AnimationWorld Magazine — March 19, 2018
GLAS Animation Festival Brings the Spirit of Independent Animation to the West Coast
The GLAS Animation Festival kicks off its 2018 edition in Berkeley, CA on Thursday with a robust programming slate that includes four competition categories of outstanding independent short films from all around the world. Outside of the competition lineup, other festival highlights are a conversation with David OReilly, the creative mind behind last year’s mind-boggling Everything, along with special guests Phil Lord and Chris Miller, retrospective screenings of work from Ruth Lingford, Réka Bucsi and Boris Labbé, and a closer look at director Jorge Gutierrez’s VR short for Google Spotlight Stories, Son of Jaguar. GLAS 2018 will also include screenings of Japanese director Masaaki Yuasa’s two animated features from 2017, Lu Over the Wall and Night is Short, Walk on Girl, and will host what’s billed as an “incomplete introduction” to the Zagreb school of animated films.
New this year is the FXX Elevation Award, sponsored by FX Networks. This new award recognizes excellence in animated filmmaking and will honor a film in competition that embodies distinctive characters, bold storytelling and a singular point of view. The winning director will receive a $25,000 grant to develop an original animated project with FXX.
Leading up to the festival, which runs March 22-25, AWN had a chance to sit down with GLAS Animation Festival director Jeanette Bonds to discuss the evolution of the event, this year’s highlights, and –gasp! — her personal short film picks for the just-concluded Academy Awards.