Friday, Sept. 27
6 p.m. Opening Reception
The 2024 Red Octopus Short Funny Animation Festival will be bigger and better starting on Friday, Sept. 27 at 6 p.m. with the opening reception followed by a special concert from SpongeBob himself, Tom Kenny and his 13-piece rock-N-soul band the Hi Seas at the Homer Center for the Arts in Homer NY.
Saturday, Sept. 28
On Saturday Sept. 28 the action takes place at the world-famous Ake Gallery in Cortland with a showing of the finalists’ films, presentation of awards and several panels.
11 a.m. Breaking In And Breaking Out
How the animation industry works and what they are looking for. An Animation Industry Panel featuring…
Claudia Spinelli Senior Vice President of Nickelodeon Animation Development
Alyssa Harden – Production Supervisor at DreamWorks Animation
Tom Kenny – the sole Voice Director of Paramount’s SpongeBob-iverse as well as the Voice Director of Netflix’s new series Exploding Kitte
Peter Hannan – Creator and Executive Producer of Nickelodeon’s CatDog
Gene Grillo – Emmy Award winning Writer of Teen Titan’s Go, Kung Fu Panda and Johnny Bravo
Martin Olson – Writer and Producer of Phineas and Ferb, Danny Giovannini Writer (and occasional voice actor) for SpongeBob SquarePants and its universe of spinoff shows – Kamp Koral and The Patrick Star Show plus
Peter Hartsock – Duck and Red Octopus festival Co-Chairman and SpongeBob Producer
12 p.m. Exclusive Premieres
Exclusive premieres of several animated projects including the animated pilot I Confess featuring Tom Kenny, Bobcat Goldthwait, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Eddie Pepitone and Karen Kilgariff
1 p.m. Finalists Screening
The presentation of The Duck and Red Octopus Short Funny Animation Finalists of Best Animation, Best Stop Action, Best Animation Under 1 Minute, Best Stop Action Under 1 Minute, Best Story and Best animations from Central New York.* Following the presentation the audience will be asked to vote on their favorite films.
3 p.m. Celebrity Animation Voice Actor Panel
The Celebrity Animation Voice Actor Panel featuring:
- Tom Kenny – Voice actor veteran of SpongeBob, Adventure Time, Rocko’s Modern Life, Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and CatDog to name a few
- BobCat Goldthwait – voice acted on Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command, Capitol Critters, Back At The Barnyard, Bob’s Burgers and Disney’s House Of Mouse
- Carlos Alazraqui – voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua. Carlos has also voiced characters for Looney Tunes, The Family Guy, The Fairly OddParents, Rocko’s Modern Life, CatDog and The Loud House
- Martin Olson – voice of the Vampire Hunson Abadeer The Lord Of Evil on Adventure Time.
- Jill Talley Kenny – voice of Karen The Computer and Squidina on SpongeBob Squarepants, Rita Loud from The Loud House, Sarah in The Boondocks, Ramona in American Dad, Gretchen, Nina and Miss Mucus on Camp Lazlo.
4 p.m. Awards Ceremony
The presentation of awards featuring up-cycled bowling, baseball and wrestling trophies which will include the prestigious Pat On The Back Award For Giving It Your Best Shot and The Totally Unfair Insider and Nepotism Award.