March 8, 2024
7:00 p.m.  8:45 p.m.

Canadian Grain Elevator Discovery Centre (map)
see the lineup at puppetfestival.ca

Meet us at the Grain Elevator! This old-school theatre style is keeping fresh with an evening of animated shorts.

Includes two 45-minute packs and a 15 minute intermission.

March 24, 2024
6:00 pm to 7:30 pm

Globe Cinema (map)
see the lineup at puppetfestival.ca

Animated objects playing out mature themes in a historic building. What more could you ask for? An artist Q+A? You got that too!

Kelsey Two Young Men
Kelsey is an artist storyteller who is passionate about animation, digital drawing, and soft sculpture. Her work includes regalia making, animation of her favorite characters, and designing wearable art including cosplay suits. She was a participant of the Whyte Museum’s Through the Lens project and had several photographs published and exhibited. Her work has shown in galleries and public venues including the Calgary Bird Sanctuary.

Kes Lefthand
Kes is a born storyteller, whose work is deeply character driven and rooted in concepts of culture, futurity, and trauma. He is passionate about his work as an artist and storyteller, and is uncompromising in his vision and drive. Kes is a visual artist, storyteller, animator, and musician. He is largely self-taught in 3D animation including modeling and is also proficient at 2D animation, character design and digital artistry. He came to this work looking for narrative stories that connect Indigenous people, not just the Stoney Nakoda, especially stories of ghosts, spirits, and darkness.

Doug is an award-winning director based in Calgary, Alberta. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he has excelled in various roles such as director, cinematographer, and producer. Doug is known for his expertise in music videos, commercials and dramatic work. He also has experience in production design and stop-motion, making him a versatile filmmaker.
Doug’s prep, production, and post-production skills are top-notch, always 100% at home on-set or in-studio, leading crews, artists, actors, models, and even puppets to create compelling stories and unique visuals. His technical competence and hands-on approach have earned him a reputation as an idea man with a bold imagination. With his extensive experience, artistic flair, and a keen eye for detail, Doug is a visionary filmmaker poised to take on any creative challenge

Jo Jo Lau is an independent Director, Set and Prop designer/fabricator, and Animator from Hong Kong, currently based in the UK. Her journey began as a self-taught animator, which eventually led her to undergo formal training at Aardman Academy. specializing in stop motion, particularly in wool needle felting and paper crafting.

Maing Caochong had been a lover of cartoon and animation from school days to work. When he made up his mind to try animation as his next career direction, he found he had missed the chance to study animation systematically in professional colleges and universities as he was no longer young. With no ability of creating 2D or 3D animation, Maing thought maybe he could make some stop-motion animations. Now, at his own professional stop-motion animation studio, he is producing stop-motion animations for a great number of clients including Disney as director and animator. At the same time, he has never forgotten the original aspiration of his foray into the animation world – presenting those original stories in his heart with his own hands.

Katrina Pleasance is an animator based in Vancouver, BC with a passion for experimentation. She is of mixed Chinese and Caucasian heritage, and enjoys working with mixed media. Her films have explored a variety of techniques and materials, including paper, clay, rotoscoping, motion graphics and traditional hand drawn animation. Katrina loves a happy ending and rooting for the hero. While she employs experimental animation techniques, the majority of her films are feel-good narratives that are character based.

Kanja Chen is a director, writer, producer, puppeteer, puppet designer and puppet builder. who has worked on many high profile television productions. These include Emmy Award winning shows such as Sesame Street (PBS) and Giver (TVO). He has worked on Odd Squad (PBS), and was the head of the puppet and creature department for the television series Oh Yuck! (Netflix). He has been formally trained by The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street Workshop and has taught at the Second City Training Centre in Toronto. Kanja is a BIPOC artist and is heavily influenced by his Jamaican heritage.

Sadie Coelho is an animator based out of Montréal, Québec and Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She is currently a student at Concordia University in Montréal, in the Film Animation program. Sadie specializes in traditional 2D and 3D animation, with an affinity for all things colourful, avant-garde, and silly.

Amanda Strong is a Michif (Metis) interdisciplinary artist with a focus on filmmaking, stop motion animations and media art. Currently based on unceded Coast Salish territories also known as Vancouver, BC, Canada. Strong received a BAA in Interpretative Illustration and a Diploma in Applied Photography from the Sheridan Institute. With a cross-discipline focus, common themes of her work are reclamation of Indigenous histories, lineage, language and culture. Strong is the Owner/Director/Producer of Spotted Fawn Productions Inc. (SFP). Under her direction, SFP utilizes a multi-layered approach and unconventional methods that are centered in collaboration on all aspects of their work

Tank Standing Buffalo is a Director, Co-Writer, Storyboards, Animation.
Since he first held a pencil, Tank has never put the pencil down. Drawing compulsively throughout his life, Tank uses art as a way to understand himself and his place in the world. Tank’s interests have led to the creation of haunted house attractions, tiki mugs, tattoos, painted motorcycle tanks, wood carvings, freakshow attractions, horror movie fx, record covers, gig posters, band merch, zombie portraits, and most recently animation.

Terril Calder is a Métis artist, born in Fort Frances, Ontario, currently residing in Toronto. Compelled by the love of hybrid media and fusion art, she currently experiments with the amalgamation in her stop frame animated films that she writes, directs, crafts and animates. The films screen nationally and internationally and have received attention, most notably an Honorable Mention at The Sundance Film Festival and at Berlinale a Canadian Genie Award Nomination as well as TIFF’s top ten list in 2011 for “Choke”. In 2016 she was awarded the Ontario Arts Council’s K.M Hunter award for her work in Media Arts

Graduate of Norwich University of the Arts in 2023, with a First Degree Honours in Animation. Claymation animator and aspiring filmmaker looking for work in the industry.

Alessandro Cino Zolfanelli grew up in Rome, Italy, where he attended film studies at the University of Roma Tre. Upon graduation he moved to Berlin where he studied sculpture while working as a crew member in several short films, including “Im Bären” by Lilian Sassanelli as assistant director, selected among the five finalists at the David di Donatello 2019. During that time he developed a strong interest in stop-motion animation as a meeting point between his passions for cinema and sculpture and started working on his directorial debut: “Black Eyed Dog”, a stop-motion animated short film.

James Smith, born on March 20th 1996, is a filmmaker with a passion for stop motion animated films. He’s been creating stop motion films for ten years and his animated films on his YouTube channel „SplitterShot“ have been viewed by a few million. In 2022 he was interviewed by two TV stations about his stop motion art. His award-winning horror short film Monster Encounters (2020) was screened at over 55 international festivals. His dedicated passion for horror films continues with his 2023 stop motion film Demons in the Closet.

Doug is an award-winning director based in Calgary, Alberta. As a multi-disciplinary artist, he has excelled in various roles such as director, cinematographer, and producer. Doug is known for his expertise in music videos, commercials and dramatic work. He also has experience in production design and stop-motion, making him a versatile filmmaker.
Doug’s prep, production, and post-production skills are top-notch, always 100% at home on-set or in-studio, leading crews, artists, actors, models, and even puppets to create compelling stories and unique visuals. His technical competence and hands-on approach have earned him a reputation as an idea man with a bold imagination. With his extensive experience, artistic flair, and a keen eye for detail, Doug is a visionary filmmaker poised to take on any creative challenge

Katrina Pleasance is an animator based in Vancouver, BC with a passion for experimentation. She is of mixed Chinese and Caucasian heritage, and enjoys working with mixed media. Her films have explored a variety of techniques and materials, including paper, clay, rotoscoping, motion graphics and traditional hand drawn animation. Katrina loves a happy ending and rooting for the hero. While she employs experimental animation techniques, the majority of her films are feel-good narratives that are character based.

Kanja Chen is a director, writer, producer, puppeteer, puppet designer and puppet builder. who has worked on many high profile television productions. These include Emmy Award winning shows such as Sesame Street (PBS) and Giver (TVO). He has worked on Odd Squad (PBS), and was the head of the puppet and creature department for the television series Oh Yuck! (Netflix). He has been formally trained by The Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street Workshop and has taught at the Second City Training Centre in Toronto. Kanja is a BIPOC artist and is heavily influenced by his Jamaican heritage.