Animiami Kicks Off Thursday With Live Animation at Cafeina

We really shouldn't be telling you this, but heads up, tens of readers. Tomorrow night, you could star in your very own animation. Miami World Cinema Center's Spencer Morin will conduct a covert, live animation at the hipster lounge Cafeina.

Morin will sneakily capture images of the bar crowd, which he will then stop-motion animate and project onto one of Cafeina's walls. He hopes to catch you off guard. "People will look at the screen, see they're being animated, and see themselves moving in increments. They'll be holding their mint juleps and going 'What the fuck is going on up there?'" It's the first in a series of kick off parties for Animiami, an animation conference and festival that comes to Miami in October.

If Morin's name sounds familiar, it might be because his dad is Jim

Morin, the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist for the Miami Herald. But

the young Morin looks to be just as successful. He was one of the

founders of the Borscht Film Festival, he runs Miami's Drinking and

Drawing events, and he's trying to cultivate Miami's animation talent at

the Miami World Cinema Center.

When he was asked to help kick off Animiami, Morin insisted that the

events feature traditional animation instead of the video game

graphics and digital animations that are at the center of the festival.

He got his wish. Tomorrow night's party will feature time-lapse,

stop-motion animation. And at the next Animiami party on August 16, also at Cafeina, he'll create an animation inspired by Seattle video artist

David Russo, who animates one central object while the background

swirls and blurs. Morin says "It's so smooth, beautiful, and

consistent." It's also hard to explain, so here's one of Russo's

creations:

For the third Animiami party, on September 16, Morin will invite street

artists to create visuals to be animated. And

lastly, on October 14, the series closes with Animation Idol. Morin

explains "it's kinda cheesy, but we'll have four animators animating the

same character in the same circumstance but from four different

perspectives. We'll screen all four and select one to show at a later

festival."

305-438-0792 or visit www.animiami.com.