Red-carpet treatment for "Shrek the Third" at KAFI

A preview showing of “Shrek the Third,” complete with spotlights flashing across the sky, arriving limos, and the red-carpet treatment, will kick off the 2007 Kalamazoo Animation Festival International (KAFI) in downtown Kalamazoo.

Individual screening passes are available to the public and free to those with full-festival passes, “Shrek the Third” will be shown in the largest theater in the Rave Motion Pictures Cityplace 14’s complex at 7:15 p.m. Thursday, May 17.

Introducing the screening will be Kate Skarritt-Swanborg, who was raised in Bangor and is a Western Michigan University alumna. She is a technology executive in Glendale, Calif., for DreamWorks Animation SKG that has produced the three full-length features in the “Shrek” series.

“Shrek the Third” opens at theaters across the nation on Friday, May 18. Joining her at the preview showing will be one of the artists who worked with Skarritt-Swanborg on the new “Shrek” sequel.

Swanborg played an instrumental role in arranging for the special preview in Kalamazoo because of her membership on the KAFI Advisory Board. In a classic example of “timing is everything,” the opening of “Shrek the Third” coincided with the beginning of Kalamazoo Valley Community College’s fourth animation festival in downtown Kalamazoo.

“But it’s also part of DreamWorks Animation’s outreach program with universities around the United States,” Skarritt-Swanborg said about past relationships with animation programs at such institutions of higher education as UCLA, San Jose State University, Ohio State University, and the Savannah College of Art and Design.

“Shrek” won the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ first Oscar in the category of best animated feature film in 2002 while “Shrek 2,” released in 2004, became the third highest grossing animated film of all time.

The original cast is back for this third installment, with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Antonio Banderas, Julie Andrews, Rupert Everett and John Cleese returning. The voices for new characters are provided by Justin Timberlake, Eric Idle, Amy Poehler, Maya Rudolph, Amy Sedaris and Cheri Oteri.

Those who have purchased full-festival passes for the 2007 KAFI can attend the screening at no charge. These passes can be ordered online at https://s1.kvcc.edu/kafi/tickets/.

All proceeds will be channeled back to the 2007 KAFI as a non-profit event. Following the screening, there will be a post-event reception in the Rave lobby for all ticket holders.

Following this major event, the 2007 KAFI will welcome another headliner on Friday, May 18, when Mike Reiss, a comedy writer who has been involved with “The Simpsons” for more than half of its 20-year run, will be a featured attraction. The four-time Emmy winner for co-producing more than 200 episodes and penning a dozen “Simpson” scripts will speak about his experiences on the series at 7 p.m. in the State Theater.

It, too, will have individual screening passes available to the public. That will be followed by one of the seven screenings of animated films selected by KAFI judges to vie for the festival’s $15,000 in prize money. A Reiss $10 ducat gets the holder into that screening, which will be targeted for an adult audience.

Timed for about 11 that evening is a showing of Reiss’ “Queer Duck: The Movie,” which he will also talk about during his earlier presentation. Individual screening passes for the movie cost $6. His participation in the 2007 KAFI is sponsored by the Arcus Gay and Lesbian Fund.

Skarritt-Swanborg, a 1988 graduate of Bangor High School, went on to earn a double major at Western Michigan University in theater and communications in 1993 before heading to the West Coast to pursue a master’s and her destiny in the animated-film industry.

With the exception of a stint with Warner Brothers in the cartoon-filled production of Michael Jordan’s “Space Jam,” Skarritt-Swanborg has been affiliated with DreamWorks SKG since the winter of 1996. Her parents, Dan and Jackie Skarritt, were teachers at Bangor High School for 30 years and directed the Bangor Arts and Communication Academy.

During her five years at Western, Skarritt-Swanborg was involved in the WMU Theater Department as both an actress and, over the last three years on campus, as the stage manager for Shaw Theater productions.

She headed for the West Coast to pursue an advanced degree in stage management at the University of California-San Diego. Skarritt-Swanborg gravitated into the realm of animated films via some of the connections she made while on that campus.

“Many of the people involved in animation management at the film studios,” she said, “have theater backgrounds like mine. One of those managers was overseeing the “Space Jam” project for Warner Brothers and I had the management background they were looking for. Animation is a very long process. There are always deadlines to meet and artists to support.”

Swanborg helped KVCC forge its new and enhanced degree-granting program in digital arts/design and graphics communications that is now based in the Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo.

DreamWorks SKG came into being in 1994 when Hollywood director Steven Spielberg joined forces with fellow entertainment moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. They formed a multimedia studio for the production of live-action and animated features, TV programming, music and interactive software.

In her current role as a technology executive, Skarritt-Swanborg works with executives, technology managers and film producers to develop strategies and action plans for producing multiple animated features and to create state-of-the-art technology tools and infrastructure. She played a key role in transitioning DreamWorks, which has a mission to release two animated features each year, from a traditionally animated medium to one that is fully computer generated.

She and her husband, Eric Swanborg, are the parents of two daughters, Hannah and Vivian.

A pass to attend the more than 80 2007 KAFI events costs $135; the student discount is $68. The comparative prices for day passes are $65 and $33, respectively.

The 2007 KAFI has booked seven screenings of animated-film finalists. Individual screening passes to those, slated for the State Theater, are $10 and $5. Those who would like to attend a particular workshop can pay $15, $8 for students.

Joining the college and the Arcus fund as one of the festival’s key sponsors is the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, while the Harold and Grace Upjohn Foundation is the major underwriter of a one-day conference for educators slated for Thursday prior to the “Shrek the Third” screening that evening.

Nuts and bolts information about the KAFI events, screenings and activities is available at this webpage: http://kafi.kvcc.edu or by calling the KAFI office at (269) 373-7883.