News & Events

October 4, 2012
Animation Magazine

Dawn of the Dead Pets

Director Tim Burton pays homages to his favorite monster movies and his childhood pet in the charming stop-motion gem Frankenweenie.  Read story

October 2, 2012
The New York Times

Maggie Nelson on the Limitations of Shock

Over the past two weeks in this space, readers, critics and artists have been asking whether art can still shock. But what’s so great about shock, anyway? In her book “The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning,” published last year to wide acclaim, the critic Maggie Nelson examined the “shock and awe” doctrine that has governed so much of the last century’s art, arguing that it has too often let artists off the hook for the less than edifying reactions their work may provoke.  Read story (scroll down to Oct. 2)

September 28, 2012
Capitol Weekly

Bringing the movies back to California

When tourists visit Los Angeles, they often flock to have their photo taken with the iconic Hollywood sign in the Hollywood Hills, visit Hollywood’s Walk of Fame and hope to run into a genuine movie star as they sightsee in the City of Angels.

The little known secret these days is that the Hollywood sign looks down upon a landscape that is no longer dominated by film and television production facilities and on-location shooting.  You may have just as much luck running into a movie star in Toronto as you would in Los Feliz.  Technological advancements—combined with aggressive government programs designed to lure away production and post-production jobs away from our state—mean that filming now happens all over the United States and the world, costing California millions in jobs and tax revenue.  Read story

September 26, 2012
Animation World Network

Film at REDCAT Presents Invisibilities

Invisibilities: Animated Films and Live Performance by Laura Heit

Mon Oct 15 | 8:30 pm

Using numerous animation techniques, puppetry and live-action video, Laura Heit's exquisitely crafted, subversively witty work makes visible hidden corners of the human psyche, where monsters, wolves and imaginary creatures tread. Look for Me (2005) employs 2D computer animation with monoprints, while The Deep Dark (2011) combines cutout stop-motion animation, live-action video and drawing to evoke elemental fears. The Amazing, Mysterious, and True Story of Mary Anning and Her Monsters (2003) calls on toy-theater puppetry and drawn animation to tell a fanciful tale. Collapse (2002), a reflection on a tragic moment, is a 2D computer animation with pastel drawings, and the allegorical Parachute (1997) a hand-painted and animated multiplane cutout. Heit's program concludes with a new version of the critically acclaimed Matchbox Shows in which she performs tiny puppet vignettes inside matchboxes.  Read story