Experimental animator Jodie Mack is now on the West Coast conducting a colorful, musical screening retrospective of her work. From Seattle to Los Angeles, she’ll be showing films from throughout her prolific career, including her earliest films like Ebullition to her energetic Yard Work Is Hard Work (Watch Online) to her recent Unsubscribe series of films to her latest offering The Future Is Bright.

Mack primarily specializes in vibrant, fast-paced, extremely colorful animations utilizing cut out images in a variety of creative and innovative ways. Some of her films are pure abstraction, while others offer up spirited narratives, such as her popular musical about home ownership, Yard Work Is Hard Work (Watch Online).

The screenings begin tonight, July 26, at the Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle. Mack will then make her way south along the Pacific coast, stopping at the finest microcinemas in cities such as Portland, Olympia, San Francisco and then wrapping up at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theater in Los Angeles on July 31. The full list of screening dates, times and venues is below; as is the lineup of films being screened.

A warm summer night is a great time to check out these lively, colorful animated short films and to connect with a super-talented filmmaker.

Tour Dates:

July 26
7:00 p.m.
The Grand Illusion Cinema
1403 NE 50th St.
Seattle, WA 98105

July 27
7:00 p.m.
Northern Flickers
321 4th Avenue
Olympia, WA
98501

July 28
8:00 p.m.
Grand Detour
215 SE Morrison; Suite 2020
Portland, OR 917214

July 30
8:00 p.m.
Artists Television Access
ATA Gallery
992 Valencia (@ 21st)
San Francisco, CA 94110

July 31
7:30 p.m.
Los Angeles Filmforum
Egyptian Theater
6712 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Film Lineup:

Lilly (2007, 6m, 16mm, color, sound) (Watch Online)
Animated photo-negatives illustrate a WWII tragedy.

Harlequin and Lace (2006-9, 5m, 16mm, color and b/w, silent)
A rapid-fare pattern parade followed by calm.

A Joy (2005, 3m, 16mm->DV, color, sound)
A music video four Four-Tet’s “A Joy.”

Ebullition (2004, 2m, 16mm, color, silent)
Colors and bubbles bustle energetically.

Two-Hundred Feet (2003, 2m30s, 16mm, color, silent)
Shapes shake nervously. Lines sway back and forth. The sun sets.

Unsubscribe 1-4 (2010, 16m, 16mm, color/bw, sound/silent)
Formal studies of domestic objects that enter the home via unwanted junkmail ask questions and seek answers about cinema, life, and (as always) love.
#1: Special Offer Inside (16mm, 4m30s, color, sound—optical +/- live)
#2: All Eyes on the Silver Screen (16mm x 2, 2m45a, b/w, silent)
#3 Glitch Envy (16mm, 5m45s, color, sound—optical + live)
#4 The Saddest Song in the World (16mm, 2m45s, color, sound—optical + live)

Twilight Spirit (2009, 4m45s, 16mm->DV, color, sound)
A collaboration with Chicago’s Judson Claiborne that illustrates the desert hallucinations of David Morehouse, former CIA spy and author of Psychic Warriors.

Yard Work Is Hard Work (2008, 28m, 16mm, color, sound) (Watch Online)
Part experimental animation, part romantic comedy, part light critique of capitalism, this musical follows a pair of newlyweds as they learn the perils of home ownership and life in general.

The Future Is Bright (2011, 2m45s, 16mm color, live sound)
‘Tis a rhyme for your lips and a song for your heart…to sing it whenever the world falls apart.”

Posthaste Perennial Pattern (2010 , 3m38s, 16mm, color, sound)
Rapid-fire florals and morning birdsongs bridge interior and exterior, design and nature.

Rad Plaid (2010 , 6m, 16mm, color, silent or with live sound)
A series of chromatic intersections.

Watch one of Jodie Mack’s films online: