People's Republic of Animation in Adelaide attracts awards internationally with venture into short firms

Adelaide's People's Republic of Animation, founded by Eddie White, James Calvert and Hugh Nguyen, attracted awards with its first ventures into short films such as Fritz gets Rich (2005) and The Cat Piano (2009).

Fritz gets Rich (2005) and The Cat Piano (2009) were among short film successes, including internationally, funded by the Adelaide Film Festival and the South Australian Film Corporation and made by the home-state’s People's Republic of Animation.

A studio based in Adelaide, the People's Republic of Animation began creating music videos for Australian bands in 2003 before moving on to award-winning short films and TV commercials, and developing feature films.

As 14-year-olds in 1996, The People's Republic of Animation founders Eddie White, James Calvert and Hugh Nguyen experimented with a Super 8 camera as Dabble Animation. Their first short film Natural Born Animators (1998) gained some national and international festival success on the student film circuit, including being slected for student animation festival in Ottowa, Canada.

In 2000, White renamed the team the People's Republic of Animation after seeing “The People's Republic of China” while flipping through an old Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedia. Animator and sculptor Brodie McCrossin joined the team in 2000 and producer Sam White in 2002. The company was officially formed in 2003 when it got its first government grant for a stop-motion television pilot and computer animation for a music video.

The People's Republic of Animation's Fritz Gets Rich, premiered at the 2003 Adelaide Film Festival, won best film for children at the 2005 Bradford Animation Festival in the United Kingdom and best animation in the ZOOM! Awards in Australia that year.

More short-film success came in 2006 for Carnivore Reflux (Istanbul Animation Festival jury prize, Holland Animation Festival movie squad award; Inside Film awards’ best short animation; St Kilda Film Festival best original score; Shorts Film Festival best under 25 years; South Australian Short Screen Awards best film and animation).

Sweet and Sour, the People’s Republic of Animation 2007 co production with the Shanghai Animation Film Studio of China, won the Golden Monkey award for best international coproduction at the China Cartoon & Animation Festival; Yoram Gross award for for best short animation at the Dendy Awards, Sydney Film Festival;  SBS television award at St Kilda Film Festival; best animation at Australian Teachers of Media Awards.

White and Calvert directed Safer in a wild world, a one-minute short blending 2D and 3D animation in a pop-up storybook style as the first of the Mitsubishi/Sony Tropfest supershort.

White and Ari Gibson directed the short 2009 film The Cat Piano, narrated by Australian artist Nick Cave. It won the Inside Film award for best animation; Yoram Gross award for best short animation in the Dendy Awards, Sydney Film Festival; best animation short at the Mlebourne Film Festival; audience choice for best short film at the Adelaide Film Festival; and jury prize for animation and audience award at the Short Film Festival.

Other People’s Republic of Animation short films included Mermaid Story (Kalamazoo Animation Festival 2007 jury award for excellence in visual storytelling) and The Bomb (Sixxx Legs) that took out the best visual effects award at Belowground Music Video Festival 2004; I Was A Teenage Butterfly and The Ghastly Gourmet Cooking Show.