New York Foundation for the Arts Celebrates New York’s Immigrant Animators at April 17 Film Festival
Part of New York City’s Immigrant Heritage Week
New York, NY (March 31, 2008) – Free and open to the public, this event features animated short films by award-winning immigrant animators living and working in New York. The filmmakers represent countries such as Russia, Korea, Thailand, Latvia, Mexico and Serbia, and all will be on hand to answer questions and discuss their work. The event, presented and hosted by New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) is part of New York’s Immigrant Heritage Week, an initiative of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs which celebrates the many contributions to the City by immigrants.
WHEN:
Thursday, April 17, 2008, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
WHERE:
New York Foundation for the Arts
155 Ave. of the Americas, 6th Floor
New York, NY, 10013
RSVP:
Free, but seating is limited.
To attend, please rsvp to Andreia Davies, adavies[at]nyfa[dot]org
WHO:
The lineup of short films was curated by 2005 NYFA Fellow and animated filmmaker Signe Baumane, a Latvia native. It includes films by several acclaimed animators, each of whom works in New York. They include: Felipe Galindo, whose work appears on Nickelodeon and in The New Yorker; Youngwoong Jang, who does animation work for a unit of FOX entertainment; Alex Bodovsky, whose animation work includes music videos, commercials and educational shorts for children; and Ms. Baumane, whose “Teat Beat of Sex” was the "most watched film" of the 2007 Cannes Online Film. She is one of the founders of Square Footage Films, a group of New York independent animators.
New York Foundation for the Arts is the nation’s largest provider of funding, information and services to artists in the United States– annually awarding nearly $6 million to hundreds of artists throughout New York State and the U.S.
PARTICIPATING ARTISTS:
Signe Baumane (Latvia)
Title: Dentist (2005). 10 min.
An enthusiastic dentist, a reluctant patient and a strange picture on the wall...
Alex Bodovsky (Russia)
Title: Bathtime in Clerkenwell (2002). 3min 15sec.
Based on Stephen Coates’ composition of the same title, this film is about The Great Revolution of the British Cuckoos, who bravely took over London, forcing all citizens to move inside cuckoo clocks.
Ronnarit Lueangwattanakij (Thailand)
Title: LALALAND
The story, about the pursuit of happiness and how that pursuit affects us, it takes place in a village called LALALAND, which includes citizens who have much too much happiness to cherish, and a little devil who chases after it in the wrong way.
Felipe Galindo (Feggo), (Mexico)
Title: The Manhatitlan Chronicles (2000). 16mm. 7min.
A word coined by the artist, The Manhatitlan Chronicles is a merger of two words: Manhattan (New York City) and Tenochtitlán (Mexico City's Aztec name), and symbolizes for him the merger of the Mexican and American cultures in New York.
Biljana Labovic (Serbia)
Title: Eye Spy. 3min 30sec.
A girl's inner world is filled with dreams and memories. She peeks into her own heart to find the forgotten feelings. She's her own personal spy.
Youngwoong Jang (Korea)
Title: Mirage (2006). 8min 25sec.
A robot boy's obsessively searches for water, without realizing he has already ready been in it.
