Preview by Brad Balfour
What: Bill Plympton’s Twisted Toons
When: Sunday, June 1st
Where: Metrograph Theater
7 Ludlow St.
On Sunday, June 1st, at Metrograph In Theater and on At Home, will be a presentation of legendary animator/storyteller Bill Plympton’s Twisted Toons.
This upcoming double-bill program of Plympton’s works not only features his films but Plympton himself who will be in person for special introductions. Following each screening, in lieu of a Q&A, Plympton will be hand-drawing original works in the Metrograph Lobby for interested members of the audience.
Plympton’s career took off in 1987 with the Oscar-nominated short “Your Face.” The now 79-year-old New York-based director and animator has reached what can only be called the highest tier of legendary status for his ‘twisted toons’ and signature hand-drawn style.
An icon of independent animation, he purposefully turned down an opportunity to work with Disney. Since then, his shorts and features have earned him numerous awards and international recognition. “Simpsons” creator Matt Groening famously called him “God” — a compliment that’s hard to beat.
Awarded by the Academy and the Festival de Cannes, Plympton became a staple of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation programs. He has been a guest couch gag contributor on The Simpsons as well. A fiercely independent artist and one-man industry Plympton is the ultimate American underground animator par excellence. His meticulously hand- drawn style, with its fluid, distending line and voluptuous figures, makes his work some of the most immediately recognizable in the business.
The legend himself will be there in the theater for two programs of his features and shorts. Said Plympton, “Although my films were widely appreciated by the audiences in festivals, the distributors felt there was no audience in the US for adult animation. Now people are starting to realize the wit and beauty of my films.”
Titles include “Cheatin’,” “Footprints,” “Hot Dog,”I ” Married a Strange Person!,” “Push Comes to Shove” and “Santa the Fascist Years.”
With his last feature Slide out in 2023 and another one in the works, Plympton is still eagerly creating, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to be at 7 Ludlow this Sunday.
For more info, go to: metrograph.com