SoDak Motion Festival

2021 Dates to be confirmed, Call for Entries to Follow

Archive

Festival Description:

The SoDak Motion Festival is a true gem of the American Midwest, because nowhere else in the heartland of America can you find the world's best independent animation. The festival has also hosted guest speakers including artists and filmmakers from NBC, Troika Design, Pixar, and an awesome slew of today’s top indie animators. It’s really cool to say that you've had work show in South Dakota, and for a film festival – and for an animated film festival! It's a small and sincere event, made for animators and by animators and lovers of animation.

The 2018 event will be held October 25-27 in Brookings, South Dakota at the South Dakota Art Museum on the campus of South Dakota State University with other venues in development.

The SoDak Motion Festival and related events are organized and operated by faculty, staff, and students from The School of Design at South Dakota State University and by loyal animation-loving members of the Brookings and Sioux Falls, South Dakota communities.

2018 Official Selections:

• BIRDLIME, Evan DeRushie | Canada
• CHRYSALIS, Lynn Dana Wilton | Canada
• FLYTRAP, Connor Bland, USA
• LAS DEL DIENTE, Ana Perez Lopez | Spain
• LES ÉLÉPHANTS SERONT CONTENTS
  Lucas Roussel, Charlotte Brun, Loïc Frimat, Vincent Labis, Adrien Lannoy, Alice Lepoutre | France
• MEDIUM RARE, Luca Cioci | USA 
• PINCHPOT, Greg Holfeld | Australia
• POUR 585, Patrick Smith | USA 
• POWER, Dana Sink | USA 
• SANS CHLOROPHYLL, Phil Davis | USA 
• SPACE BUTTHOLE, David Chai | USA 
• SUNSCAPADES, Ben Mitchell | UK 
• TEND, Animade (Tom Judd, Ed Barrett) | UK 
• WILD WOMAN, Vanessa Sweet | USA

Archive: Call for entries / Requirements:
Submitting to 2018 SoDak Motion means you are authorized to distribute the film you are submitting and you will be held responsible for any issues and fees that arise from any misrepresentation on your part. It also means that the screener link and password will be shared with members of our programming committee. This link and its contents will not be distributed outside of the programming committee. We will contact all invited films at the email address provided Please double-check that it is correct. No submitted films will be screened without permission from the appropriate rights holder.

This event is for animated work only. Live-action films are not eligible. Work must be made of at least 51% animation to be considered an animated work. So if you send in your live-action movie, we'll be irritated that you didn't bother to read the first line of the festival narrative and be tempted to say "duh!". The relatively insignificant submission fees SoDak Motion asks for supplement funds that support the event, like venue costs, printing, mailing, and other small operation costs.

Festival entrants will be notified on or around September 1, 2018 via email of submitter on record. Pending budget, accepted finalists will be issued an honorarium of $25 per work screened. Exhibition files and other promotional materials will be requested in early September. Available exhibition file format should be high quality HD, 1080p h264, 2-channel stereo. Submissions should be at least 51% animated content to be considered an animated work. Submissions should be no more than 20 minutes long. Jurors (with considerable industry experience and appropriate perspectives and established exhibition records) will be announced in Spring 2018.

Entries accepted completed no earlier than 2016 will be considered. The festival will reassign category if it seems to be a better fit than one selected for at submission. Filmmakers may be contacted to deliver a short message or remote Q&A by video to be played during the screening. If your country's banking regulations allow, and budget pending, a small honorarium ($25) will be issued to each accepted filmmaker via Paypal. Please verify your email address can accept this method.

Competition Categories:
Commissioned/Commercial Short Animation
Independent Experimental/Non-narrative Short Animation
Independent Short Animation

• Entry form (Film Freeway)
• Deadline: 31 July  7 August 2018

 (festival submission, slightly edited)