Aristomenis (Meni) Tsirbas is a film director, producer, writer, editor, animator, concept designer, storyboard artist, and visual effects supervisor. He has directed two feature films, several national television commercials, music videos, and short films. Meni's films have received over two dozen international awards from film festivals such as Sundance, Hollywood, and Palm Springs. He is president of MeniThings Productions

Background

Meni was born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, Canada where he majored in film production at Concordia University. After directing commercials at his Montreal company, Trimension, Meni moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

in 1996 to work as a CG artist on James Cameron’s

Titanic (1997 film) ''Titanic'' is a 1997 American epic film, epic romance film, romance and disaster film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the Sinking ...

and national advertising spots for Nike, 7UP and Coca-Cola. He then rose to VFX supervisor for Miramax’s A Wrinkle in Time, Disney's My Favorite Martian and Paramount’s Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In 1999, Tsirbas returned to directing full-time with a string of award winning short films, game cinematics, and music videos including SIGGRAPH’s Ray Tracey in Full Tilt, Microsoft’s Mech Warrior: Vengeance, Terra, and The Freak, before embarking on his first feature film,

Battle for Terra ''Battle for Terra'', originally screened as ''Terra'', is a 2007 American computer-animated action-adventure science fiction film, based on the short film ''Terra'', about a race of beings on a peaceful alien planet who face destruction from col ...

. Meni followed up with two more short films, Anthro and Exoids at DAVE School and

Gnomon School of Visual Effects Gnomon is a for-profit college in Hollywood, California. The school focuses on artistic and technical training for careers in the visual effects and games industries. It was founded in 1997 by Alex Alvarez. Gnomon was originally created to tr ...

respectively, before joining

Blur Studio Blur Studio is an American-based production company which specialises in CGI visual effects, CGI animation and CGI design. Located in Culver City, California, the studio has produced CGI-animated films, teasers and ad spots for television, as wel ...

in 2012, where he directed a dozen national American television spots for Goldfish Crackers. In 2019 Tsirbas directed his second feature,

Timescape (2022 film) ''Timescape'' is a 2022 Canadian action-adventure science fiction film about two young strangers discovering a mysterious spacecraft that catapults them millions of years into the past. The film was written, edited, and directed by Aristomenis Ts ...

, which was released in 2022.

Feature Films

(2007) (Writer, Director) *

(Screenwriter, Editor, Director)

Short Films

* Ray Tracey in Full Tilt (2000) (Writer, Director, Animator) * MechWarrior 4: Vengeance - Opening Cinematic (2000) (Director) * The Freak (2001) (Writer, Director, Animator) * Terra (2002) (Writer, Director, Animator) * Plus Minus (2010) (Co-Director) * Exoids (2012) (Writer, Director)

Commercials

* E.T. ID for MusiquePlus (1996) (Writer, Director, Animator) * Montreal International Auto Show Theatrical Commercial (1996) (Writer, Director, Animator) * Virtual Andre (1997) (Concept Designer, Animator) * Taco Bell Mario Kart 64 (1998) (Storyboard Artist, Concept Designer, Camera, Animator) * Goldfish: The Thing (2017) (Director) * Goldfish: Selfies (2017) (Director) * Goldfish: Spinny Spinny Spin Spin (2018) (Director) * Goldfish: Comic Book (2018) (Director) * Goldfish: Brooke Ball (2018) (Director) * Goldfish: The Internet (2018) (director)

Music Videos

* Tears For Fears: Closets Thing to Heaven (Concept Design, VFX Director) * Udora: Fade Away (Director)

Visual Effects

* Star Trek: Voyager (TV series) (1995) (Digital Artist) *

Titanic RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...

(1997) (Feature film) (Digital Artist) * Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (TV series) (1999) (Visual Effects Supervisor, Station X) *

My Favorite Martian ''My Favorite Martian'' is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 29, 1963, to May 1, 1966, for 107 episodes. The show stars Ray Walston as "Uncle Martin" (the Martian) and Bill Bixby as Tim O'Hara. The first two seasons, totaling ...

(Feature Film) (1999) (Visual Effects Supervisor, Station X Studios) *

Dogma (film) ''Dogma'' is a 1999 American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also stars with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, George Carlin, Linda Fiorentino, Janeane Garofalo, Chris Rock, Jason Lee, Salma Hayek, Bud Cort, Alan Rickman, ...

(Digital Creative Director, Station X Studios) *

A Wrinkle in Time (2003 film) ''A Wrinkle in Time'' is a 2003 television fantasy film directed by John Kent Harrison from a teleplay by Susan Shilliday. The film, a Canadian and U.S. production, is based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Madeleine L'Engle. It is produced ...

(Visual Effects Supervisor, MeniThings)

Awards

* 1997 Clio Award, Silver Clio - Animation, Nike Virtual Andre * 2001 New York International Independent Film & Video Festival, Best Animation, Ray Tracey in Full Tilt * 2002 The Hollywood Film Awards, Best Animated Short, The Freak * 2002 Palm Springs International ShortFest, Jury Award, The Freak * 2002 One Reel Film Fest, Best Animated Film, The Freak * 2002 IFCT, Best Use of Computer Animated Imagery, The Freak * 2003 Sundance Film Festival, Honorable Mention, The Freak * 2003 San Francisco IFF Golden Gate Award, The Freak * 2003 Malibu Film Festival, Audience Choice Award, The Freak * 2003 Black Maria Film Festival, Directors Choice, The Freak * 2003 Festival Du Cinema De Paris, Best Director, The Freak * 2003 Philadelphia Film Festival, Best Short, The Freak * 2003 Hong Kong Film Fest, Best Animated Film, Terra * 2003 Palm Springs International ShortFest, Audience Award, Terra * 2003 Ulisses Film Festival, Best Animated Film, The Freak * 2003 Cinanima, Best Animation Direction, Terra * 2004 Anima, First Prize, The Freak * 2004 AIFF, Audience Award, The Freak * 2004 Black Maria Film Festival, Directors Choice, Terra * 2004 San Diego Film Festival, Audience Award Best Short, Terra * 2007 Tehran International Film Festival, Grand Prix, Battle For Terra * 2008 Giffoni Film Festival, Silver Gryphon Award, Battle For Terra * 2008 Heartland International Film Festival, Crystal Heart Award, Battle For Terra * 2008 Ottawa International Animation Festival, Best Animated Feature, Battle For Terra

References

External links

*
MeniThings.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsirbas, Aristomenis 1967 births American film directors American film producers Canadian animators American animators Canadian animated film directors Canadian animated film producers American animated film directors American animated film producers Canadian film producers Artists from Montreal Film directors from Montreal Living people