Start 2009 with a massive bolt of inspiration direct to your optic and audio nerves. Stash 52 includes 92 minutes of content on the main disk, plus 10 bonus MP3 tracks from Saddle Creek Records, plus 35 minutes of the latest work from Le Pivot, Aixsponza, LeMob and Sprite Animation Studios on the Bonus Disk.

And it all starts in Korea with epic new work from Seoul’s Giantstep for Nike, a complex and beautiful spot from Psyop for Audi, a pair of perfectly executed CG virals from Germany’s Parasol Island for the launch of Infiniti in Europe, Tronic’s gorgeous architectural piece for Herzog & de Meuron’s spectacular new residential tower in Manhattan and Bent Image Lab’s over-the-top magic realist take on Coke’s secret formula.

Then, just as you’re getting comfortable – SLAM! – you get broadsided by Pete the Meat Puppet. He’s the first work out of brand new NY studio Legs for an online Diesel campaign and completely unlike those other marionette sing-a-long ballads about drugs, bestiality and all-round personal tragedy you have seen before.

Not to be left out, the broadcast design section packs some surprises of its own – including the hyper-kinetic new Fusion Fall trailer from Freestyle Collective for Cartoon Network, sleek and punchy MSG branding from Nth Degree, breakout Discovery show promos from BigsmackTV and smart and intriguing new IDs for Chilevisión (CHV) from Santiago’s 3Dos.

As usual, logic and predictability just melt away in the second half of the issue, with styles and techniques mashed together in head-shaking chaos: Madrid’s Cocoe set the tone with an idiosyncratic ode to Darth Vader and Post It notes; Portland’s Impactist is back with more quietly quirky promos for their own music; The Mill screw with your grip on time and reality for Toshiba; Nanospore get fully abstracted in a CG way for Royal Elastics; and Framestore float a taxi, an astronaut, an elephant and a monkey through your bungalow for HP.

And Stash 52 is literally overrun with an international horde of new talent you should know about: Space Patrol is here from Paris with their powerful online PSA for French NGO Pain Without Borders; Nomint drops in from Athens with their smile-inducing take on materialism for Carteco; Studio Aiko hops in from Israel aboard their “Hey” video for Eatliz; Blackbelt Kids drive down from Toronto with their Ten Kens “Spanish Fly” video in tow; New Jersey director/animator Kirsten Lepore brings Michael Slack illustrations to life for Chronical books; Florence-based Jeppetto deal out two music-driven and enigmatic CG pieces; Special Problems take the red-eye from Aukland, NZ  to deliver their Tame Impala “Half Full Glass of Wine” music video; director Bastien Roger sends his fest-fave “Milk” short from Brussels; AOKIstudio meld classic Chinese painting and 3D in their Shanghai and Tokyo studios; and Danish collective Junk release their fabulous “E.T.A.” short after four years of labor.

And that list doesn’t include our two outstanding student filmmakers: Reza Dolatabadi from the University of Dundee in Scotland and Aras Darmawan from Saxion Hogescholen in the Netherlands.

The finale of 52 is the world video premier of “Thee Wreckers: No Place Like Home”, the music-driven short film from multi-award winning Dutch director/animator/musician Rosto. The nightmarish tale combines live action, CG and Rosto’s singular talent for dark and tragic character design into a six-minute mini-masterwork.

The two BONUS FILMS on Stash 52 are dredged from the murky currents running through the mind of Polish-born director/animator Grzegorz Jonkajtys. Both “Ark” and “Legacy” are beautifully rendered wordless narratives of loss – both physical and mental.

The BONUS MUSIC on Stash 52 is a full album’s worth of 10 MP3s highlighting killer talent signed to Saddle Creek Records, including Sebastien Grainger, Tokyo Police Club, Land Of Talk, Son Ambulance, Neva Dinova, Cursive, Two Gallants, Bright Eyes, The Good Life and Georgie James.

BEHIND THE SCENES clips on this issue include insightful looks at the making of Nike “Be the Legend” from Giantstep, the Infiniti virals from Parasol Island, Aras Darmawan’s short film “Gaganeswara”, and Ten Kens “Spanish Fly” music video from Blackbelt Kids.

NIKE “BE THE LEGEND”
Short film 2:00

Agency: POSTVISUAL
Director: JICHUL LEE
Animation/VFX/design: GIANTSTEP, FXGEAR , JAMSAN
www.giantstep.co.kr
www.fxgear.net
www.jamsan.com

AUDI Q5 “SYNCHRONIZED”
TVC :60

Agency: HEIMAT
Directors: MARCO SPIER, EBEN MEARS
Production: TEMPOMEDIA, STINK, PSYOP
Animation/VFX: PSYOP
www.psyop.tv

INFINITI
Virals x 2 :45

Agency: TULLO MARSHALL WARREN
Directors: PARASOL ISLAND
Production: PARASOL ISLAND
Animation: PARASOL ISLAND
www.parasol-island.com

HERZOG & DE MEURON’S
“56 LEONARD STREET”
Architectural film 1:54

Agency: PANDISCIO
Director: TRONIC STUDIO
Animation/VFX: TRONIC STUDIO
www.tronicstudio.com

“STOP PAIN”
TVC 1:04

Client: PAIN WITHOUT BORDERS
Agency: TBWA MAP
Directors: PHILIPPE GAMER, FRED REMUZAT
Production: SPACE PATROL
Animation: SPACE PATROL
www.spacepatrol.fr

COCA-COLA “HIDDEN FORMULA”
TVC :60

Agency: SANTO, ARGENTINA
Directors: DAVID DANIELS, RAY DICARLO
Production: BENT IMAGE LAB
Animation: BENT IMAGE LAB
www.bentimagelab.com

“THE RISE AND FALL OF PETE THE MEAT PUPPET”
Viral 3:48

Client: DIESEL
Agency: FARFAR
Director: LEGS
Production: LEGS
Animation: LEGS
www.welcometolegs.com

CARTOON NETWORK “FUSION FALL”
Game cinematic 1:18

Director: NICHOLAS WEIGEL
Production: FREESTYLE COLLECTIVE
Animation/VFX: FREESTYLE COLLECTIVE
www.freestylecollective.com

DISCOVERY CHANNEL: “PAID TO FAIL”, “MONKEY”, “IT’S ALL WE GOT”
TVC x 3 :15

Agency: DISCOVERY CHANNEL
Director: BIGSMACKTV
Animation: BIGSMACKTV
www.bigsmack.tv

MSG PLUS NETWORK LAUNCH
Broadcast design :55

Client: MADISON SQUARE GARDEN NETWORK
Director: NTH DEGREE CREATIVE GROUP
Animation/design: NTH DEGREE CREATIVE GROUP
www.nthdegree.tv

CHV BRAND IDENTITY           
Broadcast design 1:16

Agency: -1
Directors: CAROLINA TIRONI, EDUARDO SQUELLA
Animation: 3DOS           
www.3dos.cl

“PSYCHOTYPOGRAPH”
Short film 2:08

Directors: GABRIEL SUCHO, JEAN DUPREZ
Animation/VFX: COCOE
www.cocoe.com

NORTHEASTERN “INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING”, “MOONBASE”, “PEACEFIELD”
Promos x 3 :30

Directors: KELLY MEADOR, DANIEL ELWING
Animation: IMPACTIST
www.impactist.com

KHODA
Short film 4:54

Director: REZA DOLATABADI
Production: UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE
Animation: REZA DOLATABADI, ADAM THOMSON
www.rezaart.com
www.adamthomsonanimation.com

“GAGANESWARA”
Short film 4:25

Director: ARAS DARMAWAN
Animation/design: ARAS DARMAWAN
www.aras-studio.nl

MILK
Short film 8:30

Director: BASTIEN ROGER
Production: STUDIOS L’OEUF NOIR
Design/animation/VFX: BASTIEN ROGER
www.bastienroger.com

EATLIZ “HEY”
Music video 3:26

Record label: ANOVA MUSIC
Director: GUY BEN SHETRIT
Animation: TALIA TSUR, TOM DOR, GUY BEN SHETRIT, RONGO GEVA, OREN BEN TOV
VFX: STUDIO AIKO
www.studio-aiko.com

“E.T.A.”
Short film 4:20

Director: JUNK
Animation: JUNK
www.junkworks.org

MUV 2008 MUSIC AND DIGITAL ART FESTIVAL
Art installation 4:00

Director: JURI CIANI
Animation/design: JEPPETTO
www.jeppetto.org

ANIME VOLANTI “TRAVEL HIGH”
Music video 3:19

Record label: AUDIO ESPERANTO
Director: JURI CIANI
Animation/design: JEPPETTO
www.jeppetto.org

TAME IMPALA “HALF FULL GLASS OF WINE”
Music video 4:28

Record label: MODULAR RECORDINGS
Directors: JOEL KEFALI, CAMPBELL HOOPER
Animation: SPECIAL PROBLEMS
www.specialproblems.com

TEN KENS “SPANISH FLY”
Music video 3:06

Record label: FAT CAT RECORDS
Director: KAREEM THOMPSON
Production: LOUIS NORRIS, PETER AULD
Animation: BLACKBELT KIDS
www.blackbeltkds.com

“ICK”, “KNUCKLEHEADS”
Virals x 2 :42, :56

Client: CHRONICLE BOOKS
Director: KIRSTEN LEPORE
Animation: KIRSTEN LEPORE
www.kirstenlepore.com

BANK OF COMMUNICATION, CHINA
TVC :30

Commissioning company: IN SHOWFILM GROUP
Agency: GREY, SHANGHAI
Director: KINDA
Animation/post: AOKISTUDIO
www.aokistudio.com

TOSHIBA “TIME SCULPTURE”
TVC :60

Agency: GREY LONDON
Director: MITCH STATEN
Production: HUNGRYMAN
VFX: THE MILL
www.themill.com

HEWLETT PACKARD “IN THE AIR”
TVC :30

Agency: GOODBY, SILVERSTEIN AND PARTNERS
Director: DANTE ARIOLA
Production: MJZ
Animation/VFX: FRAMESTORE
www.framestore.com

FRESHTECH “KNIGHT”
TVC :30

Client: ROYAL ELASTICS
Director: NANOSPORE
Production: BLACKLIST
Animation/VFX: NANOSPORE
www.nanospore.org

CARTECO “REPLACE”
Web film 1:22

Directors: CHRISTOS LEFAKIS, YANNIS KONSTANTINIDIS
Animation/VFX: NOMINT
www.nomint.gr

“THEE WRECKERS: NO PLACE LIKE HOME”
Short film 6:10

Director: ROSTO
Production: STUDIO ROSTO AD, VALK PRODUCTIES
Animation: STUDIO ROSTO AD
www.rostoAD.com

“ARK”, “LEGACY”
Short films x 2 7:25, 2:22

Director: GRZEGORZ JONKAJTYS
www.3dluvr.com/jonkajtys