Featuring talent from all over the world and a few world-famous judges, Duck and Red Octopus is Cortland’s newest film festival! The festival was a huge success for the community, run by Paul Kozlowski and SUNY Cortland’s own Michele LoGerfo.
The festival’s debut on September 22nd and 23rd exceeded expectations, attracting over 2000 short film submissions from across the globe. Officially titled the “Duck and Red Octopus Short Funny Stop Action and Animated Film Festival,” it provided a unique platform for filmmakers from across the world in Iran to aspiring youth animators in Cortland.
The festival unfolded at the Ake Gallery, which was coincidentally celebrating its one-year anniversary. From the official website, “The Ake Gallery is located in the historic Crescent Commons building at 165 Main Street in Cortland New York. The Ake Gallery’s mission is to take the stuffiness out of the art gallery experience and offer affordable, fun fine art and to encourage and promote the many talented artists living in the area.”
This weekend, the gallery was the home to an art reception highlighting the works of Peter Hannan. Hannan is the creator and showrunner of Nickelodeon’s CatDog, and the exhibit featured many conceptual art pieces from the show.
Following the opening reception, the festival burst into laughter with a comedy show hosted by the irrepressible Bobcat Goldthwait. Goldthwait, who is known for touring with Nirvana during their final tour and a memorable chair-burning appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, had the entire audience in stitches. He brilliantly wove these experiences into his hilarious routine.
Saturday began with a screening for all of the finalists at the festival. This included submissions from places like Iran and Congo, all the way to Cortland natives. Filmmakers from across the country traveled to make it to the premier weekend of Duck and Red Octopus! The day began with the screening of exceptional short films, then we moved on to a Q+A panel.
The panel was hosted by a few famous faces, such as Tom Kenny, Peter Hannan, Gene Grillo, Martin Olson, and Jonathan Katz. Cortland native filmmaker Peter J. Hartsock was also featured on the panel, as well as Michelle LoGerfo. Kenny is best known for being the voice of SpongeBob SquarePants! Hannan, Grillo, Olson, and Katz are all known for their amazing work and contributions to the animation and comedy industries.
The panel offered invaluable advice for aspiring individuals aiming to start their careers in various creative fields. Here are some of their insights:
- Grillo: You want to have a job making yourself happy. Go for it!
- Hancock: Go out there, make something, show it. Do it again. Do it with creative people, be around creative people, and just talk to as many people as possible.
- Tom Kenny got a laugh from the audience as he told spectators “The most important – and I can’t stress this enough – hire the elderly!”
- LoGerfo: Surround yourself with creative people. Find the other creative people that can complement you and enhance you. Find friends that don’t say no, go with the friends who want to try it
- Paul Kozlowski butted in after LoGerfo’s comment and said “Find people that will do all the work!”
- Hannan: Do it if you really love doing it. If you would keep doing it even if you weren’t being paid for it.
- Olson: Find something that you’d do for free, something that you love, and then find a way to get paid for it! Build connections – there’s no shame in trying!
Then Kenny jumped back in to say “You don’t always go right to the thing that you wanna do. I was doing stand-up in Syracuse opening for punk bands as a teenager, which is very different from doing what I’m doing now forty years later. Just make stuff, do stuff. Where you wind up might not be a direct flight right from starting out to the final destination. This is a business of relationships. I’m working with people that I worked with on my first cartoons in the 90’s!”
The panel was fascinating and so much fun to be a part of, even if it was just in the audience. After the Q+A we moved on to the award ceremony for the films. Some of the winning filmmakers had such amazing things to say. A local filmmaker praised “Thank you for making Cortland an amazing, creative, beautiful place!”
The Duck and Red Octopus Film Festival not only showcased exceptional films but also fostered creativity and camaraderie. It left a lasting impression, marking a significant cultural milestone for Cortland. This festival is sure to be a cherished annual event for both filmmakers and the community at large.