Two teens hang out on the street. They are looking for low-hanging aspirations and end up playing cops. It turns out the criminal underworld is right by the corner. Things get too real.
So many thoughts come to mind during and after watching the almost four-minute cartoon adult comedy Cop Out by Hailey Geiler, who graduated from CSU Monterey Bay a year ago with a degree in cinematic arts and technology and is a local animator. The second you get comfortable with the plot, you get surprised; so much is happening with the texture of the sound.
Geiler is one of the founders of Pulp TV (@tvpulp), a social media collective of CSUMB graduates to show and share their independent works. She is now also creative director for PulpFest 2025, Monterey County’s first animation festival, taking place on Dec. 7.
What to expect? Two of five Pacific Grove Art Center galleries will change into theaters. Both will play two hours of mixed-media animation on Sunday, showcasing a variety of forms and styles – from traditional frame-by-frame technique, through using clay as the main material, up to a three-dimensional environment for animation. Discussions will follow.
Over 20 animation artists will be featured, starting with Geiler, her brother Elio Geiler (his experimental film is titled Laika) and another local CSUMB alumnus, Oliver Fredericksen (So High (Outrageous)). Austin Kimmel, who has worked on SpongeBob SquarePants and LEGO, will show some of his independent work. Others are Dominick Green, who has his own show, Kent Hammer, on HBO and Swiss animator Sven Kristlbauer.
“The long-term goal of Pulp TV is to create an app where people can watch and share animation,” says one of the festival directors, Sam Al-Maqtari, who adds that local vendors, food, live music (Rosewood and The Scalps) will be part of the event.
“Animation was to me always a medium that stood out more than other forms of art,” Geiler says. “I like illustrations but animation brings them to live, makes it feel real.”
She adds she was able to take some animation classes in college, but most of her skills are self-taught. Her biggest inspiration is Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network.
PulpFest 2025 takes place 6-11pm Sunday, Dec. 7. Pacific Grove Art Center, 568 Lighthouse Ave., Pacific Grove. $25; $20/students. (831) 375-2208, pgartcenter.org
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