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Guard Dog (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Guard Dog'[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430159/ Guard Dog on IMDb] is a 2004 5-minute animated dark comedy short film that was hand-drawn and produced by independent animator Bill Plympton at his 'Plymptoons' Studio.http://plymptoons.com In 2005, the film was nominated for Best Animated Short Film[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7DC173FF936A15750C0A9639C8B63 FILM REVIEW; Oscar-Nominated Shorts Few See but Many Should By DAVID KEHR Published: March 25, 2005 'NY Times'][http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-03-14/entertainment/bal-ae.sragow14mar14_1_festival-director-jed-dietz-maryland-film-festival-hurt-locker Film festivals like Md.'s crucial for 'Hurt Locker' March 14, 2010 by Michael Sragow 'The Baltimore Sun'] at the 77th Academy Awards held in 2005 and produced by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Also, in 2005, 'Guard Dog' won 'Best Animated Short' at Toronto World of Comedy International Film Festival, and won a 'Special Jury Mention' for 'Animated Stories' at ANIMA - Crdoba Intl. Animation Festival.[http://www.animafestival.com.ar/eng/2005-3/ ANIMA - Crdoba International Animation Festival, 2005] (archive) This film marked the second Oscar nomination for Plympton, his first being the animated short 'Your Face' at the 60th Academy Awards.
The film is a humorous and surreally-violent answer to the question "Why do dogs bark at such innocent creatures as pigeons and squirrels?" and gives the audience a window into the paranoid mind of a loyal guard dog as it imagines farcically depicted dangers, from harmless flora and fauna on a walk through a neighborhood park. Each potential threat, from flower, butterfly, and grasshopper, to bird, squirrel, and rope-jumping girl, is treated to its own improbable and often bloody vignette.
The eponymous Guard Dog has gone on to be featured in three more Bill Plympton short films to date,[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0823470/ 'Guide Dog' (2006) on IMDb][https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1352832/ 'Hot Dog' (2008) on IMDb][https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1625865/ 'Horn Dog' (2009) on IMDb] and appears in cameo in his feature films 'Idiots and Angels' (2009), 'Cheatin' (2013) and the Weird Al Yankovic music video 'TMZ' (2011). The character Guard Dog is referred to by the artist himself, as 'Plymptoon's' 'Mickey Mouse.'[http://www.laweekly.com/2010-10-28/film-tv/sex-death-and-pragmatism/ Sex, Death and Pragmatism: Bill Plympton's DIY cartoon cottage industry] by Vadim Rizov LA Weekly Thursday, Oct 28 2010[http://actorsentertainment.com/actorse/october-28th-2010-actorse-with-cartoonist-bill-pympton-and-comic-brett-walkow/ October 28th, 2010 ActorsE with cartoonist Bill Pympton and comic Brett Walkow]
In 2010, Plympton orchestrated the reprise of this short film called "Guard Dog Global Jam"[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1928177/ 'Guard Dog Global Jam' on IMDb] (debuting in 2011[http://www.awn.com/blogs/perrys-previews/award-winning-guard-dog-global-jam-open-new-media-film-festival-perry-chen-att Award-winning Guard Dog Global Jam To Open New Media Film Festival, Perry Chen to Attend Premiere as One of Creators]) which featured 75 international artists and animators each of whom worked on re-interpreting a fraction of the film's multiple vignettes.
'Guard Dog' was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2015.
References
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