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Oui Oui Paris!
Wow, I just found out that my film 'This is How I Spend My Time' has been accepted to the Paris Shorts Film Festival! It's first trip abroad. I am practicing my French every day in case there's a possibility that I can go! Anyone use the Duolingo app? It's not the most practical, I have been using it for two years and still wouldn't understand someone trying to give me directions on the street... What languages are you learning and how?
LDS Film Fest Winner!
Hi Everyone! I just wanted to announce that my most recent short, 'This Is How I Spend My Time' has been awarded first place in the animation section of the festival! This is an autobiographical piece on how a night may pass for a Schizophrenic woman when symptoms are unmanaged. Instead of defining myself by my illness, I am holding it at arms length, so that I can simply observe in a playful way. In this way, I can capitalize my weakness and can even benefit from it as I share it with others.
The Interpretation Thereof
Right now you can view my largest work to date in the exhibit 'The Interpretation Thereof' at the BYU Museum of Art. The exhibit focuses on the intersection of contemporary LDS art and scripture. The opening is on Sept 22nd and I would love to see you there!
AML Film Award
Association for Mormon Letters Award
This is to announce that The Split House earned the 2017 Association for Mormon Letters Film of the Year Award! Thank you to my friend Derrick Clemments for the wonderful writeup in the Daily Herald! Here is the excerpt:
"Despite the multiple meanings of its title, The Split House showcases artist Annie Poon’s impressive ability to combine and merge multiple profound concerns, including mental illness, Mormon missionary life, emotional distress and spiritual healing. The title contains multiple autobiographical meanings: The story begins in Split, Croatia, where Poon was a Mormon missionary, and it also deals with the split nature of a mind affected by schizoaffective disorder. But Poon’s authenticity in expressing several painful aspects of life make the work a significant achievement in Mormon film. Throughout the film (as well as her other visual art), Poon’s vibrant faith comes across as both entirely Mormon and entirely her own. The Split House portrays Mormon theology and scripture without amendment while preserving a potent sense of spiritual adventurousness. The aesthetic high points of the film include a rich soundscape of original music and sound effects and imaginative visuals throughout. Though short in length, the film stays with you, and it rewards multiple viewings to notice new moments of beauty and pleasure."
Allow Me To Interject
This is to announce a group exhibition at the Lower East Side Printshop, 'Allow Me To Interject' currently on display until May 7. The exhibit, curated by David Rios Ferreira, features a new etching from my series 'Lonesome People', new imagery from the Book of Mormon. The work is described by the curator as 'mysterious and darkly compelling'. I hope you can visit!
Mormon Arts Center Festival
In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of President Kimball's talk 'The Vision of the Arts', I am pleased to announce the Mormon Arts Center Festival that will take place here in NYC June 28 to July 1st at Riverside Church. Events of the Festival will include a Keynote Address, Gallery Exhibition, Concert, Symposium, Choral sing-in, and numerous presentations and other events.
I will be exhibiting my movie 'The Split House' in the festival, this is the first time it will be seen in New York in a gallery setting.
For more info about the festival, please their website.
I'm pleased to announce that the BYU MOA will be hosting a solo show of my film and archives, 'The Split House' opening on Jan. 27th.. The stills, drawings, and cutouts used in the movie will be on display as well as sketches, thumbnails, and notes from my process. The exhibit is curated by Ashlee Whitaker. In February I will present the work in person giving an evening lecture to those who are interested and in town. I look forward to this great opportunity! For more info please visit http://moa.byu.edu/project/split-house/
BYU Museum Solo Exhibition
Upcoming Solo Exhibition
This is to announce my upcoming solo exhibition at Writ and Vision Gallery in Provo, UT. I am so excited! If you are in Utah I would love to see you at the opening! It is on June 3rd around 7pm. I will be exhibiting video, sculpture, and paintings. The highlight of the show is my video, The Split House, which was completed over a ten year period. Below is a still from that video. The exhibition is curated by Glen Nelson of Mormon Artists Group.
Come on out to play!
Kah Leong bought me this beautiful denim sketchbook for my birthday in Bangkok over Christmas. It was painted by a person with special needs and is so charming! Inside I am sketching the beautiful ornamentation I saw at the Royal Palace. I plan to turn it into an adult coloring book for one of my sisters who introduced me to the concept. She loves to color and is an inspiration to me! Below are the first few pages.
Bangkok Sketchbook
An Interview with Annie on The Krakens.com
Interview continues HERE.
Kidsfilmfest this Saturday May 30th!
Hello friends and families in the New York area!
This Saturday is the Kidsfilmfest in Dumbo where all children 12 and under get in free! It is also the premiere of my new short film, Daisy Daddy. All children in attendance will receive a free 'Oh Puppy!' book as a party favor. The fest was mentioned on New York One: Check out Shelly Goldberg reviewing the upcoming lineup below!
Festival details can be found at: http://www.kidsfilmfest.org/news
'Oh Puppy!' The BOOK!
It has been YEARS of work but now I have finally collected all of my cartoons about my mini-me 'Puppy' into a 120 page full color book that you and your family will enjoy!
Click HERE to watch the video. It is really cute if I must say so.
You will see there on the lower right if you scroll down that there are several perk levels for donations, and also they are all tax-deductible. The book costs $25. It would mean so much to me if you could pledge to get a book or more! Perks for donating include such items as original artwork, sticker sheets, a hand sewn designer Puppy fanny pack (I could so see you in that) and even workshops are offered for the few who dare!
January 17 2015- The MoMA will screen my film 'Runaway Bathtub' from their collection as part of a program devoted to paper animations at 12:00. The screening is free. It's a wonderful time to revisit this, my best loved film. Simultaneously they are showing Mattisse's paper cutouts in an exhibition up in the main galleries. A perfect program to coincide with that show. Many years ago, the MoMA approached me at a screening of this film during the BAM Nextwave film fest and asked about acquiring it- this is why I love to be present at as many of my screenings as possible and why I moved to New York! It's wonderful when you can meet the audiences and get their reactions. The last time this film showed at MoMA I showed the kids in the audience my cutouts and the sketchbook that houses all the little pieces of this animation. A few parents told me that their kids had asked them to buy their very first sketchbooks after seeing my Q&A. It warmed the cockles of my heart! I remember a certain Mrs. West who taught me to make a caterpillar from an egg carton and I knew then that I was in this art thing for life! This animation is based on a game I used to play with my twin sister Katie in the bathtub. We would fill up the tub, then turn on the shower and pretend it was a rain storm, and that the rain was so abundant it carried us off to sea! The whole world became flooded and we pretended to sustain ourselves eating raw fish and drinking rainwater tea.
Upcoming Releases →
In this short entitled 'Galilee' I created a journey and a transformation from New Testament times to present day West 34th Street. Featured is one of my friends, a homeless woman named Cym. She is mute but we have managed to become friends through writing in my notebooks. I'm not sure why she chooses to stay on the streets but can guess it may be because the shelters in this area are said to be dangerous. This animation is a little different because it has such a super clean feel to it and is quite colorful. Even the color pallet undergoes a transformation as the movie takes you from the wee purple hours of dawn to the yellow light of late morning. This short was created for a company called 'Radiant'.
Right now I am working with Bonneville Communications to create a series of inspirational shorts. Here is a still from my short 'Maid Arise'. This animation portrays Christ raising a small girl to life as found in the New Testament. In this scene she is reunited with her father.
A still from my short entitled 'Forgiveness'. This film is about how we can cleanse our spirits by letting go of a grudge.