Animated News: Patrick Jenkins' interview of Canadian Animator Leslie Supnet

Back on November 2nd, Patrick Jenkins posted an interview he conducted with Canadian independent animator Leslie Supnet. The interview covers her filmmaking career and inspirations as well as discussions on selected films. The interview can be read in its entirety on FilmAnnex.com. Readers interested in Leslie's work can learn more at her website (lesliesupnet.com) and she has also uploaded twenty of her films on her Vimeo page for public viewing at vimeo.com/lesliesupnet.

* image copyright Leslie Supnet and used with permission.

Animated Shorts: "Solstice" by Lynn Wang and Ed Skudder

Here's a really cool short by animators Lynn Wang and Ed Skudder (of "Dick Figures" fame) called "Solstice". This short film clocks in at just under two minutes and has this great Indiana Jones quality to the storytelling with visuals that look like they jumped right out of France's premiere animation school Gobelins, l'école de l'image.

You can learn more about Lynn's work on her Tumblr page, her filmography on IMDB, and her sketchblog on Blogger. Additionally, Cartoon Brew posted this film back on November 21st with a short descriptive quote from the animators about their film.

Animated News: Audio Interviews with Lotte Reiniger and Rebecca Sugar

Lotte Reiniger

Here's something to file under the heading 'really cool news'.

On November 30th, 2013, C. Edwards posted an article on Cartoon Brew under the title "Listen to Lotte Reiniger and Rebecca Sugar Discuss Animation".

Basically, he wrote a short article that links to a pair of separate interviews recorded by two notable woman animators almost thirty-four years apart.

The first is an interview by Lotte Reiniger recorded back in 1979 and made available on the USC School of Cinematic Arts website.

The second was a recent interview with Rebecca Sugar on NPR's radio program 'On Point' where she discusses her show Steven Universe and her career. Something really cool was listening to the advice Rebecca dispenses for women who want to become animators--be it an 8 year-old or a High School senior.

If you have the chance, definitely read the summary info that Edwards has posted in his article, it makes a great entry point to the audio interviews.

Animated News: Big changes for 'Women in Animation'

At the end of October, Women in Animation (WiA) elected two new co-presidents: Margaret Dean and Kristy Scanlan. Additionally, WiA has seen the creation of a new executive committee, board of directors, and advisory committee. The following Animation Magazine news article summarizes the changes along with more info about the new co-Presidents, committee members, and board of directors. Cartoon Brew has also posted an article about this change to WiA that's worth a look.

Additionally, WiA has relaunched their website (womeninanimation.org). I can verify that the new website makes it much easier to join WiA and renew your membership. However, it also lists upcoming events, links to chapters of WiA outside of the main Los Angeles branch, as well as press releases and articles on WiA.

For those interested in learning more about the history of Women in Animation, a non-profit organization started by Rita Street, Executive Producer and President of Radar Cartoons, I encourge you to read the following article: "Women In Animation: Changing the World: Person by Person, Cel by Cel" written by Rita Street for Animation World Magazine Vol 1, Issue 2 published back in May 1996. The article starts on page 23 in the PDF magazine.

Animated News: Joanna Quinn animates ident for the 2013 Bradford Animation Festival

Back in November, Thomas Coleman posted on Skwigly Animation Magazine, and Neil Emmett posted on Cartoon Brew, that Joanna Quinn has returned with Beryl, one of the recurring characters from her 1986 short film 'Girls Night Out'. This time, Beryl is baking an animation cake for the 2013 Bradford Animation Festival's ident film. If you look closely at the ingredients, you can see some familiar characters--most of whom are listed in Mr. Emmett's and Mr. Coleman's posts.

For more information on Joanna Quinn's work and career, visit her webpage 'Beryl Productions International Ltd' which she shares with business partner Les Mills.