Paul Yan, Animator

Welcome to the production journal for my first short film, Egghunt. It began as an undergraduate thesis project in December 2003 and was completed in March 2005. It went on to win numerous awards at international film festivals and was featured at several venues, most notably at MoMA‘s Ford Family Programs. Egghunt was a tremendous learning experience and this is a collection of snapshots along the way primarily for other students attempting to do the same. You can jump to the very beginning of this journey here.

Synopsis: Egghunt is the tale of a hungry caveman on a quest to fill his stomach. He discovers a nest full of plump eggs just inches beyond his reach and must devise a way to get them before he loses them all.

Accolades: Winner Best of the Fest (East Lansing Children’s Festival), Animation Finalist (Stash Global Student Animation Awards 2005), Animation Semi-finalist (Angelus Awards Student Film Festival 2005), Animation Finalist (Alice 3 Minute 2nd Annual Film Festival), Official Selection (Nextoons Nicktoons Film Festival), Official Selection (Palm Springs International Shorts Film Festival), Official Selection (LA Shorts International Film Festival), Official Selection (Newport International Film Festival), Official Selection (Chicago International Children’s Film Festival), Official Selection (BAMKids International Film Festival), Official Selection (Newport Beach Film Festival), Official Selection (San Diego Asian Film Festival), Official Selection (Swansea Bay Film Festival)

The world’s original cartoon podcast has featured Egghunt in Episode 38 along with “Float (My Electric Stargirl)” by Joel Trussell and “Satan Sucks” by Josh Rodgers. Be sure to check out the other Channel Frederator toons!

If you happen to be in the Minneapolis, Minnesota area, Egghunt will be screening at the Walker Art Center August 5th for Free First Saturday. And yes, it’s absolutely free!

Egghunt has been selected to screen at the Newport International Film Festival (not to be confused with the Newport Beach Film Festival!)

MoMA NY (The Museum of Modern Art New York), has invited Egghunt to be exhibited at the museum’s Ford Family Programs and be permanently archived in the MoMA Education Department’s collection. The program is designed to introduce young children and adults to the richly varied world of film. Admission is free and no preregistration is required. Egghunt will be screened as part of this year’s fall series. Details TBA.

Egghunt has been selected to screen at the Newport Beach Film Festival 2006.

Egghunt has been selected to screen at the Swansea Bay Film Festival 2006

Egghunt has been selected to screen at this year’s East Lansing Children’s International Film Festival. (February 24 – March 6) Update: Egghunt has been award winner of “Best of the Fest”. What an honor!

China Visual, a computer graphics community in China, asked to interview me and host Egghunt on their website. If you can read Chinese, check it out!

Paul Hellard from CGSociety.org was kind enough to do a frontpage feature story on Egghunt as well as host a copy of the film to coincide with the online debut of Egghunt on paul-yan.com. There’s a lot of support out there for us short filmmakers and I just want to say a nice big “Thank You” to everyone who sent me a word of encouragement