PLASTIC PAPER: WINNIPEG'S FESTIVAL OF ANIMATED, ILLUSTRATED + PUPPET FILM is an international festival that takes place May 4-7, 2011 at the Park Theatre in Winnipeg, Canada. The festival is one component of the year-round organizational activities of the Big Smash! Film Collective. PLASTIC PAPER’s programming is a mix of premieres, retrospective screenings, short films and features with special guests, workshops, multi-media presentations, installations and exhibits, artist talks, and gatherings where the artists and the audience can interact more informally.

PLASTIC PAPER is currently accepting submissions for short and feature-length animated films made after Jan. 1, 2010.  THERE IS NO ENTRY FEE. DEADLINE: Feb 1, 2011. Download the entry form at www.plastic-paper.org 

 

About PLASTIC PAPER:

PLASTIC PAPER started in 2008 as a mini-program curated by Kier-La Janisse and Dave Barber, and hosted by the Winnipeg Cinematheque before branching out into an independent event. PLASTIC PAPER 2008 featured the Manitoba premieres of Bill Plympton's IDIOTS AND ANGELS, Nina Paley's multi-award winning SITA SINGS THE BLUES, John Bergin's apocalyptic FROM INSIDE and much more. Special guests have included BILL PLYMPTON, HEATHER HENSON and curator NAOMI HOCURA.

Many of the featured works come in a variety of animation styles with sometimes challenging subject matter; although some films are kid-friendly, PLASTIC PAPER is mainly geared towards adult animation fans as well as animators themselves. The programming is widely eclectic, but shows a preference for independently-financed films, films with an adult sensibility, and films using traditional methods of animation, such as 2-D illustration, cut-outs and stop-motion. The festival also showcases films about animators or illustrators, as well as puppetry films. The connecting thread in the programming is that all selections celebrate the labour-intensity, the obsessiveness, and the unique personalities of these very hands-on crafts.

 

 

A juried survey of new moving image arts by independent Northwest film and video makers, the Festival draws over 300 entries in all genres each year and is judged by a prominent filmmaker, curator or critic. Now in it's 36th year, the Festival provides a forum where outstanding independent work receives public recognition, critical appraisal, and an engaged and enthusiastic regional audience. Past judges have included Gus Van Sant, Matt Groening, Todd Haynes, Christine Vachon, Bill Plympton, Dan Ireland, Karen Cooper of Filmforum, B. Ruby Rich, Amy Taubin, Jim Hoberman, and John Cooper, Sundance and Outfest programmer. Generally, 30-45 shorts, features, and documentaries are screened during the Festival, then 10-15 shorts are selected for the Best of the Northwest Tour program which travels the following year throughout the Northwest to media arts centers, museums, arts councils, and universities. Total audience exceeds 6000.