Bill Plympton’s latest feature, Idiots and Angels, is about to start theatrical runs in both New York and LA. This Wednesday the traditionally-drawn feature opens at the IFC Center in New York, and starting on October 29th Los Angelinos can see the film at the Laemmle Sunset 5. It’s a dark comedy about a morally bankrupt man’s battle for his soul. Here’s a teaser: [NSFW - nudity and language]

Back in October, we posted a 4-minute pencil test from Bill Plympton’s upcoming short Cheatin’. Today Plympton posted the second part:

Oscar-nominated animation maestro Bill Plympton has revealed his latest short, Cheatin’. However, it’s not finished. What you’ll watch below is a (lavish) pencil test, that includes the entire story and a near full realization of the animation. Plympton has been steadily releasing his traditionally-animated dog series (Guard Dog, Guide Dog, etc…), and you’ll see a brief canine homage early on.

Bill Plympton has produced dozens of films – with titles like Guard Dog, Guide Dog and Hot Dog. See a trend here? Correct! It’s a dog series. In fact, it’s an Oscar-nominated dog series, and it is still growing. Plympton’s latest, Horn Dog, has been touring the festival circuit, but today we’ve got a clip from this new 6-minute short.

Oscar nominee Bill Plympton’s (Your Face, Guard Dog) latest film is playing at the Brooklyn International Film Festival this month. Santa: The Fascist Years, is a 4-minute expose of Santa Claus and his hidden political agenda. The festival runs from June 5th to the 14th, and Plympton’s short plays on June 10th and 12th. Here’s a clip:

The 2009 Sundance Film Festival is upon us, and aside from excitement that my friend Doug Pray’s documentary, Art & Copy, made it in, I’m overloaded with animated shorts to watch. There’s two main animation categories – U.S. Animated Shorts and International Animated Shorts. Today, let’s see what’s cooking in the US of A. A number of these in past posts, which we’ll show you below, but they’re also screening Western Spaghetti from PES, Hot Dog from Bill Plympton and I Am So Proud of You by Don Hertzfeldt.

Field Notes From Dimension X: Oasis was directed by Carson Mell:

From Burger It Came was directed by Dominic Bisignano:

I Live In The Woods by Max Winston:

Later in the week, we’ll cover the International films. It’s animation overload!