Donald Faison Named Host of Animated NOUNS FEST on Oct. 10

Award-winning actor, voice performer and comedian Donald Faison will host NOUNS FEST on October 10 at the United Theater in Downtown L.A.—an incredible night dedicated to celebrating animation and creativity, the festival’s creators announced today.

NOUNS FEST brings together 50 brand-new, off-the-wall and wildly unpredictable animated shorts that showcase the unrestrained creative genius of animators from around the globe.

A limited number of tickets to NOUNS FEST remain and can be purchased at www.NounsFest.tv. All tickets offer access to the full screening, and to the NOUNS FEST after party.

Faison, two-time winner of the BET Comedy Award and NAACP Image Award nominee for his role in Scrubs, is also an accomplished voice-over artist in animation, and has performed in Star Wars Resistance, Tron: Uprising, and in Robot Chicken and SuperMansion, both from Emmy®, Annie and Clio Award-winning Stoopid Buddy Stoodios. Stoopid Buddy will also premiere three brand-new, original animated shorts during NOUNS FEST.

“The creativity and artistry on display in these short films is staggering, and when the folks behind Nouns Fest promise ‘animation unhinged,’ they really mean it,” Faison said. “I’m happy and excited to be part of this fantastic event.”

The evening’s festivities will also feature a DJ set from DJ Douggpound during the event’s pizza-and-ice-cream-laden after party at the theater. Prior to the show, NOUNS FEST will offer free popcorn and soda and an open bar, along with a welcome “brown-bag special,” including snacks to enjoy during the show along with Nouns-related premium items.

Digital arts collective Nouns created a $1 million grant pool that has been used to fund the animated shorts that will premiere at NOUNS FEST.

The films range from 30 seconds to five minutes in length, and once funds were granted, creators were subject to no intervention whatsoever by the organizers of NOUNS FEST.

NOUNS FEST received more than 400 entries from independent animation creators around the globe. After reviewing all creative submissions, the NOUNS FEST judging team selected 50 animators who received grants ranging from $7,500 to $25,000, which they used to fund the production of their short films.

            NOUNS FEST entrants will be judged by a formidable jury of animation-industry experts: John Agbaje, senior vice president of animation at Bad Robot; Sydney Bright, head of global animation at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios; Aaron Davidson, manager of animation at Netflix; and Mitchell Foster, development executive, adult animation at Amazon MGM Studios.

            Creators were given only one direction: to incorporate at least one of the “Nouns” — digital characters generated by Nouns and auctioned off daily at Nouns.wtf. Every other creative decision was theirs to make, from the form of animation used to the content itself. The results, organizers promise, will be wild, unpredictable, and definitely not fit for all ages.

Nouns Fest is co-founded by Towner, Emmy-nominated producer Walter J. Newman, Playground Productions CPO Chris Waters, Nouns veteran Joel Cares, music executive Joshua Fisher, and award-winning animator and director Goldy. To conceive of NOUNS FEST, they came together with digital art collective Nouns to create the single largest source of funding for independent animated shorts.

Moreover, in keeping with the spirit of unbound creative freedom, every animator who will be featured in NOUNS FEST retains full rights to their work, content and characters in perpetuity, underscoring Nouns’ commitment to a free market of art and ideas.

Founded in 2021, Nouns is a global, community-run organization that uses the proceeds from the sale of digital collectibles to fund open-source technology, art and public-works projects. For more information and an explanation of Nouns and the Nouns DAO, visit https://www.nounish.com.

NOUNS FEST is the next evolution of “Nouns Short Shorts,” an animation competition and festival that led to the production of 17 animated short films in 2023. In June 2023, Nouns Fest held its first festival at BrainDead Studios in L.A., featuring work from some of the top independent animators in the world. Those shorts can be viewed at Nounsfest.tv.

A full list of every short film to be featured in the 2024 NOUNS FEST will be released shortly before the festival on October 10.