Jonathan Leiter

Kalamazoo Animation Festival International 2002

I was nine years old in May 2002 when I received a Bronze Third Place award in the 12 and under age category at the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International for the short stop-motion clay animation, Pseudo Pluto, I had entered in the KAFI animation contest. My animation was played on the big screen at a beautiful old restored movie theater to an audience of over 200 people who were attending the three day festival, and a clip from it was shown again at the awards ceremony at the end of the festival. That was very exciting, but it was also exciting to meet and talk to some of the speakers who gave talks at the Festival who came from some of the big animation studios.

I got to meet:

Kate Swanborg, Animation, Technology and Production Manager at DreamWorks SKG (Steven Spielberg's studio) who worked on Shrek and worked on the new movie Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron.

Ron Smith from the Veggietale's Big Idea studios who worked on some of the Veggietales videos and who is now director of Big Ideas' new series Three-Two-One Penguins.

Mike Belzer, animator of the Pillsbury Doughboy, Disney stop-motion animation director involved in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Dinosaur, James and the Giant Peach the Gumby Movie and more.