Animation Podcasts | Skwigly

Presenting episode 115 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast!

In this episode we welcome Chris Sanders, director of the Dreamworks feature 'The Wild Robot' out in UK cinemas now and adapted from Peter Brown’s #1 New York Times bestseller.

The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

Also discussed in this episode: Remembering Emma Calder, upcoming Manchester Animation Festival highlights, Cardiff Animation Festival's special presentation of Robert Morgan's 'Stopmotion', the return of Feathers McGraw in Wallace and Gromit's upcoming feature 'Vengeance Most Fowl', kvetching about 'Carol and the End of the World' and 'The New Norm', the furore around 'Velma', Mackinnon and Saunders' brilliant work on 'Beetlejuice Beetlejuice', and the completion of the second Skwigly book 'Intimate Animation' (due March 2025)

Presenting episode 114 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast!

In this episode we celebrate the incredible talents and output of the Academy Award-nominated, BAFTA/Emmy-winning Cartoon Saloon, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.

Founded in 1999 by Paul Young, Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, the Kilkenny-based studio has produced such celebrated work as the feature films The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, The Breadwinner, My Father's Dragon and Wolfwalkers, shorts including Late Afternoon, From Darkness, Somewhere Down The Line and Old Fangs as well as the beloved TV series Puffin Rock.

This podcast retrospective digs into the Skwigly archives to revisit interviews with directors Tomm Moore (The Secret of Kells, Song of the Sea, Wolfwalkers, The Prophet), Nora Twomey (The Breadwinner, My Father's Dragon), Ross Stewart (Wolfwalkers, The Prophet), Louise Bagnall and Nuria Gonzalez Blanco (Late Afternoon).

Also included in this episode is an all-new interview with studio co-founder Paul Young, who made his directorial debut last year with Screecher's Reach, an acclaimed entry in the Star Wars Visions: Volume 2 series that picked up an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Directing in an Animated Television/Broadcast Production as well as a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Animation.

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson

Interviews conducted by Ben Mitchell, Steve Henderson and Julia Young

Edited, produced and music by Ben Mitchell

Stop Motion: A Skwigly Podcast Special featuring Osbert Parker, Joseph Wallace, Robert Morgan & Suzie Templeton, celebrating the BFI Stop Motion Season 2024.

Joining Ben & Steve is guest host Justin Johnson, Lead Programmer for the BFI Southbank and one of the brains behind the incredible season showcasing the art of stop motion animation. Stop Motion: Celebrating Handmade Animation on the Big Screen takes place at BFI Southbank until 8 October 2024, with the free exhibition LAIKA: Frame x Frame open now until 1 October 2024.

This special also features a bumper Stop Motion roundtable featuring some of the UK's finest stop motion talents Osbert Parker, Joseph Wallace, Robert Morgan & Suzie Templeton who go into detail about their inspirations, love for the medium and heroes as well as speaking about their own work too.

This podcast special has been made possible with thanks to Justin Johnson, Richard Pickard and the team at the BFI.

Presented by Ben Mitchell & Steve Henderson

Guest host Justin Johnson

Edited and produced by Steve Henderson

Music by Ben Mitchell

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Steve Henderson in conversation with Inside Out 2 Director Kelsey Man and Producer Mark Neilsen.

The Pixar sequel once more voyages into the mind of Riley and sees the return of joy, sadness, fear, disgust and anger as their girl enters puberty and headquarters sees the introduction of newcomers Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment and Ennui who take control of Riley launching the original emotions on an epic quest to regain Riley as she heads to hockey camp and needs the team more than ever.

As the sequel dominates the box office Skwigly sat down with the duo to discuss arts styles, Easter Eggs, the future for Lance Slashblade and their loving tribute to veteran Pixar artist Ralph Eggleston.

Produced, edited and presented by Steve Henderson

Skwigly.com presents Animation One-To-Ones featuring Ben Mitchell in conversation with Torill Kove, director of the National Film Board of Canada/Mikrofilm short film 'Maybe Elephants'.

Hailing from Norway and presently based in Canada, Torill has created such films as the Oscar-winning 'The Danish Poet' and the Oscar nominated 'My Grandmother Ironed the King’s Shirts' and 'Me and My Moulton'. Her latest film 'Maybe Elephants' is rooted in family, memory and the fallible nature of both, telling the story of three sisters whose lives are uprooted when their parents relocate them from Norway to Nairobi.

The film will screen at this year's Annecy International Animation Film Festival in the Short Films in Competition - Official 2 programme.

Interview conducted by Ben Mitchell

Produced, edited and presented by Ben Mitchell

Presenting episode 113 of the Skwigly Animation Podcast!

In this episode we welcome back director Robert Morgan, whose live-action/animation hybrid horror feature film 'Stopmotion' is released on Shudder this month.

Starring Aisling Franciosi as haunted stop-motion animator Ella Blake alongside Stella Gonet and Tom York, Stopmotion is written by Robert Morgan with Robin King and recently enjoyed a festival run where it picked up the award for Best Director at Fantastic Fest and the Special Jury Award at Sitges.

Filmed in live-action combined with Robert Morgan’s signature brand of nightmarish puppet design and uncanny stop-motion animation, the film expands on a multi-award-winning legacy of (mostly) animated horror shorts that include The Man in the Lower Left Hand Corner of the Photograph, The Cat With Hands, The Separation, Invocation and Bobby Yeah, the latter picking up a BAFTA nomination for Animated Short in 2012. Morgan’s body of work also includes contributions to YouTube phenomenon Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared and the feature films The ABCs of Death 2 and To Dust, as well as the tribute films Belial’s Dream and Tomorrow I Will Be Dirt, created for Arrow’s BD releases of cult horror classics Basket Case and Schramm respectively.

Also discussed: Festival reports from Anima Brussels, Animation Dingle and Cardiff Animation Festival, an overview of some of the exciting projects coming out of the Irish animation sector, 25 years of Cartoon Saloon, the BFI's upcoming 'Stop-Motion' season curated by Justin Johnson, 'Ren & Stimpy' reboot leaks and the bizarre fate of 'Coyote Vs. Acme'.

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Steve Henderson

Interview conducted by Ben Mitchell

Edited, produced and music by Ben Mitchell

Skwigly are proud to present the third of a three-part series of exclusive podcast minisodes from the 2024 edition of the Cardiff Animation Festival.

In episode 2 we hear from attending filmmakers in conversation with Skwigly Editor in Chief Ben Mitchell and Features Writer Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley as part of the festival's Filmmaker Brunch sessions.

Featured in this episode:

Josh Hicks - 'Spectre of the Bear'

Tova Persson - 'Offerlamm'

Hoching Kwok - 'When Cicadas Sing'

Gus Andrews - 'Whale Fall'

Qianhui Yu - 'In My Garden'

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley

Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell

Thanks to Ellys Donovan and the CAF team

Skwigly are proud to present the second of a three-part series of exclusive podcast minisodes from the 2024 edition of the Cardiff Animation Festival.

In episode 2 we hear from attending filmmakers in conversation with Skwigly Editor in Chief Ben Mitchell and Features Writer Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley as part of the festival's Filmmaker Brunch sessions.

Featured in this episode:

Tanya J Scott - 'The Wolf of Custer'

Gerald Conn - 'Inner Polar Bear'

Hannah Fisher - 'Disparate Threads'

Naomi Crame - 'Rainbow Junktion'

Lleucu Non - 'Painkiller'

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley

Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell

Thanks to Ellys Donovan and the CAF team

Skwigly are proud to present the first of a three-part series of exclusive podcast minisodes from the 2024 edition of the Cardiff Animation Festival.

In episode 1 we hear from attending filmmakers in conversation with Skwigly Editor in Chief Ben Mitchell and Features Writer Dr. Laura-Beth Cowley as part of the festival's Filmmaker Brunch sessions.

Featured in this episode:

Samantha Moore - 'Visible Mending'

Greg McLeod - 'Mee and Burd'

Robert Brown - 'Clowning Around'

Katie King - 'Made For Duties Overseas'

Faye Craig - 'Sour Days'

Presented by Ben Mitchell and Laura-Beth Cowley

Produced and edited by Ben Mitchell

Thanks to Ellys Donovan and the CAF team

In our latest Skwigly Animation Podcast special we round up the winners of the 2024 edition of the biennial British Animation Awards that took place at London’s BFI Southbank in March.

This episode features an exclusive round table chat with some of the winners of the awards:

• JuanPe Arroyo of The Line, winner of Best Animation in a Commercial for Great British Bake Off’s promotional trailer 2023

• Emma Calder winner of the Cutting Edge Award, for Beware of Trains

• Camilla Deakin of Lupus Films winner of Best Feature, Writers Award and Best Original Music for Kensuke's Kingdom (dirs Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry) and Best Long Form for Mog’s Christmas (dir. Robin Shaw)

• Iain Gardner winner of Best Long Form for A Bear Called Wojtek

• Tanya J.Scott winner of Best Postgraduate Student Film for her NFTS short The Wolf of Custer

Presented by Laura-Beth Cowley, Steve Henderson and Ben Mitchell

Produced and edited by Steve Henderson

Music by Ben Mitchell