Academy Award nominated director John R. Dilworth is a New York-based
animation director and designer whose work has appeared on Netflix, Showtime, HBO,
FOX, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, MTV, Canal +, and Arte. His films have screened in
museums including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art, and the
Guggenheim Museum in
New York City. He is the founder of Stretch Films, Inc., an independent animation design
and production studio in New York
City.
His 1994 breakthrough film, THE DIRDY BIRDY was selected in over 100
international festivals and has won many prizes including a Mikeldo do Plata de Animacion in
Spain. THE DIRDY BIRDY was featured on MTV’s debut of “Cartoon Sushi,” a series to
highlight the best in independent animation. The Venice Film Festival and the Zagreb
Festival of World Animation has placed a print of THE DIRDY BIRDY in their permanent
archive. The popularity of the film continued as a broadband series on Comedy Central’s
website, Motherload
in 2000.
THE CHICKEN FROM OUTER SPACE, Dilworth’s 1995 animated short film,
sponsored by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network, was nominated for an Academy Award,
and Annie Award. In 1998, Dilworth turned THE CHICKEN FROM OUTER SPACE into a
series for Cartoon Network entitled COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG. He served as
executive producer, director, and co-writer of all 104 shorts, as well as voicing numerous
characters. COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG is one of Cartoon Network’s top-rated shows
and has been broadcast continuously since 1999 on both Cartoon Network and Boomerang.
Dilworth's 2005 independent film, LIFE IN TRANSITION, has received
international recognition, being awarded Best of Show at the ASIFA-East Animation
Festival, Maverick Award for Best Animation at Woodstock Film Festival, and Nominated
for an Annie Award for Best Animated Short.
The film was selected for the 2005 tour “Animation Show of Shows,” the best of
contemporary international animation.
Dilworth produced two new films in 2017, GOOSE IN HIGH HEELS and MOM GOT EATEN
BY A SPIDER DEMON.
HOWL IF YOU LOVE ME is Dilworth’s latest film.
The website for many of John R. Dilworth's animation is www.stretchfilms.com.