The Animation Show February 15, 2007

Mike Judge and Don Hertzfeldt present: THE ANIMATION SHOW

The Animation Show is an annual feature-length compilation of the best animated short films from around the world, exclusively curated by Mike Judge (Office Space, "Beavis and Butt-Head," "King of the Hill") and Academy Award nominated animator Don Hertzfeldt (Billy's Balloon, Rejected, The Meaning of Life).

As animation continues to be plagued as the single most misunderstood film medium, the animated short film is sadly undervalued and underexposed in American cinema, despite widespread appreciation throughout the rest of the world. With luck, popular animated shorts may see limited theatrical play, but most are relegated to the dungeons of the internet, or with luck, DVD.

The theatrical animation festival was born in 1976 with the launch of the Fantastic Animation Festival. This was the first show to create the now-universal "program on a flyer" and the first to receive a first-run 35mm theatrical release. The Fantastic Festival's popularity helped pave the way shortly thereafter for similar commercial programs throughout the 80s and 90s, including Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation, the Tournee of Animation, and several others that came and went with varying success.

The Animation Show launched in 2003, making it the first festival of animation created and produced with actual animators at the helm. A sister series of high quality Animation Show DVDs now supplement the theatrical tour with additional insights and brand new lineups of films - while the main Show remains a unique and unforgettable annual program that is usually gone forever once it is out of theaters.

Every year the Show works diligently to put animated shorts into more theaters than any festival in American history: giving these filmmakers the wide exposure their work deserves and sharing their short masterpieces on the big screen, where they belong.

Official Website: http://www.animationshow.com/