"Jesus 2" by Jesse Moynihan
Animation Mixtape
2025, NR, 85 min.
Directed by Various.

The intro to Animation Mixtape, a mind-bending showcase of a dozen shorts curated by local legend Don Hertzfeldt, is worth the price of admission alone. Minute one revives Hertzfeldt’s “Rejected” stick figure blobbies; they trade screams for sixty seconds, in itself an absolute scream. Minute two, the blobbies issue a disclaimer that “certain portions of tonight’s program will be animated with artificial intelligence”: cue fuzzy-wuzzy CGI creatures mutating into vomiting, exsanguinating freak shows. And there’s still 83 minutes to go! It’s not all giggling carnage: The international assemblage shows off eclectic animation styles and moods that careen from trippy to sardonic to existential, and includes some vintage animation Hertzfeldt cites as influences on his own award-winning work. Highly recommended. – Kimberley Jones

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...