Thom Cat: Brooklyn 4th Annual KidsFilmFest Success + New York Times Article!
Above (Creators in attendance: left to right): Thy Than, Mike Gray, Kelly Shon, Tom Eaton.
My wife Melissa and I were greatly honored to attend the Brooklyn 4th Annual KidsFilmFest this past Sunday (June 01), where “Thom Cat” was shown two times: at the 1pm and the 2:30pm showings (the “world premiere”/ first time seen by kids outside of Nickelodeon and Frederator Studios)! After each showing, kids were sent upstairs to “meet the creators” of the cartoons, ask us questions, etc, which was a fabulous time for me! It was great to hear which parts of “Thom Cat” was their personal favorites, and I was very grateful to have the opportunity to do drawings of favorite Thom Cat characters for the kids (and give them free copies of my comic where he first appeared)! The festival, run by the terrific Lisa King, was extremely gracious to provide us with wonderful accomodations at the Hotel Chandler. I just found out today that “Thom Cat” was also mentioned in the New York Times on Friday, May 30th and was named “among the stars of the short films in this festival,” for which I am so honored that I am speechless! In the show’s program, I was incorrectly identified as the short’s director (instead of creator/writer/co-producer), who is actually the extremely talented Jeff Degrandis (by no means do I mean this as a complaint, the festival did a terrific job on everything, I just like to make sure to give credit where it is due)! It was our first time to New York, and it was a stunning, wonderous city to visit, and Melissa and I had the pleasure of having breakfast with Fred (Seibert) on Monday morning (his treat since we were in his city!), which was a great ending to a wonderful trip! –Mike Gray
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On June 4th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
I live just up the block from the Brooklyn Lyceum and found out about the festival quite by accident. I ended up taking my two sons, despite it being a gorgeous Spring day in Brooklyn. Certainly glad I did. the boys had a blast and I too was quite entertained by each of the shorts. All of them were well done, very creative and unique in their own right.
Mike, you will be pleased to note that yours was my 8-yr-old’s favorite (that is him by the way in the second photo with his back turned to the camera). My five-year-old decided before the festival started that “Don’t Smash” was his favorite and he never wavered on that - although yours did receive a very strong honorable mention! And both those favorable reviews were earned prior to going upstairs, meeting you and getting autographed sketches of Thom.
Congrats on the short and thanks for being so nice to all the kids on Sunday. Your enthusiasm is infectious.
On June 4th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
Thanks Bud!! It was a terrific time for me and Melissa to be there, and I am very glad that you decided to bring your kids to the show! Hearing what the kids liked in the short was wonderful for me, and I was more than happy to do the drawings for all of them (after all, hearing what they thought makes all the hard work worth while)! I really appreciate you taking the time to write in to the blog as well, it is great to get feedback (especially nice feedback like this)! Thanks again! –Mike