How to use this Page

A tough night in a tough city.

A short film about a little girl's hand in Earth's creation.

The 45th annual ASIFA-East Animation Festival Awards took place last Sunday in Manhattan. The long-running ceremony, which celebrates achievements in East Coast animation, is making an effort to gradually transform its annual ceremony into a more upscale affair.

Filmmaker and animator Arthur Metcalf (Fantaisie in Bubblewrap, It Took A While To Figure Shit Out) has taken a moment between short films to create Stress Baal, a new game app that is now available for iPhone and Android phones. The game, which features a high-strung imp ready to be tortured for the amusement of the player, is like an interactive Duck Amuck, in which the user chooses how often to inflict agony on their character. “You beat him up with your fingertip,” Metcalf told Cartoon Brew. “There’s no score, no goals. It’s meant to just be entertaining rather than addictive.”

His approach to creating the game is not unlike that of one of his films, and the small moments of personality are just as important as the big action scenes. “As a kid, I spent a lot of time just playing with Sonic on my Genesis,” said Metcalf. “Not playing the game, just playing with Sonic’s animation. If you left him alone for a few seconds, he’d cross his arms, kick the ground and so forth. It was this one simple animation, but it added a lot to the game – it made it feel like Sonic was more than just a sprite box sliding around.”

Rather than moving towards digital puppetry with simulated physics, Metcalf challenged himself by sticking to his traditional animation background while simultaneously pushing the number of reactions he could get out of the character. “Part of my decision to make Stress Baal was to try to figure out if this kind of animation would work at all in a game. I was told by a lot of tech guys that it would probably be impossible due to technical limitations, that there was a reason characters had to only have one animation for each action. I’m glad to find out it wasn’t so.”

As a result, the action in Stress Baal is a combination of repetition and surprises that makes the game charming, fun and comically sadistic. “It’s meant to be sort of an easter egg hunt. You will see animation repeated, but I can tell you from having done the game testing myself, that it can take an entire day of nonstop play to actually see it all.”

Stress Baal is available for 99 cents in the iTunes app store and Google Play.

Last night in New York City, the ASIFA-East Animation Festival Awards were presented for the forty-fourth year in a row. The Best in Show prize was awarded to the NYU student short Based on a True Story directed by Jacob Kafka. In the Independent Film category, first place went to Celia Bullwinkel’s Sidewalk. Other prizes in the indie category were handed out to films by Mark Kausler, Arthur Metcalf, Bill Plympton, Richard O’Connor and David Chai.

New York veteran Candy Kugel took home first place in Commissioned Films for her TEDEd short Sex Determination, while first place in Student Films went to Michelle Ikemoto’s Tule Lake, produced at San Jose State University.

The complete list of winners is below:

BEST IN SHOW
Based on a True Story
Directed by Jacob Kafka

INDEPENDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Sidewalk
Directed by Celia Bullwinkel

INDEPENDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
There Must Be Some Other Cat
Directed by Mark Kausler

INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf

INDEPENDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Drunker Than A Skunk
Directed by Bill Plympton

EXCELLENCE IN ANIMATION
It Took A While To Figure Shit Out
Directed by Arthur Metcalf

EXCELLENCE IN DESIGN
Christmas Day
Directed by Richard O’Connor, designed by Kelsey Stark

EXCELLENCE IN WRITING
A Knock On My Door
Directed by David Chai

EXPERIMENTAL FILMS
The Productive AniJam
Produced by Katie Cropper & Cynthea Diaz

COMMISSIONED FILMS: FIRST PLACE
TEDed: Sex Determination
Directed by Candy Kugel

COMMISSIONED FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Quiet Loud (Sesame Street)
Directed by Bob Boyle

COMMISSIONED FILMS: THIRD PLACE
Sniffles
Directed by David Cowles & Jeremy Galante

STUDENT FILMS: FIRST PLACE
Tule Lake
Directed by Michelle Ikemoto

STUDENT FILMS: SECOND PLACE
Chasing Unicorns
Directed by Deena Beck

STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
The Crawler
Directed by Seth Brady

STUDENT FILMS: THIRD PLACE (TIED)
Good Night Guard
Directed by Janice S. Rim

STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Mirror
Directed by Q-Hyun Kim

STUDENT FILMS: HONORABLE MENTION (TIED)
Register Rap!
Directed by Josh Weisbrod