Kickstart This: The 18th Annual Animated Show Of Shows

Every year since 1999 animation producer Ron Diamond has curated the annual 'Animation Show Of Shows', an event designed to showcase the best animated shorts. Each event features a selection of hand-picked animated shorts screened as a single feature-length 'movie'- alongside profiles of the talented animators featured. While the previous years were shown to animation and industry professionals and students at the top animation students, games and technology companies and schools or universities, in 2015 Diamond decided to introduce the event to the public.  Last year's campaign was a big success, allowing the show to be screened in 47 cities in 4 different countries. This year, it hopes to be even bigger.





Any long-term reader of this site will probably know that this idea is right up our street. The animated short is a wonderfully versatile but underappreciated medium, and any opportunity to see it brought to a wider audience is alright by us.

The hope is to get this year's show into even more cinemas than the previous event. The project seeks $120,000  and will close on July 2nd. $5 will get you access to a selection of animated shorts from the 2016 CalArts program, and $20 will also give you a rare chance to see Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton's student film. For $50 you can see the whole of last year's show online.

The funds will be used to produce, promote and distribute the show to cinemas around the world, and help raise the profile of animated short film in the process.

The campaign was launched with an event at Ron Diamond's ACME Filmworks in Los Angeles, which featured original artwork from original ACME productions and works spanning from the 1930's -70's from Diamond's artistic mentor Max Vaucher. The exhibition will remain open throughout the summer at ACME's offices, by appointment only.

Head over to the campaign page for more information or to pledge your support.