Aspen Day four

Bill Plympton in full flow
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Couldn’t sleep, but had a relaxing morning wandering about Aspen in the snow and seeing the early risers. Spotted a dog wearing not only a cashmere polo neck under its doggie coat but PINK TRAINERS. Four perfect pink little trainers. Good lord. Also saw a lady wearing interesting ear muffs all round her face - as she got closer I realised they they were actually bandages from her plastic surgery. I said good morning to her and I think she smiled at me. Gotta be tricky with your cheeks behind your ears.

Conor Ferguson (The Wednesdays), me and Isabel Vega (La Corona) at Bill Plympton's talk
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Had lunch and then headed to the Bill Plympton ‘directors spotlight’ presentation. It was really interesting - I was quite ambivalent about his work going in (his female characters always seem a little stereo-typed) but really enjoyed seeing his recent work and how he’s developing his signature style into the digital world. Plus it’s always good to hear independent animators describe how they survive (Plympton’s Dogma: make it 1. cheap, 2. short, 3. funny). He played some clips from his new feature Idiots and Angels which was beautiful, lyrical and funny and poignant with a wonderful score. After the Q&A he sat in the lobby and drew a cartoon character from his ‘dog’ film series for every single person who wanted one - respect! - and we got to chat to him. Went for a coffee with some film makers afterwards, and had a lovely time obsessively dissecting all the work we’ve seen so far and discussing our favourites.

Jan Van de Berg (Silent Snow) and Isabel Vega talking to Tom Lemons from The Hunger Project
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Went to the 5:30 screening, popped home for food and extra strong coffee, and went to the final screening of the festival. It’s all been so strong, I can’t find a favourite. I’m probably most critical of the animation (because I watch a lot of it), most inspired by the documentaries and most awed by the live action drama (how do they do that?). I managed to make it out for a drink afterwards (didn’t get out of the cinema till midnight) and had an excellent time until we got thrown out at closing time, 2 am.