Former Disney director John Musker coming to Edinboro to talk about animation, own film

One of the men behind Disney's "The Little Mermaid," "Aladdin" and "Moana" will give a public talk in Edinboro and show his own animated short film.

John Musker will serve as a visiting artist at PennWest's Edinboro campus, giving a March 15 master class for Edinboro art students, including a critique session with animation students, according to an announcement from PennWest. He'll present a program open to the public on March 16.

Who is John Musker?

Musker is known as one of the directors to bring Disney animation back to the forefront of the industry, according to PennWest Edinboro. He is a 40-year veteran of Walt Disney Animation Studios who retired in 2018, according to information on www.waltdisney.org.

A Chicago native and an animator on "The Fox and the Hound" (1981), he later joined Ron Clements and others to direct "The Great Mouse Detective" (1986). Musker and Clements also co-directed animated features including "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Aladdin" (1992), "Hercules" (1997), "The Princess and the Frog" (2009) and "Moana" (2016).

Musker lives in California and completed his own short film, "I'm Hip," in 2023.

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'I'm Hip'

Musker's four-minute film follows a self-absorbed cat ― in a jazzy song and dance ― as he proudly and comically proclaims his "hipness" in the world, according to www.imdb.com.

"I'm Hip" was one of 15 films advancing in the Animated Short Film category for the 96th Academy Awards out of 93 films that qualified in the category, according to an Oscars news release from December. Musker's film didn't make the final five nominees.

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If you want to go

The March 16 public event with Musker will include a showing of "I'm Hip" and a Q&A session on Penn West Edinboro's campus. The program will begin at 1 p.m. in the Louis C. Cole Auditorium's Memorial Hall, 205 Meadville St., Edinboro. The event is free but registration is required at https://your.edinboro.edu/events/screening. For more information, call 814-732-2992.

Dana Massing can be reached at dmassing@timesnews.com.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Former Disney director John Musker speaking at PennWest Edinboro