Chris Landreth

Originally trained as a mechanical engineer, Landreth eventually decided that making unique, mind-bending animation would be much more fun. He then joined Alias Inc. (now Autodesk), where he created two CG-animated short films, the end (1995) and Bingo (1998). Both films explored storytelling based on human psychology as much as photorealistic character animation. He calls this approach “psychorealism”.

Landreth continued this approach in his animated documentary Ryan in 2004, produced by the National Film Board of Canada and Copperheart Animation. Ryan received over 60 international awards, including an Academy Award in 2005. Landreth then created The Spine (2009), a story of a troubled marriage and its dramatic consequences, in a film that explores the dark, absurd and messy paradoxes of co-dependency.

Landreth's latest film is Subconscious Password, a comic exploration of one man's inner thought process as he desperately tries to recall the name of an old friend. Subconscious Password premiered at the Annecy International Animation Festival, where it was awarded the Festival's grand prize, the Annecy Crystal, for Best Short Film.

Landreth is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2011) for his body of animated film work, and is currently a Distinguished Artist in Residence with the Department of Computer Science, University of Toronto.