Ru Kuwahata
Director, Producer, Writer
Max Porter
Director/Writer/Producer
Max Porter and Ru Kuwahata are award-winning animation directors. Specializing in mixed-media narratives, they are particularly interested in marrying analog and digital animation techniques, often combining handcrafted art, CG animation, drawn animation, stop-motion, and photographic effects. Since 2003, their films have screened in over 250 film festivals worldwide, including Sundance Film Festival and Annecy Animation Festival, and have received 25 international awards.
In addition, their personal and commissioned works have been profiled in various publications including IdN, Stash, Computer Arts, Animation Magazine, and MotionGrapher.com. They were profiled in Variety‘s “Up Next” spotlight in 2011.
Max has a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design and is currently a full-time faculty member at Maryland Institute College of Art. Ru earned a BFA from Parsons The New School for Design and is a thesis advisor for an MFA candidate at the School of Visual Arts. They finished a fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Animated Film and released their film, Between Times, inspired by their time there.
