The Animator’s Friend

Luca joins the podcast to offer his insight on bug fandom being the foremost expert in the field.
Luca Ogawa Depardon is an animator and illustrator from NYC. His animations are playful fusions of traditional and experimental animation techniques, daydreams, inventive editing, and funky characters. His films have been featured internationally at places such as the New Chintose Airport Animation Festival, Centré Pompidou, the Annecy International Animation Festival, The Ottawa International Film Festival, The Bucheon International Animation Festival, La Guarimba, and the Animation Block Party at BAM. Luca has also done work for such clients as VICE, The Children’s Museum of the Arts in NYC and Adult Swim. He earned his BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Watch Six Finger Satellite - Simian Fever!
Submit to NUMBER ONE ANIMATION FESTIVAL, deadline December 10th for February screening in NYC. Keep up with us on Instagram too - https://www.instagram.com/no.1animationfest/
Links to points of discussion (will update shortly!):
Luca's website
Luca's Instagram
The Animator's Animations
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
TAF interview with Nayon Cho
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
TAF interview with David De La Fuente
Vice
The Animator's Favorites
Mother's Milk
The Sandwich Hut - RI
New York Public Library Schwarzman Building
Talon - NYC
Forbidden Planet - NYC
Eyeworks Experimental Animation Series - Worldwide
Rockaway Film Festival - NYC
Ottawa Animation Festival - Canada
New York Int'l Children's Film Festival - NYC
Nayon Cho's website
Sideworld - East Coast
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
Special thanks to my mom and dad and Nayon Cho
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

Jessica Rizk's film Cracked has us clutching our t*tties for dear life! You can see her film on Thursday, August 20th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else!
Links to points of discussion (will update soon!):
Hudson Valley Film Festival's website
Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram
Kristie Kish's website
Kristie Kish on Instagram
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
Eisenstein on Disney
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello & Kristie Kish
Opening animation by Michael Dondero and Shengnan Dong
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

Sofía preserves important family history in her film Ingrato Sureño Invasor. You can see their film on Wednesday, August 19th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else!
Links to points of discussion (will update soon!):
Hudson Valley Film Festival's website
Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram
Kristie Kish's website
Kristie Kish on Instagram
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
Eisenstein on Disney
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello & Kristie Kish
Opening animation by Michael Dondero and Shengnan Dong
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

We had so much fun talking to Alex Greenblatt that we barely got to ask him about his film Four Days of Exams! You can see his film on Thursday, August 20th at the Hudson Valley Film Festival in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else!
Links to points of discussion:
Alex's website
Alex's Instagram
Hudson Valley Film Festival's website
Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram
Kristie Kish's website
Kristie Kish on Instagram
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
The Animator's Favorites
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello & Kristie KishOpening animation by Michael Dondero and Shengnan DongMusic by CloutmeyerDesign by Sawyer RipponAll opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity; additionally, We are not doctors, so consult a doctor before enacting on any of our opinions!

All week, Kristie Kish and I are speaking with Hudson Valley Film Fest (HVFF) award winners, starting with Mira Seeba!  Kristie and I present the Out of this World Award to Mira's film HEAVEN'S ESCAPE for deeply original filmmaking that literally takes us out of our earthly plane.  You can see her film on Wednesday, August 19th at the HVFF in Warwick, NY; a stone's throw from NYC! Watch on YouTube and Spotify, listen everywhere else!
Links to points of discussion:
Mira Seeba's YouTube
Mira Seeba on Instagram
Mira Seeba's website
Hudson Valley Film Festival's website
Hudson Valley Film Festival on Instagram
Kristie Kish's website
Kristie Kish on Instagram
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
Eisenstein on Disney
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello & Kristie Kish
Opening animation by Michael Dondero and Shengnan Dong
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

The Animator's Friend's Friend Josh Pilch and I revisit 101 Dalmatians, which is screening on 35mm at Metrograph now!  We're talkin Ub, Xerox, and somehow, as usual with Josh, Anthony Kiedis.
Get your ticket for the final screening of 101 Dalmatians Sunday, July 26th at 11:10am
Enjoy Josh's work on City Island U.S.A. and Beach Buggy Adventures!
Links to points of discussion (will update soon!):
Josh Pilch's Instagram
The Animator's Animations
Josh's TAF episode
Josh's Dani California parody for TAF
Bouchra (also screening at Metrograph)
Metrograph's It Started with a Mouse: Hand-Drawn Classics on 35mm - NYC
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
Special thanks: Josh Pilch and Kaila Hier
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

My many attempts to discuss the Real Housewives on this podcast finally pay off with fellow expert David De La Fuente!
David De La Fuente is an animation artist with interests in the moving image, semiotics, and graphic design. His work has explored themes of queerness, the aesthetic experience, and romanticism.  His films have shown in the Annecy International Animation Festival, Slamdance Film Festival, Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival and others. In 2019, he was the recipient of the GLAS Animation Grant. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design.  Currently, David is based in New York where he continues his process of experimental storytelling and image making.
Links to points of discussion (will update shortly!):
Metrograph's It Started with a Mouse: Hand-Drawn Classics on 35mm - NYC
Hudson Valley Film Fest - NY
Ottawa International Animation Festival - Canada
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
David's website
The Animator's Animations
GLAS Animation Festival - LA
The London Dungeon - UK
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
Alyssa Edwards' website
Latrice Royale's website
The Morgan Library & Museum - NYC
The Animator's Favorites
New York Public Library
Amy Kravitz's website
Rockaway Film Festival - NYC
Nayon Cho's website
Jack Gray's website
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
Special thanks to Motörhead the dog, Nayon Cho for suggesting/introducing me to David, my parents, and Josh Pilch
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

While Bouchra's on its world tour, I got to meet creative producers John Michael Boling and Jason Coombs who enlightened me as to why Funko Pops are a scourge on our society.  See Bouchra at Metrograph through to July 2nd or catch it in a city near you soon!
 
Wrestling with writer’s block for her first film, Bouchra, a queer Moroccan jackal living in NYC, starts having difficult yet overdue phone calls with her mother in Casablanca that begin influencing the project. Balancing the precarity of working as an artist in the United States, the rift in her identity between her two homes and an array of friendships and romantic interests, Bouchra’s emotional reckoning with her mother and herself becomes her path to expression. 
 
Links to points of discussion (will update shortly!):
Bouchra screening at Metrograph - NYC
Bouchra's website
John Michael Boling's Instagram
Jason Coombs' Instagram
2 Lizards Instagram
The Animator's Animations
The Animator's Favorites
Telfar
Fondazione Prada - Italy
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
Cynthia Chu on The Animator's Friend
Twin Peaks LogPosting on Facebook
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

Pilar and I contemplate Minnie Mouse's wikiFeet rating.
 
Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma is a Spanish-American animator, filmmaker, and multidisciplinary artist from New York City. They received a BFA in Film/Animation/Video from the Rhode Island School of Design and are currently based in Brooklyn.
 
Her practice encompasses both digital and traditional techniques, typically using an interplay of the two to give a mixed-media feel to her work. Pilar's storytelling often draws inspiration from ecological systems and their symbolic qualities, and uses folk horror, magical realism, and nature to examine the emotional and psychological self through a poetic and metaphorical lens. 
 
Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO
Links to points of discussion (will update shortly!):
Pilar's website
Pilar's Instagram
Rhode Island School of Design - RI
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
Frog Farm - NYC
Bouchra screening - NYC
Adolescence of Utena screening - NYC
The Animator's Animations
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
The Animator's Favorites
Amy Kravitz's website
LaGuardia Arts - NYC
Peter Millard's website
Donald Daffy by Peter Millard
School of Visual Arts (SVA) MFA Visual Narrative - low residency NYC
Chris Sullivan on Instagram
Consuming Spirits by Chris Sullivan
Paper Trail by Don Hertzfeldt
Steven Subotnick's website
Pilar on NewGrounds
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
Special thanks to Lisa LaBracio, Jose Vargas, Angelica Vergel, Pilar and John Moraskie
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity

In true TAF fashion, me and Marcelese Cooper talk about bugs.
 
Marcelese Cooper is an artist and educator originally from Santa Clarita, California, and has practiced throughout the Midwest and the South for nearly a decade. Influenced by their experiences as a young, black, queer individual, Cooper explores themes of identity, community, and the black/brown narrative through mediums like animation, performance art, and experimental video. They blend the DNA of dreams, science-fiction, and surreal art-house cinema in their work.
Currently a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Film and Media Studies Program at the University of Pittsburgh, Cooper merges storytelling with time-based media to nurture the next generation of storytellers. Their recent artistic endeavors extend into 2D animation, video art, and sound experimentation, with a focus on community-centered projects that emphasize group storytelling and self-mythos.
Learn more and contribute to Story Drive here - an ongoing video series focused on community storytelling. We interpret anonymous voicemails — dreams, memories, secrets, and more — into video art. Whether you're sharing a laugh, a personal truth, or a somber moment, your story will be heard. Donate to Marcelese's upcoming project On Good Days here - On Good Days is a short experimental documentary about what it means to live with chronic and autoimmune conditions on a daily basis. These conditions are often shown only during emergencies or flare ups, but most of life happens between those moments or potentially in spite of them. It happens in the pacing of energy, in care routines, in the small decisions that shape a day, and in the adaptations that allow people to keep moving through the world on their own terms. This film is focused on that living part, which is often the part that is least understood.
 
 
Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO
Get 10% off your submission to the Hudson Valley Film Festival with TAFnHVFFrCOOL
 
Links to points of discussion:
Marcelese Cooper's website
Marcelese's Instagram
Story Drive's website
No More Than Anyone Else
Film Diary NYC
On Good Days on GoFundMe
The Animator's Friend on Instagram
Hellavision on June 2nd - Troy NY
No Fun - Troy NY
Ground Zero Basement - Troy NY
The Animator's Playlist on Apple Music and Spotify
Smith's Hot Dogs
Nathan's Hot Dogs
American Museum of Natural History - NYC
The Animator's Favorites
The Animator's Animations
The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.
Credits:
Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
Music by Cloutmeyer
Design by Sawyer Rippon
Special thanks to Benton Bainbridge for connecting me to Marcelese!
All opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity