Fredrikstad Animation Festival

If you’re in Norway this week, I hope to see you at the Fredrikstad Animation Festival, which takes place this Wednesday through Sunday. Among the events at the festival is a day-long seminar on Friday, October 24, entitled “American Masters of Animation: American Animation from Disney to PES.”

At the seminar, Andreas Deja will be talking about Disney’s Nine Old Men and PES will offer a masterclass on his approach to directing stop-motion animation. They’ve also wrangled me into being part of the program, and while I don’t exactly qualify as a master in anything (unless you ask my mom, in which case I’m a master in everything), I’ll be doing a lecture about the works of Fifties design masters like Bobe Cannon, Ward Kimball, Tom Oreb, Ed Benedict and John Hubley. Even more exciting, I’ll be interviewing Gene Deitch, an honest-to-goodness animation legend, live on-stage.

I’m going to pick Gene’s brain about everything he’s done, from creating the classic TV series Tom Terrific…

…to making mind-bendingly trippy political allegories like The Giants…

…and who knows, maybe we’ll even talk about these:

In other words, this Friday will be damn awesome if you’re in Norway! There are also plenty of other fine screenings and presentations planned throughout the week. See you in Fredrikstad!

(PS – If Brew readers have any suggestions for things to see in Oslo and Fredrikstad, please drop a line in the comments.)