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I found your substack yesterday and I am glued. I am from a non-art background and grew up watching animation from US studios and anime. I had no concept of French animation or studios in Australia or Indian animation (except a couple that featured on government-owned TV channels) till my early-mid 20s. This piece is a treasure trove for people like me who do not full access to animation films, even online on popular OTTs. Looking forward to read more from you. And, I am sharing my website as well that I have dedicated to writing about animation movies, art books, Shorts, and unpopular pieces I can find across the globe from my study. Thank you.

Website: https://sangitaekka.com/

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Love this piece - thanks for writing it! It expresses a lot of my thoughts about animation criticism. Especially this idea of discussing animation directors next to live action directors - considering and comparing the modern masters in both fields. Looking forward to reading more!

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Oh hi!! I really loved your book on Grave of the Fireflies for the BFI. Very excited to see what you write on here.

You mention aniobsessive, they're great - some other (hopefully novel) recs for online animation writing would be Matteo Watzky's site (https://animetudes.com/), Sakuga Blog (https://blog.sakugabooru.com/), Toadette's site (https://ontheones.wordpress.com/) and fufuro (https://fullfrontal.moe/ - worry not, it's sfw, named after the Gundam character ^^').

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Thanks for the nice words! And yeah, those are all great examples of animation analysis – those writers have taught me a lot about Japanese and other animation

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Nice to know whats on your mind, Alex. Thank you

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Thank you for reading!

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How lovely Alex, what a great idea. I look forward to more of your Dudokian animation insights.

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Thanks Joanna! "Dudokian" – there's a scary word. I hope I can live up to the coinage

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I'm very grateful for your initiative, Alex! As an animator, artist, and educator, I'm thirsty for independent, beautiful, diverse, and experimental animated films, but I'm surprised and upset when realizing how little these films and their authors are known and critically acclaimed. The Art world then is oblivious to everybody except William Kentridge, but this now would open up a longer conversation. I look forward to reading your posts!

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Thanks for your comment Sandro. I've also found it strange how little the art and animation worlds interact, given what they share. That would make a good subject for a post!

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Great you’re doing this Alex. Looking forward to reading more.

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Cheers Nag. Seeing the films and speaking to people at your Paul Bush retrospective at LIAF was one of the things that inspired me to launch this Substack.

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I look forward to reading your posts! with greetings to you from Montreal, Judith Gruber-Stitzer

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Thanks Judith, nice to know you're reading!

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