Throughout the evening, we’ll explore how animation uniquely captures and preserves not only personal stories, but also the complex — and sometimes abstract — emotions behind them. Participants will get an inside look at the step-by-step process of creating an animated documentary and try it out themselves through hands-on exercises in interviewing, storyboarding, and character design (no drawing skills required!). It’s also a great opportunity to meet an independent animator, ask questions about their craft, and preview Of The Heart before its screening at the Boston Jewish Film Festival on Friday, November 14th at 12pm at Lesley University.

Alex Salsberg is an indie animation director who loves telling stories through funny, weird and heartfelt cartoons. Alex has worked on projects for Utkarsh Ambudkar, MTV, Nickelodeon, WGBH, Boston Children's Hospital and Peabody Essex Museum, and recently completed fellowships with Jewish Arts Boston and The Jewish Writer's Institute. He is the creator of “Artist+Jew,” a series exploring questions of identity that Jewish creatives wrestle with, and is the co-writer and director of the award-winning comedy short "Class of 84," about a family facing anxiety and mortality. Alex is also the host of "I Loved This Conversation," the podcast where creative people share what they're currently going through in both their art and their lives. Alex lives and creates in Rhode Island with his wife and two-year-old daughter.