NEWS
12/10/25
WOOHOO! My dark comedy adult animation short, The Intention Invention, is now available to watch online on
Watch The Pinto Variety Hour now streaming on Relay. BIG NEWS. I am celebrating today. It’s been 2 and a half years since I first wrote the goal in my journal: “Have The Pinto Variety Hour on a streaming service” and yesterday that goal was accomplished. All of the festivals, all of the awards, all of the insane hours drawing and composing… were to reach this goal. My sales package that Filmhub is now pitching reflects all of this and it really is a relief to feel I’ve completed (at least for now) a big part of The Pinto Variety Hour’s journey. After so much time spent writing, drawing, composing, recording, producing, screening (and winning awards) at international film festivals, The Pinto Variety Hour Pilot Episode is finally available to watch on a streaming service! A new streaming service called Relay just launched yesterday and they have licensed it. This is the first streaming service to license The Pinto Variety Hour since Filmhub acquired it last week. (I’ve been in negotiations with Filmhub since April). Thank you to all of the talented voice actors who worked on PVH @coulterrail @stsmith_77 @minnowmanorshop @moviemeltpod @casual_hands The Intention Invention –Northern Lights -Fantastic Film Festival – Stokkseyri, Iceland. October 30 – November 2, 2025. ICELANDIC PREMIERE The Intention Invention –Malibu Film Festival – Malibu, CA. November 1-8. The Intention Invention –FIC AUTOR – Guadalajara, Mexico – November 20-23, 2025. Mexican Premiere The Intention Invention –Tanzanite International Animation Festival – Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. November 27-29. African Premiere. The Intention Invention –Another Hole in the Head Film Festival – San Francisco, CA. December 5-17. San Francisco Premiere. The Intention Invention –Local Sightings Film Festival – Seattle, Washington. September 20. NW Film Forum. WASHINGTON PREMIERE. The Pinto Variety Hour –Big Bear Film Festival – Big Bear, CA. September 24-29, 2025. CALIFORNIA PREMIERE. The Intention Invention –KATZE Film Festival – Tel Aviv, Israel. September 16-19, 2025. Cinema Canada. ISRAELI PREMIERE. The Intention Invention –Gig Harbor Film Festival – Gig Harbor, Washington. September 25-28, 2025. The Intention Invention –Seattle Film Festival – Seattle, Washington. Grand Illusion Cinema and Aegis Theatre. September 26-28. The Intention Invention –Hollywood Theatre @ PDX International Airport – Portland, Oregon. July 14- September. SUMMER SHORTS PROGRAM The Intention Invention –Manzanita Film Festival – Manzanita, Oregon. October 4. The Intention Invention –Breaking TV Film Festival – London, UK. October 3-5. UK PREMIERE. NOMINEE FOR BEST ANIMATION. The Intention Invention –Pineapple Animation Festival – Marbella, Andalucía, Spain. October 15. SPANISH PREMIERE. The Intention Invention –Tacoma Film Festival – Tacoma, WA, October 9-16. It was an honor to be interviewed by S W Conser for the Words and Pictures radio show on KBOO Community Radio in Portland, OR. We discussed hand-drawn animation in the age of AI and my short film, The Intention Invention, which is nominated for BEST PORTLAND FILM OR ANIMATION at its US Premiere at the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology on Wednesday, 8/6, OMSI in Portland, OR. I start answering questions 18 minutes into it. The Intention Invention has been nominated for BEST PORTLAND FILM OR ANIMATION for the Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology in Portland OR. This screening will be the film’s US Premiere. The festival will take place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry from August 6-10, 2025 and The Intention Invention will be screening on opening night in the “Mind-Bending Anomalies: The PFCAT Sci-Fi Extravaganza” film block from 6pm-9pm on an IMAX screen! Tickets are available through the festival website. The Intention Invention has been officially selected for the Gig Harbor Film Festival in Gig Harbor, Washington. The festival is happening September 25-28, 2025. The Intention Invention will be having its UK Premiere at the Membrana Film Festival in Manchester, UK at Ducie Street Warehouse on August 3, 2025. The Intention Invention will be having its US Premiere at the wonderful Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology in Portland OR. The festival will take place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry from August 6-10, 2025. Tickets are available through the website. More details soon. I’m thrilled to announce that The Pinto Variety Hour won Best Voice Acting in a TV Pilot at the Short Way International Short Film Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil! The Intention Invention has been officially selected for the KATZE Film Festival happening in Tel Aviv, Israel, from September 8-12 at Cinema Canada. The South Korean Premiere for The Intention Invention will be happening at the Daejeon International Short Film Festival on August 30-31. The festival is happening in Daejeon, South Korea at CGV Daejeon Tangbang I’m thrilled to announce that The Pinto Variety Hour will be screening at the incredible Brooklyn Film Festival on Saturday, May 31st at 4:30 PM, as part of the animation block at Windmill Studios, in Greenpoint! Now in its 28th edition, BFF is New York’s longest-running international competitive film festival and a Canadian Screen Award qualifying event. This year, The Pinto Variety Hour was selected from an impressive 3,270 submissions across 130 countries. USA TODAY recently named Brooklyn Film Festival one of the Best Film Festivals of 2025, and I couldn’t be more honored to be part of it. Huge thanks to BROOKLYN FILM FESTIVAL for including us — can’t wait to share this with you all! A new animated short film called The Intention Invention has finally wrapped up production through Catch and Hatch. It’s a dark comedy about how what we say is sometimes not what we think. The logline is: An idealistic inventor develops a technology capable of detecting the true intentions of anyone it targets. But, the question is –Do we really want to know? The Pinto Variety Hour pilot has screened in the following festivals recently: Barcelona Indie Awards – WINNER -BEST TV PILOT, 2/8/25, Barcelona, Spain. All That Moves International Film Festival – WINNER – BEST TV PILOT, WINNER – BEST DIRECTOR FOR A TV PILOT, 3/15/25, São Paulo, Brazil. McMinneville Short Film Festival – NOMINEE – BEST ANIMATED SHORT, 2/27 – 3/2/25, McMinneville, OR. Hollywood Storytellers Film Festival – FINALIST – TV PILOT, TCL Chinese Theatres, Hollywood, CA. Anatolia Film Festival, 2/7/25, Istanbul, Turkey I have been uploading new clips of The Pinto Variety Hour pilot episode to the Catch and Hatch Youtube channel. The pilot in its entirety is still not available to watch online though since it is still touring the festival circuit. Subscribe to my Youtube channel to see new clips like these: I’m honored that The Pinto Variety Hour has been nominated for the Will Vinton Award for Best Animation in the McMinnville Short Film Festival. This festival was named one of MovieMakers Magazine’s Top 20 Great Film Festivals in Vacation Destinations. It will be taking place in McMinnville, Oregon, from February 27 – March 2, 2025 at McMinnville Cinema. Tickets and festival passes may be purchased through the festival website. 2024 was a year of learning for me. I was honored to have The Pinto Variety Hour selected for 22 international film festivals and win many awards in various categories including Best Animation, Best Screenplay -Animation, Best Animated Series, Best TV Pilot, Best TV Show, Best Web Series, and Special Jury Award -Animation. The pilot episode was also nominated for many other categories in 2024. I was honored to attend some of these festivals in person and participate in Q and A’s at the screenings. Some highlights were attending Dances With Films in New York City, Breaking TV Film Festival in London, Birmingham Film Festival in Birmingham, UK, and The Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation, and Technology in Portland, OR, where The Pinto Variety Hour had its World Premiere. The Pinto Variety Hour also screened at the Hollywood Theatre @ PDX Airport in the Fall 2024 Shorts Program which showed in Concourse C from September through December 2024. Thank you to all of the festivals judges, juries, attendees, fellow filmmakers, and my incredible talented team for making this year so incredible for Catch and Hatch. The Pinto Variety Hour has been selected to show in Asheboro, North Carolina at the Mightier Than The Sword Film Awards at Sunset Film Festival. The festival will take place 1/8-1/11 at the historic Sunset Theatre in Asheboro. There are Q&A panels scheduled, meet and greet sessions and an opening night reception, concert and networking event. The Pinto Variety Hour is screening on Saturday, 1/11. RICHARD ELFMAN @richardelfman , the director of the cult classic, FORBIDDEN ZONE (and brother of Danny Elfman), will be a guest of honor. FORBIDDEN ZONE turns 45 in 2025 and the festival will be screening a special director’s cut version of the film. Richard’s most recent film, “Bloody Bridget” will also be shown on Saturday, January 11. The Pinto Variety Hour won the Animation Short Film -Special Jury Award at its Turkish Premiere in Istanbul at the Halic Goldenhorn International Film Festival. The festival took place December 2 -11 and was presented by the Fotofilm Culture Art and Ansam Culture Association at IBB Beyoglu Cinema and Istanbul Ariel University. I’m absolutely thrilled that Dances With Films: New York has selected The Pinto Variety Hour to screen in Pilot Series Block 2 on 12/6 at 12:45pm. The festival is happening 12/5-12/8 at Regal Union Square in Manhattan. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased here. In 2024, the festival was named one of the world’s TOP 25 COOLEST FILM FESTIVALS by Movie Maker. Also, in 2023, USA TODAY readers recognized Dances With Films as a TOP 10 North American film festival. Film Focus Online reviewed The Pinto Variety Hour. The critic called it, “whimsical and fun. With episodes being under half an hour, this easy-to-watch adult animation is the comic relief we all need in our lives.” He also wrote, “I really enjoyed the animation in this series, the characters are well-crafted crafted, very zany and the voice-over acting is fantastic. There’s not just beans, we have rodents, lizards, sea creatures, and more as they’ve created a realistic, yet wacky world. How Pinto walks/runs is hilarious, and this type of over-the-top ridiculousness is what gives shows like this an edge.” Check it out. Film Fugitives interviewed me about The Pinto Variety Hour. I was asked about the show’s conception, future, influences, animation style, working with voice actors, how I come up with ideas for the show, and what I hope audiences will take away from it. https://fugitives.com/interview-the-pinto-variety-hour-r-j-sullivan-2024 Check out this wonderful write-up for The Pinto Variety Hour by the Breaking TV Film Festival where it’s nominated for Best Animation. The festival is happening 11/2-11/3 in London at Curzon Bloomsbury. https://www.breakingtvfilmfestival.com/post/the-highly-anticipated-uk-premiere-of-the-pinto-variety-hour Nomination updates: Birmingham Film Festival, Birmingham, UK, Millennium Point, 11/8 – 11/17. Nominations: Best TV Show, Best Animation, and the Bull Award (Best Film in Festival), Skiptown Playhouse International Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA, 11/6. Nomination: Best Animated Series Oregon Short Film Festival, Portland, OR, Clinton St. Theatre 11/10. Nomination: Best Comedy Series Episode In addition to screening at the Hollywood Theatre in Portland International Airport from now until January 2025. The Pinto Variety Hour pilot episode will be showing at the following festivals: Breaking TV Film Festival, London, 11/1 – 11/3. Nominated for Best Animation Skiptown Playhouse International Film Festival, Los Angeles, 11/5 – 11/10 Oregon Short Film Festival, Portland, OR, Clinton St. Theatre 11/10 Birmingham Film Festival, Birmingham, UK, Millennium Point, 11/8 – 11/17. Nominated for Bull Award (Best Film in Festival) Festival de Cine Antigua, Guatemala, 12/5. Nominated for Best 2D Animation T.I.F.A – Tietê International Film Awards, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 12/10. Nominated for Best Screenplay – Animated Film11/6/25 The Pinto Variety Hour -streaming
Filmhub is an Aggregator which means if they accept (acquire) a film, they act as the seller/distribution company. They sell it to streaming services worldwide. This means Filmhub is currently selling The Pinto Variety Hour to streamers in around the world.
And thank you to anybody who supported this unusual project by voting for it at film festivals and encouraging me on this wild ride.11/1/25 upcoming festivals
9/5/25 upcoming festivals
7/20/25 interview
7/18/25 pORTLAND
7/5/25 Gig harbor
7/4/25 manchester
7/1/25 Portland
6/28/25 Best voice acting award!
6//25/25 Tel aviv
6/20/25 south korea
5/17/25 BROOKLYN!
4/1/25
3/15/25 Festival Updates
1/27/25 Pinto Variety hour clips
1/16/25 McMinnville Short Film Festival
1/1/25 hello 2025
12/27/24 Pinto – North Carolina Premiere
12/11/24 Istanbul – Pinto Variety Hour Wins Animation Short Film Special Jury Award
11/15/24 Dances With Films: New York
11/12/24 Film Focus review
11/10/24 interview with rj
10/24/24 november UPDATES
10/4/24 FESTIVAL UPDATES
