Coming off of its big 20th Anniversary celebration, Brooklyn’s Animation Block Party is ready to keep the fun going with the official 2023 festival! Returning to BAM Film, the festival runs August 18-20, offering the latest indie shorts, revisits to feature-length classics, retrospectives and special programming for animation lovers of all predilections.
ABP 2023 kicks of Friday night at 8 p.m. with Tokyo Godfathers (2003), directed by the late anime master Satoshi Kon. Inspired by the live-action film 3 Godfathers, the animated feature centers on three friends living on the streets of Tokyo — an alcoholic, a teen runaway and a trans woman — who set out to find the parents of a newborn abandoned on Christmas Eve.
On Saturday, ABP offers four animation programs: Shorts Program One (2 p.m.) and Program Two (6 p.m.); a retrospective on Sublo and Tangy Mustard (4 p.m.), followed by a Q&A with creator Aaron Long and animation director Mike Hollingsworth (BoJack Horseman, Tuca & Bertie); and another visit from longtime festival friend Sarah Schmidt of Chicago-based screening series Malt Adult, who will showcase some of her favorite N.Y. (and adjacent) animators at 8 p.m.
The traditional Saturday Night Party will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Union Hall, featuring a performance by live animated comedy troupe Picture This! Entry is free with RSVP.
On Sunday, visitors can enjoy a 35mm matinee of another classic animated feature, Sylvain Chomet’s The Triplets of Belleville (2003). Recognized with awards and nominations from the Oscars, BAFTA, César Awards, Annies, Genies and more, the film follows petite Madame Souza (and her dog, Bruno) on a quest to save her grandson, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia during the Tour de France. Along the way, she enlists the help of the elderly Belleville Sisters — song and dance stars of the 1930s.
Then at 4 p.m., Andrew T. Smith’s documentary Cartoon Carnival will take audiences back to animation’s pioneering early days, and chronicles a preservationist’s mission to rescue pre-sound cartoons from obscurity. The 90-minute film features animation historians Jerry Beck, Howard Beckerman and Tommy Stathes, who will host the screening.
The complete short film programs and film descriptions are available now at animationblock.com.
