The Animator’s Friend
Befriending animators, 24 questions at a time. The Animator’s Friend 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 lighthearted and unexpected conversation.
Episodes
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!):
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 ...
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 exper...
Last night, I transcended my human form and turned into a rd carpet correspondent for the Museum of Moving Image's Marvels of Media Festival! We spoke with festival participants and organizers Dani Bowman, Jackson Tucker-Meyer, Josh Sapan, Susanna Hunt, Steven Fraser, Steph Prizhitomsky, Bob Clark, Miranda Lee, and Maxwell Scheller. The festival runs all weekend long, see details here: https://movingimage.org/series/marvels-of-medi...
I know I said we were on a break, but I just couldn't wait to share this bonus episode on Festival Strategy! Festival programmer Warren Etheredge shares how to get the most out of your film's festival run including insights into timeline, assessment, contact, assets, and budget. This episode will be here for you whenever you have a film ready to take out on the road! Listen, take notes, and get 75% off your submission to the Walla ...
Continue your friend-of-the-pod/avatar/oink-oink drinking game with the final portion of my chat with filmmakers Santi MacLean and Joe Zuppulla! Don't sleep on Doomscrolling and the whole Fun pet namez series!
A young man talks himself through a panic attack. In Doomscrolling, Santi MacLean layers multimedia documents and data moshes on top of a vulnerable outcry. With bulging eyes and spaghetti-like green hair, the young man...
We may be in Month 2 of 2026, but Santi MacLean, Joe Zappulla, and I are still feeling the new year's energy in TAF's first ever two-part episode! Relive the feelings of optimism that January 2nd gifted as your resolutions start to lose meaning, like the thumbs-up react on that text message you sent.
A young man talks himself through a panic attack. In Doomscrolling, Santi MacLean layers multimedia documents and data moshes o...
Me and the homies have been geeking over the animated feature Boys Go to Jupiter for months and months so it was a thrill to get to talk with Julian Glander about it, but mostly we tried to drum up some animation-world drama.
A teenager in suburban Florida desperately hustles to make $5,000 in this dreamy and surreal animated coming-of-age story. Stream Boys Go to Jupiter on Amazon Prime!
Watch our chat on YouTube or...
Episode 22 is a lucky one with director Natalia Poteryakhin, sharing anecdotes of endurance, logging off, and blind faith, all bolstering her animation career. Further blessing this episode is the appearance of non-human guest Zoe Lombardi-Bello.
Watch on video on Youtube or Spotify!
Sunny Side Down is a sci-fi parody series where existential dread is served hot with a side of 90’s nostalgia. Just beyond the event horiz...
Conducted my interview with Arco creators Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry ~on twos~ to learn about their penchant for sandwiches as well as gain more insight into the driving forces of their beautiful film. Experience the podcast with video for a change! I prefer you watch on YouTube B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBrnoduxTs
A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-o...
The Animator's Friend podcast has been turning into The Animator's Italian-American Friend for some time now, and 3D artist/designer Andres Salazar has made matters worse by getting your host's spaghetti in a knot with some hot takes on Italian cuisine.
Andres is a Colombian-American designer and 3D artist based in Astoria, New York. His work explores the magic in the mundane, blending photorealistic 3D creations with surrealist vi...
I enjoyed chatting with fellow Beatles freak Tess Martin about our other shared fixation: The Netherlands. What business does their coffee have being so good? How easy is it to be a working artist there? Is the countryside really like those old Dutch paintings? Find out within.
Tess Martin is a film and visual artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She brings her perspective as someone who was raised between cultures to e...
I learned all about Danielle Goldwert's numorous hobbies and have a feeling I barely scratched the surface! Stop-motion animation is just one of her many interests, which she executes perfectly in her film waterlogged. Hear about how Danielle's creative interests and doctorate research converge.
In waterlogged, a climate scholar confronts the haunting reality of his research as surreal environmental catastrophes unfold around ...
Between moments of being outsmarted by a mosquito, hear Simeon Kondev expose the metal-head within.
Simeon is a Bulgarian-American animator whose latest cartoon Society Animals deserves your follow on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
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:
Preempting their Student Academy Award win for their student film The Shyness of Trees, listen to Loick Du Plessis D'Argentre, Simin He, and me giggle over unexpected animation crushes, rats, and French cliches.
In the film, Hélène, 40 years old, comes to visit her aging mother in the french countryside. But her mother isn't being her usual self. She seems to have formed a strange bond with the plants, insects, and the old oak tree...
You can find Amanda, me, and her dog Bacca under the pergola, discussing our shared provenance which includes italianess, shyness, and punkness. Her film Confetti is available online for the first time through Director's Notes and her and fellow animator James Thacher have just started their own studio called Magician with a screening coming up at Ridgewood Community Cinema on 11/2/25 at 7pm.
If you need a bar recommendation, enjoy Lena's encyclopedic knowledge of cool karaoke bars, including the ones that exist only in her mind. Throats Karaoke Bar is the setting of her latest short film Tuna Tartare, which challenges you to be yourself but hotter.
Set in post-apocalyptic Los Angeles, Tuna Tartare is a trashy, karaoke musical about an expired can of tuna fish and her BFF Susan (a fake Louis Vuitton purse) as they strug...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.