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The Animator’s Friend

The Animator’s Friend

Written by: India Lombardi-Bello
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 Befriending animators, 24 questions at a time. The Animator’s Friend creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for lighthearted and unexpected conversation.Copyright 2024-2025 All rights reserved. Art Science Fiction
Episodes
  • 22: Getting Through It with Natalia Poteryakhin

    22: Getting Through It with Natalia Poteryakhin
    Jan 20 2026
    Episode 22 is a lucky one with director Natalia Poteryakhin, sharing anecdotes of endurance, logging off, and blind faith, bolstering her animation career. Further blessing this episode is the appearance of the podcast's non-human guest Zoe Lombardi-Bello. Watch on video on Youtube or Spotify! Sunny Side Down is a sci-fi parody series where existential dread is served hot with a side of 90’s nostalgia. Just beyond the event horizon of a supermassive black hole floats a tiny diner, frozen in time. Every super short episode drops in on whichever weird alien just got pulled into the black hole’s grasp, cutting between their arrival and off-the-wall conversations with the diner’s cryptic cook, Yabba, about what actually lies beyond. There is no way back. You either stay at the diner forever, or risk passing through the hole. Think Spaceballs-level absurdity meets Cheers-style diner regulars, filtered through a radical 90’s sci-fi lens. Expect visual gags, fast setups, and parody riffs on classics like Men in Black, Terminator 2, The Matrix, Starship Troopers, and Contact. This is not hard sci-fi. Physics is optional. Absurdity is mandatory. At the center of it all is Nat, a human waitress and accidental astrophysics prodigy stranded at the diner after a light travel experiment went wrong. She is stubborn, brilliant, snarky, and desperate enough to believe she can build a machine strong enough to escape a black hole. While serving coffee and dodging alien drama, she secretly hoards space junk to engineer her way home to Earth. Running the diner is Yabba, an ancient, chainsmoking, four-armed mentor who has kept this place running for millennia. She is tired. She wants to retire. But her only option is the black hole itself, and she will not go unless someone is ready to take over the diner. Sunny Side Down is not a kids show. Things do not have neat morals. Good behavior is not rewarded. It leans into existential dread, the horror of living in the shadow of a black hole, and the strange comfort of routine in a place you cannot leave. It is purgatory with pancakes. Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO Links to points of discussion: Sunny Side DownNatalia's websiteNatalia's InstagramThe Animator's AnimationsMAKE Originals on YouTubeNice Moves - MNCreator on YouTubeTess Martin on TAFThe Animator's PlaylistAnne Beal on TAFHellavisionThe Animator's FavoritesEmory Allen's websiteAnatola Howard's websiteNicole Otaola on TAFThe Animator's Friend on Instagram The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an animation educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation. Credits: Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-BelloBooking assistance from Chris Hollis & Amy StemanDigital marketing assistance from Arnesh KunduMusic by CloutmeyerDesign by Sawyer RipponSpecial thanks: my mom and dad; Kristie Kish; Michael Dondero; Barnaby CatterallAll opinions belong to the guests and do not represent any other individual or entity.
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    1 hr and 34 mins
  • 21: Human Timings with Ugo Bienvenu & Félix de Givry

    21: Human Timings with Ugo Bienvenu & Félix de Givry
    Jan 12 2026

    Conducted my interview with Arco creators Ugo Bienvenu and Félix de Givry ~on twos~ to learn about their penchant for sandwiches as well as gain more insight into the driving forces of their beautiful film. Experience the podcast with video for a change! I prefer you watch on YouTube B) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHBrnoduxTs

    A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet. A wondrous odyssey filled with hope and optimism for our future, Arco is an enchanting fable from breakout filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu, produced by Remembers’ Bienvenu and Felix de Givry, and mountainA’s Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas.

    Oscar voting opens today, so if you are a member of the Academy, I hope you will consider Arco as you cast your ballot.

    Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO

    Links to points of discussion:

    • Arco
    • Ugo Bienvenu on Instagram
    • Félix de Givry on IMDB
    • "Voyage Cromatique" at Metrograph - NYC
    • The Animator's Animations
    • TAF at Annecy 2025
    • Remembers Studio
    • Barnaby Catterall's website
    • The Animator's Favorites
    • CalArts
    • The Animator's Playlist
    • The Animator's Friend on Instagram

    The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an animation educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.

    Credits:

    • Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
    • Booking assistance from Cori Futrovsky and Kaila Hier
    • Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
    • Music by Cloutmeyer
    • Design by Sawyer Rippon
    • Special thanks: my mom and dad; Nikolas Fortune Hagen; Michael Dondero; Ash Suh
    • All opinions expressed by host and guests are their own and do not represent the opinions of anyone else or any entity
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    1 hr and 10 mins
  • 20: Anarchistic & Anti-Capitalistic with Andres Salazar

    20: Anarchistic & Anti-Capitalistic with Andres Salazar
    Jan 8 2026

    The Animator's Friend podcast has been turning into The Animator's Italian-American Friend for some time now, and 3D artist/designer Andres Salazar has made matters worse by getting your host's spaghetti in a knot with some hot takes on Italian cuisine.

    Andres is a Colombian-American designer and 3D artist based in Astoria, New York. His work explores the magic in the mundane, blending photorealistic 3D creations with surrealist visuals to spotlight the beauty of quotidian spaces. He is drawn to procedural software like Houdini and inspired by 20th-century design movements. He lives at the junction of visual effects and design.

    Get your hands on a Camp Snap Camera for $5 off by using my link! https://www.campsnapphoto.com/INDIALOMBARDIBELLO

    Links to points of discussion:

    • Andres Salazar's website
    • Andres Salazar's Instagram
    • Josh Pilch's RHCP parody song
    • Josh Pilch on TAF
    • DCOY Studios
    • Camp Snap website
    • Michael Dondero on TAF
    • The Animator's Playlist
    • The Animator's Favorites
    • Beacon's Closet
    • Crossroads Trading
    • Massawa - NYC
    • Spicy Village - NYC
    • TikTok of guys trying out new cuisines in NYC
    • Chris Rutledge's website
    • Ehsan Parizi on Instagram
    • Joseph Toreki's website
    • XK Studio
    • Future Deluxe Studio
    • Papel de Punto
    • Jasper Lin on TAF
    • Wenyi Zhang's website
    • The Animator's Animations
    • Ars Electronica - Austria
    • Brand New School
    • Jimena Martinez's website
    • The Animator's Friend on Instagram

    The Animator's Friend is hosted by India Lombardi-Bello, an animation educator based in New York City. In this series, India creates a platform where animators get to talk about themselves outside the context of their work. A questionnaire format, inspired by the 24 frames per second of animation, allows for personal, lighthearted, and unexpected conversation.

    Credits:

    • Recorded, produced, and edited by India Lombardi-Bello
    • Digital marketing assistance from Arnesh Kundu
    • Music by Josh Pilch (the song is parody and should be enjoyed as such) and Cloutmeyer
    • Design by Sawyer Rippon
    • Special thanks: Andres & Jimena for hosting me; my mom & dad; Darren Santa Maria; Malt Adult
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    1 hr and 42 mins
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