Cambridge’s Brattle Theatre and Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre team up June 4-6, 2004 for an all new weekend long festival celebrating the cinematic craft of animation, and featuring works from around the world in all styles: traditional cell animation, computer animation, experimental, stop-motion, and even good ole cartoons.
The centerpiece of the weekend is our Competition Program featuring 15 new animated shorts form all over the world, one of which will be selected at the end of the weekend for the Audience Award based on audience votes cast at the screenings.
Other programs in the First Annual New England Animation Bash include:
* A special panel discussion and best-of screening with Soup2Nuts, the Watertown based animation studio behind the classic series “Dr. Katz” and “Home Movies”
* The best animation from the Rhode Island School of Art and Design
* Johnny Legend’s collection of vintage “Weird Cartoons”
* “God Hates Cartoons”, animation by underground cartoonists Kaz, Tony Millionaire, and Jim Woodring
* Heavy-metal animated feature “The Dominator” (produced by the SciFi Channel)
* “Avoid Eye Contact”, featuring the best of New York’s independent animation
* A special preview of animated shorts from the KIDS FIRST! Film Festival
* “Real Cartoons”, exploring the animated documentary
From family-oriented programs, to award winning classy animation, to disturbing and gross midnite fare, the first annual New England Animation Bash has something for everyone.
Tickets for Animation Bash:
* $9.00 (discount prices available for Coolidge and Brattle Theatre members).
* Midnite shows at the Coolidge – $6.00
* KIDS FIRST! program – $4.00
* Soup2Nuts: Panel $5.00, Screening $7.00, or attend both for only $10.00
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Program Schedule:
FRIDAY, JUNE 4
at the Brattle Theatre
5:30 – REAL CARTOONS: Animated Documentaries
7:30 – COMPETITION SHOW
10:00 – Special Screening – to be announced
at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
10:00 – WEIRD CARTOONS
Midnight – GODS HATES CARTOONS
SATURDAY, JUNE 5
at the Brattle Theatre
5:30 – RISD SPOTLIGHT
7:30 – COMPETITION SHOW
10:00 – GOD HATES CARTOONS
at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
11:00am – KIDS FIRST FILM FESTIVAL Special Kids and Family show
10:00pm ‘ AVOID EYE CONTACT
Midnite ‘ THE DOMINATOR
SUNDAY, JUNE 6
at the Brattle Theatre
6:00 – SOUP2NUTS panel discussion
7:30 – THE BEST OF SOUP2NUTS
10:00 ‘ AVOID EYE CONTACT
at the Coolidge Corner Theatre
noon – COMPETITION SHOW
2:30 – REAL CARTOONS: Animated Documentaries
5:00 – COMPETITION SHOW
7:30 – RISD SPOTLIGHT
10:00 – WEIRD CARTOONS
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Program descriptions:
Featured Program:
THE NEW ENGLAND ANIMATION BASH COMPETITION SHOW
Features 15 new animated shorts from right here in our own backyard to halfway around the world. Personally selected from submissions gathered by the programmers from the Brattle and Coolidge Corner Theatres, these premiere shorts vary from cell animation to computer and stop motion animation, from humorous gags to thoughtful meditations. Viewers of this special competition program will vote for their favorite – which will receive the New England Animation Bash Audience Award to be announced on the final evening of the festival.
AVOID EYE CONTACT: THE BEST OF NYC INDEPENDENT ANIMATION
This over-the-top mix of hilarious animated shorts features over 17 internationally acclaimed films from New York City based animators. Program includes: Mike Overbeck’s sexy stream of consciousness piece “Tongues and Taxis”; the furniture porn stop motion romp “Roof Sex”; Aleksey Budovsky’s toe-tapping animated music video “Bathtime in Clerkenwell”; “Dirdy Birdy”, John Dilworth’s short about a bird who finds his amorous advances violently rejected by a frigid cat; Signe Baumane’s sinful expressions of female sexuality in “Five Fucking Fables”; Jessie Schmal’s Soviet inspired “Sub” (recently featured as an audience pleasing short at the Coolidge before “Triplets of Belleville”); as well as works by legendary animators George Griffin and Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton. www.squarefootagefilms.com
DOMINATOR
This futuristic heavy metal fable is based on the Manga comic strip written by Alan Grant (Judge Dredd) and illustrated by Tony Luke.The year is 2020 AD. CrowCut, an outstandingly endowed all-girl rock trio, discover the fabled ‘Lost Chord’ and accidentally summon Dominator — the Dead God of Rock ‘n’ Roll. Chaos and mayhem ensue, as the satanic master Lord Desecrator is chasing Dominator to retrieve the stolen Key To Hell, along with fellow demons Extricator, Decimator and Lady Violator. Featuring delightfully crude computer animation and more heavy metal clich’than you can shake an amp at, Dominator is an instant camp classic, and includes character voices by horror star Ingrid Pitt, rock singer Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth), and cult director Alex Cox. From PopTwist entertainment: www.poptwist.com
GOD HATES CARTOONS
The first ever show of animated films by the best names in alternative comics today, including Jim Woodring, Tony Millionaire, Kaz, Ivan Brunetti, and many more. Features films like: “Diaper Dyke and Captain Boyfuck” (too sick and twisted even for Spike & Mike; “Cat-Head Theatre”, a star-crossed coupling of felines and Shakespeare; the adventures of the salty, hard drinking sea dogs (er, sea crows and sea monkeys, actually) of Tony Millionaire’s “Maakies”; “Whimgrinder”, a surreal tale starring Woodring’s signature character, Frank; the pubic service notice “Cartoons and You”; and other titles like “Lonely Robot Duckling”, “The Courtship of Sniffy LaPants” and “Gutsman”. www.brightredrocket.com/godhates
THE BEST OF KIDS FIRST! FILM FESTIVAL
From the nation’s leading family film festival – endorsed and suitable for children between the ages of 2 and 15 – comes this collection of animated shorts for the whole family, a special sneak preview of the new KIDS FIRST! Film Club coming to the Coolidge this fall. Titles include shorts based on classic children’s books like the delightful “Pete’s A Pizza” (from Boston-based FabelVision Studios), “Harold and the Purple Crayon”, and “Miss Nelson Has a Field Day”. Also included is the independently made film, “Dottie, The Little Girl With the Big Voice”, a ragtime-tinged tale of a girl with a powerful talent, and “Wombats”, a funky story of teenagers in the future. This special show is only $4 for all, so come and check out this special sneak preview! More details on films: www.kidsfirst.org
REAL CARTOONS: Animated Documentaries
The animated documentary, a collision of two seemingly incompatible genres, takes the viewer on a trip to the mind’s eye of the artist, for a powerful interpretation of real events. This show of animated non-fiction shorts from around the world will features “Abductees”, illustrating the hypnotically recovered memories of people abducted by space aliens; “Bike Ride”, an entertaining free-jazz tale of a simple, heartbreaking journey; “It’s Like That”, by the Southern Ladies Animation Group production of Australia; “Survey”, a photographic tour of South Whales; a glimpse into the world of mind of autistic people with “A is for Autism”; and many more. Curated by Jessica Gidal.
RISD SPOTLIGHT
Many of the best and the brightest animators in New England lurk within the halls of The Rhode Island School of Art and Design. This program features recent award-winning works that feature a potato come to life, tales of beach bravado, a strange world of red things, love between a boy and his tomato, a handmade take on the Noah’s Ark story, a monstrous rap musical, and more. Filmmakers include Christina Spangler, David Zackin, Max Porter, Joey Kan, Paul Wei, Ben Richards, Jeremy Wab, Emily Dodge, Andy Kennedy, Mat Yapchian, Masako Miyazaki, and Sandra Gibson. Curated by Bryan Papciak.
SOUP2NUTS PANEL DISCUSSION: The ins&outs of Soup2Nuts
and THE BEST OF SOUP2NUTS
Soup2Nuts is the award-winning animation production company behind the Peabody Award winning “Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist” (Comedy Central) and the cult classic “Home Movies” (Cartoon Network), as well as a variety of adult and children’s programming.
First, join us for a question-and-answer panel with some of the studio’s animators, art directors, audio editors, and producers responsible for their hit programs. Then, Soup2Nuts showcases some of their greatest work, both old and new. Includes best-of segments from long-running series, shorts, and a number of never-before-aired pilots featuring such comedic talents as Jack Black, David Cross, Janeane Garofalo, and the unaired follow up to Dr. Katz, “Phone Jobs”.
WEIRD CARTOONS
These twisted early animations are guaranteed to surprise, delight and amaze, in a program that is not only a loopy primer on animation history, but an offbeat reflection of western civilization in the early 20th century. Features the world’s very first animator, Emile Cohl’s “Hasher’s Delirium”; Walt Disney’s early oddity “Alice’s Eggplant”; works from Russian animator Wladyslaw Starewicz, including the legendary acid-trip “The Devil’s Ball”; Max Fliescher’s classics “Betty Boop in Crazy Town” and “Cobweb Hotel”; Felix the Cat in “Non-Stop Fright”; Walter Lanz’ un-PC “Scrub Me Mamma With A Boogie Beat”; and many more. Curated by Johnny Legend.
For other details, please visit the theatre websites at www.coolidge.org and www.brattlefilm.org.
Read the review...
Once more I’m disappointed that the Harvard Square Theatre is opening a film I am interested in seeing. 
If you’ve already seen THE RETURN, you should definitely consider checking out the FREE sneak preview screening of 
Born in 1951 in Xi’an, The People’s Republic of China, Zhang Yimou was first brought to the attention of worldwide audiences in 1987 with the release of his first feature, RED SORGHUM. The film, which starred rising actress Gong Li, won several international awards including the coveted Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival. Zhang went on to make two subsequent films, JU DOU (1990) and RAISE THE RED LANTERN (1991 – #38 on the Chlotrudis