ACMI X + Ludo Studio Residency
We've partnered with Ludo Studio, the Emmy-award winning production company behind Bluey, Robbie Hood and The Strange Chores, to establish a 3-month $10,000 residency giving local animators the opportunity to create the next global hit from our co-working hub, ACMI X.
We're thrilled to announce that the Melbourne-based animation team Bambini (headed up by artist Miles Colubriale) and their project Il Cattivo Bambino was selected as the winner for the 2024 ACMI X + Ludo Studios Residency. Colubraile, who is the lead artist on Il Cattivo Bambino, will be joined for their residency by writer and artist Vince Belcheff and 2D animators Yana Fidan and Eugenia Liony Cynthiaputri.
Il Cattivo Bambino is a micro-series about Stumpy, a gay man in his twenties, experiences physical and psychic hell when the titular bambino decides to wreak havoc upon his daily 99 step skincare routine. Thus begins a dramatic relationship of cat and mouse: taking notes from forefathers such as Tom and Jerry & Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
An innovative and wholly original animated project, Il Cattivo Bambino will feature 2D animated characters, while the world of the show will mostly feature real, tactile adjustable sets and miniatures which allow for wild camera movement and perspective shifts.
The residency will formally commence on Monday 9 September 2024, however last week marked the beginning of preparations for the Bambino team with an all-day workshop, hosted at ACMI X, with Claire Renton and Rhiannon Steffensen from Ludo Studios. Renton and Steffensen will be providing the Bambino team with weekly mentoring sessions (via Zoom, with Ludo Studios based in Brisbane) as the team spend their three-month residency creating a proof of concept at ACMI X.
The residency will culminate in the inaugural ACMI + Ludo Studios Animation Symposium on 6 December 2024, and special ACMI X Works-in-Progress Night (for the public to view and provide feedback on Il Cattivo Bambino) in early 2025.
About the residency
The ACMI X + Ludo Studio Residency will support an emerging animator or animation team with up to two professional credits through $10,000 of project funding, regular mentoring from Ludo Studio animators and a fully subsidised residency at ACMI X, to develop a project ready for pitching in the Australian and international marketplace.
The ACMI X + Ludo Studio Residency has been set up to facilitate insights into the creative practice and career pathways of the Ludo Studio team, which made history when Bluey became the second most streamed show in the US for all of 2023, amassing 43.9 billion minutes watched (Source: Variety).
The winning recipient will also be invited to showcase their project at an ACMI X Screen Industry Works-in-Progress night, supported by RMIT University, and participate in the one-day Animation Symposium, presented in partnership with Ludo Studio. This full-day event, to be held at ACMI in late 2024, will deliver an unmissable opportunity for screen practitioners and animation fans alike to hear from the Ludo Studio team and other key voices in Australian animation.
About Ludo Studio
Ludo is an independently owned three-time Emmy®, BAFTA, Logie, AACTA, Rose d'Or Award and Asian Academy Award winning studio and Screen Producers Australia, Business of the Year. Ludo creates and produces original drama, comedy, animation and digital stories for the world from Australia. Ludo now makes the most popular series on Australian TV and the No. 1 show on Disney+ in the US. Ludo recently created the concept for the highest grossing horror feature release in A24's history.
Learn more at the Ludo Studio website.
About ACMI X
First opened in 2016, ACMI X is a hub for creative practitioners, startups and businesses working with creative technology across film, television, videogames and screen-based art, supported by Major Research Partner RMIT University. Now housed above the museum in Fed Square, this creative incubator has fostered collaboration and partnerships between ACMI X residents and ACMI’s own employees across a range of disciplines.
Animation Symposium
A day-long event hosted in ACMI’s Cinema 2, The Animation Symposium will address a range of topics that connect the dots between artistic practice and building a sustainable animation workforce in Australia – providing an understanding of the formal and alternate pathways animators and studios can take when creating and distributing work.
More Symposium details to be announced soon.
What does the Residency provide?
The ACMI X + Ludo Residency will provide a team of early-career animators with a 3-month, part-time residency at ACMI X. The residency provides access to:
- Dedicated sit/stand desks with monitors (24/7 access with ACMI security passes)
- high-speed wifi, printing, kitchen and coffee amenities, lockers, 28 hrs of meeting room hire p/m
- access to weekly resident-only events, regular industry programming
- ACMI membership.
Additionally, ACMI will provide the recipients with:
- $5,000 in project funding to support acquisition of tools and resourcing
- access to the Animation Symposium, hosted in ACMI Cinema 2
- presentation of the project at an ACMI X Works in Progress Night.
Ludo will provide support for the residency via:
- $5,000 in awarded funds to the successful applicant
- mentoring from Ludo animators throughout the residency via regular meetings.
Enquiries
Please direct enquiries to acmix@acmi.net.au
Projects and Partnerships
We have been working closely with the screen sector and small-to-medium creatives since 2015, providing access to a range of resources, programming and connection to industry.
