Animation artist Carol "Cotty" Kilbanks, of Easton, will appear Saturday during the Open World Animation Festival in Allentown. (Courtesy Photo)
The inaugural Open World Animation Festival opens tonight and runs through Sunday, March 27, in Allentown.
Hosted and presented by The Alternative Gallery, the three-day event will feature a broad and diverse range of animation styles. Stop-motion, 3-D, digital and computer animation, film cells, experimental, glitch, GIF, mixed live-action and animation, music videos and video game cut scenes will be shown. More than 100 animators and filmmakers from around the world will be represented, according to the festival's Facebook page.
Films screened during the festival will be compete for the Audience Award.
Additionally, an exhibition of the pieces which go into animation filmmaking will be displayed during the event -- from background art to film cells, character model sheets and sketches, among other items.
On Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., there will be a Saturday morning cartoon programming block in which, you guessed it, old-school Saturday morning cartoons will be shown. As an added bonus, breakfast cereal will be served while the cartoons are being screened.
Saturday's lineup will also feature an artist talk and question-and-answer sessions with animation artists Richard Lasio and Easton's Carol "Cotty" Kilbanks. Kilbanks' credits include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, South Park, Rocko's Modern Life, Iron Man and Fantastic Four. (The latter two were packaged together in syndication as The Marvel Action Hour.)
All of the screenings will take place in the main gallery of the Cigar Factory, 707 N. Fourth St. (The Alternative Gallery is located in the same building as the Cigar Factory.) Screenings will be broken down into programming blocks. Admission costs $5 per block. Day passes cost $7 per day. All-Access Passes are also available for $20 (limited to 25 total).
Here is the complete schedule:
TONIGHT
- 7:30-9:30 p.m.: "Animation Grab Bag" No. 1
- 10 p.m.-midnight: "Animation Grab Bag" No. 2
SATURDAY
- 11 a.m.-2 p.m.: Saturday morning cartoon block
- 2:30-4:30 p.m.: "Animation Grab Bag" No. 1
- 5-7 p.m.: "Richard Lasio, Cotty Kilbanks & Friends" screening, artist talk and audience Q&A
- 7:30-11 p.m.: "Animation Grab Bag" No. 3 and Late-Night Special
SUNDAY
- 3-5 p.m.: "Lazy Toons Sunday Mixed Block"
- 5:30-7:30 p.m.: "Animation Grab Bag" No. 2
- 8-10 p.m.: "Horror/Sci-Fi/Bizarro"