Friday 7 PM – CARTOONS FROM HELL
Fantaisie in Bubblewrap - Arthur Metcalf
Lupo the Butcher" - Danny Antonucci
Puppet" - Patrick Smith
Santa: The Fascist Years" - Bill Plympton
The Box Man" - Nirvan Mullick
Son of Satan" - JJ Villard
Seventeen" - Hisko Hulsing
Bar Fight" - Christy Karacas
Ah L'Amour" - Don Hertzfeldt
Saturday
Noon: Program One - Animation
1 PM: Program Two – Avant-Garde
2 PM: Program Three - Comedy
3 PM: Program Four - Documentary
4 PM: Program Five - Narrative
5 PM: Program One - Animation
6 PM: Program Two – Avant-Garde
Sunday
Noon: Program Three - Comedy
1 PM: Program Four - Documentary
2 PM: Program Five - Narrative
3 PM: Program One - Animation
4 PM: Program Two – Avant-Garde
5 PM: Program Three - Comedy
6 PM: Program Four - Documentary
CARTOONS FROM HELL (90 minutes)
Fantaisie in Bubblewrap - Arthur Metcalf
A whimsical jaunt through the world of bubblewrap..
Lupo the Butcher - Danny Antonucci
The story of a psychotic butcher, who swears at his meat and has a huge temper when the smallest things
go wrong. He eventually gets angry to the point that he cuts off his own thumb, his body falls apart, and
a fountain of blood is unleashed.
Puppet - Patrick Smith
A sadistic sock puppet turns against it's creator. Through an escalating series of torture, the possessed
sock puppet takes embodiment of fear, chaos, and willful self-destruction.
Santa: The Fascist Years - Bill Plympton
An dark and outrageous look at Santa Claus' hidden past, featuring a voiceover by actor Matthew
Modine.
The Box Man - Nirvan Mullick
Suspicion, theft and murder in this dark tale of envy. Stop-motion short film about a man's encounter
with a cardboard box. inspired by a Kobo Abe novel.
Son of Satan - JJ Villard
Bukowski would be proud of this twisted illustration of his poetry. A raw, urgent punk scream against
the pain of abuse, bullying and the cyclical nature of violence and stands firmly against those who
believe that animation must be clean, precise, polished and oh so f-ing sweet.
Seventeen - Hisko Hulsing
A shy seventeen-year-old construction worker tries to hold his own in the macho world of roofers. A
dark tale about growing up, losing innocence, and settling into a sick cycle of hell.
Bar Fight - Christy Karacas
A simple bar fight erupts into an all out war of the worlds. It's every man for himself!... and a few other
creatures.
Ah L'Amour - Don Hertzfeldt
A stick figure protagonist experiences not only the joys of newfound love but the woes of losing it -along with his head, his arms and legs, and yes, his skin, too.
PROGRAM ONE - ANIMATION (24 minutes)
Trepan Hole – Andy Cahill, 6 minutes
Squiggling, spastic, rail-thin creatures with clay souls and throbbing heads bounce off each other for six
minutes.
Enough To Drive You Mad - Karen Yasinsky, 3 minutes
A short work inspired by Robert Bresson's 1966 film Au Hasard Balthazar. Enough to Drive You Mad
begins with line drawings of a familiar cartoon character interacting with Balthazar, the abused but
soulful donkey, before erupting into abstract composition.
Death of a Matriarch - Takuro Masuda, 3 minutes
Based on an episode of "Kana'ti and Selu," a Native American folktale, this animated story explains how
the Cherokee Nation believes farming was brought to Mankind.
The Realm of Possibility - Gerald Guthrie, 7 minutes
A digital animation based at the intersection of absurdity and logic. Deductive reasoning, as found in the
syllogistic form (A is B, B is C, therefore A is C), becomes a vehicle to validate concepts that might not
necessarily be true. The structure of the narrative is meant to parallel the premise of a syllogism. Many
men use libraries; many libraries reference aviation; therefore, many men are pilots. In the end,
navigation to another planet becomes a curious byproduct of flawed logic.
Fruitless Efforts - Fruit of the Womb - Andrew Chesworth & Aaron Quist, 5 minutes
Apple is trying to lead a normal life, but is being held back by his friends.
PROGRAM TWO - AVANT-GARDE (27 minutes)
Xologola - Michael Robinson, 1 minute
Abstract animation created using scans and pictures of branches, broken and scratched glass, and
digitally painted textures.
Dahlia – Michael Langan, 3 minutes
A moving portrait of the bustle and permanence of a city, Dahlia juxtaposes the stable forms and
patterns of life with the frenetic behavior of humanity, set to a driving score of vocal percussion.
He Hates To Be Second – Kelly Sears, 3 minutes
Excavated fragments from a 1963 article about Robert Kennedy and images and advertisements from
similar 1963 publications are used to create this piece which focuses on revealing, rather than
suppressing, illuminating moments from our past. Layers of tigers, vintage wallpaper, coiffed ladies, and
alpha males are collaged as a visual portrait of the time. The majority of the article is blacked out to
highlight key phrases that speak to aggressive gestures that marked this era as a result of building
tensions of the Cold War. The text functions as an antithesis to the practice of blacked out government
documents that hide sensitive information.
Sea of Breath - Cloud of Ground - Michael Robinson, 5 minutes
Four animated vignettes/movements combine to relate an abstract narrative.
Life With Ghosts – Allen Moore, 3 minutes
A visual and auditory exploration of layers of light and sound, using double 8mm and 16mm film
processes transferred to video.
Evolution of an Idea - Grey Adkins, 5 minutes
Panoramic views taken with multiple video cameras show average views in a whole new way. First
prize winner in City Paper's Shoot – Score - Baltimore short-film contest.
Doxology - Michael Langan, 7 minutes
This humorously allegorical animation explores the relationship between the terrestrial and the celestial
via singing tennis balls.
PROGRAM THREE - COMEDY (28 minutes)
Bustout - Kenneth Price, 3 minutes
If there's one thing the Superkiiids! love more than the Back To The Future trilogy, it's high-fives! And
if there's one thing they love more than high-fives, it's BUSTIN' OUT OF STUFF!!!!!!!!!! But don't take
our word for it...
Goldthwait Home Movies - Bobcat Goldthwait, 7 minutes
The cast of the classic short Goldthwait Home Movies reunites to record the audio commentary for the
40th anniversary DVD.
The Douser - Stephen W. Brandt, 8 minutes
When Kelly grows weary of dating jerks, a wine-making gay couple helps her transform into a
superhero that helps jerks find their more sensitive sides.
Politics of Preschool - Heidi Van Lier, 6 minutes
A preschool girl attempts to gain social status and happiness through a materialistic strategy, only to find
she’s been trumped. She sets out to destroy the competition by any means necessary.
Santa: The Fascist Years – Bill Plympton, 4 minutes
In this animated newsreel, we learn that jolly ol’ St. Nick has a dark, hidden past rooted in greed and
politics. A new short from Academy Award© nominee Bill Plympton, featuring narration by Matthew
Modine.
PROGRAM FOUR - DOCUMENTARY (26 minutes)
Wrecking Ball – Karl Merton Ferron, 5 minutes
During the summer of 2008, workers used a 4-ton wrecking ball to knock down an 80-year-old coldstorage warehouse on Baltimore’s east side. Throughout the 8-week period of the demolition, Karl
Merton Ferron trained a camera on the work site from a window in the Baltimore Sun’s newsroom. The
camera shot one frame every 10 seconds. Ferron also made several trips to the work site throughout the
summer to record scenes of workers, equipment, debris, and the reactions of onlookers.
Out Of Print – Danny Plotnick, 4 minutes
A sweet little ode to the counterculture of the 80s and 90s, a pre-internet time when unearthing quality
non-mainstream culture was a real treasure hunt.
Grand Teton – Julia Kim Smith, 5 minutes
A video portrait of a first-generation Korean-American family in transition. Director Julia Kim Smith
films her family assembling once again for a group photo in the same spot where they had stood 35
years earlier in Grand Teton National Park. Through juxtaposition of photography and video, Smith
documents the process of assimilation, and challenges the racial and cultural boundaries of what it
means to be “American.”
Dick-George, Tenn-Tom – Gideon C. Kennedy & Marcus Rosentrater, 12 minutes
In 1971, President Richard M. Nixon visited Mobile, AL for 104 minutes, during which time he shook
100 feet of hands, lost a cufflink, and shared a stage with his biggest political rival, Governor George
Wallace. Dick-George, Tenn-Tom is a sardonic look at their rivalry, the creation of the TennesseeTombigbee Waterway, and the attempt on Wallace's life less than a year later.
PROGRAM FIVE - NARRATIVE (27 minutes)
Far Out – Phil Mucci, 5 minutes
In 1972, a flamboyant producer's Hollywood party takes a strange turn when an uninvited guest comes
for more than sex and drugs. Imagine Beyond the Valley of the Dolls made as a Hammer horror film.
Consider your mind blown!
A Catalog of Anticipations - David Lowery, 5 minutes
A foreboding fairy tale about a little girl and her collection of dead things. Insects, flowers, animal bones
- she has a strange affinity for all things deceased. Her perspective on mortality is shaken, however,
when she makes a truly unsettling discovery in her backyard.
Address to Silas on the Occasion of the Retreat at Los Angeles County - David Harris, 7 minutes
The emotional landscape of a recently broken-up couple plays out as a civil-war battle that destroys both
of their apartments.
The Song of the Mermaid – Troy Morgan, 13 minutes
Roselyn and William live a tranquil life in their cliffside aquarium, playing music and collecting exotic
sealife. When Roselyn begins to have mysterious dreams about living underwater, their lives take a
strange and unexpected turn. One night, Roselyn disappears, leaving nothing but a note explaining that
she has returned to the sea. Believing that he can still find her, William embarks upon an epic search for
Roselyn. He fishes everything he can out of the ocean, until he finally encounters an unearthly creature
that will change his life forever. Utilizing a variety of classic cinematic techniques such as miniature
sets, puppetry and animation, The Song of the Mermaid takes the viewer through an enchanting filmic
experience with dreamlike images and a haunting musical score.