Film & Animation

In App: The Human Story, filmmakers Jake Schumacher and Jed Hurt are trying to tell the human stories behind the apps you use and love, with interviews that include a long list of past XOXO speakers and attendees. They’re funding the documentary with a project that raised over $163,000 on Kickstarter from more than 2,100 backers. Jake and Jed will premiere a rough cut of the first 15 minutes of the film at XOXO.

Everything Is A Remix, a video series on copyright law and remix culture, became a touchstone for anyone who creates things in the digital age—a brilliantly-edited four-part essay that clearly explains the derivative nature of creativity and the legal forces that threaten it. Creator Kirby Ferguson joins us at XOXO with a special remastered edit for the series’ fifth anniversary, and a chat about its impact and what’s changed since.

Each episode of Every Frame A Painting feels like a perfectly-crafted jewel—every video essay analyzing the film form, while using those same techniques to tell an entertaining and compelling story. In a little over a year, it’s built a dedicated fan base of over 2,200 patrons donating nearly $4,800 for each (free!) video on subjects as varied as how to do visual comedy to texting and the Internet in film. Filmmaker and editor Tony Zhou joins us from San Francisco to debut a brand new episode.

The surreal animated world of Baman Piderman defies explanation, but found a dedicated cult following online with its disarming sweetness, internal consistency, questionable physics, and unique brand of humor. When the series was put on hold in 2013, creators Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera went to Kickstarter, raising over $112,000 from 2,264 diehard fans to finish the series. Lindsay and Alex join us from Boston to talk about the series.

Most coverage of Anita Sarkeesian’s pioneering video series about the representation of women in videogames focused on the backlash spawned from her blockbuster Kickstarter campaign. She’s released nearly three solid hours of intensely-researched video essays since—they catalogued 548 examples of the Damsels in Distress trope alone while researching the videos. It’s having an impact, with more games including playable female characters, but there’s a long way to go. We’re thrilled to have Anita back at XOXO for a chat about her work, process, and where it’s headed.

After years of making weird and wonderful short films online like Internet cult classic House of Cosbys, Justin Roiland teamed up with Dan Harmon to create Rick and Morty—a demented science-fiction animated series about a genius alcoholic scientist and his naive grandson’s adventures through time and space. We’re very happy to have Justin at XOXO to screen his work and answer your questions.

Coming off a series of hugely-popular game documentaries, San Francisco-based Area 5 launched Outerlands, a six-episode series on the people and culture of videogames that raised nearly $250,000 from almost 4,400 backers. They’re nearly ready to debut the first episode, making its exclusive non-backer debut at XOXO, thanks to filmmakers Matt Chandronait and Ryan O’Donnell.