No, not part of the festival... so what is it? All will be revealed during the 'Golden Pencil Awards' section of the festival next week!  :)

Its getting really exciting with now only 7 days to go! Apart from the great films and presenters on show next Saturday there will be a wide arrange of top indie artists showing and selling their work in our FREE vendor hall. to learn more, check out our 'Vendor' page HERE to see the outstanding artwork you can view (and hopefully buy) when you visit!  :)

DRAWTASTICON seeks to cover topics that represent the whole of the human experience. Consequently two films of a more serious nature are 'I AM DYSLEXIC' and 'HANGING', by filmmakers Mads Johan Øgaard/Katie Wyman and Nick LeDonne respectively

The Film: The animated short film I AM DYSLEXIC expresses what it feels like to have a learning difference in our current school system. Those with learning differences should be proud of who they are and should never be made to feel alone. The film uses strong metaphors to portray these emotions, as we follow a little boy in his journey to climb a mountain in a world made of books.

The Filmmakers: Mads Johan Øgaard: Mads is a Norwegian born in 1993. He has recently graduated Falmouth University with a first class honors degree in Animation and VFX. Since then Mads has started his Masters degree in special education at Exeter University. He is currently illustrating a book in collaboration with the Norwegian Dyslexia foundation titled 'Dyslexi Norge' (Dyslexia Norway). This book is an informative book about Dyslexia and is aimed for children and teenagers and features the characters in his student film I AM DYSLEXIC. His dream is to help as many as possible with and without a learning difference, to find there best way to help them learn learning! Mads Is proud to be a Dyslexic and Dyscalculic individual!Katie Wyman: Katie Wyman is a film maker born in London 1994. As a teenager she drew comics, and rarely spent much time outside. At age 19 she animated a stop motion project which now has over 25,000 views on YouTube. She has recently graduated Falmouth University with a first class honours degree in Animation and VFX. Katie is proud to be associated with 'I AM DYSLEXIC' which she co-directed and co-produced with Mads Johan Øgaard in their final year of university.

The Film: An abstracted animated documentary based off of Nick LeDonne's personal struggle with depression and suicidal thoughts after a near attempted hanging in November 2014. His feelings of depression are personified through a dark luring fog and a loving mother desperately trying to keep her son alive.

The Filmmaker: Nick LeDonne will be an animation senior this fall of 2016 at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Growing up in South Jersey Nick would travel to Philly to spend his free time sketching at zoos, museums, parks, and beyond with a love for art. Falling into animation his passion allowed him to create award winning films, inspiring murals, and spread his love of art to his local community.

Getting great responses on the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Seattle. Students and staff seem to like it, which all bodes well for attendances on the big day! Festival passes are already selling too I hear.  :)

Two films - 'EQUIPOISE' (Screening 2) and 'WHERERUFROM' (Screening 3) - deal with 'double' elements. i.e.Two for the price of one!

The Film: Equipoise is my graduation film about positiveness, negativity and the opposite but complementary relationship between them. The spirit of the film is how they work together to reach the harmony and balance to react to stimulation, instead of judging the dominance or tendency of the two forces.

The Director: Gung-Kai Koo is from Taipei, Taiwan. He has been working on motion design at Rochester Institute of Technology since 2013. With a huge passion of cartoon, 2D, photography and vintage games, he is also a collector of children books and toys.

The Film: WhereRUFrom(2016) is a self-portrait of the artist’s origins, her true beginning. Curiosity about childbirth and chromosomal sex determination inspired the project’s narrative. Consider that a man has two distinct chromosomes: X and Y, while a woman has 2 chromosomes that are the same: X and X. Imagine a race then between the X and Y chromosomes. Whoever gets to the egg first decides the child’s sex!

The Director: JUNGHYUN (Bella) PARK was born and educated in Korea getting her BA from Korea National University of Arts (2014). She received her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in Computer Art (NYC, 2016). She has worked with directors, designers and animators on projects that include: commercials for ESPN, TCM, and Fat guys, animations for MTV2's Wild'N OUT, and KBS's documentary on President Rhee. She expresses her personal artistic visions through her imaginative animations.

Here's the cosy, intimate cinema at SIFF that we're using for the film screenings. Its really comfortable and a great place to view films and listen to the speaker workshops. However there are only 93 seats available, so I advise that anyone who really doesn't want to miss anything should book now to avoid disappointment!

And the really good news for students who want to be there is that we're offering a 50% ticket discount for those who can show an ID to confirm that they are full-time at school or college. Again, don't leave it too late if you really do want to be there!  

Buy your tickets HERE folks! :)

When watching animated films at DRAWTASTICON, or elsewhere, you might like to know a little of what goes into them. Here Jennifer Klein explains just a little of her process. Sadly, movies like this are just not made anymore - hence the need for DRAWTASTICON to exist in order to change things!  

Two films we're showing that have a definite Asian flavor... 'LION DANCE' and 'MANDARIN GARDEN'...

The Film: LION DANCE is a romantic visual poem set during a traditional Asian parade in which a highly acrobatic dance is performed to bring good luck. It explores the theme of serendipity using a combination of CG, 2D animation techniques, and a soundtrack to express the rhythmic and pulsating emotion and actions of the characters. LION DANCE is the MFA thesis film of Zheng Kang and Tim Pattinson, USC School of Cinematic Arts class of 2016.

The Directors: TIM PATTINSON is a British-born professional designer, working in the animation industry. Based in Los Angeles, Tim has many years of award-winning commercial design and art direction leading global teams on global projects. Tim holds an MFA in Animation and Digital Arts from John C Hench Division of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, class of 2016. Tim’s personal and professional works are heavily influenced by contemporary Western and Asian TV animation and cinema. His portfolio reflects his own sensibilities and beliefs in the importance of diversity, inclusion and collaboration within art and storytelling.
ZHENG KANG is a Chinese-born professional designer, working in the animation industry. Based in Los Angeles, Zheng’s experience encompasses award-winning industrial, graphic and animation design direction. Zheng holds an MFA in Animation and Digital Arts from John C Hench Division of USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, class of 2016. Zheng’s creative vision and highly-stylized commercial sensibilities can be seen throughout his personal and professional works, which are grounded in solid draftsmanship and peppered with his own humor and subjects of interest such as K-pop and fashion. His approach is diversely collaborative, forming the open-minded and optimistic essence of Zheng’s storytelling portfolio.


The Film: THE MANDARIN GARDEN. A pig turns into a girl in its sleep. The girl experiences a magical journey within a Chinese garden, accompanied by atmospheric music.

The Director: JOE CHANG. (No information available.)

How could we not feature our festival film 'FALLING IN LOVE', directed by Giacomo ‘Jack’ Gigo, on Valentine's Day! (Although this could possibly be one of the strangest love stories you'll ever see!)  ;)

The film: 'Falling in Love' is a black comedy revolving around suicide. Tired of his life, our 'hero' Salomone endlessly tries to kill himself in various manners, but luckily/unluckily for him he keeps failing over and over, until he meets the woman of his dreams and falls in love with her.

The Filmmaker: Giacomo ‘Jack’ Ghigo was born and raised in northern Italy until moving to England in 2013 to attend the Animation & Visual Effects undergraduate degree course at Falmouth University. Jack also spent a year studying abroad in Arizona, USA as a teenager. Since completing his final year student film ‘Falling in Love’, Jack is now designing and developing his first video game ‘Eabani’ with two friends from university.
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Great to include the British film 'PERCHED' by animator Liam Harris during the 'Screening 1' section of the day, starting at 12.30pm. Tickets for Screening 1 can be obtained HERE.

The film: Hamish Fint, a crotchety old man used to a life of seclusion inside his submarine balanced precariously atop a mountain, struggles to maintain equilibrium when an unwelcome visiting seagull rocks his world.

The Filmmaker: Liam Harris is a recent NFTS Graduate obtaining a Masters Degree in Directing Animation. From a young age, Liam was inspired to work in hand-drawn animation, having grown up with the likes of Raymond Briggs’s illustrations, Glenn Keane’s paper drawn Disney characters and Joanna Quinn’s energetic yet fluent pencil on paper animation, a traditional style he has since adopted into his film making. Liam is a true collaborator, passionate storyteller whose work has been showcased internationally.