Aiming to become “the most ambitious animation film festival in the world,” Nouns Fest will present its live event on October 10, screening 50 all-new animated shorts from creators across the globe at the United Theater on Broadway in Downtown L.A. Tickets go on sale today at nounsfest.tv.
The big-screen bash announcement launches the next phase of a worldwide toon talent search that began in January, when digital arts collective Nouns announced a $1 million grant pool to fund short animated films ranging from 30 seconds to five minutes in length. Nouns Fest received more than 400 pitches from animators of all styles, experience levels and locales, and funded 50 production grants ranging from $7,500 to $20,000. Crucially, creators retain all underlying rights to shorts produced for Nouns Fest.
Nouns Fest in October will feature 38 “Short Shorts” of up to 30 seconds and 12 “Tall Shorts” of up to five minutes. Among the selected projects are familiar names representing both industry pros and rising stars, including 2023 Oscar nominee Lachlan Pendragon, Mike Dietz and Neeraja Raj. The live event will also premiere three brand-new animated shorts produced by Emmy, Annie and Clio Award-winning Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, which helped conceive Nouns Fest and secure the involvement of Nouns.
See the full list of Nouns Fest finalists at nounsfest.tv/festival.
Coming off the success of the first Nouns Fest event in 2023, organizers note that this year’s showcase is more than 10 times bigger in size and scope than last year’s event, highlights of which can be seen in a newly released recap video (watch below).
“We’ve been blown away by the astounding creativity and breadth of ideas that were submitted,” says Nouns Fest co-founder and
Playground Productions executive Chris Waters. “The overwhelming response confirms our believe that we’re filling a huge void in the market by funding short-form animation. We can’t wait to share the work from this amazing group of animators.”
Nouns Fest co-founder Eric Towner, also a co-founder of Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, adds, “From the start, our goal has been to empower animators to show us what they would do if they had absolutely full creative control and no restraints. As the animation industry undergoes huge changes, we want to focus on the most important part of animation: pure creativity.”
Nouns Fest is also co-founded by Walter Newman, former head of development for Adult Swim; Nouns veteran Joel Cares; music executive Joshua Fisher; and award-winning animator and director Goldy.
The single largest source of funding for independent animated shorts, Nouns Fest commissions films with grant money provided by Nouns. Founded in 2021, Nouns is a global, community-run organization that uses the proceeds from the sale of digital collectibles to fund open-source technology, art and public-works projects. For more information and an explanation of Nouns and the Nouns DAO, visit www.nounish.com.
