Written by Tasnia Habib
The second annual Sweaty Eyeballs Animation festival will take place online from Friday, October 23 through Friday, October 30. The festival will focus on independently produced short animations from across the globe, leaning towards quirky and boundary-pushing films.
“Think 90’s MTV animation or modern-day Adult Swim content, more than classic Walt Disney features,” said Phil Davis, the festival’s founder and creative director, who is also a professor of animation at Towson University. “Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival is the only one of its kind in the region, and a rarity on the east coast.”
Sweaty Eyeballs began in 2012 as a series of one-night animation programming and live performances in Baltimore. In 2019, Davis created the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival as a three-day international juried film festival. This year, with the online festival, Davis expanded the festival to seven days and was able to accept more films for screening.
Sweaty Eyeballs will be streaming in collaboration with the virtual theatre of the SNF Parkway home of the Maryland Film Festival. Tickets and Passes can be purchased online at https://sweatyeyeballs2020.eventive.org/passes/buy.
The list of films in the international competition at the Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival includes 80 animated shorts from 28 countries in total, chosen from over 300 submissions. The festival includes international juried programming as well as a special showcase for Baltimore-made animations. The festival’s opening night Animated Music event will showcase six brand new music videos featuring Baltimore musicians and animations created by Baltimore-area independent animators and students from Towson University and Maryland Institute College of Art. The Baltimore musicians that were commissioned are: Future Islands, Dan Deacon, Wume, Scott Patterson of Afro House, Shodekeh and Alash, and Ami Dang. The full list of music videos and musicians can be found here: https://www.sweatyeyeballs.com/seaf2020_animatedmusic.html.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival cannot hold any in-person events. Instead, the festival has invited seven animators from around the world to create behind-the-scenes Remote Animator Studio Tour Videos, followed by a screening of short films from the participants.
For more information on Sweaty Eyeballs Animation Festival, visit: www.sweatyeyeballs.com.