Red Stick gets animated – Annual film fest comes to Baton Rouge this weekend

Many of us don’t understand the science behind supercomputers—or even smartphones. But every time we turn on the TV, we have the opportunity to experience advanced computing.

Stephen David Beck, director of the Red Stick International Animation Festival, says it takes that same computing power to create an animated short film. So when the LSU Center for Computation & Technology wanted to showcase its abilities eight years ago, it did so with cartoons … and the Red Stick Animation Festival was born.

The festival has since grown in popularity, and the juried portion of the event received applicants from 34 countries this year.

Running June 8-10, this year’s festival will focus on screenings. Films will be shown in the Manship Theatre and include Oscar-nominated shorts on Friday and contest winners and the short sequel to Disney’s Tangled, titled Tangled Ever After, on Saturday. John Kaufman, director of marketing at the Manship Theatre, says there will also be a “super-secret” family film screening Sunday, June 10, at 2 p.m.

Beck says the Red Stick Festival is one of the only strictly-animation events in the country. “We just hope that people come out and take advantage of this unique opportunity,” he says.

For more information, visit redstickfestival.org.