Squeaky Wheel Film & Media Arts Center will be presenting their 12th Annual Animation Fest, Transforming Vision, at Alfred University, Nevins Theater, Powell Campus Center, as part of their Homecoming weekend celebrations. This family friendly program curated by the staff at Squeaky Wheel, highlights emerging and internationally known animators, such as The Brothers McLeod, Daisy Jacobs and animation legend, Vince Collins.

The 12th Annual Animation Fest will also travel on Saturday, November 21 to the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, as part of their Fall Film Series.

About the Animations:

365 Animations, One Year, One Film, One Second a Day by The Brothers McLeod  

From the BAFTA Award winning animation studio of The Brothers McLeod, Greg McLeod animated one second of animation every day for the 365 days of the year 2013. There was no storyline, script or storyboard. The ideas come from things read, seen or experienced on the day, with a little artistic license for good measure.

Animation School Drop Out by Vince Collins

This short warns about the dangers of animation school and is created by animation legend Vince Collins, an experimental filmmaker known for the films that he animated in the 1970s and 80s that featured his deeply-saturated, perpetually moving and morphing figures.

Black Rain by SemiConductor

Black Rain is sourced from images collected by the twin satellite, solar mission, STEREO. Using the HI (Heliospheric Imager) visual data as it tracks interplanetary space for solar wind and CME’s (coronal mass ejections) heading towards Earth. Semiconductor is UK artist duo Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt. In their art works they explore the material nature of our world and how we experience it through the lens of science and technology, questioning how they mediate our experiences.

Chit Chat Roulette by David Lüpschen 

Directed and animated by David Lüpschen with the support of a moderately sized crew, incorporates live action, puppets and stop motion animation. If you have ever seen, or participated in chat roulette, you’ll love this video. David is an animation director & illustrator based in London and his works are strongly influenced by skateboard graphics and by his passion for graffiti.

Essays on Reality Chapters 1 & 2 by Greg Barth

Essays On Reality is an ongoing series of short video art installations, influenced by the existentialist and surrealist movement, and inspired by social-political and economic events from around the world. Greg Barth is an award winning artist and director from Geneva, Switzerland, currently based in London.

Hunting for Hockney by Alice Dunseath

Documents the journey she and a friend made to find David Hockney’s Yorkshire home in the midst of the grief of losing a loved one, and the frustrating difficulties of organizing a funeral. Alice is a London based filmmaker and animator that is an Associate Lecturer at Goldsmiths College, University of London and worked as a third assistant director on Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The Mechanism of Spring by Atsushi Wada

Everybody is excited to see the arrival of spring. This film tries to depict the excitement spring brings. Atsushi Wada is a Japanese born animator that is always thinking about the Japanese traditional concept called “Ma”, the tension produced between movements.

On Loop by Christine Hooper

A clever and funny film about insomnia that was inspired by David Hockney’s photomontages, uses a combination of live-action and stop motion to create a fragmented collage style narrative that parallels the state of mind of the central character. Christine is a London based animator that recently graduated from with her master’s in animation from the Royal College of Art.

Stardust Serenade by Kathleen Quillian 

Mid-century advertising comes to life in a surreal mash-up of interstellar dimensions using stop motion and collage. Kathleen is based in San Francisco and her work has been screened nationally and internationally.

Surveillance by Yingzhe Zhou

Incorporating hand drawn scenes and figures, this poetically driven narrative follows the lead character as they leave work one day. Yingzhe is currently a student at the Tisch School of the Art in New York City.

The Bigger Picture by Daisy Jacobs

The film is about two sons who are ambivalent about taking care of their aging mother, was made by combining 2D painted art and life-size puppetry, animated in life-size sets. In 2014, this film won an award from BAFTA for Best Animation Short Film and was also nominated for an Oscar the same year. Daisy Jacobs, animator, writer and director is based in London, and is a recent graduate from the National Film & Television School.

Totem by Caleb Wood

A mesmerizing vertical stroll of 60’s related images and colors that will relax you. Caleb Wood is an animation artist that received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video at the Rhode Island School of Design in 2011, and has since gone on to show work internationally and continues making films independently.

Turkey by Harvey Benschoter

This collage based film that was created with stock images, is reminiscent of Martha Rosler’s photomontages of the 60’s & 70’s, but with a humorous intention. Harvey Benschoter is a member of the Philadelphia based animation collective, Oof, who make experimental animations, and host screenings and workshops.