ASIFA San Francisco, Newsletter June 1997

 

NATIONAL / INTERNATIONAL NEWS

 

MARCY PAGE IS DIRECTING/PRODUCING AT LEAST TWO FILMS FOR THE NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA

The current issue of ASIFA-Canada's magazine says she is making Luma as part of the NHK series "Another Earth" and Waves. The latter is the Greek myth of Thetus and Peleus, a sea goddess and hero modernized by Page into an artist and marine biologist. This personal film has been in-the-works for several years. Luma is based on an Intuit legend.

In the 1980's Page taught animation at SF State and created Paradisia, an exceptional erotic woman's fantasy. She was also active with ASIFA-SF.

 

YOW! ZIPPY THE PINHEAD MAY BECOME A TV SERIES

Sunbow Entertainment has obtained the rights to Bill Griffith's comic strip. Griffith lives in San Francisco. Sunbow plans to develop it into a series according to Daily Variety. The property is awfully odd for a kiddy series, even for Sunbow (G.I. Joe, Mask, The Tick, etc.). Hopefully they will bring something resembling the Zippy character to the screen rather than changing him into Saturday morning or after school fodder. Don't expect to see Zippy on the screen soon. First, the pilot has to be developed and approved. It may be hard to find the right writing team to do him justice.

 

HENRY ANDERSON, FORMER PDI DIRECTOR, SIGNS WITH BLUE SKY

He directed the computer characters in "The Last Halloween" which won PDI an Emmy in 1992 for visual effects. For Broderbund he animated, designed and directed a prototype CD-ROM adventure game titled Clockenspiel. He has also produced work at Pixar, Rhythm and Hues and other companies. Chris Wedge of Blue Sky in Harrison, NY, announced Anderson has joined his firm.

 

JERRY SMITH DIES, OWNER OF SEVERAL ANIMATION STUDIOS INCLUDING MILL VALLEY ANIMATION,

Mill Valley Animation was active in the early 1980's doing Saturday morning cartoons for Hanna-Barbera. A lot of talented people who work in the Bay Area once worked for Smith.

Smith eventually closed Mill Valley Animation and opened a studio in Australia. Later he moved to Taiwan and then to Manila where he opened Fils Cartoons. He also ran a shrimp business and aviation services in the Philippines. He died of brain cancer in April.

I have not seen any obituaries on Smith and have not had time to properly research his life. If you knew him and wish to share some thoughts about his life with others, please write them down and send them to us, or call Karl Cohen at (415) 386-1004. Thanks Prescott Wright for telling us about his passing.

 

9TH SOCIETY FOR ANIMATION STUDIES CONFERENCE TO BE IN UTRECHT OCT 8 - 12 at The Nederlands Instituut voor Animatie Film of Utrecht University. The event's director is Ton Crone of NIAF, Dr. Ed Tan from Amsterdam and Dr. William Uricchio of Utrecht. Most programs will be in English, but some may be in French and German. The focus will be on the influence of European Animation Film and Animation Film and the New Media, but other papers are welcome. There will be panels, workshops, retrospective screenings, etc.

Anyone wishing to submit a paper (30 min. in length) must submit a 250 - 500 world abstract outlining the paper's purpose, method and conclusions. Submit proposals by June 16.

The Netherlands Institute for Animation Film, Tom Crone, P.O. Box 9358, 5000 HJ Tilburg, The Netherlands or phone 31.13 535 4555. Reservation forms and hotel forms are now available along with an 8 page booklet about the event.

 

MTV SEEKS SHORT HUMOROUS ANIMATED FILMS FOR LIQUID TV TYPE SHOW

The show will start to air in July. Contact Merle Becker (212) 654-3718 or Nick Litwinko at (212) 654-3631. They are also listening to pitches and looking at scripts and storyboards according to the ASIFA-East newsletter.

 

ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD SETS AUGUST 23 FOR THEIR NEXT ANIFEST

This is a one day animation festival with a cel sale and other activities to entertain the public. For details call (818) 842-8330

 

DISNEY DOING DIRECT TO VIDEO SEQUELS OF BEAUTY & THE BEAST & THE LION KING

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas is set for a November release. Disney's Beauty & the Beast had a $310 million box-office gross and sold 22 million copies on tape. (AP story)

 

ARTHOUSE VIDEOTAPE CATALOG INCLUDES WORK BY HANS RICHTER, ALEXEIEFF, ED EMSHWILLER, BERTHOLD BARTOSCH AND JIM DAVIS

Each Jim Davis tape is $40 (his abstract studies are in volume 2), Bartosch's The Idea (1929) is $65 and 7 early Richter films are $75. Alexeieff's Night on Bald Mountain and The Nose plus a short documentary showing him at work on the pinscreen is $75. The catalog also includes work by Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie and other live action experimental film artists. For details (212) 979-5663 or www.arthouseinc.com or write One Astor Place, Suite 9D, NY NY 10003.

 

JOANNA PRIESTLEY OPENS A WEB SITE

Priestley is a remarkable experimental animator from Portland who has won numerous awards, grants, etc. She just won a top prize from the SF Film Festival's Golden Gate Competition. An entire 1/2 hour TV show in the Animated Women series on PBS focused on her and her work. To find out what is on her site see http://www.easystreet.com/~joanna

 

KIDS' ENTERTAINMENT SEMINAR TO HOLD ITS FIRST PROGRAM IN LOS ANGELES JUNE 27

The New York based "leading conference in the children's and family entertainment industry" will meet June 27 at the Furama Hotel in LA. Panels will be on the state of the industry, the retail market, etc. registration is $300. Panelists work for Children's Television Workshop, Discover Channel, Disney Records, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., etc. For details (516) 825-0180 or write 1290 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 2805A, NYC 10019.

 

VIDEO LUNCH BOX INTRODUCES A NEW MODEL WITH MORE STORAGE

The 512 is just as fast and easy to use as the Video Lunch Box 256, but it doubles the number of frames you can grab from 256 to 512. Otherwise the units are identical. They playback at 15, 24 & 30 fps, can support color or black and white cameras, and do not need to be hooked up to a computer or VCR to work.

Upgrades to turn a 256 into a 512 are $900. The 256 retails at $2,495 and the 512 sells for $3395. For further information (503) 625-6438 or write 18484 S.W. Parrett Mountain Road, Sherwood, OR 97140

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