For Immediate Release:

THE ANNUAL SUMMER ANIMATION SENSATION RETURNS FOR AN UNBELIEVABLE LINEUP FILLED WITH THE BEST INTERNATIONAL ANIMATION SHORTS

2009 ANIMATION BLOCK PARTY
ANNOUNCES FESTIVAL DATES AND LINEUP

Three Day Festival Begins Friday, July 24th

BROOKLYN, NY (June 25, 2009) – The East Coast’s largest animation festival, exhibiting the best independent, professional and student animation from around the world marks its sixth anniversary this summer. The festival will run Friday, July 24th – Sunday, July 26th in Brooklyn with the opening to be held at Rooftop Films and additional events held at BAMCinematek.  Founder of Animation Block, Casey Safron, has announced the lineup today for the highly anticipated 2009 Festival. Perfectland creator and 2009 Webby nominee, Ben Meinhardt, animated this year’s festival introductory bumper. This year, there are 3 Animation Block-produced shorts premiering at the festival: A follow up to the hit film Cooking 420 with Chef Barry; A sequel to the popular George Clooney-Brad Pitt spoof Lotions Twelve; and Rethink Happiness, a “green” animated short from 2008 ABP best student film winner Choom.

This year’s festival features over 80 films selected from close to 600 submissions. All genres of animation are represented- from traditional shorts to experimental pieces. Notable films at Animation Block Party 2009 include Puffer Girl, a new film from Academy Award winner Joan C. Gratz as well as new work from Academy Award nominees Bill Plympton, Geza M. Toth and Don Hertzfeldt.  2009 Student Academy Award winning film Alice’s Attic from Robyn Yannoukos of UCLA will be screened. Other standouts include SXSW winners Shaman by Luc Perez, Sweet Dreams by Kirsten Lepore, and Alex Dron’s FOT: The Next Big Thing starring Rhys Darby of HBO’s Flight of the Concords. A complete list of included work can be found on the company’s website, AnimationBlock.com.

In typical Animation Block Party fashion the producers have planned a journey that pans the globe with submissions from Germany, Hungary, Australia, Denmark, Israel, New Zealand, Bulgaria, Japan, Canada, the UK as well as the United States. There are dozens of student submissions from the best schools in NYC and from renowned colleges such as Savannah School of Art and Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Film Akademie Baden-Wuttemberg in Germany, and National Film School of Denmark, just to name a few.

Animation Block Party 2009 opens on Friday, July 24 at Rooftop Films, Brooklyn. The evening will feature live music from Teengirl Fantasy, followed by a diverse screening of world premieres, international cartoons, and fan-friendly blips. The screening will be followed by an after party at Matchless featuring free beer courtesy of Radeberger Pilsner.

The festival continues on Saturday, July 25 at BAMcinématek, Brooklyn. Program One, beginning at 2:00pm, will feature experimental animation, fresh music videos and subversive design works and encore presentation at 6:50pm. Program Two will showcase exceptional student films, professional content and narrative shorts at 4:30pm, encore at 9:15pm.  The screening will be followed by an after party at the Fourth Avenue Pub featuring free Budweiser.

Animation Block Party closes on Sunday, July 26 also being presented at BAMcinématek with two different programs.  Program Three will feature award winning independent shorts, studio animation and other standout works at 2:00pm, encore at 6:50pm.  Program Four will mix global films with New York premieres and local animations at 4:30pm, encore at 9:15pm. The closing evening after party is at Habana Outpost, featuring streaming videos, free Six Point Ale, and delicious Habana corn.

The award categories in ABP 2009 are: Minute Movie, Best In Show, Original Design, Music Video, Narrative Short, Audience Award, Student Film, Computer Animation, Experimental and Documentary Short.  Prizes include: Adobe After Effects, Toon Boom Studio, Boinx I-Stop Motion, Crumpler designer bags, complimentary subscriptions to Animation Magazine, cool DVDs and Winner for Best Student Film will receive a special production grant. This summer’s jury includes animation director, JJ Sedelmeier, Perfectland creator, Ben Meinhardt, Disney designer, Dan Haskett and NYU animation’s Elizabeth Morringello.

The official film lineup the festival and ticket  is available on the Animation Block Party website at www.animationblock.com. Fans can also purchase tickets for the individual screenings online.

About Animation Block
NYC based Animation Block is dedicated to exhibiting the world’s best independent, professional and student animation.  The company produces an annual multi-day festival, Animation Block Party, every last weekend of July in Brooklyn, New York. ABP summer festivals are full of indoor/outdoor events, juried prizes, cool sponsored stuff, good music, cold drinks and the world’s best animated shorts on-screen.  Festival judges have included a who’s who of animation, including Howard Beckerman, Emily Hubley, Jeffrey Scher, Irra Verbitsky, Peter Sluskza, Machi Tantillo, London Squared, Mike Lapinski and Crankbunny.  Animation Block also offers other sources of exhibition to further promote animation makers and their films including web selects available through its website, plus the distribution of Animation Block Party Mix-Tapes and DVD releases which showcase some of the festival’s best shorts.

Since its launch on September of 2004, more than 5000 fans and filmmakers have attended Animation Block Party festivals and have received over 3500 animation submissions worldwide.  International entries include animators from Greece, France, The Netherlands, Israel, Australia, Brazil, Canada and the United Kingdom among many others.  Further information can be found online at www.animationblock.com.

The Animation Block Party film festival has a production wing called Animation Block that creates and develops content for broadcast in affiliation with festival alumni. Recent productions from the Animation Block include: MTV’s ecological-mutant series, Perfectland from Ben Meinhardt, Sundance Channel’s diner slacker series, Breakfast from Bob Fox and a variety series now on My Damn Channel featuring original cartoons from various ABP alumni, ranging from Hubert Chan to Steve Stark to Chelsea Manifold to Ashley Holzwasser.

Contact For Further Information:
Diana@msophiapr.com or Margarita@msophiapr.com