Filmmaker Bios

Nirvan Mullick, director

Nirvan is an award winning animator turned social-entrepreneur who began making The 1 Second Film while a student at California Institute of the Arts. What began as an experiment to bring a school together expanded into a 5 Phase Plan to bring the world together, using collaborative art and new media to create social change. In 2004, Nirvan began fundraising dollar-by-dollar on the streets of Los Angeles, raising enough to start an online community. In 2006, he formed The Collaboration Foundation to help carry out the project, built around an innovative method of micro-collaboration. Nirvan has since presented at Google, YouTube, TED>LA, and multiple universities. Nirvan's animated short films have screened in film festivals worldwide, from Cannes to AFI, winning numerous awards. For more info, visit Nirvan's producer profile or www.nirvan.com

nirvan's producer profile

Jules Engel, color design

Color design for each frame of The 1 Second Film was selected by Jules Engel, two years before he passed away at the age of 94. A true pioneer in the art of animation, Jules founded the Experimental Animation program at the California Institute of the Arts in 1968. Jules continued to direct the Experimental Animation program until 2001. Born in Budapest, Hungary, Engel's illustrious career ranged from choreographing animation for Walt Disney's Fantasia to creating groundbreaking cartoons for the UPA such as Gerald McBoing-Boing, Madeline, and Mr. Magoo. Engel drew on contemporary art to design sophisticated color palettes that gave UPA animations their distinctively modern look and sensibility. His paintings, drawings and prints have been shown at museums and galleries around the world, including exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Whitney in New York. During his 33 years at CalArts, Jules was an influential educator and beloved mentor to generations of animators, filmmakers and artists. Jules, known for his inspirational teaching style, once said: "It's not what I give my students. It's what I don't take away."

For links to Jules work, please visit these colors:

"Color can be heard." - Jules Engel

Our Producers

Producers of The 1 Second Film come from across the world; some are established award winning filmmakers, and many others have never made a film before. To read some of our producers' bios, please visit our current producer list and click a name to view their profile.

Animation Frame Directors:

Dan Longfellow, Frame #1 Art Director

Dan Longfellow was trained as a fine-artist in Europe before entering CalArts as an Experimental Animator. He brought with him a distinct painterly style that was present whether he was creating stop-motion, flash animation, or a multi-media interdisciplinary dance performance. Dan is currently living in Denmark where he has created a family, among other works of art. For more of Dan's work, visit www.danlongfellow.com

Ellen Kim, Frame #2 Art Director

Ellen graduated from CalArts with an MFA in Experimental Animation. Her work includes film, illustration, and other labors of love. Ellen is a freelance illustrator for children's books, and has also taught animation to inner city youth.

For more of her work, visit: ellenjkim.com

Allison Schulnik, Frame #3 Art Director

Allison Schulnik grew up in San Diego amongst a small artistic family that included painters, architects, and a chef. Allison performed modern dance until leaving San Diego for CalArts where she earned a BFA in Experimental Animation. She has made two animated short films that have screened in over fifty film festivals internationally, winning numerous awards. Allison has also completed two illustrated books, among numerous works of art. Her large-scale figurative paintings have been exhibited worldwide including Ghetto Gloss and BGH Gallery, Bergamot Station. She is a member of the National Association of Women Artists, New York, the Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles, and Independent Feature Project West. She is currently working on ten-foot dramatic paintings of shark attacks, shipwrecks, volcanoes, horses and bunnies – often involving a self-portrait.

To see more of her work, visit: allisonschulnik.com

Jeaux Janovsky & Emily Roberts,

co-directors Frame #4

Jeaux Janovsky and Emily Roberts were both studying Fine-Arts at CalArts. One winter day, they wandered into the stop-motion animation studio to escape the cold. There they met Nirvan for the first time. Nirvan, who needed one more frame director, recruited them on the spot to co-direct frame # 4. Jeaux is now pursuing Character Animation, and Emily has graduated and continues to paint.

Visit Emily's website at: www.popminimalism.com

Daino Torres, Art Director Frame #5

Daino graduated from CalArts in 2003 with a BFA in Fine-Arts. He works as a freelance designer and illustrator, while continuing to paint and mount solo art shows.

Morgan Hay, Art Director Frame #6

Morgan earned his MFA in Experimental Animation from CalArts. His stop-motion animated short 'Yens-Ola' remains a cult-classic, even though only a handful of people have seen it. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles where he dabbles with hot glue and makes all kinds of stuff. He recently wrapped production on the independent stop-motion feature Disaster! and also plays professional Extreme Dodgeball. morganhay.com

Kathleen Lolley, Art Director Frame #7

Kathleen Lolley grew up split between Louisville, KY and Pittsburgh, PA. She started painting during those formidable years of farm life and life as a surgeon's daughter. An artist and a film-maker, her work depicts characters and stories that are playfully unusual. Two-dimensional figures painted on old parchment paper appear to be a part of a complex story- as if the characters escaped the pages that bound them. She moved to Los Angeles five years ago to attend CalArts for animation, where she experimented with handcrafted stop-motion characters. In addition to working on various commercial animations, including THE 1 SECOND FILM, Nickelodeon's Sponge Bob Squarepants and titles for the movie Willard, Kathleen has created a handful of short films. While studying at CalArts, she spent the summer in Prague, Czech Republic and became influenced by the rich lore that survived in the culture even after decades of censorship. Her other influences are Leanora Carrington, Remidios Varo, Max Ernst, folk tales, medical illustrations, poetry and books. Lolley recently moved from LA back to Kentucky, and is working on various projects that involve making stuff.

For more of Lolley's work, visit: lolleyland.com

Brin Levinson, Art Director Frame #8

After going into hiding on a small south pacific island to avoid paying back my student loans, I returned to the mainland and now reside in Portland Oregon. After a small stint in glass blowing and a small stop motion scene in a film called Kobok 6, I have decided to do freelance illustration. I'm currently working on a local independent film doing creature design. I also dabble in making bass guitars. You can see some of my work at www.brinlevinson.com.

David Gerhard, Art Director Frame #9

David studied traditional animation in the Character Animation program of CalArts and earned his BFA in 2001. He teaches animation to kids and works as a freelance artist in Los Angeles.

For more of David's work, visit davidgerhard.com

Irene Roderick, Art Director Frame #10

Irene graduated from CalArts with an MFA in Fine-Art. She is currently believed to be painting in Texas. She often works on a very large scale. Her work has shown in galleries throughout the US. She is currently teaching in Texas.

Levi Brewster, Art Director Frame #11

Welcome to my bio-sphere. I’m Levi, pleased to meet you.

I was raised in Indiana and spent a lot of time in trees and barns. I worked in a red barn making theater for three seasons. I also have been involved in at least three art exhibitions in barns. My wedding was in a round barn. Enough about barns, I also like climbing trees and building with trees. I’m currently exploring the sculpture of trees and making performances in and around trees.

That’s my story.

If you want to know more, contact me: levining[at]gmail.com

Kate Dollenmayer, Art Director Frame #12

Kate is an experimental filmmaker, artist, and former geologist. She has worked as an animator on Richard Linklater's Waking Life, starred in the award winning indie film, Funny Ha Ha, and sometimes makes miniature puppetry out of magnetic specs of dust. Kate is currently San Diego teaching filmmaking.

CARLO DEAN, music

THE 1 SECOND FILM features an original full symphony score composed by Carlo Dean and performed by the New Millennium Players. Carlo Dean received his Master’s of Fine Arts in Music Composition (Instrumental) in 2001 from CalArts where he was the recipient of the Betty Freeman Foundation Scholarship in Composition. Carlo has written works for various instrumentations, from small chamber groups to orchestra; from solo voice to choir. His works have been performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. In addition to composing, Carlo performs in the duo ‘jerseyturnpike’ and plays guitar in ‘Bent, Welded, and Cast.’ Carlo lives in San Francisco and is currently scoring a horror film, among other projects.

For more of Carlo's work, visit: carlodean.crankymonster.com

CRAIG TRUDEAU, DP

Craig met Nirvan in 2003 while at the AFI film festival. Based out of Vancouver, Trudeau began helping sell producer credits and raised over $500 (which was a lot of money at the time). This money was used to finance Nirvan and Craig's trip to the Toronto Int'l Film Festival, where the two began to sell credits together as a team while documenting their adventures. Craig is an experienced DP who has shot several experimental documentaries, award winning films, and music videos. He is currently working on a documentary for Bravo about Jean Benoit, the last living surrealist.

Michael Brodersen, Post-Production Supervisor

Michael works at FotoKem and is responsible for bringing THE 1 SECOND FILM into the 70mm IMAX world. He has also sold credits, helped design marketing materials, the website, and worked as a DP for the 'making of' documentary. While at FotoKem Michael has overseen the digital post services for several films/television shows including Soderberg's 'Full Frontal', Carpenter's 'Ghosts of Mars', and Landis's 'Slasher'. He has worked with directors from David Lynch to Vincent Gallo, and recently helped produce a music video for Juliet Lewis' band Juliette and the Licks. Before THE 1 SECOND FILM, Michael had worked with Nirvan on The Box Man and The Three of Us.

Sean "#1 Monkey" Fleming, Intern and PA

Long time person, Sean moved from Seattle to Los Angeles in 2004 because, like everyone else, he wanted to make movies. At the age of 21 he decided to retire from freelance consulting and became the 1st intern of THE 1 SECOND FILM. Known for his original and thought provoking ideas and countless spelling mistakes when entering producer names, Sean pretty much rocks the house, no matter what house, no matter what time or how inappropriate.

If you want to shout at him start here: sean[at]the1secondfilm.com