Base14

“The Girl and the Fox” continues its film festival tour with its most prominent festival showing to date: The Palm Springs International Shortfest. This festival is renowned worldwide for the extraordinary community of filmmakers it attracts and for the quality and scope of its programming.

The 2011 ShortFest will present more than 300 short films from over 40 countries, with TGTF being one of them! The event also features the ShortFest Film Market, which will make available over 2,700 films to film buyers, industry representatives and the press. Here’s the specific showtime for those of you out in Southern California:

“The Girl and the Fox” Palm Springs Screening
Saturday, June 25 – 4:00 pm – Camelot Theatres
(A part of the ‘Animal Attraction’ program)

Here’s to a season full of secret, shady hollows and toes in cool creeks. Images from my recent Spring/Summer collection, “Stay With Me, Go Places.” Photography by Jane Hahn.

So maybe dreams do come true… if you’re willing to work hard enough to realize them. That’s what I learned this week after three and a half years of dedication to my personal dream and long-term goal: to become a semifinalist in the Student Academy Awards. And “The Girl and the Fox” just did it.

On Wednesday afternoon, I learned that our film has been chosen as a Region II semifinalist in this year’s Student Academy Awards. That means that “The Girl and the Fox,” along with eleven other Region II films, will be recognized this Thursday, April 28th, at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. This marks the first opportunity for me to see the final cut of the film up on the big screen, so naturally I’m jumping on a plane early Thursday morning and jetting up to the Heartland for the big event. If you’re going to be in the greater Chicago metropolitan area on Thursday night, consider coming on out for the show! It will be a fabulous collection of top-notch student work and best of all, it’s absolutely free!

Once the films have screened in Chicago, they will be shipped out west to The Academy for the final round of judging. We’ll find out if we made the finals in mid-May. Wish us luck!

This past weekend was AMAZING. As you all know, The Girl and The Fox had been nominated for a College Television Award in Animation and the big event was set for Saturday night in Hollywood. So I packed my bags and flew to Los Angeles, really having no idea what the day may have in store. I met up with TGTF producer Nicholas Allred and we strolled over to the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel where the award show was being held. To our surprise, not only did TGTF place second in Animation, but we also won the Geena Davis award for Diversity and Gender Equality in Children’s Media. Simply put, it means we were recognized for balancing our portrayal of male and female roles, and rejecting common gender stereotypes in storytelling.

The director of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media later asked me why I chose the characters and story that I did. These were my thoughts:

“I always have enjoyed exploring adult issues through the eyes of children. Our protagonist, Ilona, is a nine-year-old girl who lives with her parents and siblings in a cold, lush forested region. While she takes after her mother in appearance, Ilona also inherited her father’s fervor and tenacity. Having been brought up as the daughter of fur trappers, she is unafraid to face the dangers of the wilderness alone. Choosing a female as my protagonist allowed me to effectively show how children are influenced by the roles of their parents, and how as we grow, we learn to find balance between who our parents are and who we are as individuals. Ilona dresses like her father because she admires him and wants to hunt like him, but her journey causes her to realize she has a unique role in the world defined by her own insights and experiences.”

Considering the significance of both awards, this is certainly the biggest honor that a Base14 project has received to date! It’s really terrific to be given such recognition for as much hard work. Special thanks goes to the entire crew of “The Girl and the Fox” for really making all of this possible. We look forward to more festivals and contests yet to come!

Last Saturday’s fashion show went off without any mishaps. I couldn’t be happier with the performance of my beautiful models and with the help from my incredibly talented assistant, Tyler Dillon.

Even though the show is over I still have some wrap-up to do. In the coming weeks I will be doing a proper photo shoot of the clothes for your viewing pleasure. Also, I still need to decide which products to produce for sale. See anything you would like to buy? Let me know and I can make it happen. One-off tote bags and jewelry are already available for sale by emailing me at www.alyshakupferer.com.

To view the entire collection from show day click here. I still can’t believe it’s already over! I’m going to miss my models so much.

Today is the Purdue Fashion show! Right now I am backstage getting my gorgeous models ready to go. My collection that will show today, “Stay with me, go places” is a homage to my Midwestern roots and everything I love about my past. It features hand dyed organic fabrics, silk screened topographic maps, illustrations of plants from field guides, and a whole lot of vintage boyscout equipment.

If you didn’t get tickets to today’s show, no worries. There will be pictures posted online in the weeks to come. If you are at the show right now reading this, thanks for visiting the site! And a special thanks to all my fantastic models and all of my friends and family for their support leading up to today.

1,2,3… Showtime!

Well the time has arrived to announce the official world premiere of “The Girl and the Fox,” since as it is only two weeks away! Already we have been accepted to a few festivals, but it turns out that the Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival will be the first one out of the gates. A big event for animation enthusiasts across the South,  the Citrus Cel Animation Film Festival will be held in Jacksonville, Florida, April 8th through the 10th.

“The Girl and the Fox” will be showing as part of the Tangerine Dreams showcase, which features animation that deals with the fantastic and supernatural, and will take place Saturday, April 9th at 4:00pm in the 5 Points Theatre in Jacksonville. I would be there to see the premiere in person if I wasn’t already spending that weekend in Los Angeles for the College Television Awards! But if you’ll be in or around Florida that weekend, be sure to stop by and support a great animation event!

To go along with the announcement, I’ve relaunched the Base14 Tour Page, which will track and display every festival that “The Girl and the Fox” visits. I’ll be updating it regularly as more festivals get back to us, so be sure to watch for a screening near you sometime in the next year!