Spreety Rising Star: Robyn Yannoukos

Are you in the mood for a surreal, artistic escape?

The films of Robyn Yannoukos might be a perfect fit. As an animator, puppet fabricator, and painter, Robyn is also a student academy award winning director. Her award winning short films available online include Africa Parting and Alice’s Attic, both of which create surreal worlds through the painstaking artistry of stop motion animation.

Robyn’s roots are from Greece and Africa. Her undergraduate degree is a BFA from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. After completing her Masters (MFA) in animation from UCLA, the transition to a filmmaking career has been a challenge. “You have to promote yourself,” Robyn explains.

Interestingly, self promotion and online video can sometimes be at odds. The path Robyn chose was the film festival route, which thrives on exclusivity for fresh content. For example, the Oscars has a rule preventing entries from being online during the process, with the exception of password-protected Internet screenings for press review or film festival submission. Once aware, Robyn quickly removed her films off the Internet to comply.

Of course, the benefits of the traditional film festival circuit are worth following the rules, mainly due to the caliber of people a young filmmaker meets. Once the film festival circuit is complete, the fresh artistic works can be made available online to help promote budding careers. To see award winning short films from Robyn and her peers, check out Very Short Movies Cinema at http://www.vsmcinema.com/ .

Robyn’s patience and diligence in following the rules seems to be paying off, as she is now working on a few projects for Disney and the NFL. To follow her rising career, go to http://www.robynyannoukos.com/ .

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The “Spreety Rising Stars” series is to raise awareness of fresh, original entertainment talent. For more information, please see Spreety TV Online at http://Spreety.com .