ScribbleMouth
Patrick O’Mahony
UK, 4:27, 2016, Stop motion
Lilly and ScribbleMouth met at a poker game, neither belonged there but they fell in love anyway. ScribbleMouth learns more about Lilly and her strange life, while Lilly learns of ScribbleMouth and his strange appearance.
STOCK!
Walter Hoyos
Argentina, 4:30, 2015, Drawn
A strange story of a deal, art, money, market and madness.
The Beard
Sofya Badalova
Russian Federation, 7:03, 2015, Computer 2D, Drawn
A man who loves and adores his beard, and lives with it in perfect harmony, suddenly meets a woman. The man turns his attention to the woman, thereby causing a love triangle.
THE EARTH IS FLAT
Jonni Phillips
United States, 6:40, 2016, Drawn, Stop motion, Analog
Surrealist narrative following a pink character through a pastel wasteland interacting with eccentric individuals and ominous experiences.
The Little Ships
Marcie LaCerte
United States, 1:51, 2016, Computer 2D
A visual music animation created to the tune of “The Little Ships” by Jean-Jacques Perrey (1963). Inspired by the work of Oskar Fischinger, Norman McLaren, & Christopher Hinton.
Think Twice
Naser Shillova
UK, 7:00, 2015, Computer 3D
In the world of only land and sky, three Identical Friends sing, roll and play together. Their happiness is brought to a halt by the appearance of a single white chair. Two of the Friends slide happily but the third Friend wants it only for himself.
Three Fitted Flies
(Tres Moscas a Medida)
María Álvarez and Elisa Morais
Spain, 7:47, 2016, Drawn
Summer in a small village in a plain arid region of central Spain. Prying neighbours, mourning rituals, tediousness, extreme heat and undertones of guilt make a perfect soil for madness.
Transparency
(Stakleni čovjek)
Daniel Suljic
Croatia, 6:10, 2015, Drawn on paper
Moving through a world filled with scanners and surveillance algorithms, while frivolously using different social networks, online forms and credit cards, a decent citizen has nothing to hide… only criminals do.
Uncle Antlers
Carla Veldman
Toronto, Canada, 5:22, 2016, Drawn, Pencil on paper
The story of a friendship between a young girl, Myrtle, and her imaginary companion, Uncle Antlers, following the ways in which their relationship grows and changes over time.
2016 Anijam Competition Disaster!
2016 TAIS Anijam: Disaster! Edition from TAIS on Vimeo.
Anijams by (in order of appearance):
William Allinson (Toronto)
Paul Scott (Hamilton)
Chris Jack (Toronto)
W.A. Davison (Toronto)
Kirsten Johnson (Toronto)
Elina Lex (Toronto)
Tanya Read (Toronto)
Evan DeRushie (Toronto)
Shayan Saeidi (Ottawa/Tehran, Iran)
Adso Almeida Papandrea (Toronto / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Carolyn Tripp (Toronto)
Jett Atwood (San Francisco, USA)
Jenn Snider (Toronto)
Bryce Hallett & Catherine Erhardt (Toronto)
The 2016 Showcase is presented with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Toronto Arts Council. Additional support is provided through the generosity of The Petman Foundation, the Ontario Trillium Foundation, and the following local businesses and supporters:
Collective Arts Brewery
Stack Restaurant
The Sovereign Espresso Bar
The Sony Centre for the Performing Arts
Geary Lane
Kurtis Coffee
Wonder Pens
C Magazine
Fresh Restaurant
Above Ground Art Supplies
Sonic Print
