Congratulations to Bill Stout, Teaching Professor of Art+Design. His short film Unstable received a slew of fantastic awards and opportunities recently, including: Best Character Design and Best Debut Animation at the Pulse of Animation Film Festival; Best Super Short at the Sweden Film Awards; Honorable Mention for Best Editing at Night of Shorts: The Dark Side of Short Film Festival; Semifinalist for the Cannes World Film Festival; Finalist for Staff Pick at the 2026 WSXA Barcelona International Film Festival (with a screening scheduled for Berlin in November); and best microshort from Into the Wild Film Festival.

Unstable was also selected for screening at the upcoming Madrid Indie Film Festival (MADRIFF) and the Istanbul International Spring Film Festival.

Bill explains, “This is the 7th Laurel the film has earned. It was started as a collaboration between Professor Michael Swartz and myself as faculty participation in a student led animation jam. I went on to develop the story and add a third character to add depth. It is the first completion of a personal art project since I left puppetry. I am grateful that Northeastern supports the creation of art as a research endeavor.” Bill continues, “Michael designed the character Iron, I designed Bob and Martha, so we are now award-winning character designers. We used the Rokoko motion Capture System from the Immersive Media Lab…and this enabled me to include motion capture in my Fall Animation class.”

Truly a win-win for both students and faculty!

Bill Stout enjoys a peripatetic career of adventures and artistic excellence. He learned how to manipulate audiences as a touring puppeteer in his first job out of college. Puppetry also taught him the art of giving a soul to an inanimate object. During those years he learned to sculpt and to build the controls that shape what possible movements a character can make. He transitioned from puppetry to animation working on commercials and teaching animation in New York. Highlights include working on the popular character McGruff the Crime Dog and Rocket in Disney’s Little Einsteins. He eventually focused on teaching and became the Chair of the Animation Department at the New York Film Academy. He now brings his animation skills to Northeastern University.