johnakre.com

johnakre.com

sloppyfilms.net

Northern Exposure: The Animation of John Akre

A program of over ten years of my animation work is showing at the Trylon Microcinema on February 22nd. Get tickets here. Shows are at 7 pm and 9 pm.

Here is the press release:

The Northern Exposure film series at the Trylon Microcinema features the work of a local filmmaker every quarter. February's Northern Exposure provides a retrospective of the animation work of John Akre, a total of twenty-two short films.

Akre is a prolific creator, teacher, and animation advocate. (He founded the annnual MinnAnimate festival.) This retrospective, spanning a decade, highlights his collage-like work—both fiction and nonfiction—all of which is visually imaginative and deeply honest.

The screening includes personal work in which Akre explores key moments in his life, as well the public animation work he does, where he creates animated stories in collaboration with others. Screenings take place at 7 pm and 9 pm on February 22. Enjoy a live Q & A with Akre after the show.

Here is the lineup.

Minneapolis Beneath the Asphalt - 2017 - 6 mins - Stop motion animation sociology - what is under the surface of Minneapolis in the summer of 2016?

First Image - 2007 - 7 mins - sketchbook animation sociology - what is the first image you remember seeing?

Breakfast in Space - 2009 - 1 min - Two children have their breakfast in outer space.

What An Akre Will Provide - 2012 - 3.5 mins. - My great-grandfather talks about life in Kenyon, MN as the 20th century begins.

First Eyes on the Moon - 2015 - 3 mins - I remember watching the first man step on the moon.

Training Wheels - 2012 - 4 mins - I struggled to ride a bike without training wheels - 2 wheels only? Isn't that impossible?

Why I Bike - 2011 - 4.5 mins - When I was 13 I decided I would never drive a car.

Thunderbird - 2012 - 2 mins - The story of my first real movie projector.

Cowpokes Livin' on the Edge - 2013 - 2.5 mins - An existentialist Western.

Deer Diary - 2011 - 3 mins. - a deer writes about her encounters with "civilization."

The Day Truffaut Died - 2016 - 4 mins. - on the day Francois Truffaut died, I was a model for a retinal photography class.

The Morning I Almost Died - 2013 - 4 mins - One morning my heart went crazy.

Radiofrequency Ablation - 2016 - 6 mins. - Many heart-shaped journalists tell the story of my heart operation.

Jack Somebody - 2007 - 2 mins - I checked out equipment to this guy when I worked in public access television.

My Friend the Trees - 2015 - 4 mins - I drew silly cartoons with my friend Devin, who is now three trees.

Log - 2009 - 3 mins. - Two people fall in love looking at a log in the river.

We Like Our Northeast - 2009 - 1 mins. - A song about our neighborhood.

Bounce - 2011 - 5 mins. - After my father dies I buy his old pogo stick at a garage sale.

A Place Called Hospice - 2014 - 4.5 mins - We took our mother to her death in a place called hospice.

Sad Cloud - 2014 - 2 mins. Mourning and life.

Albert Einstein - 2014 -2.5 mins. - a film about life, death, and the general theory of relativity.

La Dernier Fois J'ai Vue Ernie Kovacs - 2011 - 2.5 mins. - My face and a very active mustache play tribute to a video art pioneer.