The Animator’s Friend

Whether it's foraging for mushrooms or eating candy in the woods, Living with a Visionary director Stephen P. Neary draws his creativity from life's quiet moments.   Narrated by Academy Award nominee James Cromwell (Babe, L.A Confidential), and based on John Matthias’ memoir first published in The New Yorker, Living with a Visionary is a soulful, bittersweet reflection on John’s fifty-year marriag...

In between leaf peeping sessions, I attended the Woodstock Film Festival as a filmmaker and podcaster.  I spoke with some of the many talented filmmakers selected this year including Marcy Page, Astrid McGraw , Alexandra Lukina , Candy Kugel , Stella Amarante Salvadego , Ashley Gerst , Elliot Lobell , John Quinn , and Xinhui Ma . This episode has video, so watch on YouTube and Spotify!   Get your...

Ash Suh, animator, songwriter, and jewelry maker joins me, podcaster and 5D animator in making new friends at Ottawa International Animation Festival's annual Animator's Picnic! We Americans are coming around to the Canadian way of life and find taxes to be very sexy.  Hear what gets our fellow animators engines revving within.   Links to points of discussion: Ottawa International Animation Festiv...

Luca joins the podcast to offer his insight on bug fandom being the foremost expert in the field. Luca Ogawa Depardon is an animator and illustrator from NYC. His animations are playful fusions of traditional and experimental animation techniques, daydreams, inventive editing, and funky characters. His films have been featured internationally at places such as the New Chintose Airport Animation Fe...

Jessica Rizk's film Cracked has us clutching our t*tties for dear life! You can see her film on Thursday, August 20th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else! Links to points of discussion (will update soon!): Hudson Valley Film Festival's website Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram Kristie Kish's websit...

Sofía preserves important family history in her film Ingrato Sureño Invasor. You can see their film on Wednesday, August 19th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else! Links to points of discussion (will update soon!): Hudson Valley Film Festival's website Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram Kristie Kish'...

We had so much fun talking to Alex Greenblatt that we barely got to ask him about his film Four Days of Exams! You can see his film on Thursday, August 20th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else! Links to points of discussion: Alex's website Alex's Instagram Hudson Valley Film Festival's website Hudson Vall...

All week, Kristie Kish and I are speaking with Hudson Valley Film Fest (HVFF) award winners, starting with Mira Seeba !  Kristie and I present the Out of this World Award to Mira's film HEAVEN'S ESCAPE for deeply original filmmaking that literally takes us out of our earthly plane.  You can see her film on Wednesday, August 19th at the HVFF in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTub...

The Animator's Friend's Friend Josh Pilch and I revisit 101 Dalmatians, which is screening on 35mm at Metrograph now!  We're talkin Ub, Xerox, and somehow, as usual with Josh, Anthony Kiedis. Get your ticket for the final screening of 101 Dalmatians Sunday, July 26th at 11:10am Enjoy Josh's work on City Island U.S.A. and Beach Buggy Adventures ! Links to points of discussion (will update soon!): J...

My many attempts to discuss the Real Housewives on this podcast finally pay off with fellow expert David De La Fuente! David De La Fuente is an animation artist with interests in the moving image, semiotics, and graphic design. His work has explored themes of queerness, the aesthetic experience, and romanticism.  His films have shown in the Annecy International Animation Festival, Slamdance Film F...

While  Bouchra 's on its world tour, I got to meet creative producers John Michael Boling and Jason Coombs who enlightened me as to why Funko Pops are a scourge on our society.  See Bouchra at Metrograph through to July 2nd or catch it in a city near you soon!   Wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, Bouchra, a queer Moroccan jackal living in NYC, starts having difficult yet overdue pho...

Pilar and I contemplate Minnie Mouse's wikiFeet rating.   Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma is a Spanish-American animator, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist from New York City. They received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video from the Rhode Island School of Design and are currently based in Brooklyn.   Her practice encompasses both digital and traditional techniques, typically using an interplay of th...

In true TAF fashion, me and Marcelese Cooper talk about bugs.   Marcelese Cooper is an artist and educator originally from Santa Clarita, California, and has practiced throughout the Midwest and the South for nearly a decade. Influenced by their experiences as a young, black, queer individual, Cooper explores themes of identity, community, and the black/brown narrative through mediums like animati...

From oatmeal to the occult, the London 's give equal attention to their pastimes.  They even begrudgingly give equal attention to their dislikes as well which include Long Island and the discomfort of growing up.  These are featured predominently in their most recent film  1981 , where the mullets are long, the metal is heavy, and 14-year-old Douglas gets a birthday surprise that will change his l...

Last night, I transcended my human form and turned into a rd carpet correspondent for the Museum of Moving Image's Marvels of Media Festival! We spoke with festival participants and organizers Dani Bowman, Jackson Tucker-Meyer, Josh Sapan, Susanna Hunt, Steven Fraser, Steph Prizhitomsky, Bob Clark, Miranda Lee, and Maxwell Scheller. The festival runs all weekend long, see details here: https://mov...

I know I said we were on a break, but I just couldn't wait to share this bonus episode on Festival Strategy! Festival programmer Warren Etheredge shares how to get the most out of your film's festival run including insights into timeline, assessment, contact, assets, and budget. This episode will be here for you whenever you have a film ready to take out on the road! Listen, take notes, and get 75...

Continue your friend-of-the-pod/avatar/oink-oink drinking game with the final portion of my chat with filmmakers Santi MacLean and Joe Zuppulla!  Don't sleep on Doomscrolling and the whole Fun pet namez series! A young man talks himself through a panic attack. In Doomscrolling , Santi MacLean layers multimedia documents and data moshes on top of a vulnerable outcry. With bulging eyes and spaghetti...

We may be in Month 2 of 2026, but Santi MacLean, Joe Zappulla, and I are still feeling the new year's energy in TAF's first ever two-part episode!  Relive the feelings of optimism that January 2nd gifted as your resolutions start to lose meaning, like the thumbs-up react on that text message you sent. A young man talks himself through a panic attack. In Doomscrolling , Santi MacLean layers multime...

Me and the homies have been geeking over the animated feature Boys Go to Jupiter for months and months so it was a thrill to get to talk with Julian Glander about it, but mostly we tried to drum up some animation-world drama. A teenager in suburban Florida desperately hustles to make $5,000 in this dreamy and surreal animated coming-of-age story. Stream Boys Go to Jupiter on Amazon Prime ! Watch o...

Episode 22 is a lucky one with director Natalia Poteryakhin , sharing anecdotes of endurance, logging off, and blind faith, all bolstering her animation career. Further blessing this episode is the appearance of non-human guest Zoe Lombardi-Bello. Watch on video on Youtube or Spotify ! Sunny Side Down is a sci-fi parody series where existential dread is served hot with a side of 90’s nostalgia.  J...

Conducted my interview with Arco creators Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry ~on twos~ to learn about their penchant for sandwiches as well as gain more insight into the driving forces of their beautiful film. Experience the podcast with video for a change! I prefer you watch on YouTube B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBrnoduxTs A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a d...

The Animator's Friend podcast has been turning into The Animator's Italian-American Friend for some time now, and 3D artist/designer Andres Salazar has made matters worse by getting your host's spaghetti in a knot with some hot takes on Italian cuisine. Andres is a Colombian-American designer and 3D artist based in Astoria, New York. His work explores the magic in the mundane, blending photorealis...

I enjoyed chatting with fellow Beatles freak Tess Martin about our other shared fixation: The Netherlands. What business does their coffee have being so good? How easy is it to be a working artist there? Is the countryside really like those old Dutch paintings? Find out within. Tess Martin is a film and visual artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She brings her perspective as someone who wa...

I learned all about Danielle Goldwert 's numorous hobbies and have a feeling I barely scratched the surface! Stop-motion animation is just one of her many interests, which she executes perfectly in her film waterlogged . Hear about how Danielle's creative interests and doctorate research converge. In waterlogged, a climate scholar confronts the haunting reality of his research as surreal environme...

Between moments of being outsmarted by a mosquito, hear Simeon Kondev expose the metal-head within. Simeon is a Bulgarian-American animator whose latest cartoon Society Animals deserves your follow on Instagram , TikTok , and YouTube . Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO Links to points of discussion: The Animator's Fri...