“Animation is such a flexible and open-ended medium that it lends itself to exploring the innumerable aspects of what it means to be human,” says founder and curator Ron Diamond. “And this year’s program, as much as any of our past presentations, really illuminates human strengths and foibles, and the bonds that unite us across cultures and generations.”

Friday, April 26 *Sharp! Please arrive on time!
Doors 5:45 pm | Show 6:15 pm
Advance tickets (children under 13) $10.50 HERE | $12.50 at the door
Advance tickets $14.50 HERE | $16.50 at the door
*For this screening, minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Sorry, Rio Theatre Groupons and passes not accepted for this event.

Sunday, April 28 *Final Screening!
Doors 12:30 pm | Show 1:00 pm
Advance tickets (children under 13) $10.50 HERE | $12.50 at the door
Advance tickets $14.50 HERE | $16.50 at the door
*For this screening, minors permitted on the main floor. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and balcony seating.
*Sorry, Rio Theatre Groupons and passes not accepted for this event.

“In my view, at least, the best short-form animation — like the most memorable short stories — is daring in perspective and malleable in interpretation.” highlights include films that are “…wonderfully original… dazzling… provocative… sticks a dagger in conformity…” (The New York Times)

“The styles and subjects of the 15 films from six countries in the 20th edition demonstrate that in the right hands, animation can be a vehicle for personal expression as powerful and intimate as drawing, painting or sculpture. (Los Angeles Times)

“If you are like me and wish to escape the madness unfolding  in our current daily news, then I prescribe a healthy dose of animation and urge you to leave your bunker and get yourself into a cinema this weekend to check out the Animation Show of Shows.  Now in its 20th year, the Animation Show of Shows continues its ongoing mission to seek out and share a carefully chosen  crop of new animation from around the globe.” (Movie Magazine International)

The show has a running time of 98 minutes and includes 15 films, four of which qualified for Academy Award® consideration *. The complete lineup, in order of appearance, is:

• The Green Bird * – Maximilien Bougeois, Quentin Dubois,
  Marine Goalard, Irina Nguyen, Pierre Perveyrie, France

• One Small Step * – Andrew Chesworth, Bobby Pontillas, U.S.
• Grands Canons –  Alain Biet, France
• Barry – Anchi Shen, U.S.
• Super Girl – Nancy Kangas, Josh Kun, U.S.
• Love Me, Fear Me – Veronica Solomon, Germany
• Business Meeting – Guy Charnaux, Brazil
• Flower Found! – Jorn Leeuwerink, The Netherlands
• Bullets – Nancy Kangas, Josh Kun, U.S.
• A Table Game – Nicolás Petelski, Spain
• Carlotta’s Face – Valentin Riedl, Frédéric Schuld, Germany
• Age of Sail * – John Kahrs, U.S.
• Polaris – Hikari Toriumi, U.S.
• My Moon – Eusong Lee, U.S.
• Weekends * – Trevor Jimenez, U.S.

The power of family ties, and specifically the enduring connection between parents and children, are sensitively evoked in Hikari Toriumi’s deeply affecting “Polaris,” about a young polar bear leaving home for the first time. “One Small Step,” Bobby Pontillas and Andrew Chesworth’s inspiring story of a Chinese-American girl’s dream of being an astronaut, centers on her evolving relationship with her father. The beautifully designed “Weekend,” by Trevor Jimenez, explores the complex emotional landscape of a young boy and his recently divorced parents, as he shuttles between their very different homes and lives.The darker side of relationships is forcefully explored in Veronica Solomon’s “Love Me, Fear Me,” a tour de force of claymation that uses dance to delve into the lengths people go to to deceive each other and try to pass for something they’re not. Eusong Lee’s “My Moon” takes a more cosmic and lighthearted approach to a troubled relationship, limning a celestial love triangle played out by the sun, the moon, and the earth.

“Carlotta’s Face,” by Valentin Riedl and Frédéric Schuld, illuminates a different kind of relationship dysfunction in its sensitive portrayal of a woman who suffers from prosopagnosia, the inability to recognize faces, and her salvation through art.

Among the other program highlights are the very funny computer animation “The Green Bird,” winner of a 2018 Gold Student Academy Award® International Animation, which harks back to classic cartoons of the mid-20th century. Oscar-winning director John Kahrs’ “Age of Sail,” the latest in Google’s series of Spotlight Stories, chronicles the adventures of an old sailor who rescues a teenaged girl after she falls overboard. Alain Biet’s jaw-dropping “Grand Canons” is a dizzying symphonic celebration of everyday objects that uses finely detailed drawings created by the filmmaker. And two very short films, “Supergirl” and “Bullets,” take their inspiration from poems composed by surprisingly eloquent preschoolers.

The producers of The 20th Annual Animation Show of Shows advise parental discretion, as one of the 15 animated short films has a chicken getting it’s head chopped off, and the last film has two dramatic dream scenes (shot of a TV has an accidental propellor beheading and another shot with a stumbling man ablaze). May not be suitable for very young children.