The full film lineup for Brooklyn’s Animation Block Party festival — which will take over the borough for its 14th edition July 27-30 — is now live, and as ever there’s plenty to look forward to thanks to fest creator Casey Safron and co. Screenings will take place at Rooftop Films and BAMcinématek.
Highlights of the East Coast’s largest dedicated animation event include:
+ Strangers from Late Night Work Club NYC Premiere (July 28, 7 p.m., BAMcinématek) – The creative collective’s second anthology includes new films by Loup Blaster, Jeanette Bonds, Sean Buckelew, Alex Grigg, Kirsten Lepore, Nicolas Ménard & Caleb Wood with interstitial animation by Charles Huettner and original music by Skillbard, David Kamp, SCNTFC & more.
+ An Evening with BoJack (July 28, 9 p.m., BAMcinématek) – Select new highlights and classic clips from Netflix’s hit program, BoJack Horseman, plus Q&A with BoJack production designer and producer Lisa Hanawalt and supervising director Mike Hollingsworth.
+ Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure in 35mm (July 29, 4:30 p.m. BAMcinématek) – Relive Richard Williams’ family adventure with a restored 35mm print in time for its 40th anniversary! Screening followed by Q&A with film restorer Steve Stanchfield and animators Dan Haskett and Doug Crane, hosted by historian Jerry Beck.
+ Birdboy: The Forgotten Children NYC Premiere (July 29, 9 p.m., BAMcinématek) – Directed by Alberto Vázquez and Pedro Rivero, based on the graphic novel and short film by Vázquez. “An ecological event has devastated an island. Dinky has decided that escape is her only option. Her animal friends join her in a journey across the island to find Birdboy and make their escape.”
+ Cartoon Network Shorts (July 30, 4:30 p.m., BAMcinématek) – A taste of Cartoon Network’s prolific shorts program in a special screening of recently completed films: Legendary Place, Infinity Train, Victor & Valentino and the award-winning Welcome to My Life, plus the NYC premiere of The Fancies by ABP 2009 Audience Award winner Stephen Neary.
ABP will also feature a weekend panel discussion series at the Holiday Inn Brooklyn Downtown, featuring festival filmmaker Q&As, a software demo with Jamie Caliri from Dragonframe, a talk on East Coast animation history with Tommy Stathes and friends, and focus on NYC commercial studios with Joe Burrascano of Aardman Nathan Love, Tom Brown of Psyop and a ket animation team from Hornet.
… And of course, the can’t-miss 10th anniversary screening of Jerry Seinfeld’s most buzzworthy big screen adventure, Bee Movie, on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Full schedule and tickets are available now at www.animationblock.com/summerfest2017.
