The School of Visual Arts’ annual Dusty Film and Animation Festival turns 20 this year, and in honor of the occasion is getting a makeover that puts a new emphasis on animation.
The event has grown from a showcase for students’ thesis films to a full-blown festival that this year will run for five days of screening from May 4-10. In addition to setting aside one day for animation projects, the festival has added a special animation panel and a couple of new awards.
‘We’re trying to highlight and bring in more of the animation this year,’ says Annie Flocco, an instructor at the school and a producer of the Dusty Awards.
This year, there are 44 animation thesis students who are eligible to enter their films. The program emphasizes traditional and stop-motion animation, and most of the films will be short.
‘There has always been an award for traditional animation, typically we give out a stop-motion award and we also will do an experimental award,’ says Flocco. ‘But this year, we’re also adding best design for animation students. We also do a Human Spirit Award each year and typically it’s just been the one award, but this year we’re breaking it out to do a Human Spirit Award for both film and animation.’
Flocco says the Best Design Award reflects the awareness on the college’s side of the work that goes into an animated film.
The Human Spirit Award considers the circumstance of the artist as well as the finished product. Given the vast difference between the circumstances of making live action films vs. the college’s emphasis on traditional animation, the change was worth making, says Dusty’s producer Heidi Hamelin.
‘Something that I’ve learned with our animator kids is that, day to day, unlike the film department, it’s not very collaborative,’ Hamelin says. ‘They rely upon themselves, so there are some really amazing human interest stories that fall into that category that I’m happy we can start taking a look at and awarding in that capacity.’
The growth of the festival also has lead to changes in its structure, with the awards show moved from Monday to Saturday night, a ‘winners circle’ presentation on Sunday during which the nominated and winning films are shown, and the new SVA Theater on West 23rd Street becoming the prime venue. Flocco says the theater, which was renovated from a commercial cinema, is top-notch on the technical side and has been used for other New York festivals, including Gen Art and the upcoming Tribeca festival.
An animation panel also has been added, featuring the likes of SVA alumnus Bill Plympton, and will be held on May 5.
Animator and SVA alumnus Tom Sito, who will present the award for Best Animation at the Dusty Awards, says he’s glad to see animation being recognized on an equal footing with other forms of filmmaking.
‘It’s nice for the students to get the recognition and get that sort of impetus or inspiration for their careers,’ says Sito, whose credits include directing Osmosis Jones and animation work on Beauty & the Beast, Aladdin, Antz and Shrek.
That means the Dustys will present four animation awards this year ‘ a fifth, Best Stop Motion Animated Film, is not being presented as there is only one student working in this area this year.
For more information on the SVA Dusty Film & Animation Festival and Awards, visit http://www.sva.edu/dusty.
