Ben and Dopey

Here is a trailer for Ben and Dopey.

Ben and Dopey was screened at the Farewell to John Akre Cellular Cinema outdoor show in March 2021. Its indoor world premiere was at the Athens International Film and Video Festival in Athens, OH in October 2021. Let me know if you want to show it!

Here is the full movie:

Ben and Dopey is a new animated feature-ette that I started working on in 2015 or so and finished in September 2020.

"John's animated universe is unlike any other I know - I've come to feel comfortable there over the years and it was such a pleasure to spend a whole feature there and really see what happens when the characters and the city have room to breathe and grow and wander and get as weird as they need to." Colin Stanhill, Animator

It tells the 1987 story of a Minneapolis street musician and his relationship with an animated duck created by his mother, an underground animator who seems to have disappeared. The movie takes place in the neighborhood that used to be where the Minneapolis Convention Center is now, as well as the orginal Nicollet Mall.

Here is a blog of my work on this project, as told by Dopey Duck.

Here is some time lapse video of me creating some of the artwork.

I finished the movie in September 2020 and am now hoping to screen it somewhere or somehow.