ORDER YOUR VERY OWN ASIFA-EAST (full color) 12 MONTH WALL CALENDER NOW!

With original artwork by a who’s-who of NYC animation legends, this calender will delight and inspire you to have a very animated 2010! Featuring artwork from: Bill Plympton, John Dilworth, Michael Sporn, Mo Willems, Kristy Caracas, Candy Kugel, George Griffin, Emily Hubley, Debra Solomon, Signe Baumane, Jennifer Oxley, and Xeth Feinberg.

Your order counts as a charitable donation on your taxes and all proceeds go to ASIFA-East.
PS- Makes a great holiday gift! Hint! Hint!

Make checks payable to:
ASIFA-East

Amount of:
$13.00

Send checks to:
ASIFA-East c/o
David Levy
135 Ashland Place, Apt.7C
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Be sure to include a return address for us to mail the calender to.

Article by Emmett Goodman.

This wasn’t a typical ASIFA-East event. The only thing that made this seem like an ASIFA-East event was it took place in the SVA amphitheatre. This was more theatrical. More unpredictable. This was somewhere inside the mind of animator/director John R. Dilworth. Here, the ideas of silliness and anarchy couldn’t have been more realistic.

John R. Dilworth is one of my idols. I knew his name first before any other New York animator (due in no small part to watching Courage the Cowardly Dog as a kid). The style of that show is so unique and surreal. You can’t predict anything, unless you’ve seen a particular episode more than once. The day I first learned of ASIFA-East, I also learned that Dilworth is an independent animator. I was (and still am) hooked onto his style, his timing, and his ideas.

To start the evening off, Dave Levy reiterated a story from his first meeting with Dilworth. Dave remembered an early adventure right out of school. The details were a little mixed, but Dave recalled being very sad, and then he encountered Dilworth, who said something to cheer Dave up: “GET THE F**K OUT OF HERE!!!”

Linda Simensky, formerly of Cartoon Network, had to send her regards to Dilworth via a letter read by Elliot Cowan. In short, Elliot acted as Linda Semensky’s puppet. Fortunately, Dilworth didn’t give Elliot a hard time for it.

Finally, Dilworth took the mic and started off a DVD, telling his life’s story (or at least the parts we were only allowed to see). After a cute baby picture, Dilworth took us through his student thesis, Pierre. After explaining the short, he brought forth his “guru,” animator/proffessor Howard Beckerman. Howard re-told and justified the story Dave Levy told earlier, ending with “GET THE F**K OUT OF HERE!!!”

Up next was Michael Sporn, after Dilworth showed a fluffy clip from Lyle, Lyle Crocodile. Dilworth referred to the clip as “crocodile pedophilia,” which I guess didn’t come as a surprise to anyone else. Sporn told his story of when Lyle, Lyle Crocodile was made and when Dilworth worked for him. The story of when Sporn had two studios: the good (Sporn’s own studio with his own artists) and the bad (CBS studios). Dilworth went on to praise Sporn for the challenges he offered when they worked together.

Next up was Dilworth’s first opus, The Dirty Birdy. If it isn’t Courage, then it should be The Dirty Birdy that introduces one to John Dilworth. After showing the cartoon, Fred Siebert made his appearance, retelling his (and Cartoon Network’s) worries of turning The Dirty Birdy into a series. The series never happened, but Dilworth got his chance again eventually. Poor Seibert, by that point, had moved on and didn’t get the chance to be hounded by the Silly Dilly.

Now we get to Courage. Dilworth presented his Academy Award nominated short, The Chicken From Outer Space, which is always a good laugh. Straight away afterward was Noodles and Nedd, before which Dilworth’s musical collaborator, Jody Grey, gave a demonstration of the short’s musical cues. Then onto The Mousochist, a funny piece Dilworth insists was spur of the moment. Next up is another grand opus, Life In Transition, still a marvel to watch for its beautiful artistry. For the sake of time, Dilworth was convinced not to explain Life’s symbolism. He moved to The Return of Sergeant Pecker, an erotic and evil piece with spontaneous drawing. Dilworth finally admitted that he made this short, under the name Pierre Delarue, to avoid the ire of someone he made the short for.

And finally, we came to the premier of Dilworth’s new short, Rinky Dink. I knew right away it was going to be somewhat erotic, because the main character looks like a bullet, which signifies something naughty. The short has all of Dilworth’s hallmarks: a shocking love story, outrageous sound effects, mixed-media, and inappropriate shows of affection. RINKY DINK!

Dilworth ended the big screen with a collection of Courage screams from Courage the Cowardly Dog. After the clip ended, we got four big surprises.

First, Dilworth came from behind a chalkboard wearing his famous space-suit.

Second, Courage made a physical appearance.

Third, a big surprise with the appearance of actor Marty Grabstein, Courage’s voice actor. He offered his roast of Dilworth, and ended it with a loud Courage (-eous) scream. And everytime Courage screams, I can’t help but lip-sync to the scream as well.

Fourth, Dilworth invited a band to play. This band had an acoustic punk/bluegrass sound, and memorialized Courage with a song.

This evening was certainly very unique, and by far the best ASIFA-East event of the season. Everyone got to laugh, got souvenirs, got to meet Courage, got to watch Dilworth drink from a couple of flasks, and I think we were all reminded that animation knows no boundaries. Neither does Mr. Dilworth.

A great evening. We all love John R. Dilworth. Thank you for reading this.

NOW GET THE F**K OUT OF HERE!!!

NOTE from the Editor:  If you took pictures of this amazing event, please feel free to post them online in our ASIFA-East Flickr group:  http://www.flickr.com/groups/asifaeast/.  All members are invited to join.

By Justin Simonich

What do PBS, NPR,  The Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon and ASIFA-East all have in common? They all survive on donations in order to survive. Last week ASIFA-East held the first ever calendar fundraiser event featuring art from a number of NYC animation superstars.

On hand to sign the calendars and share their films were nine out of the twelve artists who contributed artwork. The audience was treated to a sneak peek of Bill Plimpton’s newest feature Cheatin.  Michael Sporn showed a couple of his favorite shorts while Debra Solomon shared a few songs from her newest film for HBO, Getting Over Him in Eight Songs or Less. Candy Kugel brought her award winning piece Command Z and George Griffin shared a film he made 30 years ago as a younger man. Jen Oxley screened a couple of her latest shorts made for Sesame Street and Xeth Feinberg showed a few of his latest Xethtoons. Emily Hubley played one of her classic films Octave and Signe Baumane showed a few of her lesser known Teat Beat of Sex shorts which are always uplifting. Mo Willems, who was not in attendance, sent along a sneak preview of his newest short Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.

In addition to the featured artists, Dick Rauh (President of ASIFA-East from the late 1960s through 1989) was there to lend his support and didn’t know why we hadn’t thought to do a calendar before.

Having all that talent in one place at the same time made for a fantastic event. The animation veterans were able to catch up with each other while those newer to the field were able to meet and get advice from artists whose work they have admired for years.

If you missed the event, don’t worry, there is still time to pick up one of our ASIFA-East full-color calendars (SRP $10) and have Mr. October (John Dilworth) autograph it for you by attending our December 9th event. So come out and show your support for ASIFA-East by buying a calendar or two for everyone on your holiday list. All proceeds go to ASIFA-East and count as a charitable donation on your taxes.

Following my lousy time at the Queens International Film Festival, it’s come to light, via news sources, that the founder, Marie Castaldo, is the subject of numerous fraud allegations, stemming from unpaid debts from Queens, to upstate NY, to California.  The Queens Chronicle has an in-depth look on the story. And last night, Fox 5 News Reporter, Arnold Diaz, ran a Shame on You segment.  A local councilman is calling for an investigation.  After my experience at the film festival, I can tell you that this festival is an embarrassment to the Queens arts community, and I feel horribly for all the unsuspecting filmmakers and crew involved, who appear to have been taken for a ride.  I will let the articles and Shame on You segment speak for themselves, but I think it’s important for you all to be aware of it.

December 8th, Tuesday  7pm

ASIFA-East presents – An Evening with John Dilworth

Join us for an unforgettable evening of films, conversation, and surprises, including the ASIFA-East premiere of Oscar-nominated filmmaker John R. Dilworth’s new short, “Rinky Dink.”

* ASIFA-East calendars will be on sale at the event ($10 each), as well as Dilworth merchandise.

SVA
School Of Visual Arts
209 East 23rd Street
(Bet. 2nd & 3rd Ave)
3rd Fl, Amphitheatre
NYC
www.schoolofvisualarts.edu