Samuel Wright Smith

Multimedia animator

2023 Animation Reel

A sampling of recent work in various styles.

Landline 2023

Depicted in an ecstatic multimedia barrage: my mother does not die once.

Runtime 2:22
Materials: Chalk pastel, linocut print, wax pencil over vintage media. Hand and machine-assisted cutouts from vintage materials (collections of ancient motifs, hemp braiding instructions, needlework collections, old yearbooks, etc.) Replacement animation utilizing vintage materials. Entirely practical with no compositing.

DOCNYC 2023 // Official Selection
Cindependent 2023 // Official Selection
NYU Tisch Film/TV undergrad class of 2023 First Run finalist
Tisch Family Animation Award Recipient
Todd Martin Production Award Recipient

Life Eternal 2021

When a tree falls, it does not die. It comes alive.

Runtime 4:41
Materials: Watercolor, linocut prints. Partially composited.

National Board of Review 2021 // Grant Winner
Vancouver International Film Festival 2021 // Best student film finalist
Portland Eco Film Festival 2021 // Official selection
NFFTY 2022 // Official Selection
Cincinnati Cindependent Film Festival 2021 // Official selection

That Gives/That Takes 2021

The ecstatic voyage of a soul unfolding itself, like a lotus of countless petals.

Runtime: 1:21
Materials: Hand and machine-assisted cutouts of old magazines, stencils, yearbooks, lace patterns, quilting guides, etc. Partially composited.

The Balloonist 2023

For director Malcolm Quinn Silver-Van Meter/Vermont PBS. Read more. View on PBS On-Demand

Utilizing extensive interviews, verité-style footage, animation, and archival materials, "The Balloonist" paints a portrait of Brian Boland, a beloved and eccentric hot air balloonist and folk artist from Thetford, Vermont, who passed in 2021. This film was supported by the Made Here Fund. Made Here is a local public television program presented by Vermont Public.

Runtime 23:37
Materials: Oil pastel, digital compositing.

Eztli 2018

Made in collaboration with Julieta Lozano.

Like a moth towards a flame, protagonist Eztli is drawn into a death-ritual of cosmic merging.

Runtime 3:03
Materials: Watercolor, pencil. Digitally compositied.

NFFTY 2019 Animation Finalist
Fusion Film Festival Animation Finalist
2019 Cindependent official selection

Transmissions 1 and 2 2021

Ethereal, interstellar noise collected in dirty satellites. Experiments in circuit-bent CRTV imaging.

Runtimes: 1:12 and 1:09
Materials: manipulated footage, prisms, digitally-generated proto-3d animation, circuit-bent CRTV gain controller.