Evan Bode (any pronouns) is an award-winning experimental animator, filmmaker, writer, composer, editor, and teaching artist. Their short films, which merge live-action filmmaking with animation and original music, have screened internationally at festivals in Brazil, Germany, Greece, Croatia, Canada, the U.K., Australia, India, Italy, México, Poland, New Zealand, and South Africa, as well as in festivals across the United States.

Embracing low-budget, handcrafted aesthetics, Evan approaches film as a personal language to explore themes related to nonbinary gender identity, neurodivergence, mental health, artistic expression, and imagination as a tool of resistance to oppressive norms. Their inventive style of storytelling breaks binaries through a playful mix of mediums, departing from realism and blurring the distinction between outer worlds and inner ones.

Evan graduated from Syracuse University with an MFA in Film in 2023, earning a Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in Graduate Research. In 2020, he graduated with honors from Colorado State University with a B.A. in Communication Studies and minors in Sociology, English, and Film Studies.

Evan's first film, Thine Own Self, has screened at festivals around the world including Animafest Zagreb. In 2021, Evan was one of five filmmakers selected as a winner of the Gotham Institute’s 2021 Student Showcase sponsored by JetBlue and Focus Features, a success featured in Filmmaker Magazine. Their second film, A Spot for Frog, was met with similar acclaim, including a "Director's Choice Award" at Thomas Edison Film Festival and a screening at Outfest L.A. in 2023.

In 2024, along with Mišo and Lida Suchy, Evan co-founded Teens with a Movie Camera, a collaborative filmmaking program that seeks to empower the visions and voices of underrepresented teens in the city of Syracuse, NY.

Short Fims

Film Festival Selections and Awards

Out of Frame (2023)

WINNER of "Best Animation" at New Jersey International Film Festival, United States, 2023
WINNER of "Best Score" at Monkey Bread Tree Independent Film Awards, United Kingdom, 2023
WINNER of "Curator's Pick Award" at Student Experimental Film Festival of Binghamton, United States, 2023
WINNER of "Best Costume Design" at Athens International Monthly Monthly Art Film Awards Festival, 2023
WINNER of the Experimental Film Category at Voice of the Future—IFF, Lithuania, 2023
Nominated for "Best Director" at Monkey Bread Tree Independent Film Awards, United Kingdom, 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:
- Mometu College Shorts Film Festival, United States, 2024
- Syracuse University New Filmmakers Showcase, United States, 2023
- Student Experimental Film Festival of Binghamton, United States, 2023

A Spot for Frog (2022)

WINNER of the "Director’s Choice Award" at Thomas Edison Film Festival, United States, 2023
WINNER of "Best Animation" at New Jersey International Film Festival, United States, 2023
WINNER of "Best Arthouse Fiction" at Adria International Short Film Festival, Croatia, 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:
- OUTFEST Los Angeles, United States, 2023
- Fairy Tales Queer Film Festival, Canada, 2023
- Leeds Queer Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2023
- Melbourne Queer Film Festival, Australia, 2023
- ImageOut: Rochester LGBTQ+ Film Festival , United States, 2023
- Reelout Queer Film Festival, Canada, 2023
- Nantucket Pride Youth Film Festival, United States, 2023
- Florence Queer Festival, Italy, 2023
- Magnolia Independent Film Festival, United States, 2023
- Seattle Queer Film Festival, United States, 2022
- Octopus Marquee Independent Film Festival, United States, 2022
- New York Lift-Off Film Festival, United States, 2023
- New Filmmakers Showcase at Syracuse International Film Festival, United States, 2022
- Munich New Wave Film Festival, Germany, 2023 (Honorable Mention: "Best Director")
Honorable Mention for Merced Queer Film Festival, United States, 2023
Honorable Mention for Experimental Forum, United States, 2023
Finalist for Kansas City Underground Film Festival, United States, 2023
Semi-Finalist for Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival, United States, 2023
Semi-Finalist for Blow-Up Arthouse Filmfest - Chicago, United States, 2023
Semi-Finalist for Change the Script: Shorts Informed by Lived Experience, Canada, 2023

Thine Own Self (2021)

WINNER of the Gotham Institute's Student Short Film Showcase sponsored by JetBlue & Focus Features, 2021
WINNER of "Best Silent Film" at Out & Loud: Pune International Queer Film Festival, India, 2022
Distributed on JetBlue Airlines In-Flight Entertainment and Focus Features Digital Distribution, 2021
Distributed on Planet Classroom Global Network for Youth, 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:
- Animafest Zagreb, Films for Children Competition, Croatia, 2022
- Leeds International Film Festival, United Kingdom, 2022
- Durban Film Festival's Isiphethu International Student Film Festival, South Africa, 2022
- AnimaQUEER Film Fest, Brazil, 2023 (Nominee: "Best Score")
- FOR RAINBOW Festival of Cinema & Culture of Sexual and Gender Diversity, Brazil 2021
- Seattle Queer Film Festival, United States, 2021
- OUTSOUTH Queer Film Festival, United States, 2021
- QUEER-Streifen Regensburg Film Festival, Germany, 2021
- Prairie Pride Film Festival, United States, 2022
- MicroActs 8 Artist Film Screening, United States, 2021
- Student Showcase at Syracuse International Film Festival, United States, 2021
- Through the Student Lens Film Festival, United States, 2022
- Experimental Film Fest, United States, 2023
- Bendigo Queer Film Festival, Australia, 2022
- Reel Desires: Chennai International Queer Film Festival, India, 2023
Finalist for the 55th Humboldt International Film Fest, United States, 2022
Nominee for "Best Experimental Short" at Short Encounters International Film Festival, Greece, 2021

Afterimages (2023)

Premiere in Counterclock Literary Magazine's "Patchwork: Film x Poetry" Season 4 Showcase, United States, 2023
Featured and reviewed on "Moving Poems: The Best Poetry Videos on the Web," 2023
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS:
- Helios Sun Poetry Film Festival, México, 2023
- Aotearoa Poetry Film Festival, New Zealand, 2023
- MicroActs 16 Artist Film Screening, United Kingdom, 2023

Mary Remembering (2023)

WINNER of "Best Diary Film" at the Timeless Film Awards, Poland, 2023

Anxiety Art (2019)

WINNER of the "Audience Choice Award" at Through the Student Lens Film Festival, United States, 2021
WINNER of Berlin Flash Film Festival's Super Short Smartphone Contest, Germany, 2022
Official Selections:
- Blackbird Film Festival, United States, 2022
- FilmOneFest, United States, 2021
- Sweden Film Awards, Sweden, 2021 (Semi-Finalist)
- TEDxCSU Film Screening, United States, 2022

Interview in Filmmaker Magazine: Evan Bode on His Student Short Film Showcase Winner Thine Own Self

Syracuse University News: VPA Film Student Wins Gotham’s Student Short Film Showcase

The Daily Orange: SU graduate’s award-winning film ‘Thine Own Self’ explores gender binaries

12 Stellar Shorts from OUTFEST 2023 by Jason Flatt for "But Why Tho?" (A Spot for Frog Ranked #1)

New Jersey Stage, Review: A Spot for Frog screens at the 2023 New Jersey International Film Festival

New Jersey Stage, Review: Amazing Animation "Out of Frame" Screens at the New Jersey Film Festival

New Jersey International Film Festival: Festival Shorts Program Filmmaker Q&A Panel

Global Search for Education: "Unmasking the Artistry of Thine Own Self: An Interview with Evan Bode"

5-Star Review in C.M. Rubin World: The Beauty of Self: Authenticity in Evan Bode's Thine Own Self