Lovers of animation of all kinds are highly encouraged to head over to the New Museum on Nov. 17 for "Aboveground Animation," a one-time screening of 20 new cutting-edge animated short films. The screening is curated by the artist Casey Jane Ellison, who started an online archive and exhibition platform when she was a student at the Art Institute of Chicago. "I wanted to create awareness for animation," explains Ellison, whose hilarious alter ego, Case Case, is the anchor of the online pop culture journal Status Update. So rather than people uploading their work individually on YouTube, I thought it was important to create a more curated context. The selection of films will run the gamut from digital to analog - full-on C.G.I. to hand-drawn or stop-motion animation. Participating artists include Robert Bittenbender, Cody Critcheloe, Erin Dunn, Steve Emmons, Lauren Gregory, Ryan Whittier Hale, Rhett LaRue, Jacolby Satterwhite, Monira Al Qadiri and Lale Westvind, as well as Ellison herself, who will moderate a post-screening discussion. So what made her get into animation in the first place? "When I was little, I watched an episode of 'The Sopranos' featuring a dream sequence in which Tony is interacting with an animated fish," Ellison says, laughing. I remember being really affected by the emotion conveyed in that scene, and the element of surprise. That's when animation is really good - when you don't know where it's coming from. Aboveground Animation is at the New Museum, 235 Bowery, Nov. 17, 2012, at 3 p.m. Go to newmuseum.org.