Production Sessions

“The Dam Keeper”, the directorial debut of feature-animation artists Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi, blends traditional hand-drawn animation with digital paintings to bring Kondo and Tsutsumi’s celebrated
painting style to life. The award-winning short film tells the story of a young Pig with an important job, and a new classmate that changes everything.

This presentation details not just how this unique film was made, but highlights the risks, rewards, and lessons learned along the way. The session opens with a screening of the 18 minute short. Afterwards, the
filmmakers will discuss how it was produced in an 9-month, after-hours schedule with 70+ filmmakers collaborating thanks to the help of cloud-based technology. Directors Kondo and Tsutsumi will also detail how the artistry of the film’s original style was achieved using Autodesk Maya, TVPaint, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe After Effects.

The film made its premiere at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival and continues to screen at festivals world-wide, and received awards at the New York Children’s International Film Festival, TIFF Kids, and the 2014 San Francisco International Film Festival. Come step inside the world of “The Dam Keeper”. www.TheDamKeeper.com