Putting the "stud" back in "studio"!
  Home
Animated Shorts
Illustration
Drawings
Other Projects
About
News
 
 
 
 
     
 

August 23, 2019

Centaur Hunter procuction completed!

We set out to produce a short that was thematically and stylistically different than the other House of Chai films and we're ready to see what the audiences think! Congratulations to our awesome production crew! uWu guys are the best!!! May the spirit of the centaur never be with you!

 

November 12, 2018

Space Butthole screens at the San Diego Asian Film Festival!

Our eleventh screening with the great folks at the SDAFF!! Here's some of the crew with our film maker friends!

October 14, 2018

AmsterDAYUM!! Space Butthole screens at KLIK 2018!!

Coolest festival ever?? If you're judging by the folks in the photo, we'd have to say "Ja"!! A huge "Dank je" to everyone involved!!

 

June 16, 2018

Space Butthole screens at the Southside Film Festival in Bethlehem, PA!

It was our seventh time screening at the fest, but our first time being able to attend! A big thanks to Jeff Vaclavik and everyone for all of the hospitality and a great festival!

 

October 10, 2017

swiPed! wins first place in the computer 2D category at the World Animation Celebration

A big "thumbs up" emoji goes out to to the WAC jury and our crew!!

 

September 13, 2017

Поздравляем всех! We just got accepted into out twelfth film festival - The KROK Festival in Russia! It's an amazing one that takes place on a boat - from 13th till 21th September 2017 on a river cruiser following a beautiful route: Moscow – Uglich – Goritsy – Petrozavodsk – Mandrogi – Valaam Island – Saint Petersburg. отличная работа!

A HUGE thanks to the KROK Festival for one of the greatest times of my life! )))

 

June 24, 2017

swiPed! is selected to screen at the Neum Animated Film Festival, plus Dave Chai is asked to serve on thier jury!

Hvala ti to Festival Director Jurinko Rajic and his beautiful family for all of your hospitality and a wonderful festival!

 

April 12, 2017

swiPed! receives "honorable mention" at the 42nd Cleveland International Film Festival!

Congratulations to Sheldon Cohen for your first place win with My Heart Attack. And a big thank you to everyone at the CIFF!!

January 6, 2017

swiPed! is accepted for inclusion in The Society of Illustrators 59th Annual!

Thank you to everyone at the Society of Illustrators. And a hearty congratulations to the swiPed production team!!

December 2, 2016

swiPed! WORLD PREMIERE!

We were very honored to screen our word premiere of swiPed! at the Kinoproba Festival in beautiful Ekaterinburg, Russia! Cпасибо to everyone at the festival for the invitation and the great hospitality!

Chillin' (yes, it was COLD) with Professor Alexei Karaev and some of his students from the Ural State University of Architecture and Art.

August 6, 2016

House of Chai's wraps our twevelth film, swiPed!

Congratulations to our smart-phone loving production crew!

November 11, 2015

A Knock on My Door wins First Place Animation at the My Hero International Film Festival!

Congratulations to Hi Dong Chai and the KOMD production crew!

August 15, 2015

House of Chai rolls out our eleventh film, Bound for Glory!

A HUGE thanks and congratulations to the BFG production crew!!

January 9, 2015

Behind My Behind gets accepted for inclusion in the Society of Illustrators 57 annual!

Thanks to all the jurors and folks at the Society of Illustrators for this great honor!

November 15, 2014

Behind My Behind is the winner of the animation category at the San Diego Asian Film Festival!!

A big congratulations to our awesome team! And a big thanks to Lee Ann Kim, Sam Chen, and all of the amazing folks at the SDAFF!

November 1, 2014

Behind My Behind wins 2D Computer Animation Category at the World Animation Celebration!

A big thanks to Animation Libation Studios and Animation magazine for our first festival award!

August 22, 2014

Our latest short film, Behind My Behind, officially wraps production!

A hearty congratulations goes out to our outstanding production team. Amazingly, we managed to finish the film before the wrap party! We're starting to make festival submissions, and hope to share it with you soon!

October 31, 2013

The Green Ninja Show officially launches season one!

We’re super excited to announce the launch of season one of the Green Ninja Show. The show is collaborative project produced at San Jose State University aimed at teaching young people about climate and environmentally related issues in a fun quirky way. We also provide educators with teaching resources for the classroom. Please check out one of our episodes below.
And please visit us at greenninja.org GO GREEN NINJA!!

 

May 10, 2013

A Knock on My Door wins an award at the ASIFA-East Animation Festival 2013!

We are super excited to win an Excellence in Writing award from our friends at ASIFA-East at their latest festival! Representing our crew at the awards ceremony was director Michelle Ikemoto, who was there picking up a well-deserved First Place in Student Films award, for her film Tule Lake!

Thanks to all of the judges and staff! And a big congratulations to Michelle, her team, and the KOMD crew!


 

January 4, 2013

A Knock on My Door wins GOLD MEDAL in the Society of Illustrators 55 Moving Image category!

Director, Dave Chai, was able to attend the awards ceremony at the historic Society of Illustrators in New York. A huge congratulations goes out to our awesome production crew!

 

September 23, 2012

Why Do We Put Up With Them? wins honourable mention in the Short Animation Made for Children category at the Ottawa Animation Festival International!

Even cooler than getting accepted to screen in Ottawa is receiving an honourable mention at this year’s festival! Big thanks to the judges and a huge congratulations to our production team!!


 

January 7 , 2012

Why Do We Put Up With Them? wins at the Creative Awards!

Congratulations to the Why Do We Put Up With Them? team for “Best Film Under 30 Minutes” at the 2012 Creative Awards, winning it two years in a row! Hosted by CreaTV San Jose, the awards are a salute to Silicon Valley Videomakers. Also a big shout out to Directors Emily Rose Johnstone and Brian Kistler for their Best Student Film win for their short film Bloom!


Representing SJSU - Nick Martinez, David Chai, Emily Rose Johnstone, Paul Yula, and Brian Kistler
Photo © and available at sanjosestock.com

 

May 1, 2011

Enrique Wrecks the World wins two big awards!

2nd Place in the "Independent Film" category at the 42nd ASIFA-East Animation Festival!
And also 1st Place in the Animation category at the USA Film Festival; an Academy Award qualifying win!
Thanks to all of the folks and judges at ASIFA-East and the USA Film Fest,
and a HUGE congratulations and thanks to our production crew!

 

February 5, 2011

Enrique Wrecks the World has been nominated for the 38th Annual Annie Awards, Best Animated Short Category!

We were very honored to have been selected along with four fantastic films; Coyote Falls by Warner Bros. Animation, Day & Night by Pixar, The Cow Who Wanted To Be A Hamburger by the great Bill Plympton, and The Renter by Jason Carpenter. Congratulations to Teddy Newton and Pixar for their well-deserved win!

The Awards Ceremony was held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, and was amazing. Some of the great folks we got to meet with were Perry Chen, James Hong, Bonnie Arnold, Matt Groening, Frank Gladstone, Billy West, David Silverman, Tom Kenny, and Bill Plympton, to name a few. We were also excited to finally meet Jason Carpenter in person! Everyone was so super cool, it was a great night!

Please click here to view to see the complete list of nominees.

 

January 21, 2011

Cinequest Film Festival Trailer 2011

We just finished production on our second trailer for the Cinequest Film Festival. The trailer depicts a man who is bored with his day to day routine, but catches the buzz of the Cinequest Film Festival, and helps spread the energy throughout the community. Leading people from all walks of life to come check out the great screenings and events at this year’s festival.

The production crew consisted of David Chai, Marty Cooper, Michael Fong, Corwin Herse Woo, Taylor Hsieh, Leann Hill, Michelle Ikemoto, Kimberly Knoll, Christopher Lam, Wilbur Liang, Miyuki Maruyama, Christine Nguyen, Erin Schleupner, Aden Scott, and Priscilla Wong.

We hope to see you all at the fest!

 

 

January 8, 2011

Enrique Wrecks the World wins at the CreaTiVe Awards in the films less than 30 minute category!

It was an exciting evening at The CreaTiVe Awards Gala, on January 8 at the San Jose Repertory Theatre!
Thanks to everyone at CreaTV and congrats to the Enrique crew!

please click here for a complete list of winners

 

July 30 - August 1, 2010

Brooklyn is in the house! Or rather, the house (of Chai) is in Brooklyn!

Look for Ninjas vs. Guilt at the seventh annual Animation Block Party. Animation Block Party is a punk rock, grass roots style festival dedicated to exhibiting the world's best independent, professional and student animation. Since the premiere of the first official ABP film festival on September 9th 2004 - they have received over 5000 animation submissions from all ends of the earth.

 

April 23 , 2010

Ninjas vs. Guilt is slicing it's way across America in three upcoming festivals!

Look for Ninjas vs. Guilt in the next few months in festivals from Ohio to New York!
First at the Athens International Film + Video Festival, April 23-29, 2010; then at BeFilm, The Underground Film Festival, April 27 - May 1; and back to Pennslyvania at Southside Film Festival, June 15 - 19, 2010.



 

March 7 , 2010

Audience Eats Up Fish Pasta at Cinequest!

House of Chai's first live action film, Fish Pasta, won the SanDisk Phone Flicks contest at Cinequest 2010, San Jose’s Film Festival. 20 directors whose work was featured in competition at the festival were given the challenge of creating a 60 second film based on the theme of discovery, using only a cell phone as the camera. The films were voted for online, and the top four finalists were screened at the beginning of every film during the festival. Audience members voted for their favorites using text messaging. Thanks to Corey Tom and Marty Cooper for helping dish it up, and a HUGE thanks to everyone who voted for it!!

 

 

March 2 , 2010

Ninjas vs. Guilt World Premiere !

Exciting news... our latest short film, Ninjas vs. Guilt, is having it's world premiere in our hometown at the Cinequest Film Festival, February 23 - March 7, 2010!

 

February 23, 2010

Cinequest Maverick Trailer Premieres

We're excited for the debut of an animated trailer we produced for the Cinequest Film Festival. The trailer was based on the festival theme of “Maverick” and depicted a lone maverick calf, unfulfilled with his hum drum life, taking charge and going “maverick”; inspiring innovation, invention, and social change… all in thirty seconds. The trailer played before every screening at the festival, as well as on television, and online.

Thanks to all of the gang at Cinequest, and a really big thanks to the production crew: Bunny Carter, Renee Carty, Marty Cooper, Katie Corna, Heather Flynn, Courtney Granner, Henry Ho, Christopher Lam, Bryan Lind, Dora Roychoudhury, and Corey Tom. Go Maverick!

 

 

September 1 , 2009

Ninjas vs. Guilt is Born!

We finished production of our latest short film, Ninjas vs. Guilt, this month!
Look for it at a film festival or on a bootleg DVD near you!

 

May 4 , 2009

Life on a Limb: Three May Awards

The 40th ASIFA East-Animation Festival 1st Place Independent Films Category
BEFILM The Underground Film Festival
3rd Place Animation Category
Arizona State University Art Museum Short Film and Video Festival LeBlanc Audience Award Winner

Big thanks to the people of New York and Arizona, and a big congratulations to our production crew!

 

March 14, 2009

Life on a Limb: Three March Premieres

Exciting news! Life on a Limb will be making it's Midwest premiere at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, March 24–29, 2009. Among the great events, is an appearance by Don Hertzfeld himself! It will feature some of his latest and classic films! Then our Australian premiere at The Heart of Gold International Film Festival, in Gympie, Queensland, March 25 - 29, 2009. Followed by the Florida premiere at the South Beach International Animation Festival, March 26 - 29, 2009 at which the legendary Bill Plympton and John Canemaker will be in attendance!

 

January 1, 2009

Life on a Limb World and Australian Premieres

We're very excited that Life on a Limb will be making it's World Premiere at Cinequest in our home town of San Jose, CA, February 25 – March 8, 2009. Followed shortly afterwards by it's Australian Premiere at The Heart of Gold International Film Festival, in Gympie, Queensland, March 25 - 29, 2009.


June 10 , 2008

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot has won in the categories "Cartoon of the Year" and "Best Traditional Film" in the The 2nd Annual Channel Frederator Awards!

Click here to see the winners of all the categories, and keep tuned to Channel Frederator during the upcoming weeks! They'll be screening all of the winning films in their entireties, and showing one of the goofiest acceptance videos of all time!

Thanks to everyone who voted, and a huge thanks and congratulations to the Fumi production crew!!!

 

April 16 , 2008

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot  has been nominated for a 2008 Channel Frederator Award in the "Best Traditional Film" category, along with Sub by Jesse Schmal, and Art’s Desire by Sarah Wickliffe! !

Channel Frederator, the largest Internet cartoon network in the world and one of the founding networks of Next New Networks, today announced the nominations for its second annual Channel Frederator Awards. Winners will be honored at an awards party in New York City that will air online June 10, 2008.

The Channel Frederator Awards honor a wide array of achievements seen throughout the year on weekly Channel Frederator episodes. Films submitted to Channel Frederator range from traditional pen and ink, to stop motion, to paper collage and a variety of mixed media.

Categories include Best Flash Film, Best Foreign Film, Best Music Video, Best Traditional Film, Best CG Film, Best Design, Funniest Film, The Sick Sick Sick Award, The So Cute it Hurts Award, Kiwi Award, and The Badass Bunny Award.

Voting starts today and the awards will air online on June 10, 2008. Please click here to check out all of the nominees and cast votes for your favorites!

 

January 21 , 2008

Three House of Chai films are available for viewing on the mighty Channel Frederator!

Stoopid Movie!!! is up along with Daddy and James by Dave Carter, and Barfy the Pig in 'A Day at the Park by Ryan Page and Joel Foster on the Get Stoopid Tuesday episode. And if that's not enough, check out Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot on the New Year's Episode or cuddle up with some of the women in your life and check out Cole Needs Women on Episode 110!

 

November 12, 2007

We just finished an animated short for Nickelodeon in November. Unfortunately, we can't show any of the work right now, but will be sure to do so as soon as we can! Congratulations and big thanks to the production crew!!!



Screen left to right: Konstantin Abadjiev, JP Balmet, Saul Ruiz, Aletta Wenas, Andrew Harkins, Dave Chai, Januel Mercado, Paul "The Thriilla" Abadilla, and Corey Tom. (Missing in action: Kris Toscanini, Jesse Warren, and Chris McKane)

 

August 1 , 2007

"Cole Needs Women" will be screening at the San Diego Asian Film Festival!
Saturday afternoon, October 13 and Wednesday evening, October 17th

This year's animation lineup includes:

Badass Mofos dir. James Jaculina
The Bastard dir. Dave Quion
Black Pig White Pig dir. Zhng Gong
Bottled dir. Jian Lee
City Paradise dir. Gaelle Denis
Cole Needs Women dir. David Chai
Cyclone Armor Guardian dir. Gary Liew
A Drunken Old Man's Adventure dir. Qin Xiaosong
Egg Ghost dir. Dongkeun Lee
Fission dir. Kun-i Chang
The Gloaming dir. Andrew Huang
Lost Utopia dir. Mirai Mizue
Naked Branches dir. Will Kim
Reunion dir. Jung-kyu Park
The Space Burger dir. Sookyoung Choi
Under the Honey Chestnut Tree dir. Hyun-min Lee

PLUS, they will be honoring the legendary George Takei's 49 years in Hollywood!
"The amazing actor, George Takei, will accept our Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gala Awards Dinner on Saturday, October 13 at the Doubletree Hotel. The Festival will also present a one-on-one discussion with Mr. Takei on Sunday, October 14, at the theatre."

Please click here to visit the main festival site

 

July 3, 2007

"Cole Needs Women" will be screening at the ANIMATION BLOCK PARTY SUMMERFEST
SATURDAY, JULY 28 at 8:30, 10:15 and 12:00 midnight
in the Pioneer Theater in Manhattan, NY

Animation Block Party Pioneer Screening Lineup…

Utopiate – Lee Noble
Prey – Tom Kyzivat
Eye Sore - Johnny Castuciano
View-O-Rama – Chelsea Manifold
Jose y Maria – Edward Juan
Snake – Becky James
Floor Kids (B-Boy Live vs B-Boy Nugs) – Jonathan NG and Kid Koala
Raccoon and Crawfish – Four Directions Productions
The Ballad of Thaddeus Lowe – Kelly Jones
Hedgehug – Dan Pinto
Cole Needs Women - David Chai
Once Upon a Putt in the West – Imran Awan
Linear Progression - Kat Kosmala
Escargo – Hubert Chan
Zoologic – Nicole Mitchell
A Faery’s Tale – Sylvia Apostol
Dragon – Troy Morgan
Worst Case Scenario # 12, Home Invasion – Katerina Dzolganovski
Ape Shit – Bob Ray

The after party will begin after the 10:15 screening ends at Julep at 9 Avenue A with Budweiser flowing courtesy of America’s Finest News Source, The Onion, Inc.

Please click here for ticket information and the complete four-day Summerfest lineup!

 

July 2, 2007

"Cole Needs Women" will be screening at the ASIFA-San Francisco FREE OPEN SCREENING and BASTILE DAY PARTY, SATURDAY, JULY 14, AT 8 PM! At Stephen Parr’s Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street (3rd floor)

It is time to celebrate with good animation, wine, cheese and other delights. See David Chai’s new award winning Cole Needs Women, recently completed student films from San Jose State, SF State and other schools, plus commercial and other independent work. There are bound to be a few surprises that might just “knock your panties off!” (Thanks Signe for that great quote.) Everybody is welcome to bring something to show and/or nice things to eat or drink that can be shared with others. ASIFA-SF will provide some of the basic needs of this party; you bring the special treats.

The event will be at Oddball Cinema and they can show DVDs, VHS tape and 16mm film. While they use 2 DVD players, they suggest you bring a tape backup just in case your DVD-R does not work in their machines (that has happened in the past).

The fun starts at 8 PM at Stephen Parr’s Oddball Films located in a giant 3rd floor warehouse/loft, a film archive full of real films, at 275 Capp Street, between 17th and 18th Street. Capp runs parallel to Mission and Van Ness and is right between them. The warehouse is near the 16th St. Bart Station and the Victoria Theatre. (415) 558-8117 www.oddballfilm.com

details respectfully copied from the ASIFA-SF website (click here to visit!)

 

June 8, 2007

Cole Needs Women screens at Annecy Plus 3, programmed by Nancy Denney-Phelps!
Le Venitien Bar and Lounge on the Square de l' Eveche, June 15, 2007



right mouse click here and select "save target as..." to download a print resolution program (1.15 MB)

 

June 7, 2007

25 Ways to Die screens at Pat Smith's CARTOONS FROM HELL!

Platform Film Festival, 1111 SW Broadway, Portland , OR
Brunish Hall in the Portland Center for Performing Arts

A program of dark and twisted animation that will scare the fluffy bunnies out of any animator. This collection of disturbing shorts, past and present, has been hand picked by Satan himself.


"Puppet" by Pat Smith, "Shut Eye Hotel" by Bill Plympton, "Loom" by Scott Kravitz, "Ah L'Amour" by Don Hertzfeldt, "25 Ways To Die" by David Chai, "Fifty Percent Grey" by Ruairi Robinson, "The Box Man" by Nirvan Mullick, "Son of Satan" by JJ Villard, and "Seventeen" by Hisko Hulsing.

May 6, 2007

Cole Needs Women is the 3rd Place Winner in the Independent Films Category at the ASIFA EAST Animation Festival 2007!

Big congratulations to Pes taking First Place in Independent Films for the great short film Game Over, animation powerhouse Pat Smith for Puppet taking second, and Don Hertzfeldt for Everything Will Be OK, taking BEST IN SHOW!

click here for a complete list of winners

 

April 11, 2007

Cole Needs Women will be having four premiere screenings this May! The World Premiere at AniFest in the Czech Republic; the North American Premiere at The Silver Lake Film Festival in Los Angeles, California; the New York Premiere at the ASIFA-EAST Animation Festival; and the Asian Premiere at the Seoul International Cartoon and Animation Festival in South Korea!

click here for screening details

 

February 26, 2007

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot will be screening in the The 16th Annual Florida Film Festival taking place March 23 - April 1, 2007.
Now in its sixteenth exciting year, the Florida Film Festival showcases the best American Independent and Foreign Films. Welcome to the glory of spring - Florida style!

click here for festival details

 

February 14, 2007

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot will be screening in the "Best of ASIFA-East 37th" Annual Competition" for ASIFA members.
When: Wednesday, February 21st at 7:00 pm
Where: Dreamworks Animation - 1000 Flower St. - Glendale, CA
RSVP: Email your full name, guest name, and daytime phone number to publicity@asifa-hollywood.org no later than 2/20 .
hosted by ASIFA-Hollywood

click here for more details

 

February 12, 2007

Winners of the 26th Annie Awards have been announced!

Congratulations to Blue Sky Studio's "No Time for Nuts" for winning the best short subject category! Best of luck at the Academy Awards. Big shout out to the "Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot" crew, Bill Plympton & Acme Filmworks , and Nickelodeon for their short subject nominations as well!

Also, congratulations to Dreamworks and Aardman Animations, taking home more trophies than any other film for one of my favorite animated features of last year, "Flushed Away".


click here for a full list of nominees and winners!


February 4, 2007

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot has been selected by the Children's Jury of Cinema K: Children's Film Festival Seattle 2007 as the Best Animated Film of the Festival, in which Ten cinema-wise kids aged 8-12 were chosen to pick their favorite live-action and animated films.

Liz Shepherd, Festival Director, writes "The film was included in competition with 22 others in the festival. This is the first year our festival has given prizes, all awarded by the Children's Jury. Thank you so much, once again, for allowing us to include your delightful film in our festival."

Thanks to Liz, the jury members, and the staff at the Cinema K festival for the award and all the kind words! Glad you liked the film!

 

January 2007

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot nominated for best short subject category in the 26th Annie Awards, along with Adventure Time (Nickelodeon), No Time for Nuts (Blue Sky Studios), and Weird Al Yankovic’s “Don’t Download This Song” (Acme Filmworks – Bill Plympton).

Balloting for the selection of the award recipients for the Annie Awards will be taking place online beginning Tuesday, January 16 and end on Friday, February 3, 2007.

The Annie Awards will take place on Sunday, February 11, 2007, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Keep your toes crossed for us!

 

December 15, 2006

Fumi and the Bad Luck Foot is now available on the “One of Many: Pawky Shorts 2006” DVD. Available Now!