ETC Faculty animated short wins award

ETC Assistant Teaching Professor Moshe Mahler recently won an award for his animated short documentary, The Art of Weightlessness. The film premiered at the Pittsburgh Shorts Festival and won the Best Local Film award. The Art of Weightlessness chronicles the evolution of artist and performer Bill Shannon. Born with a degenerative hip condition, Bill developed new ways to express himself through dance and skateboarding on crutches.

Nine students contributed to the film’s artistry through paid apprenticeships by rigging, animating, and creating 3D assets for production. The Frank-Ratchye STUDIO partly funded the film for Creative Inquiry, a laboratory for atypical, trans-disciplinary, and inter-institutional research at the intersections of arts, science, technology, and culture. 

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Moshe Mahler (CFA 03)  is an award-winning professional innovator and storyteller whose work has been featured in attractions at Disney Parks and Resorts and shown worldwide at prestigious venues, including SIGGRAPH, UIST, Comic Con, and Ars Electronica. For nearly a decade, Mahler led The Creative Technology Team at Disney Research of The Walt Disney Company, where he served as the Principal Artist. Under his supervision, the team worked hand in hand with elite Research Scientists to invent and utilize new technologies across the Walt Disney Company, collaborating with Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Disney Consumer Products, Disney Television Animation, Imagineering, and more. Mo teaches animation and tech art courses during the fall and spring semesters and advises students on ETC projects.  

Pittsburgh Shorts is a film festival that features short films from around the globe and locally. This year’s Pittsburgh Shorts screened 119 exceptional short films, with ten blocks screening in person at the beautiful Harris Theater in downtown Pittsburgh and virtual six blocks. The festival featured a Filmmaker Conference jam-packed with great guests, red-carpet interviews with filmmakers, and the top 4 scripts from our Script Competition read live by some of Pittsburgh’s best actors. Pittsburgh Shorts is one of the four film festivals presented by Film Pittsburgh.  

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